Blurb: To avoid his brother-in-law's matchmaking schemes, Sir Anthony Crowley goes on a tour of the continent and ends up embroiled in political intrigue when he is called to impersonate the ailing king of Höllfelia for his coronation.
THE PRISONER OF ZEDEN
Crowley returns home a changed man.
Final thanks to WargishBoromirFan for the peer review. You've made this a better story.
XIV: A Happier Conclusion
I made my way to a small French village, modest enough that I should never encounter someone who knew of me. I rented a cottage to let myself heal completely from my injuries and to grow out my hair until my old goatee could be trimmed into its familiar shape.
I wrote a letter to my sister as if I had no idea she was looking for me, all carefree absentmindedness and pointless jollity. In a postscript, I mentioned that I would continue to hide on the continent until well after Shadwell had set aside his plans to see me engaged, at least for now.
It was months later when I finally showed myself in London, going straight away to see Tracy and Shadwell. My brother-in-law was as coolly welcoming as I expected, having much to say about my getting lost in foreign countrysides for so long, and if only I would settle down and marry then perhaps I would learn to think of other people more often. He went into great detail of all the trouble and inconvenience my trip had cost him, and filial concern did not enter into it.
I endured it with plenty of eye rolls and when he realized that he was having no positive impact on me, he huffed to himself and stormed off.
With just my sister and I in the room, I looked over at her as if to signal that it was now her turn to chide and scold me.
"I am happy you are back, Anthony," she said instead, which quite robbed me of my distance.
"I am sorry for having worried you," I admitted. "Had I known, had I a way to communicate with you, I would have."
"I know, I know," she said and squeezed my hand with sisterly affection. "And you are home again for now. So tell me about your grand adventure! I know that you went to Paris, and took the train to Germany, and weeks later you were rusticating in France again. Did you actually go to Höllfelia? Did you see the coronation? I saved the papers for you, if you want to see them."
She didn't wait for my answer but pulled out a few editions of the evening standard.
"I think you will find King Lucifer to be very charming to look at," she said as she passed the stack to me with a photospread on top.
It was indeed my picture. Myself and Ligur Eidechse and Duke Michael and Princess Beate and the archbishop and barely in view, hidden behind the duke's shoulder, Aziraphale den Østlige. My breath caught before I could stop it and I was forced to tear my gaze away.
"He is a handsome devil," I said at last.
"Did you see him?" Tracy prodded gently. "I nearly made a scene when I saw the picture, thinking it was you. I remember your chin from before your beard grew in and I swear he has your exact face."
I forced a laugh. "I imagine Shadwell was furious with me for looking so much like a foreigner. But no," I lied deliberately and without remorse. I might fool Shadwell with deflection and obfuscation but only a brazen falsehood would throw my sister off the scent. "I decided against going once I got to Dresden and made a few inquiries. The dates for the celebration were changed at the last minute and I couldn't arrive at the capital in time to find a hotel."
Tracy looked at me like she was looking through me. She wanted to ask me to confirm it again that I was not the man pictured in newspapers throughout Europe but something held her back. Instead, she cleared her throat and asked, "And did you meet anyone special? I was half expecting you to return engaged just to prove to my dear Shadwell that you are not in fact opposed to marriage."
My thoughts immediately flew to Aziraphale den Østlige and I struggled not to peek again at the newspaper. "I did meet someone," I told her quietly, "but it was not meant to be."
"Oh, Anthony," she cooed in sympathy. "Someday, you'll meet someone -"
"And if I've already had my someday?" I challenged more gruffly than I intended.
Tracy seemed taken aback, struggling to find the right words of comfort. "You're back in England now," she decided to remind me. "No one would think it odd if you wanted to stay at Crawleigh Hall for a bit. You can stay away from society until you find it more tolerable."
She had a point.
.o8o.
It had been years since I had been to my family seat for any length of time but my neglect had been muted by a competent staff who had sufficient rein to keep it running smoothly. Preparing to go there merely involved sending a note of warning in the afternoon, and then climbing into my brother's carriage after the following breakfast.
The ride was full of melancholy and remembrance, which was how I spent all my idle hours since stepping down as the king of Höllfelia.
The staff were pleasantly surprised to see me. We maneuvered awkwardly around each other for the first few days but, after the steward and I had a frank discussion, I began to involve myself more directly in the quotidian activities and they began to treat me less like a temporary curiosity.
After a month, I invited Lord and Lady Shadwell to come join me for a while. My sister was there the next evening. Shadwell - thankfully - needed to remain in town for the next week.
"You seem in much better spirits," Tracy told me when she came down after breakfast.
"I am," I agreed. I would always have a sense of lost opportunity, but I knew it would wax and wane. Keeping myself busy and avoiding tedious company could insulate me from the worst of it. So long as I did not think about what I could have had, I would learn to be content.
The butler announced himself to say that I had an unexpected visitor.
"I am with my sister," I pointed out dismissively. "Have them come back another day."
"He was most insistent," the man said and held out a card.
With an effort not to sulk - it was not the butler's fault - I took the card and read it: Aziraphale den Østlige.
"Anthony!" my sister said sharply. She was sitting beside me and shaking my shoulder. I had not noticed that she had moved from her seat across the table. "Anthony! Are you all right?"
I did feel weak, light-headed, almost queasy. I felt like someone had just walked across my grave.
"He's supposed to be dead," I said hoarsely.
