Gilded Cage

Sent: Tue, August 28, 2007 6:06 am

THE GILDED CAGE by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2007 written on November 8, 1993 translated by the author English text kindly revised by John

USUAL DISCLAIMER

"THE GILDED CAGE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed guest.

CHAPTER 6 - The acquittal, the falling in love and the secret encounters

At the end Jakobus agreed, even though with some hesitation, to be hypnotized. But he demanded, and succeded in having his brother Friedrich present. And he, afterwards, told him all that had happened in the séance.

The doctor, after having hypnotized him, had first asked a set of innocuous questions - "What is your name", "When were you born", "Where are you born", "What is the name of your parents", and similar nonsenses.

Then he asked him, "What sex is yours, Jakobus?"

"Male."

"Therefore you are a young man."

"Yes."

"Would you like being a woman?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I am born a male."

"But if you could have chosen how to be born, what would have you chosen?"

"There can be no choice. Before birth one does not exist."

"What do you think of males?"

"That they are males."

"But is it good or bad being male?"

"It is natural, for the males."

"And being a female, is it good or bad?"

"It is natural, for the females."

"Do you like males?"

"Some of them."

"Do you like females?"

"Some of them."

"Do you prefer to lie down with a male or with a female?"

"It depends..."

"What does it depend on?"

"Who he or she is."

Later, Friedrich told him that the doctor, clearly perplexed, asked him some other questions apparently of no importance, then went back to the subject he intended to examine and explore.

"Did you have sex with a male?"

"No."

"But I was informed you did..."

"It is wrong."

"Is there a male you would like to lie with?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Not to feel alone."

"But do you desire to take profit sexually with this male?"

"No."

The doctor was more and more perplexed. Friedrich thought that the doctor was a rather silly person. Evidently, as it seems that under hypnosis it is not possible to lie, he had badly formulated his questions. In fact Jakobus didn't have had sex with "a male", but with three... And he didn't desire to "sexually take profit" of anybody, but make love... If he had just asked the first question using the plural, and the second with a more neutral "have sex", the answers to both would have been yes.

Anyway the illustrious doctor in the end concluded that the Crown Prince was not suffering from homosexuality, but he was simply "passing through a growing-up period and a slight mental confusion possibly caused by too strict a control and the psychological pressure to which he was subjected".

But this diagnosis didn't produce an appreciable improvement on the prince's life. In fact the surveillance didn't lessen very much. But Jakobus at this point had considered the famous French doctor's verdict as an acquittal. And he started again to think and to desire to find a lover. And amongst those who surrounded him, there was above all the beautiful Reinhardt, the noble guard on duty in the antechamber of his quarters, the one who attracted him much more than any other.

And finally one night, having ascertained that the attendant's room door was closed and that his page was deeply asleep, passed through his study and entered the antechamber, decided to risk everything in a single throw.

Reinhardt was sitting near the door leading to the corridor. As soon as he saw the prince enter, he immediately stood up and stood to attention, stiff.

Looking straight in front of himself, he asked, "Your Royal Highness desires to go out? Shall I call for the escort?"

"No, Reinhardt, I am here for you..." Jakobus said drawing near the beautiful youth and, when he was close to him, lightly caressed the gentle swelling in his tight uniform trousers.

"Your Royal Highness!" the guard protested in a low voice, remaining still at attention.

Jakobus continued to gently caress him there, "What's the matter?"

"You... you are taking profit of the fact that I..."

"Does it bother you?"

"Your Highness is so humiliating me, treating me as a toy..." the youth said, remaining rigidly at attention.

"And yet I have the feeling that you don't dislike it... it is becoming hard..." the prince whispered now more daringly feeling the growing erection.

"It could also please me but... Not so, Royal Highness! If you continue... tomorrow I will immediately present my resignation." The youth said, troubled but determined.

Jakobus stopped touching him, stepped back and looking in his eyes, asked, "Can we talk about it?"

