Alaric flexed his fingers.
Caleb stood a few feet away, silent, arms crossed, watching the smoke curl from the bodies.
The silence stretched.
Alaric's eyes flicked toward him.
Caleb's face was blank. Unreadable. Just... standing there.
Doing nothing.
Saying nothing.
Just existing in that infuriatingly calm, self-contained way.
Alaric's eyes narrowed slowly.
Why does he look like that?
FWOOSH!
The fireball shot out, not at Caleb's face, but at his shoulder. Lazy trajectory. Almost bored.
And Caleb's hand snapped up reflexively, and the flames scattered against his palm, dissipating into embers.
He lowered his hand slowly, staring at Alaric with that same flat expression.
"Really?"
Alaric blinked once. "Huh. Didn't work."
Caleb just titled his head. "What?"
Flames dancing along his fingertips. "Your dearaunt didn't tell you? Fire essence users have high resistance against fire spells."
Alaric's brows twitched. His teeth ground together.
"You little—"
