Page 84 of Charmed

Enchantress Ivy allowed us our celebratory moment before with a wave of her hand another door appeared at the far end of the room. “This will lead you to the Enchanters’ Council chambers to begin your training…where you and your apprentice will part ways.”

The triumph that had buoyed me faded in an instant. “You mean…Mae can’t come with me?” I recognized the childishness of my request the moment I made it, but I couldn’t take it back.

Enchantress Ivy shook her head. “With the new duties that will be vying for your attention, there simply isn’t enough time for you to continue tutoring your apprentice.”

My hold instinctively tightened around Mae to keep her near; it might have been the fantastical whims of my imagination, but I thought I sensed her snuggle deeper into my hold, evidence of her own unwillingness to part from me.

“But…I have a duty to our contract to see her training through.” One that in my mind had no expiration date considering the closer we became, the more determined I was to persuade her into extending it indefinitely, unable to accept the thought of eventually parting from her.

“Should she wish to continue her training, the contract between you will be rewritten with another magical wielder who will fulfill it in your place.”

Though I was pleased that Maeve wouldn’t lose the opportunity to study her magic, I still felt unsettled. I didn’t want just any other witch—or heaven forbid awizard—to look after Mae;Iwanted to be the one to nourish her unquenchable thirst for knowledge, to have the blessed opportunity of watching her bloom into her powers. I felt strangely protective of her…even as I recognized that the concealment charm I’d just broken was now keeping a much deeper truth about my feelings towards her hidden from me.

“I have the time to do both—” But even as I made the protest I knew I didn’t. If only there was a spell to duplicate time until I had enough hours to adequately give her.

“Ordinarily we might be able to make an exception,” Enchantress Ivy said. “But unfortunately the time you dedicate to your new duties is already being compromised by your role as a prince. I’m afraid adding the training of an apprentice is beyond the realm of possibility. Your responsibilities would only limit her education. Surely you want what’s best for her.”

As much as I hated them, I recognized the wisdom of her words. Maeve possessed unique creative thinking and curiosity when it came to magic, two skills that needed to be properly nourished for her to reach her greatest potential as a witch. As her friend and mentor, I wanted nothing more for her.

Yet my sadness lingered, as did my reluctance to part from her, unable to bear the thought that though she’d been beside me every step of my own journey, I wouldn’t be allowed to walk alongside her for hers.

I earnestly searched her expression. She forced a smile, but it was wistful and didn’t quite reach her glassy eyes. “This is what is best for both of us. I’ve greatly enjoyed our time together and am so grateful for all you’ve taught me, but I could never stand in the way of your dream by distracting you.”

“But—”

My heart stirred within my chest even as my fingers twitched. Before I realized what was happening, I reached up to caress her cheek, my heart lifting at the way her eyes fluttered shut and she leaned against my touch. Her smooth skin was much softer than I’d spent far too long imagining.

“Will you be alright?” I asked.

She nodded and pulled away. I tried to reach for her but she stepped out of reach, causing my arms to fall limply at my side, already longing to hold her again. I’d never felt so empty than I did at her absence from the cocoon of my embrace.

I ached to protest that after all we’d already overcome together we could find a way to make this new arrangement work, but she deserved better than to have a mentor who was distracted with his own interests. The memories of the beginning of our apprenticeship returned, reminding me of how much I’d already neglected her studies.

I couldn’t do that to her again. She’d already spent her entire life putting others before herself—whether it was her brother’s health or my own magical interests—and she deserved to finally have a turn to shine. Which meant that for Mae’s sake I needed to let her go, so that I didn’t unintentionally clip her wings and prevent her from soaring to the heights that I had no doubt she could reach.

Yet it didn’t make it any easier to hold myself back and prevent her from stepping inside the portal Enchantress Ivy conjured for her. She paused on the glistening threshold to glance back at me. Magic different than what I’d studied all of these years seemed to transpire across our connected gazes, drawing us closer even as she was about to sever the thread connecting us forever. There was so much I wanted to say in that moment, but I couldn’t conjure the words.

She offered me a small, bittersweet smile before stepping into magic’s glistening embrace…and then she was gone.

I stared after her long after the portal had swallowed her up. Even though I’d finally gotten what I thought I’d wanted, an acute sense of loss seeped over me, entwining itself with a spell whose hold around my heart felt unbreakable.

Who knew finally achieving my greatest dream would come at such a high cost?

CHAPTER26

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 missedeverything—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 toflip.

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