"At your Royal Highness' orders. I am not forbidden to speak."

"Can you come now in my study?"

"I cannot leave the antechamber, Highness."

"Can you sit down?"

"Not in your presence, Highness."

"I don't feel like talking with you here and so... with you straight like a tin soldier."

"I am sorry, Highness, but the rules..."

"Well. If when you are not on duty I summoned you, would you come?"

"Certainly, Royal Highness. Your call will be an order."

"Tomorrow morning you will sleep, I guess."

"Yes, Highness."

"I will summon you in the afternoon, then. Will you be in the noble guard quarters?"

"Certainly, Royal Highness."

"Can you... forget what I... I just did?"

"Certainly, Royal Highness."

Jakobus went back in his bedroom and laid down. Yes, he wanted to talk with Reinhardt. But, he thought, if he summoned him, he would draw everybody's attention to him, and anyway, how to manage to talk with him in private? Unless... A plan took shape in his mind, clear and practicable.

The following morning he went to see Friedrich. As soon as they were alone he told him what he had done the previous night.

"You have been inconsiderate, Jakobus. If that guard presented a complaint to his commander... you know what a bedlam would come out! You have to try more gradually, without exposing yourself so..."

"I am confident he will not talk..."

"Let's hope so."

"I really don't know what happened to me last night. Possibly my desire too long repressed ... But now I want talk with him. I can't summon him to my study, as I had first thought, without forcing attention on him and I don't want to do that. So I was thinking that if by passing through the secret passages you took him to my study..."

"No, it would be dangerous. First of all we don't yet know him enough to know if we can trust him, therefore we cannot show him the secret passages. Moreover, in your study during the day... your voices could be overheard from the other rooms and they could understand somebody is with you... somebody who should not be there."

"What to do then?"

"The secret passages also lead to the sacristy of the Palace Great Chapel. He could go there, during the night, when he is not on duty. From the noble guards quarters it is easy to go there and it seems to me that there are no controls and no patrols in that part of the corridors."

"He is waiting for me to summon him this afternoon..."

"I will go to talk with him and will tell him to go to the Great Chapel. You will wait for him there but not in the sacristy. He shouldn't see you using the secret passage. You will be able to talk there. Is that alright?"

"Yes, sure... I don't remember clearly at which point of the sacristy the secret passage opens ..."

"Inside the big closet of the sacred vestments. It is well disguised. But, Jakobus, do you think he will be game?"

"I don't know... when I was touching him there, he said he could also have liked it... and anyway he was aroused..."

"Bah! The most important thing is that he doesn't report it..."

"He almost promised it..."

"Be more prudent, please Jakobus, I beg you."

"Yes, Friedrich, and thank you for helping me."

Jakobus waited anxiously until night fell, passing through moments of hope, doubt, depression, trepidation. The date had been fixed for two o'clock that night. When he heard the pendulum strike one thirty, he silently slipped out of bed. He went into the study, slid the secret passage panel aside, entered, silently closed after him. With a flint he lit the lantern. Wearing a light cloak over his night shirt, he put on cloth slippers and held his lantern very low so that its light fell only on the floor and didn't seep out of external gaps. He walked through the long and narrow corridor, passed behind his father's bedroom, went down the stairs leading to the ground floor, passed by the corridor leading to the north wing, turned, went up and down more stairs until he was in front of the passage with the cartouche where "Great Chapel's Sacristy" was written.

He put the lantern in a niche and made the panel slide aside. He slipped between the vestments and closed it again. Then he pushed the big wardrobe door and stepped down into the dark and deserted sacristy. The door towards the chapel was open and through it came the flickering lights of the votive candles. He peeped out of the door - the chapel was deserted. He asked himself if he had to wait sitting in one of the pews or remaining in the sacristy. He opted for the latter course. His eyes were becoming accustomed to the gloom. The cracking of the old, dark baroque wooden furniture made him jump every now and then. Would he come? he asked himself.

