"Great. Just what we need." Cuthbert glared at the little glass triangle. "More magic and mystery. Because it's not bad enough that Al's been laid out by a book and Roland's had a demon rooting around in his head for years. No, it had to get more exciting, didn't it?" Pulling a face, he raked his hair back with both hands and straightened up away from the rail. Caught up in that thought as he was - and really, who could blame him, when he'd seen two-thirds of his ka-tet knocked flat by similar magics? - it took him a moment to register just how flustered she was.

It was probably a bad idea, but he couldn't resist a little teasing.

"She's right, you know," he commented lightly, turning to head down the stairs, and glanced back at Kaine with his dark eyes alight with humour. "We do make a very handsome couple."