To Stand Beside Her (52 page)

Roger chuckled and backed away.
“If I was only twenty years younger,
gladly
.”

Leila sat down and began to stretch as Roger moved onto the balcony to watch her.
She was magnificent in her ability to move.
Erich had made sure she was well trained years before he died
knowing
she would always need to protect herself.
As she crisscrossed the court
yard
practicing the same moves she had done for years
, Roger could see the influence of Erich in her movements.
It had been
three
years since he lost his son at the same age Leila was now.
As she matured, more and more she reminded him of his late son
.
I
t
was
hard to believe that Erich
still
had so much influence over her.
Roger
understood why she had such a hard time letting people into her life since she clung so desperately to
Erich’s
memory.
Though Leila detested the idea of fate and predetermined outcomes, Roger strictly believed that events in life happen for a reason.
Roger
never regretted Leila’s influence on his son and his son’s life.
He truly felt
Leila
was there to make his son happy for the brief time they spent together.
Roger continued to watch her move around the courtyard as if she were dancing.

“Maybe the boy should tell her,” Roger said
to Nalick as he approached with Anatolio.
Anatolio
quickly shook his head
no
.
Anatolio
didn’t want to be the one to tell her.
Roger chuckled.
No one wanted to tell her
,
but someone had to.
“
You can’t escape fate.
She will find out sooner or later,” Roger assessed.
Nalick nodded as Leila stood and walked to the men.
All three men smiled as she neared and stopped talking.

Chapter
30

Leila was not happy to be returning to her room in the palace
.
She
tried to sneak in the room
so that she could find a hiding place, but
u
nfortunately t
he children happily greeted her.
Nalick laughed kn
o
w
ing
she was trying to get out of getting ready for dinner.

“I asked Mauve to wait until after lunch,” Nalick said.
“Since you
now
have to do this four days in a row, she promised to not take as long each time.”
Leila was relieved
and
smiled gratefully at Nalick.

“What were you three talking about?”
s
he asked
,
pick
ing
up Ruth.
Nalick
was not going to answer honestly.
“Is it what you need to talk to me about?” she asked while sitting down on the balcony with Ruth on her lap.
Nalick nodded.
Leila wondered what Anatolio and Roger could know that
Nalick
was afraid to tell her.

“Dad, I
.....
,” Phillip said r
u
n
ning
onto the balcony and notic
ing
Leila.
He stopped suddenly and got flustered
.
Phillip
didn’t know what to say as he noticed Leila on the balcony also.

Leila
was beginning to feel like everything was being kept from her
,
and she was a bit upset.
Ruth slid off Leila’s lap to join her brother playing with his toys.
Leila quiet
ly stood and walked to the bath
room to find her make-up to cover her arm.
Silently
,
she dipped her arm into the light colored make-up and covered the lines on her arm.
If Mauve was not going to be lo
oking for her until after lunch
, Leila was going to use the opportun
ity to sneak into the city
.
Leila quickly changed into street clothes.
While
walk
ing
back into the main room, she saw Elena was sitting watching the children.

“I’ll be back for lunch,” Leila told her
.
Leila
hurried out of the room and down the hall before Anatolio noticed.
Leila quickly pee
k
ed her head into the guest quarters and found Kay.
“Want to go for a walk?” Kay quickly stood to join her.

Kay followed behind her friend who weaved between corridors before exiting the palace through the servant’s quarters.
Kay had trouble keeping up with Leila who continued to dodge people
,
weav
ing
between streets.
She
had tried to see who was following them, but to keep up with Leila she needed to concentrate.
Once
Kay
finally caught a glance of who was following them, she stopped Leila.

“There’s only one person following us,” Kay said to her friend.

“I know,” Leila replied without looking back.

“And isn’t it his job to follow you?” Kay asked about Anatolio.

“Well I never asked him to,” Leila replied qu
ickly catching
her friends arm and duck
ing
between two buildings.

Leila stepped into a vacant room
,
and Kay followed her upstairs.
Leila went to a door and opened it into a fully furnished apartment.
Leila quickly opened a secret door and pushed Kay ahead before following her.
As the exited the building, Leila slowed down to a walk and finally Kay was able to walk beside her.

“Are you sur
e he won’t get in trouble for l
osing track of you?” Kay asked.

