For someone who was evidently battling no small amount of disbelief or outrage, she held herself in check exceptionally well. Philip almost wanted to crack a smile at her own self-control. What a strange pair they made – someone with supernatural self-possession, that rigid control of her own impulses, beside someone with absolutely none.
Was that something his father had seen and admired in her, whilst he had been wielding Philip’s will for him? The thought made him feel a little sick – but it had hardened his resolve to this experiment.
Although he wasn’t interested in explaining it. “Because I asked you to,” Philip answered first. Somewhere in him, he wished that could be reason enough for her to heed him – but there was no love lost between them, and although he had not asked her for anything before, he wasn’t sure a plea held any power for her. So he doubled down, brandished his uncommon seriousness as a threat. “Because if you don’t, then I’ll cast it on you instead,” he continued, unflinching. “Just put me under it. Just for a minute. Make me do something. Anything. And then stop.”
He wanted to know if he could fight it. And – if he was going to be here, in close quarters with his family and his father – he needed to remember, vividly, how it felt.
Was that something his father had seen and admired in her, whilst he had been wielding Philip’s will for him? The thought made him feel a little sick – but it had hardened his resolve to this experiment.
Although he wasn’t interested in explaining it. “Because I asked you to,” Philip answered first. Somewhere in him, he wished that could be reason enough for her to heed him – but there was no love lost between them, and although he had not asked her for anything before, he wasn’t sure a plea held any power for her. So he doubled down, brandished his uncommon seriousness as a threat. “Because if you don’t, then I’ll cast it on you instead,” he continued, unflinching. “Just put me under it. Just for a minute. Make me do something. Anything. And then stop.”
He wanted to know if he could fight it. And – if he was going to be here, in close quarters with his family and his father – he needed to remember, vividly, how it felt.
