Phillip paced the hallway as he waited. He was anxious, but Leila did not know how to calm the boy. Every now and then, Phillip would stop by the door and try to hear what was going on inside. Macarius stopped Phillip's pacing as he placed his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"There is nothing to worry about. Everything is already done. Nalick just wants to introduce you three to everyone. Nobody will stop it from happening." Macarius could relate to the young man. Phillip stopped pacing and sat down beside Leila and Ruth.

"Why do Macarius or Theo follow you everywhere you go?" Phillip asked, trying to get his mind off of what was going to happen.

"Nalick wants them to watch over and protect me," Leila replied. "Anatolio is also always here." Leila nodded her head to the shadow nearby but Phillip did not see him. Anatolio stepped out of the shadow so that Phillip could see he was standing there and then returned to his hidden spot.

"How did you know he was there?" Phillip was amazed that Leila knew Anatolio was there as Phillip could not see him at all.

"He's always close, so it is easy for me to spot him. Besides, he doesn't hide from me, just everyone else," Leila explained. "Out of the three men, he truly is my personal guard. Theo and Macarius just keep me company. Anatolio is always watching over me."

"But he can't be much older than me," Phillip said, trying to find Anatolio again in the dark corner.

"He isn't," Leila explained. "But don't be fooled. He is much stronger and better trained than most men twice his age." Anatolio could hear the conversation and tried to suppress the smile forming.

"How long have you trained?" Phillip asked, moving back to Leila as the subject of conversation.

"Eight years," she replied. Ruth tried to slide off her lap, but Leila kept a firm hold on the little girl so that she would not tumble to the ground.

"So that would make you only eighteen," Phillip said in awe as he counted on his fingers. "You're not much older than me either." Leila smiled at the young man. She was only a few years older than him, but she had lived enough life for several life times in the last four years alone.

Soon the side door opened and Theo came out. Leila stood and picked up Ruth. Phillip followed her tightly holding onto Tim's hand. Leila heard him whisper before they entered the room.

"Tim, please behave. Remember you promised," Phillip told his younger brother.

Phillip was surprised as they entered the room to see how many people were there. He followed as Leila led them all to the stage that Nalick was sitting at. Nalick stood and took Ruth from Leila as she carefully climbed the stairs. Phillip's grandparents knew who Phillip was immediately. Nalick offered Leila his seat, and she gladly sat down. Nalick went to hand her Ruth, but the small child held onto him tightly. He smiled as Phillip stood next to Leila, and Tim energetically hopped on her lap instead.

"For the last point of today's meeting, I wanted to use the opportunity to introduce everyone here to our new children," Nalick said. "I would like to introduce Prince Phillip," Nalick pointed to Phillip. "Prince Tim," Leila lifted Tim's hand, and he waved to everyone. "And Princess Ruth," Nalick tried to get Ruth to look at the people seated in front of him, but she just nuzzled her face into his shirt while her curls bounced. The crowd just chuckled at the small child's shyness. While icy stares greeted the boys, no one could resist the little girl. "That is it for today's meeting. There will be no meeting next month as the wedding celebrations will already have begun."

Nalick nodded his head and the people all slowly began to leave. Some people stopped along the way to greet old friends and others hurried to the door. Leila watched as near the back of the room, Emma was trying to make her way up to the stage. Emma bowed to both Nalick and Leila.

"I'm so happy to see you can walk again, Queen Eia," Emma said. "Thank you so much for knowing it was not me that wanted you gone. I am so sorry my parents put you through that. Thanks to you I got to get married finally. I wanted you to meet Dareios, but I couldn't get him to come up here with me." Leila smiled as Emma waved at a man who was waiting in the back of the room. "I can't thank you enough." Emma noticed Nalick approaching and quickly stood and bowed again to him before hurrying away.

"Here Leila," Nalick said handing her Ruth. "I need to take Phillip with me for a second." Ruth sat on one knee and Tim on the other, while Nalick whisked Phillip away. He stood close enough for Leila to overhear the conversation.

