“Because a tornado is more useful in a battle than music.”
“You forget that I’ve fought battles with Auditory magic,” Damien said proudly. “The ability to distract your opponent for even a few seconds can save lives. Creating a sound shield to block the noise of your forces, especially combined with invisibility from Vision fae, lets you sneak up on the enemy. My favorite is mimicking the voice of an enemy’s commander and telling their side to retreat.”
“Fontaine the Fearless,” Haydn complimented.
How does Haydn always look like he’s planning something? Doesn’t that get exhausting?
“Point taken,” Moeller said. “But Evelyn can’t create illusions if she can’t detect them.”
“I can now,” she told him. “The illusions are faint, but I can sense them.”
Moeller drummed his fingers on the table. “Interesting. We’ll try it. But if your illusions are worse than your Earth magic, I’m not going to waste my time.”
After breakfast, Moeller led Damien, Evelyn, and her guards to the courtyard. Cobblestones filled the center of the large area, with walkways branching off to various sections of the castle. Grass and shrubs lined the outer edges between paths. Evelyn and Moeller stood in the middle, while Damien, Rory, and Simon leaned against a wall to observe.
Moeller began by embarrassing Evelyn, which may have been his intent all along. Her Earth and Water magic wereeven weaker than the day before. But her Air was stronger, and everyone had to brace themselves to stay upright against the wind.
“All right!” Moeller yelled at her. “Calm down!”
Evelyn decreased the gale to a breeze and grinned without guilt.
Moeller pointed toward the men. “You! Water fae!”
“Rory Flynn, sir,” he said, stepping forward.
“Can you make a stream of water circle through the air?”
“Yes, sir.” Rory held up a hand to create a ribbon of water, which flowed like a snake chasing its tail.
Simon’s lips formed words that looked suspiciously likeShow-off.
“Do that”—Moeller pointed at Rory’s spinning water—“but with your Air magic.”
The task was much more tedious than blasting them with high winds. Moeller used magic to infuse pinpricks of light into the moving Air so Evelyn could see her currents. It took her a few tries to get it right, but soon she had a steady circular flow.
“Keep that going,” Moeller said. “But now, add flames to it. Don’treplaceAir with Fire. Picture an ember being carried in a breeze.”
The skill was tricky. Evelyn’s instinct was to conjure a wheel of fire, so Moeller had been right to explain the difference between combining and replacing. She ended up making several small flames, like you would see from a candle wick, and moved them carefully into the stream of air. They flickered at first, but Evelyn steadied them.
“Well done,” Moeller said. “A hundred more hours of practice and you might be good at it.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
I’m proud of myself, even if Moeller would rather die than give me an actual compliment.
Damien pushed off the wall. “Time for illusions?”
“Be my guest,” Moeller said, leaving to sit on a bench nearby.
“Aren’t you the teacher?” Damien called after him.
Moeller crossed one leg over the other. “It’s your magic. Shouldn’t you know what to do?”
Damien turned to Evelyn, who choked down a laugh.
“You and me, Princess,” Damien said, the words a quiet promise.
“We could burn the castle down!” Evelyn suggested.
