Page 29 of King of Forest and Fur

Rehn shrugged in response, holding his tongue. This was no surprise for Idris. He was used to having to pull words from the king’s mouth when he wanted to keep to his own council.

“I told you yesterday she will need wooing, and you seem to have listened,” Idris said. “And I hope you listen to me well now. You’ve never been great at expressing your emotions. I remember when your parents died, how stoic you kept yourself at their funeral.”

“A king needs to project strength,” Rehn said, head shaking. “Behind closed doors, you saw how great my grief was.”

“Yes, away from your subjects, among those you trust the most, but what of your mate? Even after last night, are you hiding your true emotions from her?” Idris asked. “That could become an issue. You need to tell her the truth and tell her soon if you don’t want to lose her.”

“She is my fated mate. I will not lose her,” Rehn growled

Idris held his hands up and shook his head. A chuckle escaped his lips after a moment, and not even the glare of his king and closest friend could stop it.

“I can hear your passion, my friend, but that is not enough to keep her,” Idris said. “Mark my words well. You are going to have to open up to her, tell her she is your fated mate, or you very well might lose her.”

As Idris expected, Rehn stayed silent. He thought about his advisor’s words, the very idea of losing Leila filled him with dread, and that doubled if he did so through his own unwillingness to be open with her. Ironic that fear held his tongue so far as he did not want the pressure of such a revelation to send Leila fleeing. Idris was correct, now he just needed to determine when would be the best time to tell his mate.

THIRTEEN

LEILA

The 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.

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