I...

[He has to either say it or not, and that's taking a leap of faith that this won't come back to bite him in the arse tomorrow. But if he backs off now, it'll look even more like he's just stirring the pot, and that could be even worse.]

...I've been careful not to remind him unduly that I'm a mage. It seems to upset him. And. Well. Others. [No need to rehash that whole situation,]

But the other day, he got on me about not being a better mage. He'd sort of... reversed his opinion, to catch me on the other side of the correction.
And that was it, really, but that he had to catch me on it, he couldn't just say what he meant. So I'll go through a whole conversation thinking I'm giving him what he wants, and it turns out it's the opposite. And he's just trying to trip me up.

[He folds his hands anxiously, looking anywhere but at Bastien, who currently holds the power of the universe.]

...he only really does it when he's upset about something else, I think. The subject itself doesn't really matter. ...I should get better at magic.