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As Royal events did, so the day came like the inevitable fate it was. Freddie was married to with Christine. Except this marriage wasn’t something that Freddie had wanted. Not that he had much say in the matter. He was the oldest son of the late King Bomi and needed to be married in order to become the next King of Rhye, and so Freddie’s family had made an alliance with another kingdom through the arranged marriage.
After the ceremony and the banquet, the bride and groom shared their first night in a bed but found little joy in it. Their desires were not important. Two kingdoms depended on that union and they needed an heir.
The following morning, breakfast was served at a long table in the great hall a bit later than expected.
“Your Majesty, sincerest apologies for the delay… we needed to tidy up the kitchen… early this morning we found it an ungodly mess with everything out of place,” a servant explained, bowing apologetically.
“How come?” Christine asked.
“We don’t know how this happened, Your Highness.”
Freddie eyed the cup of tea in his hand distractedly. He didn’t have much of an appetite this morning, nor was he in the mood to listen to this fool of a servant. He wished breakfast were over so he might be allowed some time to himself. “Of course you don’t”, he scoffed. “A likely story. It sounds like a poor excuse for your tardiness… surely one of the staff got drunk and doesn’t want to admit their fault”.
“Oh Frederick, please be kind… Never mind the reason, at least they came to confess… I think it sounds reasonable.”
The servant was watching t them with rapt attention, wary of the new king’s anger.
Freddie sighed deeply and waved a dismissive hand. He did not want the servants to look upon him with fear, although his father had instilled in him that no man could be respected if he was not also feared. But Freddie, too, had feared his father and as the years went by, he had begun to wonder if it was truly respect her felt. Or resentment and defeat.
“Alright, alright” he replied to his wife and turned to look the servant in the eye. “I believe you.”.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The servant bowed and left them.
“You’re kind to the servants,” Freddie noted, drinking a sip of his tea.
“They work for us and if you treat them well then they will do it better and faster.” his new bride said, reaching for some grapes.
“You’re astute, too. I like that.”
They shared an honest smile, but it was bittersweet. Freddie did not dislike Christine. He barely knew her. But love her he did not, and he doubted that he ever could. It was much the same for her, he imagined. All they could share was an appreciation for each other’s kindness, if not the passion of love.
That night, Freddie went in secret to a hidden, n luxurious room in the castle. It had an enormous bed with the finest linen, a comfortable chaise, a wardrobe, a window with dark silky curtains and a fireplace that wasn’t currently in use because it was already summer. It had taken years to furnish it thus while keeping it concealed, but Freddie had not been alone in the endeavor. In that room, three men waited for him. The most important knights of the kingdom, and his lovers since late boyhood when sword practice and riding out to hunt had turned into far more child’d play
To night, each other’s pleasure was theirs to command. And here passion oozed from their very pores, sweet and rich like honey from a honeycomb. Here, Freddie had what he desired. He could share a bed with those he loved, if only in secret: his three brave knights.
After long hours, making up for time lost during the wedding festivities, they fell asleep entwined in each other’s arms and content. But in the middle of the night, something roused Freddie. A touch to one of his feet.
“Bri? Did you touch me, dear? Bri?”
Brian woke, drawing a deep breath.
“Hm?”
“Did you touch me?” Freddie asked, softly.
“No, love.”
The next moment, their eyes were drawn to the curtains as they moved a bit and the light of the moon entered to the room briefly.
“Did you see that?” Brian asked.
“Yeah. Go and see if the window is closed,” Freddie urged, shifting closer to his lover.
“It was closed, Fred. I’d rather not leave the bed. Let’s go back to sleep. ”
Just as they began to settle down again, the door of the wardrobe opened with a creak.
“What in the blazes! Is this room haunted now?” Brian asked into the darkness, in a louder voice.
“Haunted? What’s going on?” Roger mumbled sleepily, raising up his head.
