The human realm rippled as a demon crossed over in the dungeon. I had wanted to be there to meet them and get my hands on what it was delivering to me as soon as possible, but it felt too suspicious to be looking so forward to slogging through what most considered to be a dry, tedious, and outdated political book. Requesting it in itself would have normally been suspicious just from the fact how rarely anyone has ever cared to look at it, but I had smoothed over the request by explaining that I simply wanted it as an example and guide to base a similar tome on for the House Yser.

I waited an appropriate amount of time after the knock on my door to make it seem like I was in no hurry, then lazily swung the door open, pasting a neutral look on my face that I then transformed into a look of utter boredom as soon as my eyes fell on the dusty, leather bound book clutched awkwardly against their body. The demon’s human glamour cracked a grin and it let out a low laugh, far to loud to be convincing as a human, it must have been someone not used to traveling over. Would make sense for them to have drawn straws to choose who to make the delivery, the book itself was nearly the size of my torso and just about as thick.

“That’s exactly what I thought,” he said while bowing as low as the cumbersome delivery would allow, “not exactly an exciting read.”

“An understatement of the century,” I replied and stepped aside for him to bring the book in.

He stepped inside the bedchamber and I gestured to my writing desk which I had cleared specifically to house the book while I had possession of it. It was not the type of book designed to be put away on a shelf between use, in my family’s library it had its own special stand it sat on as both a point of practicality and it’s reverence as the foundation of the rules for the monarchy. The demon gave a grunt of effort and set the tome gently onto it’s temporary resting place, then turned around and bowed deeply to me.

“I ask for your forgiveness for the unacceptable bow Lady Mistra, the book made it difficult.”

“It was understood.” I waved away his concern with my hand. “You have done me a service, what is your name?”

“Germanis, my lady.”

“Germanis,” I repeated, “I will remember that. For now, would you please inform the royal librarian that the charter has been delivered safely and is in proper hands? I know they will be concerned that it is out of realm, but please assure them that I am eternally grateful for their willingness to lend it to me so that I may complete my duties with establishing a similar royal code with our intrests here.”

“Of course, it will be an honor to convey your message.” He bowed low again, lower than normal, perhaps trying to make up for the subpar one from earlier.

I gave him a warm smile, then walked him to the door, closing it behind him. Turning to the book, it sat invitingly on the desk, though a bit imposingly, it was something that even the royal lineage would often just learn the footnotes for instead of the whole document. Perhaps my father had read it in it’s entirety, but it would have been long ago and I found it doubtful that he had actually read every last word even if he assured his tutors he had. My hand ran over the aged leather, I couldn’t bring to mind what manner of beast had gone into its creation other than it was something not of the human realm. By the feel I guessed it was probably something of lizard or lizard-like origins, though as one piece it would have to be one of the bigger animals that roamed the more dangerous outlands on the very fringes of the kingdom.

“Is that it?”

My heart skipped a beat at Toria’s voice, I had been so enthralled in thought that I had let me guard down, a rare misstep on my part. It served to exemplify the nerves and excitement I felt with suddenly having such a powerful tool in my possession.

“It is.” Keeping my face neutral as to not let on she had caught me by surprise, I turned to motion her to approach the book. “This here is the basis for kingship for my kingdom, the letters behind the laws. If there is a way for me to take my kingdom without bloodshed, it lies somewhere in these pages.”

She ran her hand over the leather in much the same manner I had and shivered. “You can feel the power of the demon realm clinging to it.”

“It has been sealed with many different forms of magic to protect it against all sorts of destruction,” I explained. “If this whole castle was reduced to rubble and then scorched to ash, you would still be able to find this book intact in the remains.”

“That sounds like something that should be done to the whole castle, in that case,” Toria said with a light laugh, though it was obviously not just a joke. “I had not thought that sort of thing was possible.”

“On a small scale it is doable, though if my early education doesn’t fail me, I believe it too quite a bit of time and effort to imprint the magic on something even this small. It would perhaps take years, maybe even decades, and all sorts of magical might to protect something as massive as an entire castle. It also would attract a lot of attention, I think other kingdoms would start to get pretty shifty if you started the process, probably try to figure out what you were planning or stop the process. If it was simple enough I’m sure my father would have initiated the process long ago.”