He heard a faint noise coming from the chapel, a rustling. Feeling his heart in his mouth, he peeped again. In the gloom a slender silhouette was walking towards the altar. The silhouette came to the level of the first pew, knelt and made the the sign of the cross, then sat down. Then Jakobus came out of the sacristy door and stopped hesitantly - what if he was not Reinhardt? When he appeared, the silhouette stood up and went towards the altar and the sacristy door.

"Royal Highness..." he whispered and at once Jakobus distinguished his features and relaxed.

"Here you are, Reinhardt... Thank you."

"At your orders, Highness."

"I... come and sit in the sacristy... at least if somebody entered he would not see us immediately."

They sat on two stools.

"I, er...Reinhardt... I have to ask you to forgive me for last night."

"Thank you, Highness."

"Thank you?"

"For having the moral strength to apologise."

"I have to do so. I made you feel uneasy and... I acted in an inconsiderate way."

"Nothing happened, Royal Highness."

"Yes, it did happen. I... I love men, Reinhardt."

"Yes, Your Highness, I know that."

"You know it?"

"Two years ago... on the night when the queen mother passed away... I was on duty in your antechamber."

"You were?"

"Yes, Highness. Moreover... for a long time I have noticed how you look at me."

"Ah... And my way of looking at you... does it bother you?"

"No, Highness, not at all. May I speak freely?"

"Of course, you have to."

"Well, Your Highness, I... I too love men as you do. And if, instead of being my prince, you were... let's say... another noble guard, I think that I would have courted you a long time since."

"Do you... do you find me handsome?"

"Handsome? You certainly are handsome. But I find you above all attractive, desirable... It could be the veil of sadness that always accompanies you, I don't know... I would like being able to give you some joy, I..."

"You... are you making me a... a declaration of love?" Jakobus asked and could not notice the blush spreading on the youth's face.

"You did allow me to speak freely you, Highness..." he apologised.

"Yes, certainly, continue."

"Yes, You Highness, I think I am in love with you."

"So, then, why last night..."

"Yours was not love, it was only carnal desire... Forgive me, but..."

"No, go on."

"Between us love would not be possible, as I understand it. You, the Crown Prince and I a noble guard... and I'm not even really a nobleman. But if love could not be possible, Highness, I would not want just to have sex."

"You are not a nobleman? But if you are in the noble guard..."

"To be admitted into the noble guard there are only two ways - a noble birth, or being the son of a noble guard. My father was the cadet of a count. He didn't inherit any title, therefore he could not pass one onto me, but he could enter the noble guards. Therefore I too was admitted..."

"I see. But the fact you are not an aristocrat changes nothing for me. My page was the son of wool workers."

"Did you love him?"

"No... we just enjoyed having sex together, that's all. But now the poor boy is paying it for my fault - he had been exiled. Oh, this is why you don't want to become my lover, then? For the risks, the consequences... I can understand you."

"No, Royal Highness! It is not because of that. If I accepted to become your lover, I would accept all the consequences without any fear and without any hesitation..."

"But then?"

"Are you looking for lover or for a... pastime? And if what you are looking for is a true lover, why don't you look for him amongst your peers? Somebody who could be at your side without problems?"

"Well, because... I don't know. But I like you very much."

"You like my appearance, Your Highness, not me. You don't know me..."

"And don't you think that getting to know you, I could fall in love with you?"

"Oh, everything is possible on a theoretic level. But practically? Could we ever have a future, you and I?"

"But you are in love with me, Reinhardt, you just said so."

"Yes. The heart has its reasons, Highness. But I never harbour this sentiment for you, because I know it is just a dream, a chimera."

"A dream? Could we not to make it become reality?"

"But why me, Your Highness? What can you find in me, besides an appearance that you like?"

"Just to start, I am discovering in you pride and dignity. And I like that. I am finding in you sincerity, and I like that too. Anyway, you know me very little and yet you say you love me."

