“Read people so well?”
He adjusted his glasses. “You’re kind of forced to learn when you grow up in the type of family I did.”
“What type of family is that?”
“A shitty one. But I’m not going to go into that now. Why did you choose healing? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he added, sensing my hesitance.
He grew up in a difficult family? That surprised me greatly. I’d heard of the Pendragons. They were incredibly wealthy, Liam’s grandfather having created some new way to utilizemagic for building houses. I wondered what had happened for Liam to feel that way.
“When I was younger, I used to want to be an animal healer,” I said, giving him the most abridged version of the truth possible.
“Why didn’t you pursue it?”
I remained silent as I stared at him.
He seemed to catch on. “Your mother.”
“It seems you aren’t the only one with a challenging family.”
“We have more in common than you think, sunshine.” He nudged my arm with his knuckles.
I gave him a skeptical look. “What’s your magic?”
Liam held out his hand and a small flame appeared in his palm. Then, he winked as he let it disappear.
“Fire?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought it was cool when I was younger.”
I couldn’t control the giggle that escaped. “You thought it was…cool? That’s it?”
“Yes. That’s it. I liked it, so I chose it. But also…it didn’t hurt that it infuriated my father.”
“I take it he wanted you to choose something else?”
Liam’s smile was pained, though he tried to hide it. “Fire magic doesn’t really mesh well with home-building.”
Getting the hint not to push, I said, “Well, itisconvenient. Especially when we’re in the jungle. You could also light Doctor Rosebud’s pipe for him. I am sure he’ll appreciate that.”
Liam’s jaw dropped. “Did you just attempt a joke? And call him Doctor Rosebud?”
I couldn’t help the smile on my face. “I suppose I did.”
“And you smiled again. The journey to fun has started.”
I looked away as we continued on, trying to ignore the flutter of delight in my gut at Liam’s words.
Perhaps I could have a little fun on this trip after all.
Chapter 7
Copycat
Liam
