Chapter 26
I’d spent my entire life pursuing my ambition for a position on the Enchanters’ Council with as much attention as the most detailed tracking spell, only to finally achieve it and be left feeling…empty, considering it was absent of the woman who for so long had stood loyally beside me.
Concentration had been elusive enough after her departure when her frog curse had been broken, but that was nothing to the distraction clouding my thoughts now. The joy I’d been able to recapture thanks to her encouragement had vanished, leaving me questioning whether this path was the one I truly wanted.
Yet I was terrified of letting go of the true north that had guided me for so long, without which I feared I’d be left directionless and adrift.
I tried to suppress my burden of doubt beneath my rigorous training, which began at dawn and often went late into the night, where I’d fight off sleep with only the stars for company. Beyond my hours of study, I sat in on meetings, shadowed members of the council—all strangers considering none of my friends had qualified for the position—as they conducted their various tasks, and received detailed lessons in the duties that would eventually be required of me.
I should have been proud of my accomplishment, but instead each long day was measured by a crushing discouragement, as if a siphoning force had robbed me not of my powers but instead the fulfillment they used to bring, leaving nothing to distract me from Maeve’s acute absence.
I stared around the spacious chamber that had become my new office, already in a state of disarray without my apprentice to create chaos by tidying it up into a semblance of order. It was too quiet, the silence magnified without the sound of Mae’s usual humming that I now fiercely missed.
Not just her humming, I missed everything—the contented smile that often toyed at her beguiling lips, the way her foot bounced as she studied, the curious glint in her eyes I never tired of, the soothing companionship brought by her thoughtful comments and intelligent conversation as we visited, her creative insights and advice, the care she showed not just me but all she came into contact with, the way her expression lit up whenever our gazes met that always caused my heart to flip.
I pressed my hand to my chest but I couldn’t escape each of my heart’s frantic beats imparting a message I still didn’t feel ready to receive, not with our diverging paths preventing my acting upon my growing feelings.
I used to futilely deny my apprentice’s effect on me…until my brush with the Relic of Clarity had illuminated the truth of my deepening feelings that felt as impossible to decipher as the trickiest enchanted lock. Since then I’d striven to better understand the emotions stirring my heart, but no amount of research into charms or potions dealing with love could prepare me for how to navigate this unknown magic.
I thought I could spend my entire life hiding from romance behind my books, training, and position…but love had found me anyway, a magic I still didn’t understand but which I desperately wanted to explore. For Maeve gave meaning not just to my powers, but made me a better wizard, prince…and especially man.
On the eve of my final day of training, I sat midst midnight’s presence surrounded by my usual wall of tomes, staring unseeing at the page as I restlessly twirled my quill between my fingers. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear Enchantress Ivy’s soft knock, causing me to startle when she inched the door open wide enough to peer inside.
“I came to check whether you were ready for your first official day tomorrow.”
Despite feeling entirely unprepared, I managed a nod and tried to return to my reading, certain an extended conversation would force me to confront the confusion I felt unequipped to encounter. Rather than my silence encouraging her departure, she lingered in the doorway a moment before stepping fully into the room and conjuring a chair in order to settle beside me.
“Casting aside my position as the Head Enchantress and speaking as a mentor: just because you’ve earned this position doesn’t mean you’re under any obligation to accept it.”
My gaze snapped to hers. “How could I ever give up all I’ve ever wanted?” But rather than these words illuminating my path forward as they’d previously done, instead they became entangled in my self-inflicted lies that no amount of magic could unravel.
“Dreams can shift or even change as one grows and develops.” She rested a motherly touch on my arm, conjuring the memory of the times Mae had touched me and the almost electrifying sensation each had left upon my skin. “As qualified as you are for this position, I can’t help but wonder if this is what you truly desire.”
Her question acted as its own spell of clarity, illuminating the doubts lurking in the dark corners of my heart that I’d do anything to keep hidden. “How can it no longer be enough?”
