Separated

Epilogue: Fredrick

1 year later

"Are you ready, Fredrick?" my sister asked me, straightening my medals.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied.

"That's good. What will you choose?"

"You'll have to wait like everyone else, Rosaline," I said with a chuckle.

"But I've been wanting to know!" Rosaline complained, tugging on my suit.

"It'll be just a few more minutes!"

Rosaline giggled as she adjusted my blue suit. Suddenly her expression changed.

"Oh, I almost forgot!"

She pulled out Homer from her bookshelf. "Here."

"This was from a year ago!" I exclaimed. "Why give it to be now?"

"I just forgot, I guess."

Father opened the door. "Fredrick, are you ready?"

"Yes, I think I am."

Father gestured toward the open door. I offered Rosaline my arm and we went through the halls and into the banquet room together. Everyone cheered upon our arrival, including Delilah, who was in the seat next to my designated one. Me and Rosaline hurried to our spots when my mother stood and hit her spoon against a glass, calling attention.

"As you all know, today is a very special day. Our son, Prince Fredrick of Highlandia will choose whether he inherits the throne when my dear husband retires. Fredrick?"

I stood up and cleared my throat. Rosaline gave me a reassuring smile.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," I started. I had never been able to say that before. "I am truly thrilled to have you all here today. As you know, in an indefinite time frame my father will retire from the throne, and I have been given the choice as to whether to inherit my father's crown or pass it on to another worthy gentleman. To defend my family and my namesake, I have chosen to inherit the throne."

There was a sudden burst of ecstatic applause in the room. I smiled at the approval of the kingdom's subjects. My family, however, was hysterical. Rosaline cheered the loudest, my father whistled, and my mother hugged me tighter than anyone else had before.

My father called back attention from the crowd, almost instantaneously silencing them.

"As his father and king, I present to him a gift."

My father pulled out from behind him an exquisite weapon of the finest worksmanship. It was a gilded iron double-edged sword, studded with bronze at the hilt. My father gave it to me hilt-first. Immediately it occurred to me that it was heavy, and the weight of it instantly brought my arm to the ground. This caused an eruption of lighthearted laughter amongst the crowd, especially from Rosaline, but it was followed with a round of applause,
♦♦♦
"Fredrick, your parents request your presence in the throne room."

I nodded to Gerard and got out of my bed. Judging by the position of the moon, it was about two hours past midnight. I put on a blue robe and hurried through the corridors to the great room. Rosaline was already there, shivering in her pink robe and a concerned look in her eyes. My father and mother sat on their thrones, still in their day clothes, weary-eyed.

"Fredrick, I wanted to tell you about inheriting the throne."

"Yes, father?"

"I want you to take it sooner than we had originally anticipated. Instead of five years from now, I'm going to make it two."

"Why, father?"

"That's the other thing I called you in for. Both of you. You see, when Rosaline asked me about..."

A violent knock came from the front doors of the castle. Two guards sprinted in, their expressions terrified.

"Your Highnesses, there's an...angry mob outside the castle doors."

My father was immediately off his throne and advancing towards the halls, my mother close behind. Me and Rosaline looked at each other worriedly. I started to follow my parents, but Rosaline took me by the hand and led me to her bedroom. She looked out her balcony and gasped. I looked out and saw a group of about thirty men shouting, "Down with the monarchy and up with the wall!" repeatedly.

"They didn't like the decision to reunite male and female," I realized. "And now they're seeking revenge."

To be Continued...