"It's not important." she said quietly.
"How you mean it's not important?" said Murtagh angrily and got up "That person almost killed me!"
"I don't want to tell you." she said, avoiding his surprised look.
"Why?" he asked and pulled her arm.
"Don't insist…I won't tell you." she said and he let her arm.
"Come on! What do you get with not telling me?" he said and looked deep into her eyes.
"Forget it, Murtagh. I just saved your life so don't ask me anything." she said angrily.
"Oh, you are making me so angry. Well, at least tell me will that person come back?" said Murtagh.
"No, don't worry." said Leonor "We lost too much time here, we need to go."
"Right." said Murtagh and they started to walk fast.
Days were passing by really fast and Leonor realized she didn't even speak with Murtagh. He was still angry on her because she didn't want to tell him who that was. They were now close to Galbatorix and they had to be careful with talking and thinking.
"We have to hide some memories from Galbatorix." suddenly said Murtagh.
"So you are speaking to me now." she looked at him.
"I think we can make a good wall in our minds to block some memories." said Murtagh.
"Ok. At least we can try." said Leonor. She didn't really care what Galbatorix will find out.
Soon they saw Galbatorix's tower.
"Back to our worst nightmare." whispered Leonor as they were getting closer and closer to the tower. It seemed like nothing changed since they left. It was still dark and cold place. Leonor saw a man standing in front of the tower and soldiers around him. It was Galbatorix.
"Nice to have you back…" he smiled "…on time. Did you get what I wanted?"
Leonor threw the book to him and few moments after, Thorn and Diamond appeared.
"Nice." smiled Galbatorix and looked at Diamond "You have a nice dragon, Leonor. I hope he will be useful."
Leonor just looked at him and didn't say anything. It felt so wrong to be again here with Galbatorix.
"Did you have to kill someone on your way?" asked Galbatorix.
"Just a few people." said Murtagh.
"Good." said Galbatorix "But why are we still standing here? We should go inside. Tomorrow I will tell you what to do."
"Tomorrow? So actually nothing happened while we were away? What about the Varden and your army?" asked Leonor. Galbatorix looked at her.
"Don't worry about that. I'm still preparing my army and soon I will prepare you. But at the moment nothing important is going on." said Galbatorix and entered in the tower. Leonor looked at Murtagh and went to her room. In the hall she saw one soldier.
"Hey." she looked at him "What was going on here while I was away?"
"Hey, Leonor. Nice to see you again." Mark smiled "Not much happened."
"But something did happen, right?" Leonor thought Galbatorix is hiding something from them.
"Well, Arya is now the leader of the Varden and she is planning how to defeat us with Eragon's help." said Mark.
"Eh, Arya…that…ah, whatever." said Leonor and heard someone talking with Murtagh down the hall.
"Who is that?" she asked when a young blond girl passed by.
"That's Astrid, a new maid." said Mark.
"A new maid?" asked Leonor surprised.
"Yes. She is so pretty." said Mark, looking after the girl.
"Hm." said Leonor "She doesn't look like a maid."
"True. She came here two weeks ago and I think she was doing something else before. But people come here looking for a job because they believe this is the only safe place." said Mark.
"Safe place?" Leonor laughed "People are crazy. Well, I'm going now."
She smiled at Mark and entered in her room. Once again she realized how much she hates that room. It was dark, cold and somehow old. She never had time to change it a little bit. Maybe a new decoration or something would look better. She sat on the bed and got lost in her own thoughts. For some reason, Astrid seemed so weird. Leonor couldn't stop thinking about Astrid's perfect blue eyes and golden hair. She concentrated on the noise coming from the hall. It was Astrid's voice. Leonor slowly got up from the bed and went to open the door.
"What are you doing?" Leonor asked surprised when she saw Astrid holding Murtagh's sword.
"Just doing my job." smiled Astrid "I'm going to clean this sword."
Leonor looked deep at Astrid's cold blue eyes.
"Why would Murtagh give you his sword to clean it?" Leonor said "He doesn't like when someone else is having his sword."
"I guess he trusts me." said Astrid with a smile on her face. Leonor thought that Astrid's smile looks so evil.
"Oh, come on!" laughed Leonor "He doesn't trust anyone and he just met you!"
"True. But he feels different about me." Astrid looked at Leonor.
"What do you want from him?" asked Leonor.