Leila stared at her friend, “I think I can take care of myself.
Besides, he’ll find us again eventually.
He seems to be good at that.”
Leila thought of the various times she had seen him following her in the city before she even knew his name.
He was getting better at keeping up with her, but she could still lose him if she wanted.

Leila made her way to
t
he town square and was surprised to find men setting up tables to fill the square.
Around the outside the normal vendor tents were gone, and inside tables also lined the outside of the square.

“To the left,” a man called from behind
,
and Leila grabbed Kay and moved her to her right.

“What’s going on?” Kay asked.

“I don’t know,” Leila replied.
She searched the faces of the men and quickly
approached
the youngest one.
“What’s going on here?” she asked the young man who blushed to be addressed so causally.

“The king is finally getting married,”
the boy
said.
“So to celebrate, we are having a large feast here the night before
the wedding. We have a couple days to get set-up, so I am helping while they are short men.
Today
,
everyone that is older is busy at the town meeting.
There is some guy from the
North Country
here talking about how to make the city safer
.
We want to protect our queen.
”

“Where would the meeting be at?”
Leila
asked.

“Gothreith Hall,” the boy replied as Leila quickly hurried away.

Leila quickly navigated to Gothreith Hall.
Kay followed
,
also wondering who the person was as both women had a good guess.
P
eople mill
ed
outside the building
when
Leila
arrived
,
and
she
easily pushed her way into the back of the room.
From the back, she could remain hidden
while
she viewed the stage.
The man sitting in front was who she expected: Roger.
Roger
had already given the audience a lecture
and was now answering questions
.
Kay was as surprised as Leila was and did not notice that her friend had already left the room.
Once
Kay
finally noticed, she quickly made her way back outside.
Leila was waiting on the steps across from the hall.
Kay approached and could see the sadness in her eyes.
Leila was always the sort of person who would talk only when she wanted to.
Kay sat down next to her best friend and patted her knee.

“
Nalick’s
keeping a secret from me,” Leila said to her best friend.
“He won’t tell me even when I ask, but he has told Roger and Anatolio.”
Leila was the most honest and open person Kay had ever met.
Leila
rarely lied to people, even when on assignment, and never lied to her friends.
Leila expected the same and was hurt by Nalick.

“Why do men tell each other secrets they can’t even tell their soon to be wife?”
Leila asked Kay.

“Maybe he doesn’t know how to tell you,” Kay suggested
,
trying not to sound like she agreed with Nalick.

“But he can tell me anything,” Leila replied
,
trying to hold back tears
.

“Sometimes it is easier to talk to the same gender,” Kay suggested
,
reach
ing
over and motherly adjust
ing
Leila's wig
.

“Even so, what could be so hard to say?” Leila asked.

“Why don’t you ask Anatolio?” Kay suggested
,
looking in the shadows for the young man
.

“I tried
,
and he won’t tell me,” Leila said
,
not looking up
.

“But could he tell you who would tell you beside Nalick?” Kay asked.
Leila smiled at her friend
’s
ingenuity of getting around Nalick’s
inability
to tell her.

“It’s worth a try.”
Leila waved to Anatolio who approached cautiously.
“Since you won’t tell me what Nalick is hiding, would you be able to tell me the name of someone who would?”
Leila asked
,
and he stood and thought for a moment.
“I’m not going back to the palace until I find something out.”

“I don’t think anyone that knows will tell you.
It is Nalick’s secret to tell,” Anatolio replied.
Leila was not satisfied with his answer.
“If you really want to know what your life holds, just talk to Gabor
.
”
Leila
had not
considered
the seer.

“Good idea,” she said while standing.
Anatolio was not sure if it was a good idea or not, but he needed to get her back to the palace by lunch to keep Nalick happy.

Kay and Anatolio followed
Leila
back to the palace.
As
Leila
reached the gate, the guard stopped her.
Leila forgot the make-up was covering her arm.
She was going to comment
,
but Anatolio stepped forward and the guard let them pass without knowing who they were.
Leila stopped in front of the door to the priest chambers.
She was not sure she really wanted to know what life had in store for her.
She had not had the best of luck in the first
eighteen
years; she did
n’t
know if the next
eighteen
would improve.