“Perhaps because securing the position granted you what you truly sought—not a seat on the council, but to prove yourself, while in truth there is something that will bring you greater fulfillment beyond what you thought you wanted. Journeys have a way of changing us, leaving me to wonder if what you now strive for has shifted to something else…or rather someone.”
Unbidden, Mae’s face bombarded my mind, as if my heart had been waiting for permission to summon the thoughts and memories of her I’d been striving to suppress. An ache filled my chest that I doubted even the most powerful healing charm would be able to cure…save for her.
Which left only one course, one that terrified me.
I toyed with one of the enchanted instruments on my desk. “What would happen if I rejected the position?”
She smiled. “Then the one who next qualified would take your place: your friend, Kai. Even without an official role on the Enchanters’ Council, you need not step away completely—we would offer you a less taxing role as Head of the Magical Theory Department, which will leave you enough free time to pursue not only your responsibilities as a prince that I’ve come to understand you’ve grown in these past several months, but have time for more personal pursuits...such as your affinity for a particular frog.”
Mischief infused her grin, causing heat to engulf me and stoke my yearning…yet I’d clung to the Council position for too long for my hesitation to dispel completely. “What should I do?”
“Only you can determine that. However you decide to use your unique gifts, I will support you.” Enchantress Ivy rose from her seat but paused at the threshold to glance back. “Perhaps the greatest magic is what is found on the journey to achieving our dreams, where we come to realize that what we thought we wanted and what we truly desire are different than we initially imagined.”
With an encouraging smile she departed, leaving me staring after her with a wish to summon her back to help me work through the confusing muddle of my thoughts.
Unable to sort out the puzzle on my own, I turned to the source that had guided me for so long: magic. With a murmured spell I lit a candle to study its dancing flame. I had little experience in divination magic considering I’d never felt the need to search for any other path other than the one currently steering my course, but now I felt stuck at a crossroads that led to two very different destinations, one containing a future far different than I initially expected.
No matter how much I concentrated, I couldn’t interpret the flame’s dancing movements, each sway only reminding me of the time I’d taught Mae about divination magic; every thought I conjured always connected back to her. I struggled to wrangle my thoughts into submission as the smoke curled upwards to waltz into indiscernible patterns.
I sighed. Deep down I knew I didn’t need divination or any other spell to confirm the message my heart had been trying to impart from the moment of Mae’s departure. Clearly the love potion she and I had created in the challenge was not to blame for the spell that had captured my heart, going far deeper than a mere charm ever could. However my future unfolded, the one certainty that emerged from my tangle of conflicting desires was that I wanted to experience it with her by my side—not to train her as my apprentice, but to continue the journey we’d already started in our discoveries not just in magic but also ourselves, all while making new ones together.
There was only one position suited for this role I wanted for her, one that caused me to blush and my heart leap at the realization of had been my true dream this entire time.
* * *
Maeve
I feltI’d left behind all the magic that had once filled my life when I departed from Alden. I hadn’t realized how accustomed I’d grown to his presence until he was no longer beside me. Everything reminded me of him—whether it was the lessons he’d taught me or one of his endearing quirks that I fiercely missed.
I tried to lock these emotions away so nothing would distract me from the needs of my family that had returned to the forefront of my focus the moment I arrived home. Part of me expected to return to find my family struggling, but to my surprise and confusion they had functioned without me. While this brought me joy, it also forced me to wrestle with the realization that despite having put so much of myself into serving them all of these years I wasn’t indispensable, leaving me uncertain of my true purpose.
Despite my efforts to suppress it, magic seemed determined to distract me. Shortly after I returned home, enchanted letters began to arrive, soaring into my waiting hands to transform into offers for me to enter an apprenticeship with various witches and wizards.
Each offer acted as a seductive spell that preyed on my secret desires, but I couldn’t make myself accept any. As much as I wanted to continue exploring my magical pursuits, I repeatedly found myself unconsciously habitually shelving them in favor of my old responsibilities that used to occupy my attention prior to meeting Alden.
