“Anyway, there was a moment, one day, when it just hit me that I didn’t like myself very much anymore, and that mattered more than whether or not he liked me, so we broke up. I reported everything he’d done, admitting I’d helped him but obviously leaving out any mention of spellcasting, and then I left. I could probably have stayed on at UEA and finished my final year, but I wanted him to forget all about me and about what I’d been able to do.”

There was silence in the kitchen when she finished speaking. Mika bit into another cookie, inordinately interested in the pattern of the wood grain on the table.

Ian tightened his grip on her hand. “I can’t imagine how much it must have hurt to be used like that, but surely, surely, you don’t plan to let one slimy cretin affect the way you live your life?”

“One slimy cretin, and a host of nannies and tutors before him,” Mika reminded him, her smile a little wobbly. “I’d seen ugly reactions before. That ATM spell? I’d used it before. One of my nannies asked me to.” She stopped, startled. “I’ve never said that out loud before. I try not to even think about it.”

“It’s okay,” Jamie said quietly.

Mika looked up at him. There was no judgement or censure in his eyes, just an anger that she could tell wasn’t directed at her, and it gave her the nudge she needed to tell them the rest. “When my caretakers found out I was a witch,” she explained, “some of them were afraid, some thought they were hallucinating, and, on one memorable occasion, one tutor was convinced I must have been experimented on by a secret government agency and insisted I go public. But most often, the reaction I got was a whole lot like his. I became something that could be used.”

A muscle jumped in Jamie’s jaw. Ian looked unhappily at him, then turned back to Mika with a firm: “Not everyone is like that, my darling. There is someone out there who will accept you as you are, who will allow you to just be Mika.”

“Is there?” Mika asked. “Because the way I see it, to be a witch is to be exploited when it’s convenient and turned against when it isn’t. I’d love to just be Mika, but the rest of the world has yet to give me that privilege.”

“Yes, I see that,” Ian admitted. “I understand, I do. There was a time when Ken and I weren’t allowed to just be ourselves, either.”

“I know,” Mika said, squeezing his hand. This time, her smile was brighter and a lot less wobbly. “Believe me, if there’s one thing that might be able to convince me that there’s a better future ahead, it’s you and Ken.”