To Stand Beside Her (40 page)

“He’s a seer, right?” Phillip asked Leila
,
sitting
Ruth on the grass next to the bench.
Ruth
began to entertain herself
by
pulling at the flowers next to her.

“Yes,” Leila replied shocked that Phillip knew who Gabor was.

“
Leila
?” Phillip asked in a serious tone.
“What will happen to us?”
B
y not showing up to work the past two days
,
Phillip
had
lost his job and had no way to feed his brother and sister.

“I don’t know,” she replied honestly.
“If it were up to me I would like to keep you here, but it is not up to me.”
Phillip intently watched as Nalick finished his conversation with Gabor and returned to Leila and the children.
Nalick led the way back to their room
with Tim on his back
.
Phillip tentatively followed.

“I need to talk to Mauve first and then you three,” Nalick said to the children.
Leila could tell from his tone he had made a decision and the process was starting.
The twinkle in his eyes told her what he had decided.
Nalick went to Mauve and then returned.
Leila sat on a couch playing a game with Ruth
when
Nalick
returned.
Phillip quickly hurried over to him.

“I know you have decided what to do with us,” Phillip quickly sputtered out
.
“I know we are just peasants and should not even be allowed in this wing of the palace.
I am ready to leave, but please keep Tim and Ruth.
They are really good kids.
You can provide so much more for them than I can.
Please just keep my brother and sister,” the twelve
-
year
-
old begged.

“How about we keep all three of you instead
?
” Nalick suggested
,
pick
ing
up Ruth
who finally warmed to him and
join
ing
Leila sitting on the couch.
Phillip began to argue as he didn’t listen carefully to what Nalick had said, but once
Phillip
realized
,
he stopped.

“But we
…
,”
Phillip
began
,
not understanding.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I am not too worried about what class you are from,” Nalick said.
“Leila is not a noble
,
and she is
a
queen
.
” Leila nodded.
Phillip stared at Leila
,
and Nalick continued to play with Ruth as if nothing unusual happened.
“
You s
ee the
good thing about being king is that
I get to make up the rules
.
” Phillip continued to stare at Nalick.
Phillip
had imagined the king to be just like the rest of the nobles and was shocked to find he was so different.

“So we can stay here?” Phillip
looked around the room
,
wondering if he heard correct
.

“We would like it very much if you would stay,” Leila said.
“But that is your choice.”

Tim stopped running around the room as he heard part of the conversation.
“We don’t have to go back to our home
with the other kids
?”

“Not if you don’t want to,” Leila replied.

“Hooray
!
” the small child yelled
and
jumped up and down.

Ruth looked at Leila.
“
Lei
my new mommy?” she asked Phillip.
Phillip was too stunned to reply
,
and the small child pondered her own question.

“There are some laws I cannot change as easily,” Nalick explained to Phillip.
“You and Tim will be given the title prince and Ruth princess, but none of you will be able to become king or queen.
I hope that doesn’t disappoint you too much,” Nalick added
,
smiling at the shocked expression on Phillip’s face.

“I’ll be a prince?”
Phillip
repeated in disbelief.

“Yes,” Nalick replied.
Nalick stood to leave.
“I need to get everything in order for tomorrow.”
He bent down and kissed Leila’s forehead.
“There will be some men coming here with Theo and Macarius to open up the extra rooms.”
Leila did not understand but nodded
anyways
.
Nalick
would be busy again as everything he did required paper work.
Leila
had no doubt where his heart was.

“What is tomorrow?” Phillip asked before Nalick left the room.

“I will present the three of you to the nobles and court of Lior
as our children
,” Nalick said and then left the room.

A s
tunned Phillip sat beside Leila.
Tim again began to run around the room with his paper bird
,
oblivious to what was to become of their lives.
Ruth continued to stare from Phillip to Leila
,
waiting for an answer to her question.
The knock at the door interrupted Phillip’s thoughts
,
and Leila stood to open
it
.
She
held the door open as Theo quickly grabbed it
and was followed in by Ma
carius and several men
.

“Nalick asked us to open up the extra rooms,” Theo explained.

“That’s nice,” Leila said as the men entered the room and each bowed to her.
“What extra rooms?”

“Some courier you are,” Macarius said
,
joining them.
“This is the royal wing of the palace.
Nalick was raised here as a child.
After he became king he didn’t need all the extra space and had the rooms closed.
Now that you need more room, we are here to open all the extra rooms, of which you didn’t notice,” he pointed out.

