To Stand Beside Her (10 page)

“Roger agreed to a deal like that
?
”
Leila
asked in disbelief.

“He didn’t have much of a choice.
With
every noble out there want
ing
to marry you
, h
e found no other way to protect you.
We were basically the only
ally
he had that did not want to force you into marriage
at the time
.
The priest
s
here felt the best approach was to wait for you to come to us.

“I was completely happy waiting for you
.
I have never wanted to get married.
I watched my mother
in an unhappy marriage
.
But everything changed
.
I was in Dria
when
I briefly saw you. You caught me off guard as you made no noise. I thought I was seeing a wood sprite.
”

Leila thought back to that day. She had stopped at a creek to fill her water flask when she noticed it led to a small pond.
Leila
spent over thirty minutes gazing over the edge of a rock at the large colorful fish swimming at the bottom of the pond when she noticed she was being watched herself. As soon as she realized who it was, she quickly disappeared into the forest.

“
Did you realize that Roger was no longer giving you assignments in Lexia?
Somehow that man knew I was planning to keep you here, and he did his best to prevent you from coming here.
” Nalick rose and walked back to the window.
Nalick paused and then came back to her. Tentatively he
took her hands in his
waiting for her to protest
.
“You may think I know nothing about you, but that is not true.
I know you much better than you think.
I know there will never be a better woman for me than you.
If you give me a chance, I can make you happy
,
”
h
e promised her.

Leila didn’t know what to think.
His hands were warm against hers and she could slightly feel the blood beating.
As she stared into the eyes of the man before her
,
h
e was the first man in a long time that saw her not for the symbol she was
,
but
as
the person she was.

Can I trust him?
s
he asked herself.

“But why me?”
Leila
whispered
to him
.

“Since I was a child I asked the same question.
What was so special about this girl everyone was searching for?
You
’re
not afraid of me.
I deal with people all day
and ha
ve
never met a woman who was as bold as you were.
The strength and intelligence you have in just your little finger is more than any noble woman in the country has in their whole body.
You make me a better person.
I will try my best to match you and hope that I wil
l never disappoint you, because
I know how q
uickly you will be gone if I do,
”
he chuckled.

Leila did not have time to respond as the three priests from earlier
returned
.

“We have decided,” the elder priest said to Nalick.
“If you would please join us, everyone has been waiting.”
Theo and Macarius stood on either side of
a
balcony holding open a curtain.
Nalick walked through first with the priests.
Through the small opening, Leila could see there was a crowd gathered below.
Leila waited behind.

“What is happening now?”
Leila
whispered to
Theo
as Nalick stood beside the priests
.

“It is customary to announce the engagement of the king to the people of the city
,
”
Theo
explained.
“
When you step out, to your right will be about forty people seated on a lower balcony.
They are the representatives from each of the noble families
,
”
h
e explained to her.

“Today is a glorious day,” the
elder
priest began
,
“
o
ur
K
ing Nalick has finally chosen to marry.
We have consulted
the stars
and met with the future bride.
W
ith
great pleasure I get to introduce our future queen,
Queen
Eia.” There was a hushed silence over the crowd as Theo
pointed to Leila to enter
.
Nalick offered his hand to Leila stepp
ing
up onto the balcony.
Below hundreds of faces stared up at her.

“I thought part of our deal was not being made into an object,” Leila whispered to Nalick.

“Sorry
. This is all part of
tradition
,” he replied.

The silent
mass
waited as the elder priest continued.
“The wedding will take place three months from the day after tomorrow.”
The crowd erupted into applause and cheers
while the nobles sat silently
.

“You can
’t
please everyone,” Nalick whispered in her ear
waving to the peoples and then turning her back into the room
.
“I need to stay here for a little bit
.
” He stopped in the doorway
,
“Theo and Macarius wi
ll escort you back to your room. Just don’t get lost on the way,
”
he winked.