"It is true, Your Highness... But don't entertain my secret illusions..."

"Why?"

"Because he who loves, is strong towards the exterior but weak towards the beloved, Your Highness."

"Are you feeling weak towards me? And yet yesterday night you were strong, stronger than me."

"Because I was dreaming of you something else than... than what you were doing."

"Did I disappoint you?"

"No, I can understand you. I would not like being at your place. I would have gone mad a while ago..."

"I am afraid I'll go mad, sooner or later. I need a lover, it is true. Physically, I mean. But even more, I need somebody I can give my love to and from whom I can receive it. Why can't he be you?"

"Could you really love me, besides desiring me?"

"I think so. Why don't you want to give me the possibility of trying?"

"Are you asking me to... to come to bed with you?"

"No. No more, at this point. Not after what we are now telling each other. I am asking you to allow me to court you, and for you to court me... to let me try to understand that it could be love that drives me towards you..."

"You are tempting me, Highness..."

"So, then?"

"If one day we really could become lovers, Highness, it will be really hard, for you and me. We could scarcely see each other, and always in secret, in hiding..."

"Love between two men seems to be doomed to be concealed anyway."

"That's true. But if we were at least of the same social milieu..."

"Doesn't love make equals?"

"Yes..."

"Will you allow me to court you?"

"Royal Highness..."

"If you really love me, you can not deny me this hope..."

"Royal Highness..."

"It is not your prince asking you. It is only a poor nineteen year old boy... more lonely than an orphan, more poor than a beggar, more prisoner than a malefactor. I beg you, Reinhardt! I am not asking you to have sex with me, I am asking you to let me try to love you." Jakobus said, kneeling in front of the youth.

Reinhardt at once stood up, took the boy's arms and made him stand up, "As I told you, the one who loves is weak towards the beloved. How can I say no to you?"

"Oh, Reinhardt, do you accept?"

"I accept we try to get to better know each other..."

"Will we meet here, then, more times?

"Here, or where you want."

"Will we talk again?"

"Certainly."

"Will we learn to know each other?"

"It is the first thing we have to do."

"You are giving me back life, Reinhardt. More than if last night you had let me continue."

"Yes, Your Highness. And you are lighting my more unbelievable dreams again."

"May I kiss your hand, Reinhardt?"

"You are putting me in an embarrassing position..."

"Why?"

"My prince kissing my hand?"

"No, Reinhardt, it is not your prince asking to be allowed to kiss your hand, but the same nineteen year old boy who just now you made stand up again..."

"It is difficult for me to separate the two things..."

"Then it means that you too have to learn to truly love me. I want you to love the boy of nineteen, not the Crown Prince."

"You are right. Perhaps I'm not yet able to love you as you want."

"Shall we try? You and I?"

"We'll try." Reinhardt answered and, on impulse, he took Jakobus in his arms and clasped him to his chest. Then, almost immediately he parted from him and confused, murmured "Forgive me..."

"No. And you have to do that whenever you feel like it... Of course when we are alone." Jakobus said, happily smiling.

"It will not be easy, Your Highness."

"No, it will not be easy. But we will try. And we will help each other."

"Do you know... I'm happy being in love with you."

"And I feel I'm beginning to fall in love as well."

"It is late, Your Highness. Tomorrow morning I shall have the first shift, I will be on duty in the antechamber of your quarters."

"Yes, it will be better to go to sleep, now. Anyway... when I wake up, I'll see you again..."

"Yes, and I will see you."

"Good night, Reinhardt, and thank you."

"Have a good night, Royal Highness. I'll think of you while falling asleep."

The guard stood up, saluted without clicking his heels and went away, silently as he had come , leaving the chapel.

Jakobus then entered the vestments closet and made his way back. On his bed he recalled the long conversation he had just had with Reinhardt and felt happy - a new life was opening before him. Bristling with difficulties but filled with sweet promises. For the first time in months, he fell serenely asleep.

