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Andrew started heading to the lounge when they got back from talking to the ice dwarf but Naria grabbed his hand and pulled him over to Anthony.

“Are you feeling up to giving Drew a lesson?” she asked.

Anthony was sitting with Selene, who was staring into a steaming cup of water with an intense expression. Both of them looked up at Naria in surprise.

Andrew stiffened and opened his mouth to growl that he didn’t want a lesson from the man who had attacked her, but Naria shook her head at him.

You need training, Drew, she said mentally. Give him a chance.

“Of course!” Anthony nodded. “I was just giving Selene one. You’re welcome to join us, though I understand that you’re a bit more advanced – even though Matthias completely neglected your education while he was hiding you.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Typical bloody Morgan, sacrificing important things to some obscure plan.” He cast a sly glance sideways at Matthias who was walking past the open door on his way to the kitchen.

“It’s still better than what your family is known for,” Matthias said. His tone was mild enough but Anthony flinched as if he’d been slapped.

“What are your family known for?” Andrew asked curiously.

“They aren’t my family!” Anthony said sharply. “I cut all ties with them.”

“They killed mum,” Selene said angrily. “They wanted to kill me too, and they tried to kidnap Mel.”

“I’m sorry,” Andrew said.

“Those people do not like embers,” Anthony said after a long moment. “Especially not when they are married to astrals.”

“Ah,” Andrew said.

“Exactly.” Anthony sighed heavily. “I should have realised what they’d do, but I was naïve–”

“Ice! I did it!” Selene interrupted excitedly. She tipped the cup upside down to show that the water in it had frozen solid. “I think it was when I got angry about Mum.”

Anthony smiled at her. “Well not quite, dearheart. You were supposed to freeze it consciously, but it’s certainly better since you didn’t freeze everything around you. Just the thing you were trying to freeze.” He looked up at Andrew. “I’m sure you can already do this. Especially since that strange half-dragon boy Matt has hanging around tells me you pulled off quite a messy stunt when you were trying escape from the person who kidnapped you.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, he was there wasn’t he?” Andrew said. “Yeah, I drew all the heat out of the air so the water froze into blades. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it but it worked. It was horrible. I was just trying to shatter the guards amulets but I couldn’t control the blades well enough and there was blood everywhere.” He shuddered violently at the memory.

“It wasn’t your fault in those circumstances,” Anthony said softly. “But do you think you could do it while you aren’t stressed? Do you think you could control it enough just to make one blade to use like this?” He held out his hand and after a moment a blade of ice formed in it.

“That…. I’m not sure,” Andrew said. “I don’t think I should practice here though. I might accidentally kill someone if I can’t control it that finely.”

“Yes, that’s always a risk,” Anthony said. “The Morgan’s have a pretty good practice room. I’ll see if I can borrow it. I can’t imagine your father will object to giving you space to practice.”

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