For a moment the words were on his tongue to ask if she would, if she would save him from the influence of the gist, but Anton closed his lips against them and breathed evenly for a few moments before trying to speak again.

"I'd consider it a breach of Hotel rules," he said, still looking at her, still unmoving because he couldn't trust how he would react if he did. "And if I find you actively using it against anyone else in the Hotel, I would consider that a breach also." He didn't mind the use of magic in the Hotel--but the deliberate use of magic against another, without consent? Yes, that was violent, in its own way. Yet the threat was very nearly hollow; without actively being in the room at the same moment China brought her power to bear, there was almost no chance Anton would know she was doing so.

But he didn't take the warning back.