THE HAUNTED KINGDOM 3 by CHARLES E.J. MOULTON (best books to read now txt) 📖

fear could survive.
Sieglinde smiled as she danced with her Alexander.
She knew she was at home in the heart of her king.
The life of royalty had never been so blissful as it was right then and there.


EPILOGUE

IMPERFECT ANGELS


Evening, November 11th, 1452

Belinda smiled and that light inside her eyes jittered and frolicked, a tear rolling down her cheek.
Alexander knew what that light was.
Her own eternal higher soul telling him goodbye.
“You are going to be fine here, Father?”
He nodded, raised his old hand slowly and closed his eyes.
That was a yes to him.
“I enjoy sitting here and thinking about how much love you all
have given me over the years.”
Belinda gave her Father a half-smile.
She looked down and said yes.
“We have had a lot of love, haven’t we?”
Alexander nodded. “We have. We have conquered the world.”
She smiled. “My world has always been you.”
She stood up and gave her father a long intense kiss on the cheek.
“I love you, Father, my sweet Father!”
“I love you too, Dear! You are my life and always will be. Remember that.”
She sighed and tried to smile. She nodded. “I love you!”

Inside the fireplace the flames were jittery, dancing away.
Alexander had one thing on his mind: his own peace of mind.
Life had been good to him. He felt like an imperfect angel sailing away.
Where to? Toward his own centre, he supposed.
Belinda had just left and he didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth.
He was healthy as could be, no question. But it was time.
My God, that scared him. They had meant everything to each other and now he was waiting.
Mercutio had been dead five years this Monday and every day of
the 17 years that they spent together had been worthwhile. His death had been quiet and he had seen it in the stallion’s eyes that he was happy. Had it been his imagination or had he heard a voice saying:
“See you in heaven.”
Whatever that had been, it made him happy even to think it.
Belinda was a good queen and he was happy that he had finally decided to step down in favour of her ascension. She was a bit harsher than he had been, but just as warm-hearted. Steven had turned out to be such a good Prince General to the Throne that all his expectations had been fulfilled.
Alfred? Well, that boy was special. He was a man now. A little reckless mind you. Foolhardy? Maybe. Others would say ‘brave’.
Some people would wish he would not take such risks.
But he would be a good king one day.
Belinda had left just a moment ago and cried salty tears staining upon Alexander’s shoulder.
When Alex asked her why, she had simply told him that she loved him so.
Alex knew the future. The angels had told him that someone by the name of Columbus would found a country of peace with the primitive cultures on the other side of the ocean.
The alternate reality could soon find itself bound to be changing, now that its brother was dwelling within peace and serenity. Send away sea captains on long voyages and they will find themselves coming home with luck. Send away a king on an adventure to find himself and dimensions will change for the better. Alexander could not take his eyes off those flames. They seemed to burst with energy.
Just like him, he was vibrating, excited to discover the unknown.
Living beings they were. Living, energetic beings, those flames.
It made him tired and he knew that Rolf at any moment would come in here, hobbling and shaking, asking his majesty to go to sleep. He didn’t want to.
He had worked hard in his life. Why go to bed now? He wanted to look into the firey flames of the fireplace, throw in a log or two and just watch those things burn while he got drunk very slowly on Clurafar wine. Why go to bed? He would miss all the fun of getting drunk in front of the fire.
When he died, this is how he would want to pass away.
The rich texture of that drink rested on his tongue for a bit before it slipped down his throat and sunk into his belly. The king sighed, the texture of the satin cushions behind his head tickling his old hair.
The fire danced. The king sat. The wine soothed.
“I forgive you!” The old man spoke slowly, wanted no part of that old anger he knew all too well and he knew that he it was a blessing he spoke. “I forgive you all!”
He smiled. The words seemed more true now than ten minutes ago and he knew that in one hour, asleep or not, the words would seem even more true than now.
The words were a blessing, indeed. He had known the angels had been watching him as he walked down the hallway toward his throne-room – Belinda’s throne-room – this afternoon. He had been thinking of her, Lucinda, and for no reason at all, she appeared to him and told him that she wanted him to forgive her. He said nothing at all, just watched her and smiled. She knew what it was he was saying. I forgive, he said inside, and she disappeared. Then, inside the throne-room there was this remarkable silence as Reland Mansicart’s clock struck six. Alex had not known how many hours he had sat there just watching the clock when it rang six times. The two figurines of the blood brothers holding on to each other simply disappeared and were replaced by a small set of flowers. He had seen this clock all his life and it had been completely new of its king then. Nowadays with sundials and time tellers all over they were somewhat boring, but back then they had been a rarity. So, it came as a big surprise when the clock shifted shape. He had told no one. He had simply gone to Ruby and asked her to prepare a meal. He looked into the fire and remembered how everyone had protested when he wanted to step down. He was 84. Being a king was a young man’s job. He wanted to relax, get drunk, stare at young women and smile. They took that from him because he was old. Passes from young men never went as well as those from dirty old men. The truth was that he missed Sieglinde a great deal.
It was two years ago today. He remembered the giggling robin and had to smile at how it had changed into a chirping one the day he met Mercutio again. He had eaten with Morgana, Richard and Patrick today. The conversation had been boring, but the swan filet had been good. He thought the orange and plum pudding had tasted old, but he knew that Ruby would be hurt if he said anything about it, so he didn’t. She was stressed and hectic, Rolf reprimanding her and criticizing her and comparing her with someone that had been chief palace organizer for almost half a century.
He gave her a taste of his wine and she got the hiccups. That had made them laugh.
The rest of the family, including Patricia and her husband Robert, had decided to take leave for the evening to join Belinda at The Rose where Alfred was holding a lecture entitled: “Fencing equals control”. Alexander enjoyed the titles of his lectures, they were so remarkably pretentious. Alfred’s wife Carlietta Marianna loved these lectures so that she would go to every one of them and even spend hours beforehand telling people what the lectures was going to be about. Alfred had met her in Madrid when he visited the court there. The princess was Mormidar’s grandniece and she would make a great and wonderfully kind queen one day. The kingdom was in fine hands. Younger than Alfred by ten years or so she was at prime age to conceive a child and at any moment or so it would happen.
The prince was quite remarkably the only one to outsmart Sean. Shauna and Lance were left quite worried that the two would one day start competing too harshly. But Alex knew the truth.
Christopher Columbus.
Together with him they were unbeatable, just as that seafarer would prove to be.
Alex could not forget the clock. He yawned again and forgot that a book lay on his lap.
When it banged to the floor he woke up, startled at his own snore and leaned down to pick it up.
When he did so, all he could see were a pair of feet clad with black boots.
He looked up and saw a man that he had spent half a journey hating and the other half loving.
The man smiled. A friendly smile it was. “Hello there, Alex!” the man said. “Time to come home?”
Alexander smiled at Adnicul. “Don’t they need me here?”
Adnicul shook his head. “Your work is done here. It’s time.”
The king realized how beautiful those eyes were, wanted to remark it.
He found himself waking up, the book in his hand, wondering what visitor had just sneaked up and left. “Adnicul?”
Alexander’s voice seemed tired and old, yet that seemed so strange to him.
He felt young. He looked at the book that he held in his hand. It was his own diary.
The cover was brown leather inscribed with gold letters and read

