When Linette was done, both Helena and Greta went around to my back and admired her work.

“Well done, Linette.” Greta said and I felt her hand touch the skin. “Very well done.”

“It's like it never existed.” Helena said and touched it next. “It's not tender like his other healing was at the garrison.”

“That's because I healed it from the bottom up and not from the skin down.” Linette said, a bit proudly.

“I told you she was a smart one.” Greta said to Helena.

“I believe you and it's nice to have proof, especially since it's on my David.” Helena said and she kissed my cheek. “Go ahead and get dressed, David. We'll retire to the parlour and wait for you.”

I stood and started to put my shirt and things on as they left. I knew they wanted a bit of time to converse, since me getting dressed only took a few moments, so I took my time putting my clothes on and wasted as much time as I could before I left my work room. I walked slowly, almost lackadaisically, and I saw that Hope was in the lobby. She saw me at the top of the stairs sauntering around and let out a laugh.

“What in the world are you doing?” Hope asked, amused.

“Wasting time and letting Helena, Greta, and Linette talk about me.” I said and she nodded understanding.

“Well, you better wait right there and I'll come up to get you.” Hope said with a huge smile and then did a hop onto the first stair, did a half twirl and grabbed the hand rail, and stepped onto the next step. She took two long strides across that same step, did a little flourish with her arms in a half bow, then stepped up to the next step.

I had to hold in my laugh as she did a much better job of wasting time coming up the stairs using her dance moves. “Master.” I said and gave her a bow when she reached the top.

Hope laughed and took my arm. “I think we'll do a wedding march on the way down. One step at a time and then pause to wave to the adoring public.”

We did just that and a couple members of the mansion staff stopped when passing by to watch us. A few of the maids were giggling at our antics and then they applauded when we reached the bottom.

“Thank you for coming!” Hope said and shook their hands, which made them laugh more, then she turned and grinned at me. “Do you think that's long enough?”

“More than enough.” I said and she led me to the parlour where the three women were sitting close together and conversing in low tones. “Ahem.”

Greta and Linette jerked and looked up in surprise while Helena let out a soft laugh.

“What have you decided?” I asked and they looked surprised as I walked over to sit in the chair in front of the couch the three women were on. “I gave you enough time to discuss it.”

Greta and Linette exchanged looks and then looked back at me. “We want to see your potions book.”

“Why? I told you they all need to be reworked for current use.” I asked and that seemed to stump them.

“David, it's lost knowledge.” Greta finally said. “The innovations you've already proved that it can contain is enough to make us want to see it.”

“You're wrong. The innovations were mine.” I said and her eyes widened. “The potion recipes can't be brewed or recreated as they are. Most of their main ingredients don't exist anymore. Believe me, I've checked. Even the places they were rumored to be are difficult to find intact. My last trip with Mage King proved that.”

“But...” Greta started to say.

“I won't deny that it could cause you to have an innovation if you read some of it; but, the book itself is more of a catalogue of ingredients listing their properties and uses with potion recipes every dozen pages or so. They are common recipes from back then, as far as I can tell.”

“C-c-common recipes?!?” Greta exclaimed and Linette gasped.

“I also don't know where the book came from.” I said with a shrug. “It could be from here, the Eastern Empire, or anywhere else.”

“By the Son's Light.” Helena said. “Not only is it ancient knowledge, it could also be forbidden knowledge.”

That caught my interest. “Forbidden?” I asked, a little confused.

“If it's from another country, depending on the content and the country, the knowledge allowed to be brought into the Gulf Kingdom could be restricted or banned outright.” Helena explained. “I don't suppose the book has anything written in it about where it was made, does it?”

I shook my head. “It only has the publication date and the author's name.”

Greta gave Helena a knowing look. “Do you think we can track down the name and see where the book came from?”

Helena sat back and looked deep in thought. “I suppose. It might take some doing, considering our standing with the Mages Guild.”

“What do you mean 'our'?” I asked her and Helena blushed a little.

“I couldn't very well maintain my association with an organization that was pillaging my future husband's lands of its precious resources.” Helena said. “As soon as I received your message from Ester's Village, I sent my own message to both my father personally and to the guild impersonally.”

“So, we're cut off from any resources we could have gotten from them.” I said, catching on right away.

“No, we just can't do it ourselves.” Greta corrected. “There are ways...”

“It doesn't matter. What's done is done.” I said and cut her off. “You can check with Eludora and see if she can place the name of the author, even if it's just the source of the surname.”

“I'll ask her as soon as we go and check with her this afternoon.” Linette promised. “Can we see the book to get the name?” She asked, her voice full of expectation.

I glanced at Helena and she whispered a 'please'. “I'll be right back.”

Greta let out an excited sound and then clamped her mouth shut. Helena looked happy and Linette looked predatory. I ignored all three reactions and left the parlour to go back up the stairs to the bedroom and to the personal vault. I opened it and took out my pack. I pulled out the potions book and also the enchantment book. I also looked at the other three books. For the very first time since I had found them, I could actually read the covers.