I knew that he wanted me to continue my studies so I had something that was mine alone outside the needs of my family, but I wasn’t ready to move forward in my training with the absence of the man who’d first ignited my passion.
Instead I immersed myself in my familiar duties, taking on much of Corbin’s care and helping my mother around the house, but even my frantic cleaning spree until every surface was spotless wasn’t enough to curb my restlessness. I even grew desperate enough to wrangle the broom Alden had enchanted to glide across the floor in order to sweep it myself…only for it to wriggle free, leaving me nothing to distract me from all the memories Alden and I shared, ones I cherished more deeply now that our paths had diverged despite the tender feelings I’d so recently discovered.
Despite the pain brought by lost love, I could never regret our time together. My own magical knowledge had not only increased, but my relationship with Alden had deepened…a change more precious than anything.
Worry marred Mother’s brow as she watched me before it seemed she couldn’t bear my melancholy a moment longer. “No more cleaning.” She wrestled the wriggly broom I’d managed to wrangle into submission from my grip. “You need to do something for yourself. Perhaps you should go into town?” At my hesitation, she handed me a basket of eggs. “If you insist on being productive, trade these for some milk. I’d rather you do a menial chore if it’ll get you out of the house rather than remain cooped up as you have been.”
I gratefully accepted the diversion…only to pause in the doorway to glance back at Corbin, who’d been well enough these past several days to be out of bed near the hearth. He had been the biggest change in my absence away from home. Though he still suffered from his chronic condition, he’d grown so much these past several months, causing me to realize he wasn’t as helpless as I often feared.
I deliberated a moment before settling on my decision. “Would my favorite helper like to accompany me?”
His gaze snapped up, eyes bright with the prospect. “Really? I can go on my own adventure?”
Guilt twinged my breast that for all the care I’d tried to render him, I’d failed to help him experience life beyond the mementos and stories I brought back for him.
“Of course. We’ll go on one together.” I noticed Mother’s hesitation. “I’ll carry him on my back if he grows too tired.”
She deliberated a moment longer, but he looked so enthralled by the prospect of getting out of the house that her resistance softened enough for her to nod her permission.
The late afternoon sunlight seemed extra bright and cheery with Corbin experiencing it with me. He clung to my hand and swung our arms back and forth as we slowly ambled up the path, his eyes wide with wonder as he took in the canopy of branches above us and the golden light creating dancing patterns against the leaves.
After a moment, his interest shifted from all the new sights and sounds to studying my face with a thoughtful pucker, dark eyes wide and searching.
“Did you forget something from your time with Mr. Wizard?”
My heart lurched at the mention of Alden, but I kept my expression impassive as I peered curiously at him. “What makes you think I’ve forgotten something?”
“Perhaps not forgotten, but you have the same look I do when I’ve lost my favorite toy.”
My heart swelled. Corbin possessed the unique ability to see beyond his own circumstances to those of others, even pains that I did my best to keep hidden.
He was still awaiting an answer, his look too earnest for me to have any hope of dodging his curiosity. “I miss my magic studies.” It was a safer admission than confessing I missed the one who’d first brought my powers to life more than anything else.
He tilted his head. “Then perhaps we can perform magic together. I can help you, just as you always help me.” He smiled his charming grin, and I missed the way his tongue no longer stuck between the gap that his teeth now evenly filled it.
His sweet offer stoked my previously weakening resolve. If I couldn’t have Alden, I could at least keep the magic he helped me discover a part of my life. It was time to move forward with the purpose I’d begun to nourish while using my powers to help the villagers in the hamlet—to look outside my brother’s needs to those that existed all around me.
I knelt before Corbin and carefully cradled his hands. “Would you like to become my apprentice for a new game?”
Enthusiasm brightened his dear features. “An apprentice like you? Will I be able to learn magic too?”
