Page 65 of Charmed

“They’re fine.” Alden gave his assessment much too hastily for it to be sincere, a suspicion he only confirmed when his hand flexed at his side, as if subconsciously searching for the magic that had become elusive of late.

By her pursed disapproval she too detected his deceit, but rather than call him out on it, she settled for a warning. “You’re exerting more magic in a short span of time than you ever did during your studies. Please be careful.”

Her ominous words weighed heavily upon us as we departed. The moment we were out of earshot, I turned to him. “You lied to Enchantress Ivy about the state of your magic; it’s still causing you difficulty.”

He sighed. “It was wrong to deceive her, but I felt I was already on the precipice of my eligibility to remain in the competition and didn’t want to be forced to forfeit over circumstances beyond my control.”

“But your powers are much weaker after the exertion you expended in the relic challenge. At the very least, don’t decipher the next challenge until you’ve given your powers a chance to recover.”

He made to protest, but nodded in acquiescence at my fierce look. “Very well, I’ll at least wait until morning.” The promise seemed torturous for him, making the true test for the next challenge one in patience.

We returned to the enchanted forest to rest, a clearing that had become special as the setting where my feelings for Alden had deepened into love. I hoped we’d settle back into our previous routine, but I underestimated how different things would be with my being human again.

During our previous meals we’d always maintained a steady and amiable conversation, but instead silence reigned during tonight’s meal of roasted fish on toasted bread that Alden prepared, our previous easy topics remaining trapped behind a barrier of awkwardness. We cast one another several repeated glances. Each time it seemed Alden wanted to speak…only to hastily look away with a blush.

Following the meal, Alden enchanted our plates and utensils to wash themselves with a simple water spell I desperately yearned to learn in order to help alleviate Mother’s workload at home before he wandered to the nearby pond, his feet guided by his previous habit of bathing before bed.

I stiffened and hastily turned my back to him, but no matter how long I rigidly waited, there was no sound of him getting into the water. I cast a hesitant glance behind me to find Alden thankfully still fully clothed and on the shore, staring at me with bulging eyes.

“I just realized that before I—” He couldn’t seem to bring himself to finish, but he didn’t need to remind me of his previous awkward moments of bathing in front of me, blissfully unaware I was his apprentice.

My cheeks burned. “I never saw anything!” Despite my hasty reassurances, his arms covered his chest, as if to shield even the memory of the last time I’d seen him shirtless.

Awkwardness crowded the space between us, suddenly seeming much too small with the embarrassment choking the air, even after Alden stepped determinedly away from the pond and I followed suit. Though I trusted him not to take advantage of any potential compromising situation, I could never bring myself to bathe with him so near.

I glanced at the self-cleaning dishes. “Does a spell like that exist for people?” Even focusing on practical solutions to our current dilemma wasn’t enough to suppress the lingering discomfort.

“I will make it my highest priority to research one.”

I hoped this resolution would dispel the strange mood hovering as thickly as the magic filling the air, only for us to encounter another problem as Alden set up our sleeping arrangements. He paused to frown at the bedroll half unrolled near the crackling fire.

“Unfortunately I only have the one. Feel free to use it while I make other arrangements.”

Naturally I felt inclined to protest. “I could never put you out by forcing you to sleep on the ground when I’m the one who insisted on accompanying you.”

“I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I forced you to sleep on the ground for the sake of my own comfort.”

I rolled my eyes. “By that argument it would be wrong for a mere commoner to put her comfort above that of a prince.”

His jaw stiffened at the unwanted reminder of his title. “As aprinceit’d be dishonorable to selfishly put my comfort above a subject under my care; just think what my subjects would say.” His brow furrowed as he considered another problem. “As much as I welcome your company, I’m concerned about the state of your reputation should anyone discover you traveled with a wizard unchaperoned.”

In truth the kingdom would have far greater concern for his reputation as a royal than of a nobody such as myself, but I knew better than to point that out. “You’re not a prince traveling alone with a common woman, you’re a wizard embarking on a quest with the aid of your apprentice in training, with the presence of a spellbook serving as chaperone for the sake of propriety.”

The spellbook ruffled its pages in a show of self importance at the acknowledgement. Alden remained unconvinced as he cast his companion a wary glance, but thankfully he made no further protest.

The spellbook’s presence did nothing to lessen the tension created by our sleeping arrangements. I gnawed my lip as I took in the bedroll, admittedly large enough for the both of us…a scenario that was out of the question despite the longing that fluttered my stomach at the thought of sleeping so close to him. I forced the ridiculous imaginings away to consider the matter logically.

“Is there some sort of duplication spell that would allow both of us to use the bedroll?”

He opened his mouth….only for no words to come out. He glanced back and forth between me and the bedroll before sighing. “A practical solution.” Sheepishness shrouded the admission.

My lips twitched. “You’re a very talented wizard, Alden, but you need to work on infusing a bit more creativity into your spells. There are more possibilities to magic than what you learned in a book.”

The corner of his mouth lifted upwards into a smile. “You’re helping me believe in greater possibilities, Maeve.”

Alden’s talent allowed him to perform the spell with little difficulty, though he was considerate enough to do it with a detailed explanation in order to teach me, paying particular focus to the magical theory behind the spell.

He seemed to find greater challenge not in magic as advanced as analyzing an object with enough understanding to duplicate its matter, but in figuring out what distance wastoo closefor us to sleep. He repeatedly rearranged our bedrolls before settling on an arrangement that kept us within an equal distance from the fire, but several meters away from one another—a distance that seemed far enough to maintain propriety yet still scandalously close…even with the spellbook planted firmly between us with its pages spread out to properly perform its chaperone duties.

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