A Nordic King

He stops pacing and comes back over to me, picking up his glass of port from the coffee table and finishing it. “I know that. I’m just…” he trails off as his eyes go over to the doorway where Johan is standing with a laptop in his hands.

“Buying time,” Aksel finishes.

“It’s all in here,” Johan says, holding it in the air.

“That’s my fucking laptop!” Nicklas cries out, storming toward Johan.

But Johan has royal attendants behind him and he hands the laptop off to them and they disappear down the hall.

What the fuck is happening?

Then a few more guards appear, blocking the exit of the room.

Nicklas whirls around to look at Aksel. “What are you doing?”

“Johan found the emails on your hard drive I’m assuming.”

“Emails? There’s no…you can’t go in my room!”

“But you went in Aurora’s room to get her diary.”

“I did not.”

“And you admitted to me that you’d already been in there before.”

“This is an invasion of privacy!”

“Yes, it is, that’s what you did. You dug up fucking dirt and then you sold it. And you didn’t even really care to hide it well because you assumed you couldn’t get punished for it. Well, guess what, Nicklas. Pack your bags. You’re fired.”

Again, everyone gasps, including me. I didn’t think he’d do it and I flinch, bracing for what might happen next.

Oh, Aksel.

“You can’t fire me,” Nicklas says wildly.

“I can. I did. Get the fuck out of here.”

More gasps. More of my nerves on fire.

“No. No, this…you ruined my life.”

“How so?” Aksel asks, his jaw tense, eyes blazing.

Daring him. He’s daring him.

Nicklas frowns, trying to think, trying to come up with a way out.

Then he bites the bullet.

He turns vicious.

“Because you were driving the night Helena died. It was never me.”

And now it’s like no one can gasp anymore because there’s no air in the room.

Everyone looks at Aksel.

Aksel remains completely composed. “No, I wasn’t.”

He lies. He lies to him and to everyone else because the truth would ruin everything. And while Aksel is moral, I know that he’s lying because he has to lie. The truth is, well, the truth is messy. It’s complicated. They’re both at fault and they’re both not. One man carries the blame for something he didn’t do and yet hides the truth of something he did do. The other man spent years drowning in guilt for something he didn’t do either. Where is there a happy ending here?

“You’re lying. I’ll prove it,” Nicklas seethes, and I see sweat dripping on his face.

He’s nervous.

He’s losing.

He knows no one will believe him, especially after today.

“You do what you need to do,” Aksel says. “I have your laptop. We’ll do what we need to do. You’re dismissed, Nicklas.”

“You’re not fit to wear that crown,” Nicklas sneers.

Aksel is nonplussed. He gives a half-shrug. “I never said I was. But it’s my crown to wear.”

Nicklas roars and starts running toward Aksel.

Henrik is fast and holds him back, though it’s apparent that Aksel can take care of himself.

“She hated you!” Nicklas yells at Aksel, pointing. “She used you the whole time!”

I gasp sharply at that. Here comes Helena.

“Oh, shut up you little weasel,” Maja says snidely. “She used you too. We all knew that. We all knew what was going on. We’re not dumb.” She looks at Aksel. “And honestly, dear nephew, I really don’t care who was driving the car or not. It was an accident and that’s really all that matters. We know the pain you went through and you deserve more than anyone to move on. So, let’s help you move on.”

Shit. Maja knew all along about Nicklas and Helena.

Aksel looks completely surprised too.

And touched.

His lips are clamped together, his jaw firm, but his eyes carry so much weight and softness in them. Perhaps it’s just the affection from his aunt in lieu of his mother.

Perhaps this is just the truth and the weight of the world off his shoulders.

And while I’m pondering that, I realize that Aksel is fighting back tears.

Oh god, now I’m going to cry.

He manages to hold it together at the last minute. “Thank you, Tante Maja,” he says, his voice trembling with emotion, words barely above a whisper. “Thank you.”

She comes over to him, looking like she’s going to cry too, and pulls the King into a hug. She’s whispering something to him and he’s nodding, holding her tight.

And now I really am crying, big fat happy tears spilling down my face.

He’s finding his closure.

He’s going to heal.

He’s going to move on.

While this touching scene is happening, the royal attendants drag Nicklas off.

Good riddance to that guy. Wouldn’t mind feeding him to Snarf Snarf.

And that’s when Clara and Freja appear in the doorway and see the Maja and Aksel embrace.

They immediately run over and join in on the hug, turning it into a group one by wrapping themselves around Maja and Aksel’s legs.

Freja spots me and then waves. “Come on Aurora, you’re part of the family now.”

I can’t help but beam at that.

Family.

My family.

I finally have one.

I get to my feet and join them.



*

The next morning, I wake up in Aksel’s bed for the first time.

Sun streaming in through the windows.

No more hiding.

No more sneaking.

Just two people together in the way they always should have been.

“Hey,” I say to him as he slowly wakes up, blinking his eyes at the light.

“Good morning,” he groans, frowns.

“Wow you’re grumpy when you wake up over here. What happened to Caribbean Aksel?”

“He was temporary.”

“Hey, lift up your arm and let me cuddle.”

Now he’s grinning. “Fine.”

He lifts up his arm and I curl up next to him, resting my head on his warm chest. “So, do I get a raise now?”

He jerks his chin back to stare at me. “You think you deserve a raise?”

“We did a lot of baby-making the other night. I think I was pretty good at it.”

He chuckles. “You did a lot of cock-sucking is what you did. Hardly good for making babies.”

“Cock-sucking deserves a raise, I think.”

He shakes his head. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I don’t know. Now that we’re together, I get to get on your nerves allllll day long.”

He squeezes me close to him and kisses the top of my head. “Well, let’s not get too relaxed yet. We have a press conference to go to today.”

I groan, pinching my eyes shut as if to shut out the world. “I forgot. I woke up and I thought yesterday was it.”

“You don’t have to go. You know this.”

“But I have to. It’s my life, my reputation.”

“You don’t owe anyone anything.”

I sigh. “Maybe not. But I owe it to myself.”

And that thought is what gets me out of bed and ready. I do owe it to myself to come clean to the world about who I was. And I owe it to Aksel, too.

The press conference isn’t far. In fact, it’s right in front of the palace, set up where the Constitution Day stuff was.

I eschew the miniskirt and blouse and decide to wear pants and a blazer. Aksel says it doesn’t look like me anymore, but I beg to differ. How would I know who I am if I haven’t tried it out?

Besides, the outfit gives me confidence, the kind of confidence I need to stand by Aksel’s side and face the press. I hold my head high as we leave the front doors and head out to the podium. He’s not holding my hand, but he is guiding me by the elbow, comforting and steady.

“I have gathered you all here today,” Aksel says, speaking into the microphone as the cameras click in our faces, “because my employee, Aurora James, has something she needs to confess. The truth. You see, what was reported in the papers was only the bare bones, both factual and taken from a stolen diary. Her thoughts, her feelings, were never meant to be shown, nor was her mug shot, her past. Aurora made some mistakes and she paid for them, but she was never charged of any crime, and therefore, isn’t a criminal. But before you insist on condemning her anyway, you need to hear it all from her own mouth. This is the only thing you should be reporting on.”

He looks at me and nods.

In his eyes, I know he believes in me.

In his eyes, I know this is the right thing to do.