Linza arrived at the sprawling seaside estate that night, feeling more clear-headed than usual. It was good timing, too—it was time to practice her magic. She’d been eager to do so since her experiment with Wyn, but she respected how the estate did things, and she hadn’t tried again since then.

Her night with Tanyth began with a series of exercises that were exactly like some of her homework assignments at university.

Tanyth rattled off a series of items and topics, and Linza conjured a corresponding illusion as quickly as she could. With forethought, an illusion could be consciously shaped—but going this quickly, it was going to bubble up straight from her subconscious.

These illusions hovered in the air between them, usually a static miniature of whatever they represented.

The exercise started regularly enough.

“Dog.”

A dalmatian.

“Building.”

A little house.

“Castle.”

The JSMI campus.

“Queen.”

Their very monarch, wearing the outfit from her latest public appearance.

And so on. But then, it got more interesting.

“Touch.”

A finger gliding over the back of another’s hand.

“Breath.”

A figure of a woman heaving in a breath, her head tilted back, her ribcage swelling.

“Release.”

A man’s hand falling away from his shaft, covered in cum.

Now that Linza’s erotic mind had been triggered, she was sure that they could have said ‘dog’ again and she’d have conjured ‘doggy style’, and so on.

“Sex.”

This illusion was not an image, but a sound. A luxurious moan of pleasure, followed by a shuddering gasp.

Tanyth grinned. “Interesting.”

A little professor appeared between them, with their hands tented.

Tanyth chuckled. “That wasn’t a prompt, sorry. You’re doing great. We’re almost done. The next one is arousal.”

Another sound, this one of a pounding heartbeat.

“Love.”

An image of Tanyth curled against Linza’s chest, one of Linza’s hands cradling their head, the other gently stroking their shaft.

Linza’s hands snapped to her mouth.

Tanyth’s eyes went wide.

Linza released the image and it disappeared, but it was too late.

This was not at all how Linza had wanted to confess! She’d wanted to confess—never, actually. Would they scold her? Would they leave?

Words fought on Linza’s tongue. She could ignore the image, try to down-play it. But, she didn’t want to! She couldn’t… maybe if they loved… 

But neither could she double down on her confession. She would happily sweep it under the rug if it meant that things could stay the same as they were between her and Tanyth.

Before Linza could find any words, Tanyth smiled reassuringly and awkwardly patted her knee. “That kind of thing is normal. Don’t worry about it.”

They continued on with the rest of the lesson and pretended that it hadn’t happened.

But Linza learned something else very important that day.

Tanyth was a terrible liar.