Tracy, bless her, was alarmed. "Send him away," she ordered the butler. "Tell him that he's not welcome here."
"No!" I shot out of my chair. "No, don't send him away. I must see him. If it's really him…"
"Anthony, I don't think this is wise," counselled my sister. "You don't look well. If he needs to speak with you, he can come back when you are better able to receive him."
She was only trying to protect me, but she could not know that I would be tormented until I knew for certain who this person was and what news they had of my angel.
"Where is he?" I asked the servant, determined to ignore Tracy's worries.
"I put him in the front parlor," came the efficient answer.
Just like that, I was out of the breakfast room, Tracy's voice trailing after me. I wasn't thinking, not exactly. Some part of me must be coordinating my movements, but there were only impressions. And then the door to the parlor was thrown open and there he was: Aziraphale, just standing there quite whole and healthy.
"Aziraphale?" I whispered. This was a dream. It must be, a glorious, beautiful, heartbreaking dream.
"Lord Crowley," he greeted me warmly. I was already across the room, close enough to touch. His hand slipped up to caress my cheek. "The goatee suits you," he told me.
I kissed him. Yes, of course, I did. He was quite alive so I had to kiss him.
"Anthony!" It took a lot to shock my sister, but this seemed to do it; it served her right for following me!
Reluctantly, I pulled away from my angel. Introductions were in order.
"Aziraphale, this is Lady Shadwell, my sister," I said. "Tracy, this is Aziraphale den Østlige, my…" How could I describe him?
"Your missing piece, from the looks of it," Tracy teased me, having gotten control of her surprise. "I only wish my dear Shadwell was here to see it."
"How do you do, my lady?" Aziraphale said, brushing against me as he leaned forward to take her hand.
"Better than some, or so I thought," she said, giving me a very pointed wink. "Well, I suppose the two of you have much to discuss. I'll leave you to it. For now."
With that, she showed herself out and closed the door firmly in her wake.
"Angel!" I breathed and pulled him in for another kiss. I had so many questions, but for right now I needed a different sort of answer.
He was very willing to oblige me, and we continued until it threatened to grow too heated for the parlor, before noon, with my sister no doubt waiting for me to emerge.
At last we broke and I invited him to sit down. He smiled and wisely chose an armchair that was too small for two. Had he picked the loveseat, I would probably would have joined him and lost another quarter hour.
"I thought you died," I told him bluntly. "The castle caught fire and you were burned in it."
"Yes, I'm sorry, an honest mistake," he said. "I… What happened was, was we didn't really kill Todkopf. After I got out of my shackles, he grabbed me. It was pointless; he was too wounded to live, but he wouldn't go quietly. In the scuffle that followed, we knocked over an oil lamp. By the time I finally dispatched him -" his voice hitched on the word as if the details were too gruesome to share - "my way out of the cell was blocked by flames. I escaped through the pipe that my cousin had installed over the dungeon window. It dumped me into the moat. When I surfaced, the chateau was in complete disorder and the fire from the dungeon was spreading to other parts of the castle."
I must have been already out of the moat by then, chasing after dela Riojas with so little success.
"I was certain that I must look like an object of absolute pity but still I worried that Lucifer's men would deem me in league with my cousin, so I hid from them and swam to the far side of the castle, climbed out of the water, limped to a farmhouse, and put myself at their mercy."
He paused and I momentarily got lost in his eyes. Then he blinked and shook his head to clear it.
"After my time in Michael's dungeon, various stab wounds, an exhausting swim, and walking through the night, I was ill and fell into a fever. The family took care of me and nursed me back to health. When I was lucid again, over a week had passed. King Lucifer was back in Baumberg and his engagement to Princess Beate was known throughout the kingdom. Of course my hosts could tell me nothing of you, although they did say that a number of people had died that night," he told me.
"I wasn't sure if the king really was Lucifer at this point, if Michael's schemes had been partially successful, anything at all. I was afraid, too, that I would be judged with my cousin but I still wrote to the capital. Then I waited.
"You or the king never wrote back but I received a line from Ligur Eidechse that, unless I wished to join my cousin in hell, I needed to leave the country before I was found and brought to justice.
"I fled. I went back to Denmark, spent time with my mother and aunt. They were devastated by Michael's death. I told them a very sanitized version of what happened. Not that he kidnapped his own brother!" he hastened to add. "But that Michael was trying to steal the throne and had abducted someone close to the king to extort him into stepping down. My family was shocked to hear it. They denied it was possible for a while. I think they believe me now although they may not all forgive me for failing to prevent this tragedy."
I audibly scoffed at this. How could Aziraphale be held responsible for Michael's actions?
"And then," Aziraphale began to wind down, "and then I decided to come to England, see if I could find you. See if you had come home or had, had died or, or were assumed dead." He blinked and stuttered through his fears but did not stop. If Lucifer had died after all, Eidechse and Frosch would surely force me to impersonate the king for the rest of my life. "I remembered your name so I went to London and made a few enquiries and ended up here. And here you are," he beamed at me. "And you seem quite happy to see me."
I was far more than happy. I tugged him onto the loveseat and kissed him again.
"And so," he said, breaking contact briefly, "you now know what happened to me. What happened to you?"
I told him through lazy, languid interruptions, concluding, "Marry me."
His breath caught in his throat and I wanted to kiss that spot, but I needed to hear his answer first.
"If you insist," he said with a coy smile.
I did.
So he did.
And I would not change my fate for a kingdom!
/ THE END /
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