“I give you my word that I didn’t.” He flourished his hand. The bottle returned whole. “Once more. I can leave if you like.”
His aura kept changing so quickly I didn’t have time to check if he was lying.
“Yes.” Myrtha waved him off. “Trickster.”
He flashed a smirk worthy of a pirate. “I know you like me. Deep down, you’re desperate to kiss me.”
“Kissing you is at the bottom of the list of things I’m desperate to do.”
“Still on the list.” He winked cheekily before leaving, humming a tune.
Myrtha pressed her lips together. “That wizard.”
“He’s a good man.”
“He’s a braggart.”
“He cares about you.”
She flushed and waved a hand. “Go on.”
I exhaled and repeated the process. This time, I didn’t need to pretend to hold the bottle; it cracked with a startling noise.
I clapped and laughed, but Myrtha didn’t smile.
“Well done.” She sounded cold. “You’ll be skilled sooner than I expected.”
“Darius wants to help.”
She finally brightened. “You’re a darling, and I’m happy for you, but you’ll learn men never do anything without an ulterior motive.”
“Maybe Darius is different.”
“Maybe Darius is only lying.” She stared in the direction Darius had gone. “Let’s continue.”
I practised for an hour, shattering dozens of bottles until my legs didn’t hold me up.
“You must be tired.” Myrtha regarded the pile of broken glass. “Enough for today. You need rest.”
I nodded, panting.
“We’ll continue tomorrow.” She marched towards the house, searching around; my guess was for Darius.
I sat on a bench and enjoyed the warm sunlight and the buzzing of the bees around the flowers.
Eating a sandwich, Darius strolled towards me. He looked at the pile of broken glass and whistled. “I’m glad you learnt the technique.” With a casual gesture of his hand, the bottles were as good as new.
“Myrtha wasn’t happy that your method worked and hers didn’t.”
“We’re lucky that’s Myrtha’s problem.”
I wiped the sweat from my brow. “Are you really going to help Knight’s pack?”
“What kind of scoundrel do you think I am?” He sat next to me.
“I don’t think you are one.” I stretched out my legs. “I’m worried. What if Knight attacks us? What if Esmeralda does whatever she threatened to do? Graves is waiting for the slightest provocation to start a war. And what about the mysterious wizard?”
“My potion works, and Knight’s pack will be safe. As for the wizard, I’m sure he isn’t that hard to defeat.” He fished out a book from his pocket.