Freddie reached out a hand for him. “Something strange is going on, Rog, I don’t know if I can go back to sleep. ”
“I envy John.” Roger yawned.
“He sleeps like the dead” Brian agreed with a snort.
“Freddie,” said a voice.
“John?” Freddie asked into the darkness, a cold chill running down his spine.
“Freddie,” the voice uttered again.
“That’s not John, Fred.” Brian, who was lying closest to John, swallowed.
Roger moved closer to Freddie, too, and the three of them clung together. “What the devil is going on.”
“Stop!” Freddie called into the room, feigning courage he didn’t currently feel. “Stop, I command you, in the name of the King!
They all jumped as the wardrobe door slammed shut .
“I’ll not pass another minute here!” declared Roger and jumped out of bed, gathering up his clothes .
“We should go to our chambers” Brian agreed.
“What’s going on?” John grumbled.
“Too long to explain now, love, we will tell you in the morning,” Freddie said, leaving the bed to get dressed. Brian followed him and, reluctantly, so did John.
Freddie sneaked back into his bedroom so as not to rouse his wife, but discovered that she was half- awake.
“Frederick… did you call for me?”
“I didn’t, dear.”
“I heard… noises” she whispered, her voice full of trepidation.
“Surely it was only your imagination, darling” Freddie tried to soothe her, because he too was scared, but did not want to let on.
“I don’t know, Frederick…”
“Freddie, remember?” he said softly, stepping closer. “We’re married, after all.”
Christine sighed, taking in the sight of him properly for the first time. His tousled hair, his clothes, barely done up. She could plainly see that he had not been sitting up reading in solitude.
“I don’t know what w you were doing out of bed,” she said quietly, and did not ask. “But come here and sleep beside me. I’m frightened.”
“Alright, Let me change my clothes.”
Freddie changed into his bed clothes and climbed under the covers. He hugged his wife tightly and on his skin she could smell fragrances of things she did not wish to think about. Whoever he had been with tonight, that was not her. Regardless, she tried to relax in that embrace.
The following morning the kitchen was found a mess again and that delayed the breakfast preparations.
“Sincere apologies, Your Majesty, we…”
“Yes, you needed to tidy up the kitchen, did you?”
“Yes.”
Christine looked pale, staring down at her plate.
“Not to worry” Freddie said. “Could you call to my mother? I need to talk with her.”
“Her Royal Highness is taking her breakfast in the garden, Your Majesty.”
“Alright, I’ll go to her later, that will be all.”
The servant left.
After the breakfast, Freddie went to the main garden, where his mother was sitting at a table, contemplating the roses.
“Mother.”
She h turned to look at him, and frowned.
“Freddie, are you alright?”
“No, not really, I had a terrible night,” Freddie admitted, sitting down next to her. He proceeded to tell her what had happened to him last night, leaving out the details of where he had been.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it before,” he finished.
“Yes… neither did your father and I., We were lucky,” his mother sighed deeply. She didn’t want to talk about the issue, she had hoped that there was nothing to speak of and never would be, but evidently the time had come, if not for herself.
“Your grandfather on your father’s side told us stories like these before your father and I married. He warned us, but nothing ever happened to us.”
“Did you believe those stories?”
“I thought they were merely silly tales to scare us, although I wondered why he would. He was a strange man, mind. They say he was a little mad. But now you’re telling me this and it sounds so similar. Anything on heaven and earth is possible … I mean, what happened with the kitchen two days in a row? One of the things your grandfather told us was that the ghost loved to mess about in the kitchen, and the things you told me about the noises and voices… Your grandfather told us that the ghost wanted to talk with him and that perhaps, just perhaps… he said… Freddie, it was a strange thing he said, I recall. He said that perhaps if he had listened, he may have lived in peace.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” His mother turned to him, a grave look on her face. “But who knows what the dead might speak of? Oh Freddie, I do hope this will all blow over. If your father were still here…” There was a faraway look in her eyes then, one Freddie had seen so many times since his father had died.
