The Swan King

by Nina Clare

  ‘Come with you as what?’

  ‘Only come with me.’ His head was bending closer. She pulled back just in time, putting out a hand to ward him off.

  ‘I am not in a position to go travelling about the continent. I need to know who I am. I need to know that I am safe.’

  ‘If you came with me you would be safe.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  He did not answer, but the usual glow faded from his face, leaving him looking harder and colder than she had been used to see him.

  ‘Do you know something? You do, don’t you?’

  He dropped his hands to his knees, clenched them tightly and said, ‘I only have suspicions. But if I am right, you will not remain safe even under the king’s protection.’

  ‘Why not?’ She was alarmed by his gravity.

  ‘The king…’ Paul looked pained, ‘chooses to withdraw himself from the seat of power. There is a growing movement amongst men in authority to remove him.’

  ‘Depose him?’

  Paul nodded. He rubbed a hand over his jaw.

  ‘Does he know?’

  ‘I’ve tried to warn him, over and over, but all he thinks of is his wretched castle. I can’t get through to him how serious the situation is. The trouble is, I don’t think he really wants to be king. It would be safer for him to abdicate than be forced from the throne; he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.’

  ‘And is that why you are hardly ever with the king anymore?’ Elisabeth asked. ‘Because he is a sinking ship. You are leaving before it goes down.’

  ‘Do you think I should stay and drown?’

  ‘I think you should remain loyal to the end. I thought you were his friend.’

  He gave a wry smile. ‘I wish life were that simple, Elsa. But it’s not. It’s complicated. He’s not the same person anymore. I don’t know this man who thinks of nothing but his obsession with building castles. I’ve tried my utmost to give him good counsel, but he won’t hear me. What more can I do? If his reign ends in disgrace, so does my career.’

  Elisabeth folded her arms tightly across her chest, regarding Paul coldly. He saw her look. ‘I know you’re disappointed with me, Elsa. Heaven knows I never wanted things to be as they are. But it is though… as though he is going mad.’ He spoke the word in a near whisper, as though it were too dangerous to speak loudly. ‘It is his own behaviour that condemns him, and I cannot change it. They are calling for him to be deposed on the grounds of madness. It is in the family, as you know, for you have met his great aunts.’

  ‘What will they do to him? Shut him up in an asylum?’

  ‘Quite possibly. If not worse. But Elsa, what concerns me most is what will happen to you. The man driving this movement may be the very one who is seeking you. He is working discreetly, moving through other people, which is why I cannot bring any evidence against him yet, I have only my suspicions based on what I am witnessing and what I can piece together. I even wonder if this movement to remove the king is purely to remove his protection from you.’

  Elisabeth gasped in horror. ‘You mean that I might be the cause of the king being deposed! Then I must leave, I must go, I must not let this happen to him!’

  Paul leaned forward and took hold of her arms, which were still wrapped tightly across her chest. ‘Yes! That is why I ask you to come away with me. I have been approached with an offer of a promotion that will take me far from here.’

  Elsa’s thoughts swirled. ‘But who is to say I will be any safer with you? If the king cannot protect me, how can you?’

  Paul sat back again, releasing her. She studied his face, trying to read the thoughts passing over his.

  ‘You don’t know, do you?’

  ‘No. I don’t. But it’s worth a try, is it not?’

  ‘I cannot think straight,’ she said, gripping herself more tightly. ‘I need some time to think. Oh, that I could remember everything, and this nightmare be over!’

  ‘Don’t spend too long thinking, Elsa,’ Paul warned, standing up and tugging down his coat. ‘We have not the luxury of time.’

  ‘What did you say?’ she asked. His words had jolted her, as though she had heard that exact phrase spoken before.

  ‘I said we have not the luxury of time. The queen mother arrives tomorrow, in hopes of persuading the king to take up his duties, while I will try once more to advise him to abdicate and flee the kingdom if he will not. But my fear is that he will do neither. He has become obsessed with that castle of his, and will attend to little else. Time is running out. It is running out fast.’

  Chapter 28

  New Moon

  The queen mother arrived the next day. A second carriage followed her own, though no one had been told to expect a second guest.

