“Caldera didn’t say.” I aimed at Luna’s eyes again, but this time she was ready for it. The blade slapped into her palm less than twelve inches from her face. “But I’m guessing it’s going to be until she makes her mind up.”

“So what, you have to not piss her off for however many weeks it takes until she decides she can trust you?”

“Let’s not expect miracles.”

We kept going for another five minutes but I didn’t manage to break Luna’s concentration again. “All right,” I said at last, lowering the sword. “Free sparring.”

Luna perked up instantly, letting the book slide off into one hand as she headed for her bag. When she came back she was holding a short sword in one hand and an ivory-coloured wand in the other. “Ready?” I asked.

Luna took a stance. “Ready.”

I attacked, slashing down at an angle, and I wasn’t using the flat of the blade this time. Luna stepped back and I followed.

This particular part of our training sessions is the reason we use an empty gym. Last year someone saw one of my bouts with Luna and thought I was trying to murder her, which led to an extremely awkward conversation with a pair of police officers. Luna found the whole thing absolutely hilarious, but it’s the reason that these days I take the trouble to schedule our training sessions in a Council-owned gym.

Right now we were alone, which was just as well. My arms are longer than Luna’s, and coupled with the longer reach of my weapon I was able to pressure her, driving her back. Luna’s face was set in concentration as she defended against my attacks, stepping away from most, occasionally parrying offhand with a clash of metal. To anyone watching, it probably looked as though Luna’s life were at stake . . . but when it comes to magic, appearances are deceptive. Luna wasn’t in any serious danger. Her curse makes her hard to hurt at the best of times, and while I was trying to get through her defences, I wasn’t trying to cut her. With my divination, it’s easy to see if an attack has a chance of landing, and the half second’s warning is more than enough to pull a blow.

The one who was really in danger was me. Luna’s curse is tied heavily to her feelings and instincts. She’s learnt to bring it under conscious control most of the time, but if she ever feels genuinely threatened, all bets are off. But by that same token, if I didn’t threaten her, force her to struggle, then she wouldn’t gain the practice she needed to keep her curse under control when she really needed it. It was a game of brinkmanship, trying to push Luna just far enough to make her work for it, but not so far as to trigger a backlash.

The only sounds in the empty gym were the clash of metal on metal and the thud of our bare feet on the mats. Usually Luna has trouble holding me off in these matches, but this time to my surprise I realised she was holding her own. She couldn’t really strike back, but as long as she kept giving ground she was managing to hold off my attacks. All the duelling she’d done had made a difference.