"Lady and Lord Pillas, I wanted you to meet my son Phillip," Nalick said, and Phillip shook each of their hands. Phillip was amazed by how happy it made him feel to have Nalick call him his son. He had never really known his own father as he died when he was quite young, and Tim and Ruth's father never acknowledged that Phillip even existed.

"Lord Pillas trains horses," Nalick explained to Phillip. "He even taught me how to ride when I was a little younger than you are now. I was hoping he would be able to teach you how to ride also." Phillip grinned ear to ear. Everything was becoming more real to him as Nalick talked about teaching him how to be a prince. "Of course it will have to be after your classes and all, if Lord Pillas could fit you into his schedule."

"For you, my king, anything," Lord Pillas replied.

"Did you hear that?" Phillip yelled, running back onto the stage and missing the next question.

"Is he?" Lady Pillas asked. Nalick did not need to answer as all three knew the truth. Lady Pillas wiped the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Thank you," she said, quietly before her husband comforted her as they walked away.

"Leila, I get to learn how to ride a horse," Phillip said, running up to Leila who was still holding the two children that were reaching their limit of behaving and sitting on her lap. Tim wiggled more and more.

Leila sat him on the ground while still holding Ruth. "Go tell Nalick your new story," she told the young boy, who was more than happy to run over to Nalick who was talking to someone else. Nalick lifted him into the air, and Tim cheered.

"I wonder what else I get to learn...," Phillip added while picking up Ruth who had quit wiggling and fallen asleep on Leila's lap.

"Trust me, I'm not the person to ask," Leila replied, standing next to Phillip. "Let's go back upstairs. Maybe you can talk to Theo or Macarius about lessons."

Once upstairs, Leila took Ruth from Phillip and laid her in Leila's bed. Tim occupied himself with the toys lying around the room as Phillip and Nalick talked about what Phillip would be doing for his training. Leila drifted off to sleep watching the men sit and talk at the table.

Nalick and Phillip let Leila and Ruth sleep until dinner time. While they were asleep Tim had joined them. Nalick did not want to wake them as all three were cuddled in the bed together so peacefully. Gently he picked up Ruth and rocked her in his arms as he softly called her name. With a yawn she opened her eyes and giggled. Nalick set her back down on the bed and softly shook Tim's foot. Tim sat up and both children began to tug on Leila. Leila smiled and kept her eyes shut.

"Lei, wake up." Tim patted her face.

"Lei," Ruth said also tugging on her hand. Reluctantly, Leila got up for yet another formal dinner.

Nalick brought his entire new family to their first formal dinner. He had expected them to sit still for only a minute and then begin to run, but they stayed in their seats the entire time. The three children sat between Nalick and Leila at the head table and were quite amused by the amount of people that came to the dinner. Following the dinner, Leila took the two younger children back to their quarters and put them to bed. After all the excitement, even with their naps, the children went right to sleep.

On her way back to the meeting room, Leila took a detour outside to the training courtyard. For the first moment since she brought the children home, she was truly alone and could clear her mind and think. If she returned to the party, she would not be alone. Leila walked to the center of the empty courtyard and looked into the sky. Everything in her life at the moment seemed to be working out for the best. Leila stared at the stars. Her life was never that easy and she felt unsure of what was truly bothering her. What does Nalick know about the future he is too afraid to tell me? she wondered. It was hard to believe in fate. Leila wanted to be in control of her own life. Anatolio watched from the shadows. Leila was cold. As he approached, Leila did not move and he gently wrapped his outer shirt around her shoulders, pressing his body close to hers to warm her.

"It's a little too cold to be standing out here," he said to her. "Besides you're not dressed to be standing outside. I think those dresses are made for daytime or indoors."

"I suppose I am not dressed to train you right now," she replied, and he laughed.

"You really should get back inside before Nalick becomes concerned that you are gone," Anatolio suggested.

