9. Leila

NINE

LEILA

T he room the king left Leila in was far too much for her. After he closed the doors behind him, she paced, taking it all in. It was a new feeling. Riding up to the castle, her neck craned to take in the towers and spires over the outer walls. It dwarfed the academy and displayed an opulence the scholars there would have found wasteful.

The same could be said with the quarters given her, not even Xanthus had such a large room at the academy and the only luxury he indulged in were books and tomes that piled on his desk.

A massive bed that would have nearly taken up her entire room back at the academy sat opposite the doors, flanked by two windows almost as tall as the bed's canopy. A dressing screen provided privacy in one corner, with two chests and three wardrobes all made of dark wood and covered in carved flowers sitting behind it. All the clothes she had could have fit in one of those chests.

Moving closer to the corner, Leila caught movement on the far side of the room. With everything that had happened so far, the attack and her unexpected time travel, she flinched and readied herself, facing… herself.

Seeing the mirror sitting over a low table covered in an array of bottles and small boxes, she watched her cheeks darken, chuckling at her mistake. She made it halfway to the table before a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in?" she said, uncertainty turning her words into a question.

Was it the king? The prospect had Leila suddenly nervous with butterflies taking flight in her stomach until she shook her head at such foolishness, made even more so when the door opened and a woman stepped through.

For a woman, she dressed more like a man wearing leather breeches with a matching jerkin with billowy long sleeves under it. Her dark hair was pulled tightly into a ponytail. The tightness of her clothes and the jerkin's low cut gave away her gender, clinging to her curves and displaying a little cleavage to catch the eye.

Something else caught Leila's eyes, though. The woman had several knives along a belt hanging at an angle on her hip. Few people at the academy walked around armed, none of the women.

"So, you're Leila," the woman said, stepping through the door before closing it behind her. "I'm Yaldred. You probably met my husband Idris already. He was traveling with the king and the Royal Party."

Yaldred swaggered into the room, casually looking Leila up and down before a slight smile came to her. It fell into a frown when she glanced toward the table with the mirror and she shook her head.

Leila hadn't found her tongue to ask the woman what she wanted. When she'd given the name Idris, Leila recalled the man riding with the king on their journey to the castle but she hadn't had time to get to know either man, really. She blinked when she realized Yaldred was watching her, waiting for her to speak.

"Can I help you?" Leila asked.

"Sorry, I'm here to help you," Yaldred replied, hand up before she chuckled. "My husband is one of the king's closest friends and advisors. Rehn counts the two of us among the few people in this world he trusts completely. As such, he asked me to help you with anything you might need. A handmaiden if you will, though I am no maiden if you know what I mean."

"I understand." Leila held back a giggle at the woman's words and the way her eyebrows rose and fell with them. "Never had a handmaiden, never had a need for one, and forgive me, but you don't exactly look like what I expected from one."

Yaldred barked a laugh, holding her stomach as it went on. She still snickered, walking to the table with the mirror where she opened up one of the pots and sniffed its contents. Her shoulders shivered and she set it back down.

"Oh, I'm not much of a handmaiden, that is true," she said, returning her attention to Leila. "Probably won't be much help with hair, dresses, or makeup. Didn't even wear a dress to my own wedding, but the king wants you protected at all times, even when he is not around and I know how to dance ."

With her last words, Yaldred flicked her hands and suddenly held gleaming knives in each. They spun through her fingers before she returned them to their sheathes with a similar flick.

"I feel safer already," Leila said, nodding over to the table, "and I fear I'm just as clueless about cosmetics or fancy dresses. Not much use for either at the academy. I'm more happy dressing for comfort and living simply, my present room aside."

"It isn't like you need any powders or pigments, is it? You already caught the king's eyes without them, yes?" Yaldred said, stepping closer and studying Leila.

It was too much and Leila found her eyes dropping from the other woman's. Her cheeks burned. What nonsense. Catching the king's eye. He was the king. Why would he have any interest in her?

