We worked through the day, only stopping for lunch which I managed to drag Corvin out for. He had been making perfume after perfume without resting in between and I had to admit I was a little concerned for him. The Velux Emporium canteen was loved by all the apprentices for the mouth-watering meals it provided and the new Head Perfumer needed to experience them too.

When we got there, I ordered a sweet tomato and ground beef lasagna topped with stringy, melted cheese which was my all-time favourite. I didn't get it every time I managed to escape my workspace for a meal, but it seemed like a special enough occasion. Corvin ordered the same meal since he trusted my judgement and had no clue what else to order. As we ate, people stared and whispered around us, which put me on edge. However, Corvin didn't seem to take any notice, focusing on the meal that he also agreed he loved.

The next day, we both returned to the workshop before the sun had even peered above the horizon and stars still danced in the darkness above us. We were so close to finishing the perfume and it was all I could think about. I felt much more energised compared to the previous day, so I was ready to take on the challenge of expanding the forest illusion.

Shaking his head, Corvin leaned back in his chair with a grunt of frustration, letting his fingers fall away from the perfume he was working on. "It's still not right, I can just tell. Getting the illusion to expand further seems impossible."

"I highly doubt it's impossible." I took the atomiser and used it to spray his latest attempt.

The same forest appeared around us, shadows weaving between the trees as I hadn't added the fireflies just yet. We needed a complete base before we started finalising it. I left my seat — no longer a box as I had borrowed one from a neighbouring workshop — and walked towards where I thought the door would be. Instead of the illusion expanding around me, it somehow became narrower. It was as if I could sense the wall I was approaching which wasn't meant to happen. The image of the forest distorted and lost its lifelike charm.

I frowned. "It's just going to take a little longer."

"How much longer? We haven't got any longer. There's only one day left to perfect it and then it needs to be sent off to be tested." He blew a strand of his hair out of his eyes and closed them, trying to think of a solution.

Sitting back down, I pushed the ingredients I was using out of the way. While Corvin was working on the expansion of the forest and the magic, I had been testing different variations of scents that could fit well with the enchanted atmosphere. After all my experiments, I had settled on something in the citrus and rose range.

"It's my turn. Take a moment to think things through and rest before you try again. You've been working all day," I pointed out, selecting another glass bottle.

Corvin pinched the bridge of his nose. "If I think anymore my mind is going to burst."

Now that I had rested more after being drained, the magic in the air around us felt much easier to steal and weave into place, creating an endless amount of opportunities for perfumes. The liquid inside the bottle bubbled as I worked and imagined a never-ending forest around me. Each pop touched the glass and warmed my fingertips. Once I smoothed out the last threads of magic, the scent of smoke tickled my nose.

I opened my eyes to Corvin's smile and a plume of grey wisps escaping the perfume. "I'm glad to see you've got your fire back."

I shook my head in an attempt to hide my returning smile. "Let's just hope this forest isn't burning down when we test it."

Spending all of my time with the Head Perfumer was both annoying and the best thing I had ever experienced. Getting to discover how his mind worked and seeing the elaborate perfumes he had created in the past was really inspiring. I no longer questioned why he had received the title instead of me. I did still hate him for stealing it from me, swiping it from underneath my feet, but I was glad it was him and not anyone else.

I thought I loathed sharing a space with someone while working, wanting to do everything myself and my way, but Corvin was different. He was easy to work with, even if his space was cluttered beyond repair and his notes were unreadable.

Taking the atomiser from the other perfume attempt, I screwed it onto mine and sprayed it around us. My forests were always slightly different — from the slight shades of colours to the textures we could feel. Where my trees had a rough bark that might cut into the skin if the wearer wasn't careful, Corvin's was softer and broke apart more easily, crumbling to the touch.

This time, however, the similarities between our attempts were fewer than ever.

Everything around us was distorted and warped. The forest was smaller and cramped, the trees curving over our heads. Instead of the woodland that was meant to expand further than the eye could see, I had created a dome.

Corvin stepped outside of the illusion and completely disappeared, assessing what I had made. When he came to a conclusion, he stuck his head inside to speak to me. "I'm not one to judge, but you've made a floating shadow sphere". A floating head speaking to me, his neck cut off by flickering darkness, was the most frightening sight I had ever seen.

"I meant to do that, of course," I replied with a sigh. The sarcastic lie rolled off my tongue as I returned to the desk, waiting for the failure to fade away so we could try again.

"When I first came up with this idea, I never realised it would be so difficult." Corvin joined me, picking up a feather quill and stroking the sides.