"I know," Leila replied but didn't move. "Do you believe in fate?"

"Yes," he replied quietly.

"So you don't think we have control over our own lives?" she wondered. "Doesn't it scare you to have no control over how your life turns out?"

"You know how you don't fear being kidnapped?" Anatolio explained. "I don't fear that I can't control the way my life turns out." Leila wished she could just sit by and let her life make its own decisions, but she just could not let go of the chance to make the decisions herself. "What's meant to be is meant to be."

Turning her head sideways and up to look over her shoulder, Leila stared the young man with her. She could not understand how he could be so calm with not being in control of his life.

"I've never had much say," he continued to explain. "Maybe if I was as free as you are, I would not like the concept of fate, but since I have never had control, it makes no difference to me now."

"Let's get you back to the dinner," Anatolio said putting his arm around her and directing her to inside. "You can't sit and worry about losing control of something you have never had control of to begin with." Leila smiled, realizing that the young man's words actually comforted her. As the neared the door to the meeting hall, Anatolio let go of her and faded into the background.

He might even be smarter than his years also.

Inside the hall, the music had already started playing. Leila made her way back to the table and found Nalick was walking around the room introducing Phillip to everyone. She could see how proud both Phillip and Nalick were and happily sat and watched them. As the music changed, Phillip ducked away from Nalick and ran over to Leila, dodging people and tables as he ran.

"Leila," Phillip said panting from running across the room. "Can I have this dance?" Phillip caught his breath. Leila recognized the music and accepted his outstretched hand.

Leila and Phillip danced two songs before Nalick cut in. "Do I get a chance to dance with her too this time?" he asked. Phillip nodded and ran back to the head table.

As the night wore on, Leila excused herself and Phillip from the party before she took him back up to their rooms.

"So do you think this is an okay life?" she asked him on their walk through the empty hallways.

Phillip grinned ear to ear even though he was exhausted. "It's great." Leila walked upstairs with him and checked on Ruth and Tim who were sound asleep in Ruth's bed as Phillip went to his room. As she approached the top of the stairs to go back down, Phillip came out of his room and ran over to her. He quickly hugged her.

"Thanks, Mom," he said before running back into his room and turning the light off. Leila walked back down to her own room. It was strange to be called mom. Her life had not turned out as she had imagined, yet it was so much better than she could have ever guessed. Could this be my fate?

Chapter 24.

The next week Leila started a new schedule. Leila began training Anatolio again in the afternoons after she put Ruth down for her midday nap. What had started as a training session with just Anatolio had escalated until by the end of the week she had fourteen men working with her. As the days progressed, more men started to show up to watch as they had done before. Those that arrived early were brave enough asked to join in.

After the last training session of the week, Leila was finally ready to test her leg to see what she was still able to do but did not want to do it in front of an audience. While Ruth and Tim were busy playing with Elena, Leila changed and snuck off to the garden on the roof.

Leila started by slowly stretching, and there was some limitation to her recovering leg. It would not be a problem, but she needed to stretch every day for the following few weeks to get it back to equal with her other leg. Leila took the time alone to plan out the following weeks. It was still three weeks until the wedding, but her family would be arriving in less than a week. Roger had sent her a note to give her the day he planned to be there and to again warn her to be careful. Leila was excited to see her family, but also worried that they would not like it in Lexia. She remembered her first run into the city and how she asked Erich why someone would purposely live there. Leila chuckled at how ironic her question had been. Over the years she had gotten use to Lexia, but she doubted that on their first trip to the city her family would find it too inviting.

Leila slowly moved her leg, rolling her foot from side to side. She could not feel a difference but she would not know until she tested it more. Leila began to make a mental list of what needed to get done before her parents arrived. She stood and stretched her leg more. She was being over cautious, but she was like this every time she recovered from a major injury. Leila stood on her uninjured leg and pulled the other to her chest. She could feel the tightness in it. Cautiously, she reversed her legs and stood on her bad one while pulling her other up past her head. Slowly she began to run through her set of exercises. Except for two moves, everything seemed to be normal. In the shadows near the wall she could tell Anatolio was watching her. He did not interrupt her as she continued to run through the exercises again.

