Life at the Sanctum was never dull, but it did become routine. Orion had spent several weeks on high alert, fearing that Morliana’s sudden intrusion into his lessons meant she was about to do something, but the old witch seemed content teaching Charms. She wasn’t even bad at it. Her teaching style involved using personal anecdotes to introduce a concept, then expanding on it with examples and engaging the students directly. Her religious propaganda was also very subtle. She only casually sprinkled it in, making it feel like a natural part of magic rather than the heavy-handed method employed by other teachers. Even better, having such a skilled caster teach him meant that Orion could instantly understand the perfected version of any spell, making his reverse-engineering much easier. He’d even gotten a level out of it! That, however, did not mean he suddenly trusted her. Instead, the longer she went without doing anything, the more paranoid he became. “I understand that you had a bad experience with her, moonbeam, but that one day shouldn’t shape your view of her. Yes, Elder Morliana is very strict about following tradition. And yes, she treated you very unfairly three years ago. But she’s not evil. She has the Sanctum’s best interests at heart and would never seek to harm its children.” Asteria told him as he paced around the living room. Orion huffed, frustrated that even she, who had seen exactly how everything had happened, seemed so quick (...)