Leila waited in the doorway to her room until she heard both Macarius and Theo leave.
Quietly she walked
and back down the stair
case.
The guards at the entrance to the floor were startled to see her.
She smiled and let herself by them.
Retracing her steps from the first day Leila was escorted through the palace, she looked for the garden. After several wrong turns, she found the garden door. No one was guarding the door as she quietly slipped in. She sat down on a small patch of grass. It had been two weeks since she came to Lexia with Kay.
Though the city was familiar and felt like a second home to her, in her mind nothing could compare to the forests that lined the mountains of the
North Country
.
Leila
was getting sick of all the sand, but yet here in the garden she could faintly be reminded of home.
She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes.
The breeze was still warm, not cool like she had hoped, but the grass between her fingers would have to be the best comfort she would get out of this place.
Leila heard the click of a door and immediately hid herself behind
the largest tree in the garden
.

“But
M
omma,”
a
girl complained
to an older woman
,
“
i
f he has chosen a bride, why can’t I get married to someone else
?
”

“
King
Nalick
i
s king
and
can take as many wives as he wants
.
Trust
me dear
, father will get him to take you on as his head wife
,
”
t
he older woman commented as she continued to lead the younger girl through the garden.

“But doesn’t the head wife belong to the first wife?” the girl stopped
thinking
of question
s
and began to twirl her hair.

“Emma, don’t dawdle.
This girl he has chosen is not of
noble
birth.
”
The older lady grabbed her daughter
'
s hand away from her hair and pulled her the rest of the way through the garden.

The nobles were not as welcoming as the people had been and now she knew why. They still had hopes to get their daughters on the throne.

Chapter
6

Leila woke the next morning to complete silence.
After the chaos of the day before, she was happy to not have anyone around.
Though early in the morning,
from the balcony
Leila
could see that the city was full of activity.
Seeing the people run from place to place made Leila want to be free of the palace’s cold, confining walls.

He did say I was free to come and go as I please
, she thought to herself.
Maybe I should test what he said
.

“Awake already
,
dear
?
”
Mauve
yawned rubb
ing
her eyes.
Leila had quietly entered her room to find her dressed but sleeping in a chair.
“Can I get you anything?”
Mauve
asked.

“Is there anything else that I can wear?
The clothes here are all beautiful,”
Leila
assured Mauve, “
I would like to go down into the city
but
don’t want to
give away who I am.
I just want to go as a normal person.”

“But
,
dear
,
why would you want to do that?” Mauve asked
setting down the
garment
that she had fallen asleep
sewing

“I just want to be able to be me again.
This,” Leila indicated to everything around her, “is not me.
I am mu
ch
less complicated than all of this.”
Mauve rummaged through a tru
n
k and handed her a dress without another comment.

“Thank you,” Leila responded
leaving
the room
with a simple dress
.
Quickly she dressed and disguised herself adding gloves and a scarf to cover the lines on her arm and her bright red hair.
She quietly walked over to the door to check if anyone was in the hallway.
As expected
,
Theo was standing outside
of
her door.

“I hope you weren’t planning on sneaking away today.
Nalick was not happy yesterday to find you had wondered off without telling anyone,” Theo scolded Leila.
“We need to go get Macarius to join us.”

“Why?” Leila asked.
“He doesn’t seem to like me too much.
It would be much more enjoyable for just the two of us to leave.”
Theo shook his head no.
“Fine
,
”
s
he pouted as the
y
walked down the flight of stairs to get Macarius.

“Macarius doesn’t dislike you; it is just that he is a bit protective of Nalick,” Theo tried to explain.

“Either way, he doesn’t like me,” Leila commented as they reached Macarius’ door.
Theo knocked loudly.

“What?” Macarius asked answering the door.
He stood for a minute looking from Theo to Leila, and then he realized it was Leila.

“
Our charge
would like to go to the market, and you know Nalick would have our heads if we lo
st
her again,” Theo explained.