"I believe you are mistaken. The king only brought me here for my protection," she said, head shaking. "Drystan might be dead, but whoever he worked with is still out there."

"True, but here you are in the queen's quarters, right across the hall from the king's chambers," Yaldred said, her eyes boring into Leila's. "What do you think of him? Is it true you literally took him back in time when you first met?"

"Accidentally, I didn't mean for that to happen. I don't even know how I did it," Leila said, stammering at the woman's words and her attention. "And what do I think of Rehn, I mean, the king? What does it matter what I think of him? He's the king and I'm… I'm just me."

"Rehn is the king all right, and he's a single king, isn't he?" Yaldred asked, then waved her hands around the expansive and opulent room. "And he set you up in the queen's quarters. You never know how things could work out in the end."

Leila couldn't help but laugh at that. It was just such a ridiculous notion, though her cheeks were burning. Sure, she glanced his way a few times on the ride to the castle. She'd admit he was a handsome man, and courteous escorting her to the rooms he'd assigned her, but the thought that a king would be interested in her… It was absurd.

"Laugh all you like, my lady, but I have eyes, I can see your blush," Yaldred said, "and if you caught the king's eye, would you really turn him down? Think of it, a fling with King Rehn. Why, that's something you'd remember your whole life, now what are you to wear, though."

Without asking, Yaldred tugged the bag off Leila's shoulder and opened it. Her nose wrinkled as she pulled out the simple woolen dresses Leila favored at the academy. She shook her head and stuffed them back inside.

"You have nothing to wear that would impress the king," Yaldred said with a sigh, then she smirked. "Maybe that is the solution. Nothing would attract the king more than you wearing nothing, right?"

"You can't be serious." Leila covered her chest even though she was fully unclothed.

Yaldred's laughter answered that question. The woman was teasing her. Now, Leila's cheeks burned for falling for such a ridiculous idea, but would the king appreciate the view? She had caught him looking her way more than once but figured he just checking on her.

"As much as King Rehn would love that, I think a gown would be more appropriate," Yaldred said before snapping her fingers. "I shall go find you something appropriate, maybe even find a maid or two who can help me get you ready. Be back soon."

With that, Yaldred turned and headed to the door. Leila blinked at the closed door once the other woman left. When King Rehn told her he wanted to protect her, that was all she expected, being protected. Now, she was given the queen's quarters to stay in and the wife of the king's closest advisor was all but trying to get her to throw herself at the king.

It all seemed so ridiculous to Leila but Yaldred succeeded in distracting her from her worries. There was still some unknown sorcerer who'd been working with that madman who wanted to change the past, yet here she was daydreaming about a dinner date with the king.

She had little time alone with her thoughts before Yaldred returned with a few young women, each carrying beautiful dresses in several different colors. They used her as Yaldred's personal dress-up doll for what felt like hours. Yaldred shook her head at most and offered comments on how the king would like or hate each.

In the end, they dressed Leila in a sheer gown, silk with a plunging neckline that would have ensured her male students back at the Sorcerer's Academy wouldn't hear a word she said if she wore it there. The bodice clung close to her skin, leaving little to the imagination, and little room for her to eat, before flaring out at her hips. After the girls brushed out and styled her hair, Yaldred escorted her out of the queen's quarters. Instead of going down to the great hall, she only took her across to the doors to the king's chambers.

"You're dining privately with the king," Yaldred said before winking and knocking at the door. "Have fun."

With that, she spun and hurried away. Leila had little chance to follow her. Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door and the handle clicked. A guard in armor with a sheathed sword stood on the other side. She had expected the king himself but fought the frown.

He escorted her inside. King Rehn stood beside an intimate dining table under a window showing the valley in twilight. She hardly saw anything else in the room, his eyes having captured her attention completely. He stepped close and took her hand in his. Those intense eyes never left her as he kissed the back of her hand.

As ridiculous as she thought Yaldred's whispering about a fling with the king, she couldn't help but accept the reality. Not only that, she knew for a fact she'd enjoy this unexpected vacation with King Rehn.