The Versatility of Enchantments and their Practical Application
Encyclopedia of Ingredients with Practical Potions and Elixirs
Fundamental Book of Runes
Basic Spell Casting and Invocation Using Elemental Forces and Their Effect on Material Composition
Magical Theory and the History of Magic

Now that I had a lot of experience with a magic academy, my mind immediately decided that it knew what the books were and where they came from. They were school books. Very fancy and quite expensive looking school books.

I chuckled and put the three other books back in the pack and locked it back in the vault. I carried the enchantment and potions book down to the parlour and all three women had wide eyes and surprised faces as they saw the nearly pristine white covers of the books with gold embossing and gold filigree on the edges and around the titles.

“Oh, my god.” Helena whispered as I put the large book of enchantments into her hands and Greta almost squealed in delight as I put the potions book into hers. Both women stared at the books as if to memorize the covers.

“It's beautiful.” Greta said and ran her hands over the embossed cover. “It looks brand new.”

“I didn't know if the Hag treated them or not, so I did when I discovered the potions to do so.” I said and sat across from them again. “They'll remain in perfect condition for a long time to come.”

“I don't know if I want to open it.” Helena said and looked at my face. “How many times did you?”

“I've lost count.” I said with a shrug. “I always washed up before touching any of my books, even the second hand children books I bought from Diane to learn to read.”

Helena held a hand out to me and I took it, gave it a brief kiss and a bit of magic, then nodded. She beamed a smile at me and opened it. It made a creak sound as if it had never been opened and it startled her a little. She gave me a questioning look as if I had lied to her about using it a lot.

“It sounds like that every time.” I said and she nodded slightly and began to read.

Linette was practically on Greta's lap as they both looked through the ingredients and potions book. They were whispering about all of the different ingredients and the properties they had, pointing when they wanted to emphasize something, and kept reading.

Hope brought in tea for us and only I took a cup. “We're having a large supper gathering tonight, so try to keep this down to an hour or two.” She said with a chuckle as I nodded and the others ignored her. She knew they were going to be there for a while if I didn't remind them about the meal and that they needed to get ready. “I'll let Sara and Tabitha know to be ready for you.”

It was my turn to chuckle at her teasing smile and she left us alone.

I let it go on for almost the full two hours and they had only gotten a quarter of the way through the books. “Helena, my dear.”

“Hmm?” Helena said without looking up.

“Hope said we have a bunch of guests coming over for supper tonight.” I reminded her and she jumped.

“I completely forgot!” Helena gasped and clapped the book shut. “Jill! Help me!”

The parlour door opened and an amused maid came in with two other maids behind her.

“We have everything ready, my lady.” Jill said and took the book from her and handed it to me. Helena sighed in relief and followed them out of the room.

“Greta.” I said, a bit sternly, because she hadn't paid any attention at all to what had happened right beside her.

“Huh? What?” Greta tore her gaze from the book she had and blinked her eyes. “David? What is it?”

“You need to get ready for supper.” I said and stood as I held a hand out for the book.

Greta gave Linette a sad look, who also looked sad and then she nodded. She closed the book and handed it to me and four maids came into the room and led them away.

I stood and walked towards the door and wasn't surprised that Sara and Tabitha were there waiting for me. “My vault first.” I said and they nodded as I led them there and I locked the books back up.

I was then taken into the large bathroom and plunked into the second tub to be thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned. Both women hummed a little tune I didn't know as they worked and I was washed up completely before Helena was. I stood to let Sara perform the ritual and Helena's other maids stopped their work to watch.

I saw their inquiring looks and heard their brief whispered words of encouragement. Sara did her best to perform her duty to perfection and I finished in record time, according to Tabitha. The looks of approval on the faces of the other maids pleased Sara and she accepted their praise humbly while also saying that Tabitha was just as good as her in performing her personal maid duties.

“He's not left wanting? Are you sure?” One of the maids asked, clearly surprised, and continued to wash Helena.

“Oh, no. My lord is always quite satisfied, especially when we both take a turn after a bath.” Sara explained and that made a couple of them gasp.

“They do good work.” I said and both Sara and Tabitha blushed a little at the praise. I stood there and waited for Helena to be finished and dried off, then we went into the bedroom and were dressed in the fanciest meal outfits we had that were also color coordinated. When we were all set and I even had the ceremonial sword strapped on my hip, the maids let out a collective 'aww' sound at our appearance.

“I assume we meet your approval?” Helena asked and that made the maids laugh.

“If my lady wasn't so beautiful and my lord wasn't so handsome, I would say that you both looked adorable.” Jill said with a beaming smile, which made Helena laugh.

“You can still see my baby bump.” Helena said and rubbed it through the fabric of her slightly expanded and expensive dress.

“It needs to be highlighted, especially today. We have a lot of important guests.” Jill said and waved at the door. “Allow me to lead you to the lobby to greet them.”

“Please do.” Helena said and Jill took us out of the room and down the stairs to stand us in the right position. Administrator Lannin joined us, as did Hope and the head butler, and our receiving line was complete. Now we just had to wait for our guests to arrive.