To Stand Beside Her (22 page)

“Good morning,
”
Leila said as
Nalick
entered the kitchen
the last to wake for the morning
, and she stood and offered him her chair.
“Would you like coffee or tea?” Leila had woken up early in the morning as usual and la
y
in bed over an hour watching Nalick sleep.
She was
surer
about her feelings towards him
but still confused
.
He was still a puzzle to her.
The gentle kind man she saw when they were alone was a stark contrast to the king he was.

“Does this mean the Nalick stories will have to stop now?” Kay asked
,
disappointed.

“Tea,”
Nalick
said to Leila.
“What sort of stories?”

Theo turned away as he answered, “Oh
,
nothing much.
We were just answering their questions.”

Nalick looked to Leila to see if she would give him any clues to what they had been saying, but her lips were also sealed.
Leila brought over his tea along with the basket of muffins.
“I have to get my chores done,” she said to the men.
“Kay will keep you company.”

While dreading time
alone
with
Selma
, a
fter chores with her mother and getting questioned about Nalick,
Leila was relieved.
She
felt like she
had
passed the first test of getting her mother to trust her in her decision.
Next
,
Leila
would need to work on gaining her
father's
trust.
She
finished hanging up all the clothes she
had
washed and followed her mother back
in
to the house.
Once inside
Leila
could hear more people in the kitchen talking.
To her surprise she found Nalick sitting with not just Theo and Macarius but also her brothers Nael and Leon and her father, Dirk.

“That’s my girl,” she heard her father say as she entered.

“What did I do now?”
Leila
asked.
All five of the men turned to look at her.
Everyone was smiling and getting along
,
which surprised Leila.

“Oh, we were just telling your brothers and father about how you escaped the jail and then asked to be put back in,” Theo explained.

“You know your guards are not very efficient,”
Leila
said to Nalick
,
casually putting a hand on his shoulder
.
“I did have to wait over
an
hour to be let back in.”
The men all laughed.

“Hello
,
Papa,” she
greeted
her father
with
a hug and
a
kiss.

“So how was your trip?”
Dirk
asked
,
while hugging her back.
“Besides finding a husband,” he winked at her.
Leila quickly turned to Nalick
,
who just smiled.

“It was fine.
I ran into a bit of trouble with Kay
,
but it all got sorted out
.
S
he was able to finish the assignment,” Leila said while sitting between her father and
Nalick
.

“So when will you be heading back to Lexia?” Dirk asked.

“I figure we better head back tomorrow.
I don’t want to worry everyone if they find out
their king
is gone,” Leila explained.

“Well then, you better get busy and show this man around,” her father suggested.
“There are still some daylight hours left.”

“But you just got home,” she complained wanting to stay and visit with her father.

“I’m not going anywhere.
We can catch up after it gets dark out,” Dirk said
,
while pushing her to stand back up.

“Fine, but you better not go off anywhere
. This way
,
” she said while standing up
and
direct
ing
the three guys
,
but Theo and Macarius remained seated.

“We’ll stay here,” Theo offered
.

Leila
and Nalick bundled up in
fur
-
lined coat
s
and boots
.
For hours Leila walked around their village hand
-
in
-
hand
with Nalick
.
He listened intently as she talked
about various buildings, homes, and people
. As their tour finished and they returned
to her parents
’
home
, Leila grew quiet again
.

“Could we sit out here for a bit?”
h
e asked.
Leila was happy he
had
asked because she thought it would sound silly if she has asked to stay outside rather than visit with her family.

Leila led Nalick over to a bench beside the house and wiped the snow off the seat before sitting down.
Their backs were protected from the cold wind.
The snow had stopped falling and the yard and trees were covered.
As the sun had already started to set, the world outside her home looked magical
as
everything was coated white while sparkling.
As a child she had always waited for the moments when she could pretend she was in another world.
In a way her dream was coming true as Lexia felt like another world.

“I’m havi
ng a hard time understanding you
.
You seem to be happy here so part of me wants to just let you stay here, but then you are so sure you want to return to Lexia.
If you only want to return because of our deal,”
Nalick
picked up her
mittened
hands and stared straight into her eyes, “I will leave with Theo and Macarius
,
and you can stay here.”