“Thank you, Mother,” he replied, taking her hands between his with a smile and pulling her back to the present moment, where she hardly ever resided anymore.
They did not dare return to their secret room for some time. Most of all, Freddie did not wish to put his lovers in danger. But as he spent night after night, lying beside his wife, the hours passed quietly and without incident. Eventually, the desire to be with his beloved knights grew too strong. They craved each other’s touch too much and so they made arrangements to meet in their secret chamber again, a joyful reunion that lasted well into the night..
That night, Freddie felt the touch oni his feet again when he was sleeping with his lovers.
“Brian i was that you, dear? ” Freddie asked in a whisper, his arms once again wrapped around Brian, curls tickling his cheek, while Roger lay back to back with Freddie, breathing peacefully and deeply..
“No,” Brian whispered back. “Freddie…”
“Alright, it’s t time.” Freddie sat up, for he had not forgotten what his mother had told him, and he had waited for this moment.. But how did one address a ghost? “Spirit,” he uttered into the darkness in a half-whisper., “Show yourself.”
Silence.
“Come on now, don’t be shy,” Freddie said in a louder voice, surprised at his own bravado.
Brian sat up beside him but Roger and John were still asleep.
More silence followed, and then-
“Freddie, ” A spectre appeared right , in front of them. He looked like a regular man, only he was dressed after a fashion of some300 years ago. Freddie could see at once that he wore the finest clothes.
“It is good to talk with you… I see that your mother finally told you about me.”
“So she did,” Freddie was clutching the sheets so tightly his hands ached, but even though part of him wanted to run screaming, the ghost itself did not seem so frightening the longer he beheld it. There was a small, kind smile on his lips.
“Freddie,” whispered Brian, clutching his arm. Freddie shushed him.
“I have something to say,” the apparition said.
“Come on then,” Freddie breathed. Miraculously, his voice hadn’t left him yet as he prepared for whatever horrors or mind-altering wisdoms the dead might have to impart..
“You shouldn’t have married to that woman,” the ghost said sternly.
Freddie blinked.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he muttered out loud, without meaning to
The ghost ignored to it.
“I am bound to your family ever since just I made a decision that cost me my love and my life. I was not brave enough to choose my love, and so she took her own life and I took mine out of grief and regret. Henceforth, I appear when someone is notn’t with the person who really loves them, to show them the error of their ways or else drive them mad.””
“My mother told me that you appeared to my grandparents, but not to my parents…” whispered Freddie, no longer so afraid now as he was fascinated. “They really loved each other then?”
“They were some of the few monarchs who had the fortune to marry the person they really wanted… But they did not grand you the same fate. You love these men that are here with you and they love you… It is they who should be at your side.”
Brian’s hand found Freddie’s, fingers intertwining.
“That is what I want with all my heart.,” Freddie swallowed, catching Brian’s eye briefly. “But…”
“Then you know what to do.”
Freddie shook his head sadly. “It will create so many problems, you know that, you must know that.”
The ghost did not seem impressed. “Do you prefer to live by the rules and doom yourself to madness? For if I do not drive you mad, it is unhappiness that will. You and your wife, too.”
“Rhye needs me,” Freddie murmured tonelessly, repeating what his father had told him so often.
“And you need your knights,.” the ghost said simply, his face kinder again. “Besides, your sister is wise beyond her years and it has been far too long since this kingdom has seen a Queen holding the sceptre.”
Freddie sighed.
“But then will she not have to live the life I despise?”
“I am from the past. I cannot see the future,” said the ghost. “She is not you and her life may take very different paths indeed. You are not the maker of her fortune.”
Freddie could feel Brian looking at him, but he did not want to return his gaze. He was afraid of what he might see there. “Just go and let me live in peace,” he said instead, glaring up at the ghost. “I’ve made my decisions, I’m doing what I have to.”
