Read Recipe for Magic for Free Online Page B

large, open area. The stone floor was inlaid with elemental patterns in red, white, green, and blue, and when Connor looked up, the ceiling was so high it bled into darkness beyond the rafters.
    “You get to use this whenever you want?”
    “Yes,” Landyn said, fidgeting next to him.
    “Ever used it for a party?”
    “Ugh,” Landyn said. “I don’t know why I even—” He seemed to catch himself and finished with, “—why I even bother with you.”
    “This kind of privilege is wasted on someone like you, Glendower.” Connor made his way across the room and flopped down on one of the oversized leather armchairs. He glanced at the fireplace and, with a flick of his hand, had a fire roaring in seconds. “Come over here,” he said. “It’s cozy.”
    Landyn flushed from the sudden heat of the fire. “We’re supposed to be working.”
    “We can relax for two minutes. Our magic will still be there. Come on.” He patted the cushion.
    Landyn pinched his nose. “Seas give me strength,” he muttered, but he made his way to Connor and sat down gingerly on the chair opposite, arranging his robes carefully.
    Connor sank back into the cushions and let out a sigh, absently watching the firelight dance over the angles of Landyn’s face. All right, maybe he wouldn’t run off to the Gloomwood just yet.
    “We can wait till tomorrow to work on our plan for the Trial,” he said. He gestured at the fire, absently spinning animals out of flame, and smiled as he made a horse gallop across the coals and then leap over the grate and dance through the air past Landyn’s face.
    Landyn smirked, and the horse disappeared in a hiss of steam.
    “Hey!” Connor said halfheartedly. “You shouldn’t let your jealousy ruin things.”
    “Jealousy? Please. I could conjure a much better horse.”
    “Prove it.”
    Firelight glinted in Landyn’s eyes, the flickering orange only intensifying the blue. “Fine.”
    Connor sat forward as Landyn closed his eyes. His lips moved soundlessly as his hand traced a smooth, flowing design in the air. He opened his eyes and cupped his hands together; clear water filled his palms and, as Connor watched, the water bent and twisted until a perfect horse pranced delicately in Landyn’s palm.
    Where Connor’s horse had been a rough outlined shape, Landyn’s little water horse was elegant and well defined. Its long, liquid mane floated like seagrass in the waves, and when it nickered, a stream of tiny bubbles trailed upward from its nose.
    “That’s beautiful,” Connor said. He wished he could touch it.
    Landyn looked up at him, strangely shy. “You think so?”
    “Yeah,” Connor replied, tearing his gaze from Landyn’s face. “Beautiful.”
    “Yours was, too,” Landyn said. “I could… help you refine it more. If you wanted.”
    “Sure,” Connor said. “There had to be at least one thing you were good at.” He grinned and wasn’t disappointed by the way Landyn’s eyes narrowed in challenge.
     
     
    C ONNOR QUICKLY discovered, during their shared mealtimes, that Landyn needed to be supervised to make certain he ate. Sometimes Landyn was so busy reading he forgot to eat; other times, he ranted all through their meal on some topic—ogre rights or the rigid hierarchical structure of elemental mages in higher learning—and then didn’t have time to finish his meal.
    No wonder Landyn was so thin. Connor took to pocketing a piece of fruit so that he could give it to him later.
    The first time he did it, Landyn looked at him with wide blue eyes.
    “What?” Connor asked defensively. It was evening, and they were in their arena room. He had his books and papers spread out in front of him on the table, and he busied himself tidying the piles. “If you pass out in the middle of casting, we won’t get anything done.”
    Landyn looked down at the apple Connor had handed him, then back up to Connor. “You remembered that I liked apples.”
    “I remember you chomping on one at lunch a