“Perhaps not, but you can assist me with my own.”
Wonder lit his expression at the prospect. “Can I have robes to match Mr. Wizard’s? And my own wand?”
Wands were only found within storybooks and hadn’t actually been part of my own magical training, but I wanted nothing to dim his bright smile.
I tapped my chin in thought as I cast my gaze along the path until I found a stick strewn on the side. I broke off the loose leaves and small twigs to smooth it out before summoning a bit of light magic to fuse on the end.
I handed it to Corbin. “Now you’re my official apprentice. While in town we can barter for some fabric so I can make you your own robes to wear when we get home.”
He accepted his new wand with wide-eyed reverence. For a moment he could only stare before he eagerly met my gaze. “What magic should we perform first?”
I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Let’s see if we can find the perfect spells to perform together.”
As he trailed after me through the village. I noticed new details about the neighbors I’d known my entire life, as if seeing them for the first time. The powers I’d fought to suppress roused, ready to be of service. Though I still only possessed the knowledge for a handful of spells, my training had granted me enough to provide small bits of service. When I returned home, I resolved to sort through the applicants and finally decide on a new apprenticeship so that with time I could learn more.
Corbin’s own experiences caused him to understand others’ suffering in a way deeper than I ever could, granting him ideas for how to alleviate some of their discomfort. He noticed that a widow’s crooked back made it difficult for her to carry her full milk pail, so I enchanted it with a bit of wind magic to allow it to float alongside her. For an elderly blacksmith with arthritis in his joints, we conjured a flame that never went out so he had light to work by as daylight continued to shorten. For several farmers, we enchanted their chicken coops to keep out the foxes and their fields to better yield a good harvest.
Like from my time in the hamlet, each act of service brought a smile to my neighbor’s faces. For each trick, I created the illusion that Corbin was performing the spell by having him wave his magic want at each person we helped; warmth swelled at his deepening joy, dispelling much of the darkness created by my missing Alden.
We would have lingered longer, but Corbin began to tire, so I carried him on my back for the journey home, the jars of milk we’d traded our eggs for following gently behind.
“Did you have fun?” I asked him.
“I did, but we didn’t finish our game; there’s one more spell I need to cast: you’ve forgotten to perform magic for yourself.”
My breath caught as I stilled. “I don’t need any magic, Corbin.”
“Everyone needs magic.” He wriggled about in an attempt to scramble off my back until I set him down. He walked around me and lifted his wand. In the fading light I could barely make out the determination scrunching his brow. “I want to perform my first real spell for you.”
I frowned. “But you’ve already performed plenty of real spells for the villagers.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m seven years old, Mae, much too old for that trick. That was your magic, and since you won’t use it for yourself, I want to use my powers for you.”
My heart pounded wildly in my chest. Had my brother seen every weary emotion I’d fought to keep from him? I stroked his hair. “I love you, Corbin. It’s a pleasure to help you.”
He smiled. “I know. We serve those we love, which is why it’s my turn to help you.”
“You don’t need to repay me—” I began, but he’d already tapped his wand against my heart.
“What wish can I grant you?”
The deepest wish of my heart had shifted away from my brother to my own selfish whims, too precious to share, so instead I wrapped him in a tender embrace. “I want you to be able to live the fullest life possible, Corbin.”
He beamed. “That’s an easy one, for I’m already living it.” A rare shadow clouded his features. “I want that for you too, Mae.”
His words reached inside me to reignite the flame that I’d allowed to grow dormant in the years I’d lost myself, allowing the unique magic that could only come from him to seep over me and work on my stubborn heart.
Emotion swelled. I scooped him into my arms for a suffocating embrace. “Thank you, Corbin.”
Perhaps my brother had magic after all, for like I’d wanted to transform Alden’s discouraged heart, I felt as if Corbin had helped pull me from the melancholy blotting out my own happiness, dispelling it just enough to transform mine.