It was a good question, and one with perhaps a distressingly negative answer. “Gabriel did,” she pointed out. “If he did, Selly can, too.”

“I don’t want her going to that academy,” Daisy burst out. “I don’t like that vicious proctor woman. I won’t have her taking my daughter away.”

Clearly Gabriel was an apple that hadn’t fallen far from this tree. “Gabriel feels the same,” Nic replied with gentle firmness. “You should discuss it with him.”

Daisy set her wineglass down and dusted off her skirts. “That boy doesn’t listen to me,” she said with some irritation. “I’m proud of him, of course. We both are. But when he turned into a wizard, he—” She caught herself and stood.

“He’s the same person he always was, Daisy,” Nic said, standing also, stung into defending Gabriel. She knew it pained him that he no longer fit in with his nonmagical family.

“You didn’t know him before,” Daisy retorted, eyes bright with tears. “He was such a sweet boy. Such a good heart, loving, kind, generous, and—” She dashed the tears away with the back of her hand.

“Gabriel is still all of those things.” More so than anyone else she’d ever known.

“I don’t know.” Daisy searched Nic’s face. “It’s a strange thing, to be frightened of your own son. He used to have the prettiest blue eyes like his father’s, and black hair like mine. Now I look into those dark, dark eyes, see that hair that turned white—overnight!—and sometimes I don’t even recognize him. All I see is a monster. I lost my son to your magic. And now my daughter, too.”

Nic took a chance and reached for Daisy’s hand. “They’re the same people they always were,” she said with urgency, needing Gabriel’s mother to understand this. She squeezed the woman’s hand. “Flesh and blood, your flesh and blood, just with a bit of magic thrown in.”

Daisy pulled her hand away, not ungently, but with deliberate firmness. “I can’t—” Her gaze jerked up to a point over Nic’s shoulder. “Gabriel!”

Nic closed her eyes in pain. She should’ve been paying attention to the feel of Gabriel’s approach. They must not have shut the doors completely.

“I came to see what was keeping Nic,” he said flatly.

“I’ll go check on the meal,” Daisy said, flustered, practically running out of the room. Gabriel barely acknowledged his mother’s departure.

Nic followed her and firmly closed the doors, then turned and leaned against them. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Enough,” Gabriel answered, still in that toneless voice, his back to her.

She went to him and put her arms around his waist. He remained rigid, so it felt like hugging a tree. “She’s overwrought. Upset about all that happened today. Worried about Selly.”

“She didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” Gabriel’s voice rumbled through him. “Or anything I didn’t know. I’ve felt her fear, seen how she looks at me sometimes.”

“Gabriel…” She hugged him tighter. “You are not a monster.”