On the following day, as soon as he woke up, he had the court barber called to have his hair trimmed and to be shaved. He asked for different and more cheerful clothes from those he had chosen the previous evening. When he finally went to the antechamber his look at once dwelt on Reinhardt and their eyes smiled. When the pages were gone, he asked his attendant to go to call his brother.

Being at once alone with Reinhardt, he said, "It is a joy seeing you."

"You are radiant, this morning."

"It's thanks to you."

"Shall we meet, tonight, in the chapel?"

"Certainly, at the same time."

When Friedrich arrived, Jakobus went with him in his studio and they locked themselves in.

"So, Jakobus?" his brother at once asked anxiously.

Jakobus told him all the conversation he had had with Reinhardt.

"I think it is a really good beginning..." Friedrich said at the end.

"A wonderful one, I dare say. I was hoping for just sex from him and he offers me love! And I already feel I'm falling for him. He is a splendid young man! Oh, I know it will be a relationship full of obstacles, but... I feel reborn!"

"I can see it. I am happy for you."

"You will help me, won't you?"

"Of course. Will you meet again, tonight?"

"Certainly yes. And I am already longing for it."

"You have both to be really careful that nobody can suspect anything."

"Yes, we have to be very careful."

The two youths went on meeting almost every night, besides those when Reinhardt was on duty in the antechamber. They talked at length. Jakobus told him about his life, his thoughts, his experiences and adventures. Also Reinhardt told him about himself.

"I remember very little about my childhood. But I have a happy remembrance of it. Like all the married noble guards, my father was living in the detached quarters, behind the orangery. I played there with the children of the other noble guards. And it was there that my first love bloomed when I was thirteen. He was a boy of fourteen, his name was Aldimar. Our love was born from a close friendship and also expressed itself physically in a most natural, spontaneous way.

"With the fine weather we went to swim at the small lake at the far end of the park, in secret, passing through a hole we had found in the grille behind the hedge trimming the northern wall. We had to walk between the hedge and the wall almost bent double until we reached the small lake. You possibly know that the lake is cleaned in June and is used only between mid-June and mid-October. Thus, before the end of May or after October 15, we could go to bathe, undisturbed.

"It was gorgeous in May. We bathed, both always naked so as not to wet our clothes, and we were lying under the sun to dry, when we kissed for the first time. I would not be able to tell you which of us started. We were simply ready for it. Our kisses and caresses became more intimate each time, until he taught me to make love. We really were in love. We loved each other with all the vigour and tenderness of two adolescents. With passion and real devotion. We went on making love for three years.

"Then, when he was seventeen, his father sent him to the King's Light Horse Academy, so we couldn't meet any more. I was sixteen. I really suffered because of that. Then, when I turned seventeen, my father made me enter the noble guard. Thus I came to live here in the Palace, in the quarters of the unmarried noble guard where I am still living. Here I started a strong friendship with a twenty-six years old guard, to whom I was assigned as adjutant. And he, quite soon, carried on so that between us a physical relationship started.

"We were in the training room and we were doing some catch-as-catch-can. After a while we remained alone. He then, with a skilled move, threw me on the floor and he pinned me down... and he kissed me on the mouth in an intimate and passionate way. Also this time everything started with a kiss. I was in love with him. You possibly know that we noble guards sleep in small one-bed rooms that, besides opening towards the corridor, have normally locked communicating doors. But usually an adjutant is given an adjoining room to that of his "veteran" and the communication door is then unlocked.

"Thus every night, without anybody knowing it, I went to sleep in his bed and we made love. I think that also other veterans make love with their adjutants. Of course not all of them, but more than one, I presume. We made love for two years, and I was more and more in love with him. But when I turned nineteen and became an effective noble guard, that is when I was assigned to your service, he took a new adjutant. That was normal. But what I didn't expect was that he made of this new seventeen years old boy his new lover and broke off with me. I felt betrayed...