“If you could just move the kids to the balcony, we can do this quicker and then Mauve can have all the rooms cleaned,” Theo explained.

“Phillip, Tim,” Leila said to the two boys who were still running around as Tim’s bird chased Phillip.
“Can you run onto the balcony?” Phillip changed his direction and ran to the balcony.
Leila quickly scooped Ruth up and took her
there
.

“Miss,”
the maid
Elena said quietly
,
approaching the balcony and blushing as soon as she saw Anatolio standing there also.
Anatolio bowed his head to Leila and quickly
retreated
back into the shadows of the room.
“Mauve has told me that she wants
me to help you with the two younger children
,
”
s
he explained.
“I brought some toys.”
Elena
offered the basket of toys to Ruth and Tim who each quickly found a toy and began to play.

“This is Tim
, Ruth,
and Phillip,” Leila introduced the
children
.
“This is Elena,” Leila said.
Phillip shook her hand
,
and Tim mimicked him.

“
Lena
,” Ruth repeated Leila.

With Elena watching the children, Leila sn
uck
back into the room to see what the men were doing.
Leila first noticed that Macarius was removing many of the tapestries that covered the walls.
Behind each she could see a door frame that had been filled by a flimsy wall.
She was surprised as the men removed two large tapestries and the walls behind them on the west wall farthest from the entrance
,
and behind it was another large room.
She slowly walked past the men into the large empty room.
Windows surround
ed
the room on three sides.

“This will now be your bed
room,” Theo explained
,
coming up behind her.
Quickly
,
several of the women along with Mauve entered the room and began to clean it.
Leila backed out of the room as they worked.
“We will move your bed in here after it is clean
.
”

Leila returned to the main room to find that near the door to the bath room, four new doors were opened.
She pe
e
ked her head in to find
that
they were all additional bath
rooms
, all
about h
alf the size of the larger
one
.
She continued around the
main
room and was shocked as the men removed the largest tapestry and wall to the left of the doorway.
Behind it was a staircase that led to a second floor that extended over the hallway and Theo’s home.

“There are all the extra bed rooms,” Theo explained.
Leila had not thought much about where she was living, but it seemed to make sense.
If this was the royal wing where Nalick was raised, it must have been more of a home tha
n
just a large room like it
was
when
she moved in.

Leila
walked through
the door behind Nalick’s desk.
In the new room,
was
a large kitchen with enough space for a table.
Everything was covered in dust
,
and it had not been used in years.
Through the kitchen was yet another room.
She cautiously walked through the dusty room.
Several paintings were sitting against the wall.
She carefully looked through them.
Each was a painting of the same woman.

“That was his mother,” Theo explained.
Leila looked at the beautiful dark haired woman and could see the resemblance to Nalick.
Each painting seemed to capture the sadness in her eyes.
“King Godfrith could not bear to take these pictures with him after she died.”

“She looks
so
young,” Leila said
,
still staring at the pictures.

“She was,” Theo replied.
“She was fourteen when she married King Godfrith and sixteen when she had Nalick.
S
he did not love
the king,
but
King Godfrith
hoped that some
day she would.
I don’t know if that ever happened
.
She really was a great mother to Nalick
,
and he was crushed when she died.”

Leila wondered back into the main room as several of the men were moving her bed into the new room.
“I would take you upstairs, but Nalick told me he wanted to show you something up there.”
Leila nodded and looked curiously up the stairs.
She would have to wait as Theo would never go against an order from Nalick.

Nalick returned in time for dinner
.
A
ll the rooms were opened and cleaned.
After dinner, Nalick took the children and Leila upstairs.
Leila noticed the hallway that extended to the right immediately at the top of the stairs but followed Nalick as he led down the
main
hallway.
Leila was surprised by how much was hidden upstairs.

“The first room to the left here is where Anatolio is going to stay,” Nalick explained.
“
It is
easier to watch over Leila if he
is
living here now that we have more room.
The first room to the right will be for Elena.
She has volunteered to be the nanny for the younger children.
That way if either of you get scared during the night, she will be right here
and
you won’t have to go all the way downstairs by yourself,” Nalick said to Tim and Ruth.
“
The second room to the right will be for Ruth.”
Nalick opened the door to the room and Phillip set Ruth down.
Carefully
,
she walked around the room
,
feeling the pillows and blankets on the bed.
“See,” Nalick opened the door on the left side of the room.
Ruth peeked her head in the next room.
“Elena will be right there,” he pointed to the empty bed.
Ruth nodded.