"It takes practice," Merlin replied. Practice he had had an awful lot of, over the years. He only needed a little magic to nudge the shapes these days. He took another breath of smoke and blew it out in a small cloud, which shaped into a hit air balloon and floated away.
"You shouldn't smoke, though," he added, checking how much tobacco was left in the pouch. "Terribly bad for you. The lungs, you see." He gestured at his chest with the pipe to demonstrate, and now his sharp blue eyes were on Kaden for a moment. "But we all have our little vices. Hecate can't stand the smell so she sends me up here."
He was offering Kaden a little something, something they could have in common, with Hecate being in charge of things. They were men together in a world of women who thought they knew best. Even the great Merlin bowed to a witch who didn't want her curtains to smell like smoke.