"Then, last year, I also was given my first adjutant. But I was not at all interested in making of him my lover, because meanwhile I had fallen in love with you, even though I was sure that it was a hopeless love. And on the contrary, I am now here, in the gloom of this sacristy, with my hand in your hand..."

"We have not even yet exchanged a kiss..."

"You're right. But when we are both ready... it will happen."

"I'm dreaming about that day..."

"It will probably be a night, I guess..." Reinhardt joked.

Through the sacristy window moonlight was seeping inside and Jakobus saw its reflection in his companion's eyes, and felt his sweet smile.

"Reinhardt, may I ask you an intimate question?"

"Of course you can."

"You... do you feel desire for... for my body?"

"Oh, yes, it is natural. And I can feel your desire for mine... But we have to be patient, to be certain. It will be an important and difficult step for both of us, you know that."

"Yes, I know. What is odd is that now, even though I desire you so much, it is not a burden to wait..."

"We are just starting to know each other..."

"Yes. And do you like what are you discovering about me?"

"Very much. And you?"

"As well. You are the most enchanting being I ever met."

"Enchanting? Don't you think you are exaggerating?"

"No. I... these few moments stolen during our nights are the most beautiful. Just being near you is sheer joy."

"I too like very much being so close to you. Possibly also this silence that wraps us, this gloom... the scent of wax and incense... make our closeness mystical."

"Is it not blasphemous, Reinhardt, that I feel I love you in a sacred place, and that I'm feeling a growing desire towards you?"

"Blasphemous? Are you joking? On the contrary, to me it makes it even more beautiful and sacred."

"Also the physical desire?"

"Also."

"Don't you believe, then, that our love, our desire can be sinful, as the priests say?"

"No, not at all. Love, and the desire that naturally accompanies it, is beautiful and sacred and cannot be sinful. Violence, deceit, abuse are sinful. But neither you nor I are committing violence or deceit with the other. I would declare I am in love with you even in front of the consecrated host."

"Are you a believer?"

"Yes, of course. And on Sundays, when I receive the holy communion at the Mass, I always pray for our love."

"And don't you tell about your love in confession?"

"Of course not. I tell him only my sins, what I have to ask forgiveness for, not about the right and good things. It would be a nonsense."

"But when the confessor asks you for your sexual acts, what do you answer him?"

"Simply that I have no sins regarding my sexual life."

"I would like having your faith, your self-confidence. But it was the confessors who made me lose it."

"Don't you believe in god?"

"Yes, I do."

"God is love, isn't he? Love puts us in communion with God. Stealing, lying, harming, killing are all things that keep us away from god's love. Certainly not loving... Reflect on this, and come back to the faith, to the sacraments..."

"But if they ask me if I am in love with a man and deny it... I'm a liar."

"No, you are just protecting your love. Falsehood is evil, is a sin when it harms somebody else. When it is for protection of a good thing, it is no longer so. I am more than positive about this."

"But if... but if you were wrong?"

"If I were wrong... When I will be in front of god's tribunal, I don't believe he will charge me with my mistakes, but only with my evil deeds. He will possibly tell me - you made a pile of mistakes, but you presumed to act rightly. You are a real block-head... but come with me!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

"You are making me become reconciled with my conscience..."

"Good."

They were meeting for two months, without no more problems than some time stolen from their sleep, when one night, during one of their meetings in the gloomy and desert sacristy, they kissed.

For Jakobus was like seeing a blinding flash of life. And when their mouths parted, it was sheer joy hearing Reinhardt saying, "Jakobus, I love you!"

The fact he had called him by name was the proof, for the prince, that the beautiful noble guard had totally surrendered to love.

"I too love you, Reinhardt, with all my soul!"

"Yes, I know it now. Do you want to be my lover?"

"Yes, I want it."

"And do you accept me as your lover?"

"Yes, I accept you."

They kissed again to seal these words. Then Jakobus took Reinhardt hand.

