The Apple of My Eye

Chapter 9

For the rest of the week a new routine had developed for Charlotte. She would spend her days doing her usual chores in the kitchen and in the evenings she would wait for Rosie to appear and transform her mossy rags into a beautiful new gown just before she would leave to attend the fun events being held. Upon arriving at each event she would spend the entirety of it with Alastor and no one else. They would talk, laugh, and just enjoy each other's company. But then she would leave before the morning star faded and return to her little cellar.

"Why does the magic last only until the morning star fades?" She had asked Roise once.

"The magic I use is very much like help in general." The witch-woman had answered. "It's my understanding that help is very beneficial but very limited. Everyone needs help once in awhile but you can't always rely on help from others. Sometimes you have to do things on your own. In other words, don't always rely on my magic."

Charlotte didn't fully understand what she meant by those words and she didn't really think much of them after that conversation. She just focused on spending time with Alastor for as long as she could and during all that time they spent with each other they began learn interesting things about one another. Like how the two of them had quite a few differences and disagreements in regards to certain subjects.

For example Charlotte rather enjoyed the farmer's competition because she loved animals. Her personal favorite being goats. She would stroke them and kiss their heads, treating them as precious pets and companions. Alastor on the other hand did not really see animals as anything other than a source of food or work. He was not cruel to animals nor did he support the idea of animal abuse but he didn't want them to live under the same roof as him. Especially considering the lot of them had fleas and made such irritating sounds.

Another example would be when a wild pig hunt was held the day after and Alastor enjoyed hunting very much. The thrill of chasing down one's prey and catching it with your own superior quick wit made him feel like he had all the strength and power in the world. However Charlotte did not like hunting at all. The loud shots fired by the guns frightened her and she could not bear the sight of the blood being shed from the poor beasts once they had been killed. Now it wasn't that she was opposed to eating meat she just didn't like viewing the gory parts that led up to the meal.

But the thing about having a good relationship is that you don't always have to agree with each other or like the exact same things as your significant other. But sometimes you have to put aside your own dislikes and discomforts for the other person's sake. So when Charlotte wanted to play with the nanny goat and her kids who were on display at the competition he just smiled and stood by in the pen while she acted affectionately to the creatures. And when Alastor shot the largest wild pig ever seen, Charlotte congratulated him for his cleverness although she avoided looking at the dead swine. They compromised with each other and that in itself made their relationship grow stronger.

Not to say that they didn't have anything in common. They learned that they both found their greatest pleasures in music and dance, that they were greatly entertained by stories weather they be told in front of them or read from the pages of books, and that they both had their own special kind of food that brought back happy memories from their youth. For Charlotte as you already know it was apples but for Alastor it was venison. He was more to savory tastes than sweet and he often told his sweetheart how many of his happiest childhood memories had taken place when he was either hunting for deer or learning to cook it with his mother. His dear sweet mother who he loved so very much and missed so terribly when she died.

Charlotte comforted him when he spoke of his mother and how he had lost her at a young age. She knew all too well of that loss and how painful it was. She longed to tell him how much she understood his pain. She longed to tell him about how she had lost her mother as a child as well and how like him she would give anything in the world to see her mother again.

Yes it seemed like a match made in heaven and with each evening they spent with each other, she became dearer and dearer to him. So much so that soon she was the most dear and precious thing he had ever known. He desperately wanted to know her name and he would often try to get her to tell him but she would always laugh it off and continue to keep her identity a secret. Always slipping away from him just before the morning star faded and this only made his want for her grow. At long last Alastor realized that his wanting for this woman and his desperation to know who she was could only mean one thing. He had lost his heart to her and she had lost hers to him as well. Which was why she dreaded the seventh day of the week for she knew that was when the festival would end and she would most likely never lay eyes on him again.

Oh but how could that be? How could she just never see him again? Even if it was to be, could she really go on in life without him? The very being who had brought joy back into her life after so much sorrow? Because of him she could smile again and laugh again and sing again. Because of him she could once again love someone so much that she no longer considered her life most important. A love so deep and true, a love that she had never believed she would ever know, and love that she knew she could never be parted from.

"No." She had decided. "No this will not be goodbye forever. Because tonight I shall tell him everything. I no longer fear unveiling myself to him. I no longer care if he knows that I am just a ragged kitchen servant or the rejected Magne daughter and I believe that he will not care either. He is most likely a field hand or an apprentice or someone of humble position like I am now, so he wouldn't be ashamed of my occupation."

On the evening of the seventh day they were having another ball and Charlotte had every intention of not only attending this ball but to also tell Alastor her name and everything about her that she had kept secret from him. Like many nights before, she waited in the cellar for Rosie to appear and when the witch-woman did as such, she as expected transformed the mossy dress Charlotte wore into a splendid gown. This one was the most beautiful of all and Charlotte's favorite. The gown was pure white with waves upon it and trimmed with lace and silver. She practiced what words she would say to her darling once she was ready to confess for she did not want her love to misunderstood again.

"If you speak from your heart child then he will know how you feel." Rosie had told her that night.

"But my words could offend him if I am not careful." Charlotte replied. "If he is offended, he may send me away just as my father did and if he were to do that then I...I...I don't know what I would do. But I know that it would break me."

"This man is not your father. Though very prideful like he was, the man you desire is genuine and will not be pleased by pretty words if they are false. You may speak your heart to him without fear I assure you."

"You speak as if you know him so well."

"I know him quite well and someday we shall talk more on that subject but now you must hurry. Hurry and see him, tell him your name and of how much you love him. I can promise you that you will not regret it."

"I pray that I do not."

Charlotte turned around to find Rosie gone again. She then turned back to face her reflection in a nearby glass. She looked lovely but was she lovely enough that the man she loved would still see her that way, even after she revealed all her secrets to him? No doubt it was risky but she could not give into to fear. Not when love was involved. She had to tell him tonight. If not then they would most likely be separated forever.

She looked away from the glass, slipped on her shoes, quietly left the cellar, and quietly made her way upstairs to where the ball was being held.