"I think after the weekend I will try it out down on the training grounds," Leila said to him. Anatolio had been waiting for her to get healthy to learn more. She was the most amazing courier he had ever met and wanted to learn as much as he could from her. Anatolio stayed in the shadows as Phillip came running up the stairs.

"Mom, mom," he called. "Dad said I can get my own horse."

Leila quickly diverted the excited boy as he came close to tripping on the last step to the patio she was standing on. "So you have gotten the hang of riding?" she asked sitting down.

"It's so much fun," Phillip said, sitting down on the bench beside her. "Dad said that since I only go two days a week for lessons, I should practice here at the palace. So at the end of next week, I get to pick one out."

"That's great," she said. Phillip was given the chance to be a child again.

"Will you come with me?" Phillip asked. "Dad said you would know more about horses than he does." Leila doubted she knew more than Nalick, but he always wanted her included in everything.

"Of course," she said.

Nalick arrived back and sent Phillip downstairs to study.

"Roger is worried about you," Nalick said as soon as Phillip was out of hearing distance.

"Roger has never stopped worrying about me. Why do you think he made a deal with you?" Leila replied. She was not worried.

"You don't exactly always put yourself in the best situations," Nalick commented.

"Well, I don't think you regret that quality about me," she smirked. He couldn't argue with her on that point.

"We will need to find more guards," he said, changing the subject. "Now that Nikias is working with me, and there are the children to also watch over. I doubt Theo, Macarius, and Javed will be enough."

"Actually, I think Anatolio will be enough," Leila said. "And I would not let anything happen to the kids."

"I am more worried about things happening to you." Nalick brushed the hair from her face. "Until I get more guards for you can you please stay within the palace unless I am with you," he begged. Leila nodded. She did not want to worry him any more than he already was. He picked her up and placed her on his lap so that he could hold her close, if only for a moment. "Besides," he continued, "the week after the wedding we are going to head up to the North Country, so you only have to stay inside for a few weeks."

Leila stared at him. She had not heard any plans of going north from anyone. "What do you mean?"

"Roger sent me a note from your parents last week asking if we could go up north after the wedding and get married in your hometown. They said they have a surprise for us. I just sent back a reply yesterday that we will gladly visit as long as they don't mind three extra kids running around." Nalick laughed at Leila's surprised expression. She had not heard from her parents in over a week and assumed that was because they were coming to visit soon. "You forgot to write them about the kids, didn't you?" Nalick said.

"So, we are going to actually have a wedding there also?" she asked, contemplating a change in plans.

"Yes, if it is alright with you," he said.

"But what about your priests? I can't believe they would be all right with you getting married in another religion," she said.

"Well," Nalick paused. "It was actually their idea. Seems that they feel that we would upset your God if we didn't get married there also, and it would bring bad luck upon our family." Leila shook her head. She could not understand how the priests would actually support it, bad luck or not. "They asked your home town priest to talk to your parents about officially getting married there."

Leila did not understand what he meant.

"So the wedding here won't be official?" she asked confused.

Nalick could not help but laugh at the concern in her innocent eyes. He had not meant to confuse her. "The wedding here is official. Trust me. Not that it matters as in the eyes of Lior law, as you are already the queen. What I meant was my priests ask me not to consummate the marriage before we are also married by your priests."

Leila blushed. His touch made her heart race enough; she had not even considered what it really meant to be getting married. Nalick smiled as she turned several shades of red. The one quality that he loved more than anything about her was her innocence. She was experienced beyond her years in so much but not in love. Leila tried to stand so that he would not see her embarrassment, but he held onto her tightly. She had not thought very far ahead of what saying yes to marriage meant and with the whirlwind that ensued, she had not had time to ponder it. Leila was thankful for the interruption as Tim came running into the garden.

