Whatever horrible things I expected? Didn't happen. Instead of him betraying me and Viviana rushing in with her horrid cackle and taking over my mind, turning me into whatever she desired and using me against the world she hated? And rather than my transmutation power seeing him as a nice, light snack that it could incorporate in a delicious chomp and swallow into the yawning pit that was my dark sorcery?
Instead. Rather than. The crow who was a young man bumped up against my power and held his ground.
Coercion, he sent. I can use it to keep your magic quiet. He flinched a little. Is that okay? I'm not using it to hurt you.
He wasn't either. Didn't feel like he was trying to alter or influence me in any way. If anything, he used his power of persuasion as a shield of sorts against the dark sorcery commanding me. To the point it burbled happily at the contact and retreated to gnaw on the fresh bone that had been Iso and left me, breathing deeply and feeling not quite so desperate.