“I am not in the least bit surprised to hear that.” Iannis sounded amused. “You have a warrior’s spirit. I shall keep your wish in mind, but it’s rather early to think about specialization. In the meantime, I’m afraid we won’t be spending as much time sparring magically as we did in your earlier lessons, since you’ll need to catch up with the basic skills and Loranian.”

That was a little disappointing—I enjoyed the magical sparring, even if I was at a huge disadvantage against Iannis. But I held my complaints back as we continued with the rest of the lesson, finishing up with the levitation spell, then moving onto other magical exercises that were built around improving magical efficiency.

After all, I wanted to finish my apprenticeship as quickly as possible, so there was no point in bitching about what couldn’t be changed.

Thankfully, we didn’t spend the entire hour on mind-numbing drills. Iannis had me start practicing with water, both conjuring and directing it, which proved very difficult since it was such a slippery element. He had me start by filling a bowl, then using the contents to form patterns and shapes in the air.

“Hey, isn’t that one pretty?” I asked, tracing a heart shape in the air with my finger. The water followed my direction, twisting around as it attempted to form the same shape.

“Yes—” Iannis began, but I accidentally flicked my finger a little too hard, and the water splashed right into his face.

“Sorry!” I laughed as he spluttered, his head, neck, and shoulders completely soaked. He leveled a glare at me, then flicked his hand, and I ducked to avoid the thick stream of water he flung at me. I conjured another ball of liquid, then threw it straight at him. It hit him smack dab in the chest, soaking him through.

“Oh, so you want a fight now, do you?” A devilish grin curved his lips, my only warning. He flicked his hands, and my eyes nearly popped out of my skull as a towering wave of water rushed toward me out of thin air. I tried to dodge it, but it was way too big, and I slipped on a puddle just as it crashed into me.

“Oww!” I cried, slapping at the ground as I hit the floorboards hard. Or, at least, I tried to say oww, but water filled my mouth, choking off my words. I sputtered and gasped, trying to catch my breath as rivulets ran down my body and into the floorboards.

“Are you all right?” Iannis was suddenly next to me, kneeling on the wet ground as he gathered me into his arms. “I didn’t consider the slippery floorboards.”