"Jack? Would you see to the horses. This next bit requires some privacy for Mister Bickerstaff and myself."Jack gathered the reins of the horses and w...lked them fifty yards through the forest. He removed the bits and let them nibble at whatever they felt was fit to eat. Penny looked at the roughly handsome man on the log in front of her. Both sat astride the wood, she because she intended to keep him off center by not acting like a lady, and he, because it was just natural to mirror her. I started folding up some clothes and putting them away, my parents' clothes and I was in their bedroom and thinking, God! What if Mom came back and it was just like before? Wouldn't that suck? Like Dad always ignoring me, Mom just nagging me, JJ hating me ... Oh, no way! That would seriously blow, right?It didn't make me feel down or sad or whatever, it was just me thinking, and I had to smile because, nah ... Mom wasn't going to come back. She was off fooling around and so that left me here.. Manipulating people against their will is an unethical use of magic, thought Ursus. At least it is in matters that aren't clear cases of self-defense or the defense of others.Keeping Kirsten and me apart is against our wills.As the parent of a child, his responsibility is to protect her. You might think he's overreacting, but he has no choice but to use his best judgment. Who else's can he use? In any case, it's still wrong to use magic that way.Why?If it's wrong to do it physically, it's wrong. We sat on the sofa and finished off the champagne. He pointed to an envelope on the bureau."You were supposed to put that in your purse when you came in." Oh. I didn't know. I've never done this before," I admitted, but I did as he said and took the money. It felt like I was crossing into a very cold place, but that lasted only a second."Well, you're very good. Can you stay the night?" I had planned to."We talked a bit about his family -- wife and two teenage kids. She's ok in bed but "not like.