Page 11 of The Banshee and the Warlock

"That's not a no."

"I can't promise something that I don't know will be true. What if a situation arises where I need to use a fireball?"

"Has that happened many times in your life?" I check the instructions for the potion while I wait for his answer.

"Sadly, no. Though there are a few situations that I think could be resolved faster if fireballs had been allowed," he muses. "Here, you need to put this in." He hands me a pot of what looks like chilli flakes, but almost certainly aren't.

"How much?"

"Just a pinch."

"That's hardly an exact measurement," I mutter.

"This is Potions, not chemistry," he points out. "It's not about exactness."

I sigh. And that's exactly why I wanted to study chemistry instead of something as vague as this. But as much as I want to be a food scientist, I also want to learn more about who I am, and this place feels as if it might have the answers.

I take a pinch of the flakes and sprinkle them over the top of the cauldron.

"Now we have to stir five times anti-clockwise," I say as I check the instructions. "See, that's specific."

He chuckles as he stirs the potion. "Are you going to complain about the instructions the entire time?"

"Yes."

"All right, then how about I ask you that question to distract you?"

"It is your turn." I try to think through what he might ask. Will he want to know what I am? Or is it going to be something about my hair? That one seems unlikely, he'll just assume it's natural.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

I stare at him. "That's your question?"

"So?"

"No, I don't have a boyfriend."

His whole face lights up, including his ears, which are beyond adorable.

"Still a weird question. I was going to ask you if you could pass as human as my next one."

He chuckles. "The point is to get to know each other, isn't it?"

"Well, yes."

"So learning about your life is part of that," he responds. "And yes, I can pass as human." For a moment, I think that's going to be the end of the conversation, but a shimmer of purple moves over his body and he transforms.

I blink a few times. "Wow."

"It's just a glamour," he responds. "Everything is the same underneath."

Without meaning to, I reach out to touch him.

A smile curls at the corners of his lips. "The ears are where you'll notice it most."

A slight heat rises to my cheeks in response to his words, making me think that he might have noticed me looking at his ears. I hope he knows that I like them, and doesn't think that I find them weird or anything like that. I ignore those thoughts and step closer, taking it for the invitation it is, and reach out to where his bat-like ears should be. To the naked eye, there's nothing but air, but my fingers brush against the shell of his ear.

He lets out a strange noise, and I pull my hand back immediately, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.