"Dad, dad," Tim called, forcing Nalick to let Leila stand. Nalick had been trying to find the courage to talk to her, but he had once again lost his nerve as Tim approached. Nalick didn't like keeping a secret from her, but he could not find words to start the conversation he needed to have with her.

"I need to talk to you alone sometime," Nalick said as the running boy leapt onto his lap and began to talk. Leila nodded before slipping away. She had had enough embarrassment for one day, and she was ready to quickly run away and hide.

Leila returned to the full courtyard with Anatolio to train, and the men that were lounging around waiting for her cheered as she entered. The men could see she was dressed to train with them, and they were all excited to see her work. As usual, beyond the men she was training a crowd had formed to watch. She noticed Nalick sitting near the back of the crowd but she did not see Theo with Phillip. Phillip watched wide-eyed as his new mother easily taught the men below how to fight. Leila was a courier and told him she could take care of herself, but he never imagined she was so good. Phillip watched as she finished up her session with the men for the day.

"Now, most of you are quite young," Leila said to the fourteen men. Judging from their faces, she guessed they were all her age or younger. "For the next few years, you will mostly go against people larger in size. In my case, it is almost all the time." They laughed. "So, I figure the move you should work on next is a way to counter the fact that someone is twice your size. Since I've done enough beating up on Anatolio for the day, I figure my future husband who is hiding at the back of the crowd could help." The crowd watching her heard and all turned to the back and saw their king.

Nalick moved through the bowing crowd and stood face to face with Leila. Slowly she demonstrated to them the move she had just described, and Nalick immediately recognized it as the way she easily beat him when he tried to fight her. The smile on his face told her he remembered the move. Each man studied it again as she showed them and then she was finished for the day. As the crowd departed and Leila was left standing with Nalick and Anatolio, Nalick finally realized that Phillip and Theo were also in the crowd.

"Did you know?" Nalick asked Leila.

"After you started to walk up here I saw him," Leila replied as Theo and Phillip began walking towards them.

Phillip stared at Leila and didn't know what to say. Leila chuckled realizing he was tongue tied. "Now do you believe me?" she asked Phillip. He nodded. "The reason I could go on all my runs and not worry was because I can take care of myself." Nalick nodded also. She could take care of herself, but he just worried to what extent people would try to get a hold of her.

Chapter 25.

Leila rode her horse between the temporary guard out of the city to get Phillip and his new horse, and Anatolio followed at a distance as normal. She had sent Javed and Macarius along with Phillip and had to make due with several unknown men. As the group approached Lady and Lord Pillas' manor, something was not right. Leila entered the courtyard, and no one greeted them. Leila cautiously got off her horse and was quickly surrounded by the men with her. Annoyed, she whistled and Anatolio quickly joined them and threw a small weapon to her. The men near her moved as she walked to the house.

Carefully, Anatolio opened the door, and Leila followed him in. The front room was in complete disarray. Leila scanned the room and found no one inside. Nikias indicated to Nalick's guards to go in opposite directions as he, Theo, and Anatolio stayed at Leila's side. She first walked to the kitchen. Where would their wine cellar be? she wondered. Anatolio thought the same thing, and immediately he led her to the right of the kitchen. Leila saw a pantry door that had been blocked from the outside. Leila put her ear to the door and could hear voices inside. Nikias and Anatolio broke the door so that they could open it, and below, Leila could see Lady and Lord Pillas along with their staff sitting at the bottom of the stairs, but Phillip, Javed, and Macarius were not with them.

Lady and Lord Pillas were grateful to see Leila but confused at the same time. Once Leila and the men helped Lady and Lord Pillas out of the cellar along with their staff, Leila waited for the guards to return from their search of the house. All three men shook their heads no as they entered the kitchen. Leila began to worry about Phillip. There was nothing beyond the front room in disarray that indicated why or who attacked the manor.