  The household stood to attention to receive their mistress, the servants in two orderly lines. Prince Paul waited to assist the queen mother.

  ‘Paul, my dear, I am so glad to see you here. I thought Ludwig had sent everyone away,’ she said as stepped down from the carriage, her full, black silk skirts remarkably voluminous for so small a person. Her lady-in-waiting looked rather crumpled, as though there had been little room left for her next to the royal skirts.

  ‘But where is he?’ The queen mother looked around, as though expecting the king to materialise from behind a garden wall or pillar.

  ‘His Majesty is at New Swanstein, Your Highness. He desired that you enjoy a period of rest after your long journey, and he will join you at dinner.’

  ‘He cannot even greet his own mother these days. Why are you not with him, Paul? He never goes anywhere without you.’

  ‘He has a young architect with him, Your Highness. I am not required where tesserae and gilding are the subjects of attention.’

  ‘He has not got that profligate with him, has he?’

  ‘If you refer to Herr Weimann, Your Highness, then he is in München. Only his assistant is here.’

  ‘I thought he would have been hounded out of München by now. My ladies tell me shocking things of him.’

  The second carriage now rumbled to a halt. A footman moved to open the carriage door.

  ‘Wait!’ the queen mother called to him. ‘Open it carefully. They may jump out.’

  The carriage was opened, and from it spilled a figure in black with silvery hair, closely followed by a lady in white, who jabbed at the footman with a cane to keep him from taking her arm.

  Princess Marie turned to the left and Princess Sibylle turned to the right, and for a few minutes there was confusion as the footmen attempted to herd them back towards the castle entrance. No one could approach Princess Sibylle without being struck; the upper floor footman lost a button for his impudence in trying to grab at her.

  ‘Oh, I knew they would be troublesome!’ said the queen mother. ‘Tante Marie, is this how you repay me for my kindness in bringing you for a little holiday?’

  Princess Marie now spied Elisabeth and surged towards her, her silver hair coming loose beneath the square of black lace she wore pinned to it. ‘Little Sister, she is here!’

  Princess Sibylle made a trilling noise and ceased her assault upon the footmen. She too advanced upon Elisabeth. ‘The one who will lead us home!’ she sang. ‘Sister are we really there.’

  ‘We are here, and we are there. We have arrived and now we may go!’

  ‘May I escort Your Highnesses inside for refreshment?’ Elisabeth asked. She wondered that their warden was nowhere to be seen. Surely they had not come alone?

  Princess Marie took her arm with both hands, clinging tightly. Princess Sibylle took a snowy handkerchief from a little pocket on her gown and placed it over Elisabeth’s other forearm that she might take her arm without touching her.

  ‘Is there beer?’ she asked, looking up at her sweetly. ‘They have no mountain beer at that dreadful place we have come from.’

  ‘The butler can provide you with beer, Your Highness,’ Elisabeth assured her.

  She trilled again with happiness. ‘
Home, home. To be here, to be there. Oh, I can hear the singing, when shall we go?’

  ‘You must rest,’ Elisabeth said. ‘I will take you to the swan room where you can sit at the window and look out at the lake.’

  ‘Well this is marvellous,’ Elisabeth heard the queen mother say behind her as she slowly made her way into the castle. ‘Do we know who she is yet?’

  ‘Not yet, ma’am,’ replied Paul.

  ‘What a relief to find someone who can manage the aunts,’ continued the queen mother. ‘I had to send Frau Müller away, she let them get into the aviary, they set free all my finches, and they were wearing my tiaras and pearls at the time—how they took them unseen from my own chamber I cannot imagine. But that was not the worst of it. They are a pair of fiends. I really do despair of them at times. But look at them now, meek as a pair of lambs!’

  The king did not seem much pleased to see his mother at dinner, but he was more gracious to his great-aunts.

  ‘Our beautiful king,’ cried Princess Marie. ‘Lovelier than ever!’

