Epilogue
The sound of Corbin’s laughter filled the palace garden as he ran around playing hide and seek with the younger servants, the spellbook close behind in its usual role of chaperone. The cheerful melody repeatedly drew my gaze towards him, causing a lapse in my concentration in today’s magical studies—conjuring the elements, something far more complicated than I could have imagined after the ease Alden had demonstrated in that very skill.
My mother looked on from her place beneath the shade of a blossoming magnolia, where she sat with several servants she’d befriended as she assisted them with their mending…not because the task was required for our survival, but because she found the duty fulfilling. My brother’s health and my mother no longer being exhausted from overwork never ceased to bring me joy.
“You’re distracted again. Goodness, I found myself an inattentive apprentice.” Alden’s teasing tone gently lured my gaze away from my dear family towards him. Despite his stern countenance, amusement lit his eyes.
“And I found myself a rather impatient husband.” My cheeks warmed at the wondrous title I still hadn’t fully grown accustomed to. My husband…
“You know I love you, but even if you’re now my beloved wife, I can’t allow you to be lax in your training.” A blush accompanied his smile, soft with all the happiness I felt.
“I missed Corbin during our wedding trip and I’m so pleased he’s doing well. Part of me still can’t believe how healthy he is.” The healing charm had been working its wonders every day in the months since we had acquired it, progress that seemed more pronounced after my two-week absence.
“Magic is truly wondrous.”
My knowledge over such a fact only deepened on a more intimate level the more I learned. My passion grew the more my knowledge expanded, especially with my husband in charge of my tutoring. It allowed us to spend time together even with his position in the magical theory department and the royal duties that frequently occupied his attention the more he took on.
I didn’t resent his often hectic schedule; it thrilled me to see him embrace his role. No matter how busy he became, he always made time for me. When we weren’t together, I practiced my magic, assisted the queen with her charity projects in the nearby villages, conducted my own service using my magic to bless others, and spent time with my dear family.
I struggled to concentrate on today’s magical task of conjuring water, but I’d no sooner cradled a handful in my palm when my attention snapped back to Corbin as he tripped. Water soaked my skirts as I jolted forward, prepared to hurry over to check on him…but he merely stood back up with a wide smile and resumed his playing. I relaxed.
Alden’s magic brushed my shoulder, a touch I’d grown quite familiar with. It reached up to soothingly caress my hair, even from his short distance. “He’s doing fine.”
My tense posture slackened. “It’s strange losing my purpose in constantly needing to protect him, even as it brings me great joy to see him healthy.”
It was growing easier to step back and allow him to live his own life as I built my own with my magic, service projects, and my relationship with my husband. I was my own person.
I shifted my focus to the spell Alden had been tutoring me in all morning—growing a plant through manipulating the elements of earth, a task which brought back fond memories of the time we’d infused new life into the dying crops of the tiny hamlet. The spell required an understanding of not only the element of earth, but multiple layers so I could strenuously manipulate each one to form the roots, stem, leaves, and each petal. Though progress was slow, Alden had really grown as a tutor, allowing both of our powers to develop together.
I drew motivation from Corbin’s recent interest in collecting flowers from the royal gardens for his room in the palace to add to his musical bluebells, still enchanted from the spell Alden had performed so long ago, one that still made me smile at the tender memories they conjured, one of many wonderful ones with my dear husband.
I wanted to control earth enough to grow another enchanted plant—not just to make my brother smile, but for my usual streak of competitiveness with Alden—yet I was having a difficult time of it.
Our relationship remained unconventional as it always had—apprentice and master, commoner and prince, dearest friends…and now not only husband and wife but magical comrades as we used our powers for the benefit of Alden’s subjects. Sometimes our various roles became muddled…such as Alden stepping into his role of tutor so soon after our wedding trip when all I could see him as was my best friend and beloved companion.
He fought to suppress his emerging smile as he heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Perhaps it was a bad idea to attempt to mix romance with work.” He bridged our distance to wrap his arms snugly around me and nestle me close. “Perhaps I need to tutor you with a more firm hand. How should I punish your inattention?”
He dipped down to press his lips first to one corner of my mouth, then the other, before rewarding me with a fervent kiss. I allowed myself to enjoy it for a moment before breaking away with a giggle. “This is terrible motivation for me to take you seriously. I’m tempted to remain unfocused on your lessons if this is my promised reward.”
“Perhaps you need some motivation, a reminder of what you will be able to create when your skills further develop.”
He conjured several elements and molded them like clay. When he finished, he held up a single flower that contained each element woven in its design, making it appear straight from the pages of a storybook.
He presented it with a flourish. “For you, my beloved wife.”
I took in each detail in silent wonder—the see-through petals shimmering like water; the light capturing the air around it in a rainbow of colors to dance like flickering fire; the earth that formed the foundation that kept it all together.
“You certainly know how to create your own love charm.” I stood on tiptoe to press my lips back against his. He chuckled but made no move to pull away.
“I knew you were being inattentive on purpose. Such ingratitude for my brilliant tutelage.”
“I promise to pay better attention the day I find magic more interesting than you.”
He grinned and his secure embrace tightened. “You certainly know how to appease me, for I never want you to find anything more fascinating than me. Perhaps we should put a halt to our studies.” He leaned back down, as if he meant to kiss me again…but I turned around in the circle of his arms.
“Wait, I almost have it.” He followed as I crouched to the ground and summoned my powers. I focused my thoughts away from his intoxicating presence to envision the joy my flower would bring Corbin, thoughts which allowed me to gain a more firm hold over my powers.
Magic tingled against my hands, and with considerable concentration a tiny sprout poked up from the earth, reaching towards the sun. Alden’s embrace tightened around me.
“I knew you could do it.” He rewarded me with another kiss, this one on the cheek.
I beamed at my creation, still only a seedling, but one which represented so much more—my powers that had initially begun as such, as had my relationship with Alden and my brother’s healing. With continuous nourishment, each seed had grown, as would this one, one day at a time as we lived out our life together.
Warmth expanded from my chest, causing my heart to swell with my love for my family, my new purpose, and most of all the man beside me, whom I was certain would fill every day with light and love…and that was the greatest magic of all.