Without breaking his gaze
Leila
asked, “
D
o you love me?”

Nalick tried to turn his head away before responding
,
but Leila
slipped off her gloves and
quickly caught the side of his face
to
h
o
ld it facing her.
“Yes,”
Nalick
replied look
ing
down quickly after replying.

Leila smiled at him kindly, “
T
hen I will return with you to Lexia.”

“What was Erich like?
You don’t mention him and seem to cringe anytime someone else does
,
” Nalick asked about the one man
who
had once won her heart.

Leila leaned back against the house and closed her eyes.
“I was
fifteen
when he asked me to marry him
,
and at that point
,
I didn’t think life could get any better.
I fell in love with him years after I met him, but he always told me he loved me the moment I followed him home.
Within months of telling everyone we were going to get married, I messed up an assignment in Samael.
I panicked
, and
I signaled to Erich.

“
Erich got me out
but got
cut by a poisoned blade in the process
.
I brought him back to Roger, but there was nothing he could do.
Instead we both sat with Erich and watched him die.
He was the first
and only
man I ever truly loved
,
and yet
,
there was nothing I could do to help him.” Leila involuntarily reached up and felt the ring beneath her shirt that was hanging on her necklace.

She opened her eyes and looked at Nalick who was watching her.
“
Erich
was a good man and his life was cut short because of me.
I have spent the last years training and taking on every hard assignment so that I could get better at my job.
I never want to be the cause of someone getting hurt again
.
Part of me died that day with him.”

“Did
you
love
him
?” Nalick asked.

“Yes, very much so,” Leila replied.
“Will you still want to marry me, even if I don’t love you back?”
s
he wondered.
“I just don’t know if I can ever love again.”

“I am willing to wait.
I truly believe you will love me some day.
If we don’t get married in three months, then so be it,” Nalick tried to reassure her.
“When I looked into your eyes that day we met in the woods, I saw what I always have felt: loneliness.
I no longer feel it.”
Nalick removed his gloves and gently took her hands in his hands.
“I am willing to do anything for you even if it means somehow explaining to the priests that you are not ready to marry.”
Nalick thought for a moment.
“Do you at least not hate me?”

Leila laughed.
“I don’t think I ever hated you.”

“But you were quite mad with me the day that you agreed to stay,”
Nalick
responded.

“Only because I felt like I was failing to protect Kay.
I had tried so hard to get better and the one time I was put to the test to see if I was better
;
I was failing
,
”
Leila tried to explain.
It was freezing out, but she did not want to take her hands out of his.

“Hopefully you will let me lighten your load a bit and help you protect everyone,” Nalick causally put his arm around Leila.
She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled.
It had been a long time since she trusted someone.
Nalick
was wearing down the barrier she kept around herself.
Leila and Nalick sat together in silence.
By the time they both realized they were quiet cold,
they had to sneak back in the house as
almost
everyone had
gone to bed
.
Nalick and Leila stopped briefly to talk to her parents.

With night settling in, everyone rose to go to bed.
Leila
and Nalick returned to her room and she
lay
down quickly and closed her eyes
.
Quietly
Nalick
joined her.
Leila
was not asleep, but because she was not opening her eyes he played along.
Nalick
took his time getting into bed while studying her face.

Vaguely he could see the crease in her right cheek where she got a dimple when she smiled.
Her light skin was periodically speckled with freckles.
Leila
was
the most beautiful woman he had ever met
,
and
she was
by far
the most unique.
With her red hair and eyebrows, she was much different than the dark haired women of Lior
.
Even
her
odd
green eyes captiva
ted
him
.
Her eyes told a story and her mood.
He caught himself many times over the past few days, wondering what thoughts were going on behind those eyes.
As she lay with her eyes shut, Nalick still wondered about her.

Gently Nalick leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
Quietly
,
he whispered, “
T
hank you for bringing me to see your home.”

Leila did not respond.
She was still awake but did not know what to say to him.
I
n the quiet of the room, if
Leila
opened her eyes sh
e would not be able to hide the
way she felt.

Chapter 1
4