"What are you talking about?" said Astrid with surprised look.
"Don't play with me. You don't need to have that fake smile with me. Just tell me the truth. Why you are here and what do you want from Murtagh?" said Leonor angrily.
"Maybe I have a plan, but that's none of your business." said Astrid.
"A plan? You better tell me right now what is it and I won't hurt you." said Leonor and whispered something in ancient language. In a second Astrid hit the wall and fell down. Leonor took the sword from her hand.
"Ready to talk, honey?" asked Leonor and pushed her up against the wall, pressing the sword at her neck.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything bad." said Astrid, scared.
"And what did you mean?" said Leonor angrily.
"Ok, ok!" yelled Astrid when she felt that sword is slowly cutting her skin "I just came here looking for safety. And what is better than being with someone who can protect me. I came here to find a man who will do that. Murtagh is just perfect."
"Oh, really?" laughed Leonor and moved away from her. Astrid looked at Leonor while holding a hand on her neck, trying to stop the blood.
"That shouldn't bother you. What do you have with Murtagh?" said Astrid.
"Nothing except mental connection." smiled Leonor "I just don't want to have a snake like you near me. And if you are near Murtagh then you are near me!"
"So what are you going to do? Kill me?" Astrid laughed.
"Maybe." said Leonor angrily.
"You can't do that." smiled Astrid.
"Why not?" asked Leonor.
"Because I have Galbatorix's permission to do what I want. He wouldn't like that you kill me." smiled Astrid "Actually he won't like that you hurt me. But I will be nice and I won't tell him, I promise."
"Oh, so now you are doing me a favor?" smiled Leonor.
"Yes, I don't want to be your enemy." smiled Astrid.
"I don't want to be your friend." said Leonor in a cold voice.
"Oh, too bad. Maybe I change my mind and tell to Galbatorix that you tried to kill me. He will be very angry because he likes me." said Astrid, still smiling. In few moments Astrid fell down on the floor.
"Tried? Oh, no." smiled Leonor and pulled out the sword from Astrid's chest.
"What are you doing here?" asked Murtagh when he saw Leonor coming in his room.
"I brought this back to you." she smiled and gave him the sword.
"Astrid gave it to you?" he asked surprised, looking at the sword.
"Well, not really. But I cleaned it." she smiled "I don't think you will see her again."
"Why do you say that?" he looked at her. At that moment one soldier entered the room and looked at Leonor.
"Leonor, Galbatorix wants to see you. He says it can't wait." said the soldier.
"Ok." said Leonor, looked once again at Murtagh and left the room.
"What was that?" Galbatorix yelled angrily at Leonor. She just looked at him, very calm.
"What was what?" asked Leonor.
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know! You killed Astrid!" yelled Galbatorix.
"So? Since when do you care so much about a maid?" said Leonor.
"That's none of your business but you are not supposed to kill people who work here. You don't have right to kill any of my servants without my permission." Galbatorix was very angry.
"Whatever." said Leonor and rolled her eyes "She was annoying."
"But you didn't have right to kill her for that!" yelled Galbatorix and pushed Leonor against the wall with magic.
"What is your problem?" said Leonor and got up "You wanted a monster and when you got it, you seem to want something else."
"You should be killing our enemies!" said Galbatorix and looked at her angrily.
"Guess what, you forgot to mention that." she laughed and Galbatorix pushed her once again.
"You will have to promise in ancient language that something like this won't happen again." said Galbatorix.
"I don't want to." said Leonor in a cold voice.
"Yes, you will! You promised me your loyalty. Did you forget that?" smiled Galbatorix.
"I remember, but I promised you just that. Not that I will promise you anything else." she laughed and he hit her again with his magic.
"I will make you!" yelled Galbatorix.
"Forget it! You don't know my true name, you can't do anything." smiled Leonor.
"Don't believe in that. You better promise me what I want if you don't want that I force you on harder way." he said angrily.
"Oh, so you will risk loosing your precious new Dragon Rider?" Leonor looked at him. His face got a weird expression.
"You can't make me promise you anything without torturing me and that can destroy totally your idea." she smiled. He looked at her angrily.
"Good. Leave it like this. But you will pay for what you have done." he smiled "You will pay when you won't even expect it." He started to laugh. She slowly got up and went out of the room. Galbatorix was still laughing and it sounded so terrible.