  ‘He smells of lilies,’ declared Princess Sibylle, looking as a lily in her white gown and white lace head covering. ‘Will you kiss me?’ she said, lifting her hand. Elisabeth was surprised, for Princess Sybille permitted no one to touch her. Her hand looked so frail and small against the long, youthful fingers of the king. He bent down to put her fingers to his lips. She gave a little whimper of happiness. ‘So clean. So pure. So perfect. White as a lily, white as a swan, white as the moon, white as—’

  ‘That will do, Tante Sibylle,’ the queen mother said. ‘No singing at the dinner table.’

  ‘Be quiet, sit still,’ murmured Princess Marie. ‘Drink your broth, eat your bread, take your tonic—’

  ‘That will also do, Tante Marie. If you care to dine at the family table there must be no singing or chanting. Otherwise I will ask Fräulein Schwan to take you to the kitchen.’

  ‘Where there is beer?’ asked Princess Sibylle. ‘Yes, let us dine in the kitchen!’

  ‘I have no objection to singing,’ the king said, his own voice very musical. ‘And if Princess Sibylle desires beer, it shall be brought.’ A server turned away to fulfil the request.

  Princess Sibylle clapped her hands. She had draped herself with linen napkins, that no drop of food might spoil her gown.

  ‘Ludwig, it does no good to indulge them,’ the queen mother scolded. ‘They require a firm hand. And why are you not eating?’ The king’s plate lay untouched. He did not reply but drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. Elisabeth watched him discreetly; it was hard not to, his presence filled the room, overriding even that of the princesses and the chatter of the queen mother. Energy thrummed through the king; she could feel it, like warmth radiating from a fire, although it was not as strong as when he was at New Swanstein, where the power was thick and heavy as deep snow.

  The king could not keep still. While the queen mother scolded her aunts and talked of the latest news of the people in her acquaintance, the king fidgeted, fingering an undrunk glass of wine.

  ‘You want to go,’ Princess Marie said, addressing the king. ‘So do we.’

  ‘We are so close, Little Sister. I can taste it in the air. That is why our Beautiful One does not eat,’ said Princess Sibylle. ‘How can he?’

  ‘No nonsense-talk at the table, Tante Sibylle,’ the queen mother reminded her. ‘Are you unwell, Ludwig?’ she asked for the fourth time. ‘You eat nothing.’

  The king stood up abruptly as though he could bear no more. The footman hurried to take his chair, but blinked in confusion, as the chair seemed to move backwards by itself. A ripple in the air flowed over the space where the chair had been. It spread as a concentric circle; the braiding on the footman’s coat glowed like burnished bronze as it passed over him, the candles in the candelabra against the wall flared brighter for an instant, the flowers in the vase upon the sideboard released a burst of scent as though someone had opened a jar of perfume.

  ‘You will excuse me, ma’am,’ said the king with a bow. ‘I must take the evening air. I shall go out upon the lake.’ Before his mother could protest, he was gone with long strides from the room.

  ‘The council now calls upon Countess Hildebrand.

  ‘Countess Hildebrand, in your position as lady-in-waiting upon the queen mother you saw the king in close proximity, did you not?’

  ‘I did. I accompany Her Royal Highness wherever she goes. I am ever mindful of her comfort.’

  ‘And you accompanied Her Highness to Swanstein Castle on the last occasion that Her Highness saw the king there.’

  ‘Of course. Her Royal Highness would not go without me to wait upon her. I am the only one who can administer her Sal Volatile correctly.’

  ‘How would you describe the king’s behaviour during that visit? Did he seem well?’

  ‘He did not. Her Royal Highness was most concerned for the king.’

  ‘What, in particular, was she concerned about?’

  ‘He did not eat. He did not sleep. He could not be still. It was most worrisome to Her Highness. I had to administer much Eau de Cologne to her temples during that visit and send for much chamomile tea.’

  ‘Would you say the king was disturbed in his mind, Countess?’

  ‘Not as disturbed as Her Royal Highness. No one has so tender a heart as Her Royal Highness. I had to send the carriage to München to get secret supplies of sausage. Her Royal Highness needs sausage when she is in the mountains. It is the air. It stimulates her appetite.’

  ‘Sausage? I do not understand. Surely the castle pantry was well stocked with sausage.’