Toria nodded, but still ran her hand over the cover wistfully. “Would be lovely though, to have the ultimate security that nothing terrible could befall the seat of your power.”

“The idea would be even harder to execute in the human realm,” I said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I know the thought is intoxicating, but the magical background here is so low that it would add extra time and effort to complete.”

“I suppose,” she sighed. Her hand slid off the edge of the book and felt down the yellow-tinged pages before resting at her side. “A monarch can dream, but I guess now I should head off for evening training and leave you to start your study.”

“How is that going?”

Her lips curled up into a half-smile and she gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head. “Interesting. I’m actually looking forward to going to the demon realm for a while where I might feel like I’m making real progress, right now we’re just working on keeping basic skills strong.”

“Only a couple days now at most,” I replied, “I know the trainer they have summoned for you, they lived quite far away from the castle, but I would think they will make it soon. Once they’ve had chance to settle in and set up they’ll summon you and you’ll get the see the full extend of demon hospitality. I regret not being able to be there to see how you get on with being there for more than just a few hours at a time. If I thought they would leave me alone and let me study while there I would love to be witness.”

“You think it will end up being very different?”

“I know it will be, they are always on their best behavior for you. If nothing else they’re almost entirely male and you know that when women are out of the picture they turn more barbaric and get accustomed to a different way of living and speaking.”

“I am a visiting monarch though, perhaps they’ll keep up the guise,” she suggested. “It would be considered bad form to drop the manners for such a distinguished guest. I would take care to adhere to at least some of their expectations if they were here for long term instead.”

“In your realm.” I took her hand in mine and raised it to my lips, fluttering my eyelashes at her while I kissed the top of her hand. “It is sometimes easy to forget that we are from different worlds with different customs, you mistake my humanity as a reflection of the culture I come from. I adhere to slightly different ideals than my family, something much closer to your own than theirs. They will find it difficult to keep up your standards or manners for very long and I ask that you consider not taking much offense to it for the sake of keeping the alliance strong for now. When I am in control things will be different, but for now it cannot really be helped. They are an arrogant bunch and will certainly believe that their idea of what is acceptable supersedes yours.”

She frowned, but nodded her head. “I have seen bits of it, the coronation dinner comes to mind when they got drunk and started acting what I assume is more like themselves.”

“That was only a taste of it, my dear.” I grinned. “Try not to let it bother you, you are much more refined and regal than they will ever be. Just keep in mind that before you know it you’ll be returning to your own kingdom and to me.”

She pulled me close and ran her lips along my chin before pressing them to mine, lingering for a long, soft kiss. “Alright,” she whispered with her lips still brushing over mine, “you get to work.”

I pulled away and stood on my tiptoes to kiss her forehead. “And you.”

With a mischievous look back at me, she left our bedchamber, closing the door behind her. I swapped out the chair that normally sat at the desk for the overstuffed arm chair that usually sat by the fireplace, I was going to be sitting in the same place for an untold number of hours and I would need as much comfort as I could possible get. In the interest of comfort and efficiency I also moved the water pitcher and cup on the small space left on the desk along with the bell used to summon servants.

The leather crackled as I opened the front cover, it hadn’t been opened in perhaps decades. The overwhelming smell of old paper wafted out along with the strangely sweet smell I could only describe as unique to infernally enchanted items. The writing on the table of contents was in an old style of the demonic alphabet, readable but would take some getting used to after having not having read anything in the same style since I was a young girl. Skimming over the different sections, I briefly considered if maybe I could get away with just picking out sections to read where I thought a loophole would be likely to hide, but quickly chastised myself for even thinking of taking shortcuts with such an important task. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, therefore I would need to read every last word to have a full picture of what was within my power and rights. Besides, the document was widely known to be horrifically convoluted with lots of little clauses and rules snuck into strange places, who knows where something I would find significant would be hidden.

Resigned to a long and studious trek, I turned to the first page and placed my finger under the first sentence and began to read, dragging my finger along so as to not lose my place among the handwritten scrawls. I perhaps would never be able to take over my kingdom by military force like Toria, but I had my mind and a haphazardly constructed law of the land on my side.