Diary

He had stopped writing that when Madeleine finally left and forever disappeared from his life.
He felt a rush of old memorised come flooding back as he turned the pages, old hauntings coming back, thing he had tried to forget but secretly loved.
The last entire was written on February 4th 1394 and was a simple poem written for Sieglinde.
He read the poem in a whisper, smiling calmly, and feeling the old feelings sing to him.

Your soul is the most beautiful soul I know
The way you love me moves me so
You are selfless, so giving, a wondrous wife
You give me your comfort and I give you my life.

The gift of your love is like an angel’s kiss
If I’d ever lose you through eternity it would you I would miss
I may be complex and I may be hard
But with you I know I could go far

My heart is embraces you like the sun hugs the sky
I love you forever and you know why
I am better with you as you are with me
Like the sun in the sky through all eternity

He put down the book and really knew it was time now.
He was sailing away in his own ship into the light.
There was a tunnel of light there beyond what he could see in his own reality and Mercutio was there to meet him and so was Sieglinde. “Are you there?” He waited and heard no answer and yet there was a reply from that soul beyond the mystery. “Spirit, I am ready” his old voice spoke softly. The angels were waiting for their hero. The king had come full circle to meet himself at the other side.
Leaving a perfectly imperfect world he was now going to a fabulously perfect one.
Alexander watched the flames inside the fireplace and transcended into the light of his own heart.
The last thing that he saw was the sight of