"Will you come with me to kneel in front of the altar?"

"Certainly.

"And to offer our love to God?"

"Yes..."

They knelt in the chapel faintly lit by the flickering flames of a few candles and Jakobus said, "Lord, I love Reinhardt. Protect out love..."

"Yes, Lord, and do so that my love for Jakobus become always more strong and true."

"We are relying upon you, Lord."

"Protect our love. Thank you. Amen."

"Amen."

They went back to the sacristy and embraced tightly.

"It is like we are married, now."

"Certainly yes, Jakobus, we are. And now our difficulties will start, you're aware of that, aren't you?"

"Yes, my love, but now they don't scare me, with you at my side. Whatever could happen, we are for ever united, now."

"We will have to defend our love with all our means..."

"Listen, my love - if by chance one day we shall be separated... we have to agree on a meeting point."

"Are you thinking about your page sent to exile?"

"Exactly. If we are not in prison, or dead... we shall meet away of here, abroad."

"Where? Tell me. I never went abroad."

"In Vienna. Inside Saint Stephen's cathedral, at the right of the main entrance, each first Sunday of the month, at noon."

"Yes, it is clear. But Our Lord will protect us."

"I hope so, my love."

"And now, my life belongs to you."

"And yours is mine. For ever."

"I would now like to make love with you, Jakobus. But not here... On a bed, in the light, looking at you, with calm... will it ever be possible?"

"We will make it possible, my Reinhardt. Or also surrounded by nature, in daytime, under the sun, with calm..."

"Do you have an idea?"

"No, not yet. But possibly, with Friedrich's help..."

"Your brother knows everything about us, doesn't he?"

"Yes, and he will help us."

"Unhappily I can do very little. Now everything depends on you, Jakobus."

"We will succeed!"

The next day the prince talked with Friedrich, who was really happy.

"Then last night, it is as if you got married?"

"Yes."

"You are happy, aren't you?"

"Terribly happy. And now we want tomake love. Safely, nicely... not in hurry and in some corner, standing, nor on the floor like two animals..."

"I can understand you. You know, the room where you were sleeping before your investiture is still empty, it is no longer in use now and is always locked by key. Using the secret passages, you can meet there, instead of in the chapel."

"This will mean that Reinhardt also has to know and use the secret passages..."

"I will guide and teach him. At this point it is right that he knows them too."

"But if by chance somebody comes while we are making love?"

"The outside door is definitely locked by the key, and you can also lock the internal one. You would certainly hear them coming and have plenty of time to flee through the secret passage. I think that the windows are locked on the inside too, so nobody can notice the light from outside if you have a couple of lanterns with you,. There, besides having the bed, you will be safer than in the chapel's sacristy."

"And if somebody came to look for me during the night, like that time?"

"They will find you neither in your bedroom nor in your study and will ask themselves how you could get out... But you can go back through the corridor and say that the guards were dozing and you just went for a walk..."

"The guards will deny it..."

"Your word against theirs..."

"They would be punished..."

"But at least they wouldn't think of the secret passages..."

"It would not be fair to have two innocent people punished."

"We will do our best to avoid punishment, if we can."

In the end Jakobus surrendered, if only because that was the only way to be able to unite with his beloved Reinhardt, and the probability they would look for him in the dead of the night was remote.

So, Friedrich went to see the young noble guard and told him about the secret passages. He gave him an appointment for that same night in the chapel and from there guided him to the former bedroom where Jakobus was waiting for him.

The secret passage was left open and the room was lit by Jakobus's lantern. He was lying on the bed, and when he saw his lover enter, he stretched his arms towards him, with a wide and luminous smile.

Friedrich also smiled, pleased, and went back to his own bedroom to sleep.

CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 7

In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to read them, the URL is

http://andrejkoymasky.com

If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English translations, so that I can put on-line more of my stories in English please e-mail at

andrej@andrejkoymasky.com