Book Edge Gilding Novels & Stories

Dark oak bookshelves lined the walls, filled with heavy tomes whose embossed covers and gilded titles spoke of immense value. At the heart of the room stood a grand desk, its finely carved legs and intricate surface detailing a testament to exquisite craftsmanship. On it sat an antique globe and a gilded quill pen, its ink bottle emitting a faint, fresh scent as if waiting for its owner to write at any moment.

Older than anything I’d ever seen. The cover was wrapped in dark, cracked leather, etched with a strange symbol I didn’t recognize. A gold circle was embedded into the spine, and within it, a single quill rested delicate and ivory, as if plucked from something divine. Curiosity tugged at me. I reached for it. The moment my fingers brushed the surface, the book pulsed. A gentle hum, like a heartbeat, thrummed through my palm.

Darius hadn’t really drawn a perfect picture but it was good enough for me to recognize what it was. I turned to push off the chair when the light from my table lamp reflected off the cover of the book. It was an inscription that was in gold but covered with dust. I wiped the cover and the gold sparkled more. My eyes widened as I matched the symbol. The book itself was made by them. I flipped the hardcover to the preface I had skipped and traced my fingers to the bottom of the page, there it was again, the symbol! Beneath it was an inscription that read:

It hit my shoulder before dropping to the floor. I barely felt the pain. I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “Perfect,” I muttered. “Just what I needed.” I almost ignored it. But something about that book caught my eye. It wasn’t like the others. The cover was deep red—so dark it looked almost like dried blood in the dim light. The edges were lined with gold that had faded with age. I frowned and bent down to pick it up. It felt heavier than it looked. When I turned it over, I noticed something strange.

Silence filled the Eternal Sanctuary. Every Guardian stood motionless, their eyes fixed on the ancient altar nestled within the heart of the Tree Beyond the Sky. The weathered book rested on a pedestal of living silverwood. Its cover was unlike anything they had ever seen; it wasn't leather or cloth, but looked as though it had been woven from moonlight itself. Silver roots wrapped gently around its edges, pulsing with a heartbeat that felt older than time. Aiden took an unconscious step forward, and the book responded as a faint silver glow spread across its cover.

No one would emerge from this unscathed. "There's more." Horatia prodded with a cheeky smile as she pointed to the center of the book. He tugged a long slender strip of crimson silk out from the center pages. Too long for a bookmark, it was embroidered with silver stars and crescent moons. "I thought you might find other uses for that." Horatia nibbled her lower lip with a gleam in her eyes. Damn the woman, she was perfect. Too bloody perfect. The attention of the others in the room was diverted by Lucinda and Lysandra admiring Audrey's new fawn gloves.

“do not read your own book—you might not like how it ends.” Glancing further up the case, the letter ‘G’ was carved in deeply. I scanned the books with my eyes and found myself reading the names that were painted on the spines of the books. Glenda Macon, Gregory Marsh, Gwyn Masters… Each book had a name embroidered on the spine. The books were all black, with names in a flat white. Very few books actually looked different from the others. The one named, Glenda Macon, had a rose with thorns dancing along the cover. I even noticed one that was a shade of slate grey.

Editha replied politely “For prince Edmund? are royal purchasing coins from your family?” Draco questioned her to which Editha smiled and said “We are providing stamped or engraved gold coins to castle since century now…. this was our family business and our family was the only one who was working in this town Jotsar as gold smith… we are serving royals with all sort of royal designed gold coins… the one that I just offered you are the new coins where prince Edmund and specifically asked us to add Dragon wing on coin, this new batch is ordered by prince for Malshie festival” Editha replied hearing which Draco and Jasmine shared a common look

My mother was rarely wrong about anything. I'm not surprised to see a copy on her shelves, but three? One copy is a paperback with a well-crackled spine, and another is a fancy leather-bound gold filigree type thing sitting on a shelf with similar collectible books, but it's the third that catches my eye. It looks new, it's oversized, and it's stuck on the highest shelf. As I retrieve it, I'm surprised at the strange feeling of something moving inside the book. Flipping it open, I discover the insides of the book are carved out and glued together to create a compartment inside where sits a small dark key.

He nodded slowly and before he could say anything more, the bedroom door swung open. Erick and Jess stood at the doorway; they were both breathless, so we knew they were running. Jess held one of the thickest books I had ever seen; it was a large brown book with golden decals swirled throughout the cover. In the front of the book, in a silvery oval was a white infinity symbol I didn’t quite recognize and then written in white above the symbol read: Book of Magic. “Woah…” I breathed, staring at the book. It was real.