  ‘Not after the king banned the cook from serving it.’

  ‘He banned sausage?’

  ‘He forbade every meat. He said it was barbaric. He said we were all warring, flesh-tearers . No fowl either. Nor fish. No goulash, which is Her Royal Highness’s favourite. The cook at Swanstein always made excellent goulash. No sausage for Her Royal Highness’s luncheon. It was most distressing.’

  ‘This is very interesting, Countess, and certainly a sign of an unhinged mind, is it not?’

  ‘Most certainly. Only a madman would refuse his mother sausage.’

  ‘Where is Fräulein Schwan? They have disappeared!’

  Elisabeth heard the queen mother’s shrill voice and hurried down the hall to the morning room.

  ‘They are gone again!’ the queen mother cried when Elisabeth appeared in the doorway. ‘I left them here for just a minute—only one minute!’

  Elisabeth assured the queen mother she would join in the search, curtsied, and hurried back the way she had come. The aunts could not be far. She had found them in the queen mother’s rose garden yesterday when they disappeared during their afternoon nap. They had plucked the heads of every late rose and scattered the petals into the fishpond. The pond did look very pretty, but the queen mother had not been pleased.

  She hunted throughout the gardens, in every little arbour and nook, but could not find them anywhere. As she passed the study window it opened and a head appeared.

  ‘Have they lost them again?’ enquired Herr Haller. They had not spoken since their arrival at Swanstein, other than murmured polite greetings as they passed each other by.

  ‘I’ve been all over the gardens,’ she said. ‘The footmen have searched the stables and boathouse, the maids have searched the castle, I don’t know where else to look.’

  ‘I’ll help you.’ He pushed the window wide open and swung a booted leg over the sill.

  ‘Careful,’ she warned, ‘don’t stand on that—’

  Herr Haller landed with both feet on the pottery peacock that stood to the side of the path.

  ‘Dash it!’ he exclaimed as he heard the loud crack. ‘Something else I’ll have to mend later.’

  ‘Something else?’ She stifled down a laugh at his flustered face.

  ‘I broke a cup at breakfast.’ He ran his hand through his hair as he regarded the peacock. ‘I hope it isn’t valuabl
e.’

  She did laugh now. She couldn’t help it. She almost said aloud, ‘Oh, I have missed you, Haller, you great clumsy oaf,’ but she didn’t. Their last conversation still lingered unpleasantly in her mind. Then she remembered that he only became clumsy when he was tired or unhappy; perhaps he had been missing her as much as she did him.

  ‘Any idea where to look?’ she asked.

  ‘Are you sure they’re not inside?’

  ‘Every room’s been searched.’

  ‘And you’ve been round the gardens?’

  ‘Twice.’

  ‘Then we’d better check the lakeside. They can’t be far.’

  ‘Don’t be so sure. They only pretend to be frail and helpless. They’re a pair of wily foxes under those little lace veils.’

  He put a hand on her arm to stay her a moment.

  She looked at him questioningly.

  ‘I’ve missed talking to you, Elsa,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry for what I said about Prince Charming. I know you’re too intelligent to let him fool you.’

  ‘Don’t call him that. He hasn’t tried to fool me. Why do you hate him?’

  ‘I don’t hate anyone. But I do hate seeing a girl without protection being preyed upon by a…a…philanderer.’

  ‘A girl without protection!’ she spluttered. ‘I’m not a child, Haller. I can take care of myself, and what’s it to you if Prince Char— I mean, Paul likes me? And he’s not a philanderer, he’s a good man. He’s done nothing wrong.’ Even as she spoke the words, she doubted them. She marched on, but he caught her up and kept pace with her.

  ‘If he’s not a philanderer then why do I see him coming out of Gretel’s room in the early hours of the morning? And I never said you were a child, but you don’t have the protection of a father, and that snake would never dare take advantage of you if you did.’

  ‘Gretel! What would he want with that yellow-haired, red-faced thing? And he hasn’t taken advantage of me!’

  ‘So, he’s never sidled up to you, got you tipsy and stolen kisses?’