"Some of the easiest things can turn into difficult challenges if you aren't careful." Resting my chin in my hand, I turned my gaze towards my notes. Detailed annotations of parts of the forest I needed to focus on were scattered around a basic sketch of the illusion we were building, each one leading to it with a curled arrow. As my eyes traced the fireflies I had added with the end of an eraser, an idea sparked in my mind. "What if we don't expand the forest at all?"

Corvin looked up in surprise. "I don't like the sound of where this is going." He leaned forward to listen in anyway, waiting for me to continue.

"Trust me for a moment. What if we make the illusion cling to the wearer instead of making it cover the entire Miracles Festival? It could travel with them and change as they walk. That way, we can work with the size we already have." I made perfumes that clung to the wearer all the time — there was no other way to alter someone's appearance with a scent. I wasn't sure how it worked with environmental perfumes, but it had to be worth a try.

Corvin narrowed his brows in thought and tapped the quill against his cheek. He flicked through his own notes, landing on one with a bunch of hastily written scribbles. "You have my apologies, you might be onto something after all." The Head Perfumer pushed all of the filled perfume bottles off the desk into an empty box beside him to create some space for the new revelation.

Adding a quick base of water, he began lacing the magic inside, twisting it into knots so it stayed in place. He closed his eyes, his breathing slowing as he concentrated. There wasn't any hidden in his features, only a pure calm settled across him. The liquid inside the bottle eddied for a long while until it finally came to a stop.

As Corvin opened his eyes, I noticed a thin sheen of magic coating the sage green colour, making them sparkle before it vanished again. "That was more complicated than I thought."

"Do you think it worked?" I asked, my gaze darting between him and the perfume.

"I really hope so."

We both reached for the atomiser at the same time, our hands colliding and fingers lacing with each other. Corvin's skin was unnaturally soft, leaving the desire curling around my heart to touch it further — to stroke it and test whether it was just his hands or if the rest of his body was abnormally smooth. I pulled away first as I tried to purge the thoughts from my head. It was his attempt, it was only right that he got to spray it.

Before he released the perfume into the workshop, he stood from the desk and made his way to the exit to open the door. Corvin sprayed the liquid into the air so it would catch both of us and the familiar illusion burst into existence. I headed toward the walls and couldn't feel anything out of place like I had before, everything was seamless. Tree formed a line where the wall would have been and parted where the door was to guide me along, stopping me from walking into the very real objects I couldn't see anymore.

"Let's test this out, shall we?" Corvin motioned his head for me to join him so we could walk down where the outside corridor would be.

It was strange to travel through woodland that I knew wasn't real, to have faith in the surroundings to stop me from bumping into things. As we ventured into the hallway, the illusion followed us, expanding the horizon as we moved.

It worked. Finally, all of our hard work had paid off.

I turned to Corvin with a grin and he matched my excitement, coming to the same realisation. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he picked me up and spun me around in the air before quickly placing me back down. A surprised cry left my lips and I gripped onto his shirt to stop myself from falling.

"We did it!" He beamed with happiness. We were so close to each other that I could feel his breath fanning my face and the warmth of his body pressed against mine.

My eyes fell to his mouth, to the silky and shiny lips that yearned to be touched, as his fingers trailed up the skin of my arm, brushing it until they reached my face. I still gripped his shirt to pull him close, praying that this moment never ended. At least until I could find out what they really felt like.

The sound of a door creaking open forced us to pull away from each other, adjust ourselves and awkwardly fidget. Had I really been thinking about kissing Corvin Pethra? Was I really about to do it?

Dorros Reydi entered the illusion moments later, confusion etched into his aged features. It was only Corvin and I who could see the forest as we were the only ones who wore the perfume. To the owner of the Velux Emporium, it was still the normal corridor he saw every day.

"Ah, it's you two," he began, scratching his head. "I thought someone had fallen over out here. I hope Elvira isn't giving you any trouble." His eyes darted between the two of us.

"Not at all." Corvin tucked his arm over my shoulders to pull me into his side. "She's actually a great help when she's not turning up unannounced." He smirked down at me.

All I could do was press my hands to my cheeks to feel the heat they gave off. My fingers were cold and yet my face was scolding hot. If we had been staring at each other for a second longer, they might have burned to the touch.

"Good, good. Well, I'll be getting back to work. The monthly bills have just been sent through." With a wave, Dorros headed back into his office and closed the door which, seemed like he had vanished behind a tree.

"We haven't finished yet," I pointed out. "There are still some finishing touches to be made." There was adding the fireflies, the scent, getting the perfume tested — we were far from done.

Corvin outstretched his arms in an attempt to find his workshop door. "For people with our skill, that will be nothing but a breeze in a storm."

Chapter Word Count: 2,110
Total Word Count: 17,011