“I’ll not disappear until you are with the ones you love. I cannot,” the ghost replied somberly. “Such is my fate and I cannot change it. You can still change yours. I will leave you in peace for now, but you will feel my presence. Until you make the decision…” With that, the ghost vanished.
It was only then that Freddie realised Roger and John, too,were wide awake.
“You heard the ghost, Fred,” Roger said. “We should do as he said, or he’s threatened to drive you mad.”
“I wish for nothing more,” said John, “than to be with you forever, all of you, but you can’t ask that of Freddie.”
“But if we don’t do it, we’ll have to put up with that spirit forever,.” Brian pointed out.
“Huh. To be haunted forever but live in comfort and security or to live as we w want, but forever fight and stand our ground,” Roger concluded.
“It’s a hard decision and both are potentially a bad choice,” John added.
“We need to think well of this… this is impossible and more so for me, as I’m the king.” Freddie put his face in his hands and the others lay their arms around him, wrapping him in a warm embrace.
“We know… Now, let us go back to sleep , I think the ghost will not bother us for the night,” Brian finished, closing his eyes.
A day passed. And another. Three weeks. A month… Time passed, but Freddie was indecisive. Still, the ghost kept his promise. He continued to haunt the castle, frightened Christine and created a disorder in the palace. There was talk of bringing in priests, and Freddie’s patience was at its limit. He needed to make a decision.
Until one day, sitting in the main garden and gazing at the roses, he had an epiphany. For all at once, he saw himself sitting there wizened and old, his mind half gone. Regretting all that he had not done, all that he had not lived, and the life-long misery he had inflicted not only on himself but on Christine, too.
That night was not like others. That night, Freddie asked his lovers to meet him in their secret room, but kept his distance when they arrived, ready to fly into his arms as it had been a long few weeks since their last tryst.
“Freddie, we’re here. We have but little time together, why won’t you kiss us?” Roger asked.
“Because this night is the first one of our new life,” Freddie said, eyes gleaming in the low light.
“New life?” John asked.
Roger’s face lit up with a bright smile. “So you decided…”
“Yes.”
“You know it won’t be easy,” Brian said.
“I know, but I prefer to live on the run as long as we’re together,” Freddie said decisively. “Pack your things, take your horses and make your way to the South Gate. I will meet you there."
Parting with passionate kisses and embraced, the three of them went to do as he had asked., Meanwhile, Freddie went to the library and took paper and ink. He abdicated, leaving the throne to his sister, and granted Christine a large sum of riches and her own lands. Then he wrote goodbyes to his mother and sister, and lastly his wife:
“Christine, my dear, I will be well and so will you are now free. Do not try to find me. Goodbye, Freddie”
He grabbed that last sheet of paper and walked to his room, leaving the message on her bedside table. He caressed her hair a and left a little kiss on her forehead.
“Be happy,” Freddie whispered and left the room, trying to not make any noise.
Freddie contemplated the palace rooms for the last time, before leaving. He would miss the luxury, but the luxury couldn’t hold a candle to a future with his lovers. With his bag full of clothes and his heart full of dreams, he left the palace for the South Gate, the one least guarded.
When the others were growing worried about Freddie, he appeared on his favourite horse, Delilah.
“It’s time,” he said and they nodded, exchanging smiled and eyes shining with excitement. The solitary guard did not present much of a challenge, and might forgive them the bump on his head. And if not, well, they would not hear about it.
Brian opened the gate and Freddie, Roger and John rode out. Then hem, too, took his horse by the reins and left too, closing the gate behind him. Before long, the four of them had disappeared into the night.
No one knows what happened with them later, but the ghost no longer appreared at the palace. The kitchen was spotless every early morning. No one lost much sleep. The kingdom had lost its king -, but Freddie had gained the opportunity to share his life with the people that he loved with all his heart. And a greater treasure could not be found in all the world.