13. Leila

THIRTEEN

LEILA

T he castle library dwarfed that of the Sorcerer's Academy. Leila's eyes widened when she and Yaldred stepped through the doors. Bookshelves climbed high to the ceilings all the way around the large square room with step ladders on rolling carts to get to those on the higher shelves. Several tables were placed around the middle of the room for study, each with paper, quills, and ink at the ready to allow note taking.

Leila's wonder fell as she stepped close and examined the spines of the nearest books. All knowledge held an important place, but it seemed the majority of the books here were not about the mystical arts. She passed sections of the kingdom's history, with a few on other kingdoms and doings. Some of the explorer's journals caught her eye but she had a purpose for coming here today.

Shelves filled with tomes of poetry were passed by along with a large selection of books detailing farming methods and different crops. Yaldred stopped to pull out a book detailing the combat styles of the southern kingdoms, but Leila pushed on until she finally found the section on the mystical arts.

She slid her fingers along the spines of several books, shaking her head as she'd read the academy's copies already. This section of the library appeared less used and taken care of than some of the others. A few books really needed rebinding. Leila thought of the crotchety old librarian at the academy and what he'd think of the damage. She moved to push back a hanging bit of leather on a particularly damaged volume only to notice something behind it on the shelf.

Leila carefully pulled a few books out and found an even worse-for-wear tome. Book mites had long made a meal of several pages and it was surrounded by bits of paper that had fallen away in its state. Smashed behind other books, the rest were crumpled. It had no cover and the ink on the yellow-tinted title page had faded too much to read. Leila had to be extra careful even picking it up. The ancient pages crumbled at the edges, exposing more damage from the mites.

"How old is that?" Yaldred said when Leila brought the book to the table she sat at. "Can you even call that a book?"

"At one point it was," Leila replied, carefully setting the book on the table. "Can't even read the title. I wonder if it was important to someone."

Yaldred moved her chair closer and set aside her combat manual. "Maybe your magic can help. I don't think you'll even be able to flip the page."

Yaldred made a good point. Even moving slowly, pulling the title page up, the corner snapped off before the rest of the page even moved. It took running the point of a dry quill under the page to unstick it from the page below, though it still crackled to small pieces of brittle paper shreds.

"If you can read it, you might be the last person to ever do so," Yaldred said, picking up one of the little bits of paper. It turned to dust between her fingers. "Hope you are ready to take notes if your power can't fix it."

The next page was a mess of half-formed letters, with some ink faded and other bits of it flaking off the back of the ruined page.

"My powers," Leila whispered, then snapped her fingers. "I reversed time repairing Rehn's clothes, why couldn't I do the same to this?"

"Why were the king's clothes damaged?" Yaldred asked, and Leila realized she said that out loud. "You haven't told me anything about the dinner you two shared last night or why you were in the same dress this morning."

"We have more important things to worry about than my sex life," Leila said, waving the question off, only then did she realize what she admitted to and her cheeks burned.

"You have to at least give some details." Yaldred nudged her. "You can't leave me hanging here. I was the one to tell you to take your shot."

Leila ignored her. She closed her eyes and put her hand on top of the crumbling book. Thinking about the feeling that coursed through her when she repaired Rehn's clothes, she took a deep breath, trying to feel the same sensation.

It came, but so vague and indistinct she couldn't tell if she was feeling it or had only convinced herself she had. Her eyes opened and the book remained as crumbling and illegible as ever. She glared at it as if her eyes could light it on fire, but that didn't happen either.

Again, she closed her eyes and searched for that sensation and again, she thought she felt it. Even before she looked at her handiwork, she expected it to have failed. It had. The book remained illegible and not even worthy to start a fire.

"Third time's the charm?" Yaldred offered, her voice sympathetic.

"Might as well," Leila said.

She took several long breaths, trying to sense that feeling. This time, even when she didn't feel it, she pushed harder, scrunched her eyes shut tighter trying to find even a hint of it. The doors to the library opened, their hinges creaking. Leila ignored it and the footsteps approaching and Yaldred's shush to the intruder.

Then, she felt it, that odd sensation just like last time. With a deep breath, she poured it into the book, willing it to revert, to go back to when it was whole and readable, when the pages were not brittle and crumbling to dust.

Yaldred sucked in a breath, shocked. Leila's eyes flew open. The crumbled bits of the title page moved toward the book on their own volition. The title page reconstructed itself in a second. The age yellowed page lightened and the faded ink grew bold and black. Leila's hand shook. Another deep breath and it stabilized.

A cover appeared over the title page, growing from the repaired spine. The corners of the leather cover remained rounded, pressed in with the leather cracked and stressed. That only lasted for a second, though, when they straightened, Leila jerked her hand away. If she kept going, would the pages end up wood, the leather cover an untanned hide?

"Remarkable," came Rehn's voice behind Leila.

She flinched before turning. Yaldred stood and gave a slight bow to her king. He nodded, then went back to examining the book and Leila herself. She sat a little straighter, pride bubbling through her, though she couldn't tell if turning back the clock on the book brought that, or doing it in front of Rehn that had her shoulders square.

He said, "I've always wondered what this book was." He flipped through a few pages. "Too bad I can't read the language it's written in. It must be quite old."

"If I can reverse the effect of time, I'm sure I can move things toward the future," Leila said, thinking of all the implications. "We need to test this. But with what? I have a great idea. What if I tried to age wine? You have a vintner, don't you?"

"Hold on, what if that is dangerous? Do you even know the effects using this power has on you?" Rehn asked. "There is always a cost of magic, right? We don't want to tax your abilities, especially if we don't know the effect."

"I feel amazing." Leila jumped to her feet. "I know I can do it. I just need practice."

Yaldred slid her chair in and took a few steps back. Seemed she didn't want anything to do with this conversation. Rehn held up a hand and shook his head.

"You are excited because you succeeded, you don't know if there will be any detrimental effects if you push yourself again," he said. "And maybe some things are best left to nature. Drystan wanted to use your powers to change something in the past. What if you end up changing something? We have no idea what that might do to the present and the future."

"And what if I need to use these powers to prevent whatever our mysterious sorcerer has in mind? If I don't know how to control them, I'll never be able to use them to stop it." Leila was on her feet now, poking a finger into Rehn's chest as she made her point.

He covered her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. Hot as her temper had become, the touch cooled it like a rushing brook in the heart of summer. For as long as she could remember, she'd been trying to access these powers. In all that time, she hardly thought at all about whether she should access them.

Rehn gave her hand another squeeze and stepped closer. The doors to the library closed, Yaldred having left them alone. Rehn took a deep breath and smiled, melting whatever anger she still held.

"Why don't we revisit this later?" he said, glancing over to the closed doors. "Why don't you let me take your mind off all this? The book will be here when we get back."

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Anywhere we want, but I thought you'd like a ride around the valley to see some of my kingdom for yourself," Rehn replied.

"I'd love to go riding with you." Leila gave the pristine book another look before allowing Rehn to take her from the library.

They went out to the castle's central courtyard, but Rehn tugged her toward the main gate, not the stables. She frowned, glancing at the first line of stalls along the wall, then up at Rehn. He had a slight smile she took as mischievous.

Right outside the gate, he stopped and let go of her hand. His shoulders rolled and he grew taller. Hair sprung from his bare arms and he dropped to all fours as the transformation took him. His massive bear form stood in front of her. He dropped to his belly and huffed, giving her a bear smile.

"Do I need a saddle?" Leila asked.

The bear shook its head and she grabbed a fist full of fur and climbed onto his back before he took off on an ambling trot.