From: "A.K." <andrej@andrejkoymasky.com>
Sent: Sun, August 19, 2007 6:09 pm
Subject: The Gilded Cage 3/11 (Historical)

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

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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 3 - The prince and groom secret encounters

Back in the castle, Jakobus and Johann could no longer enjoy the freedom
and intimacy they had had at the Retreat, but they had not to cease
making love as Jakobus had feared. And it was there at the castle that
Johann could point out to his cousin a kitchen boy and a page.

"Do you see? Those two like making love with males."

"Really? How can you know? Did you make love with them?"

"No, never."

"They told you?"

"No, no."

"So how, then?"

"It is their way of looking. Notice how their glance lingers more on a
nice boy than on a nice girl. And not only that, notice also how when
they look at a beautiful boy, their eyes linger on the basket between
their legs or on their ass much more than on other parts of the body..."

"It doesn't seem so..."

"Pay attention. Without their realizing, observe them and see that I am
right... From the way they look you can understand that both of them
like and are more interested in males than in females."

To Jakobus, observing not only this pair's looks but also of the others
in general, became a kind of secret game. And he noticed that his cousin
was often right - there were those who looked at everybody in a neutral
way, others who lingered more with their eyes on the women, and mainly
on their breasts, and again others who looked more at men, and mainly on
the two parts that his cousin had told him.

"Johann, but then also the coachman is so..."

"Oh, it could be, but he is old and ugly, so I never paid attention."

"I have noticed he always looks between the boys' legs, especially when
he happens to pass near the kitchen boy..."

"Well, the kitchen boy is the one with the most generously full basket,
I can understand he could like it..." Johann commented, cunningly.

The days in the castle also elapsed fast, even too fast. Count Stefan
came back from his diplomatic mission and again stopped for a night at
the castle. On the following day he would escort the prince to the
capital, to the Palace.

That last night Johann, passing like the other times under the eaves,
knocked at the window of Jakobus' room which he, waiting for him, ran to
open for him.

"Oh, come in!"

"Did you lock the door with the key?"

"Of course."

Johann nimbly and silently slipped inside the room and closed the window
behind him, without the least noise. The two boys were at once one in
each other's arms and kissed.

"The last time, Johann... who knows until when..."

"Yes, but you will find somebody there at court. You know how to do so
now, don't you?"

"It will be really difficult. With guards, pages, lackeys, waiters I am
never alone. I will miss you." Jakobus murmured taking off his cousin's
night shirt and bending to suckle his nipples.

Johann gently pushed him towards the bed.

"In one year, I will almost surely come to serve at the court, Jakobus,
so then we'll meet quite often..."

"Meet, yes. Withdraw together, I doubt we can..." the boy sadly said.

Johann took off his cousin's night shirt and held him to himself,
caressing his buttocks and brushing his shaft against Jakobus' erection.

"Tonight we will enjoy ourselves, don't think about anything else..." he
murmured sweetly.

On the following day, just before the official leave taking, Johann gave
him a gold pendant representing a crown crossed by a sceptre. "Take this
pendant as a lucky charm. Keep it on you always."

"A crown and a sceptre? A wish for when I will be king?"

"If you want you can say that to the others. In reality the sceptre
represents the virile member and the crown the butt, the butt hole...
This is a symbol of love between men, as a souvenir of our nights."
Johann said with a crafty smile.

Jakobus nodded and at once attached it to his belt.

After he parted from his uncle, aunt and cousins, he climbed into the
coach with count Stefan and they set off.

During the journey, the count asked him, "Your Highness took advantage
of this sojourn?"

"Oh yes, count, a very good profit. Much more than I could have
guessed."

"Good. Your Highness should now resume the studies..."

"Certainly. Did you diplomatic mission achieve the hoped result?"

"I shall report to the King your father." The man answered dryly.

Jakobus looked in his eyes, without saying a word. The count shifted his
eyes away and looked out of the window at the panorama that was rapidly
flowing past.

"You are married, count, aren't you?" then Jakobus asked.

The man looked at him, somewhat surprised by the question. "Yes, and you
know my spouse, she is one of the ladies in waiting of Her Majesty the
queen Margaretha."

"Yes... But... don't you have children?"

"No."

"And why?" the boy asked.

"Our Lord didn't bless our union with the grace of a heir..." the man
curtly answered.

"Evidently you are not praying enough to Our Lord!" the boy said in a
reproaching tone, giggling in his heart at the perplexed expression of
the man.

He had possibly found a way to get at him.

Back at the court, Jakobus met Stefanie and Friedrich who overwhelmed
him with questions about his month at their cousins' home. Jakobus told
them everything, keeping silent only about the sex he had with his
cousin.

"Ah, it must have been wonderful" Friedrich exclaimed.

"Yes, really splendid. Another world, an extraordinary world. And I
learned plenty of things..." Jakobus said with a dreamy expression that
told his siblings more than any description.

He resumed his studies, his activities following rigidly the set
schedule. The change was large but Jakobus was jealously keeping inside
his heart the memory of the month he spent with his cousin, and this was
now giving him the strength to be more serene.

But now, at night in his wide bed, he was feeling even more lonely that
before and the sole, partial relief was to masturbate, recalling the
splendid nights passed with Johann. But a problem arouse - if the pages
would now find the stains of his seed not once in a while but every
night... they would certainly understand, they would surely talk about
it... So he took the habit to masturbate only when he was in the toilet,
so to not leave any trace of his new activity.

And when his confessor asked him if he was playing with his "pudenda",
he sincerely answered "no, father" because he knew that it was not a
game, but something more serious and beautiful.

Also at court, Jakobus had started examining the glances of all the men
who, in a way or another, attracted him. And after a few months he got
the impression that one of the grooms called Lukas (he was now learning
the names of all the staff as he had resolved to do), a handsome young
man of twenty-three, had exactly "that way" of looking. Thus he decided
he had to try with him. The problem was to be able to be alone with him
long enough. Finally, after he was sixteen, he succeeded.

After the usual riding lesson, and he had taken his bath, he went back
to the stable on some pretext and saw that Lukas was putting away the
harness of his horse.

"Your name is Lukas, isn't it?" he asked him.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"How long are you serving here as a groom?"

"For seven years, Your Highness."

"You were then of my actual age." Jakobus said.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"You were a boy but now you are a handsome young man. The livery suits
you very much, it brings out the pleasant shapes of your body..."

The young man looked at him without understanding, a little surprised
for that compliment.

"And especially your tight knee-breeches..." Jakobus added looking
straight between his thighs, then to his eyes and again between his
thighs, and noticed that the groom was blushing slightly.

Jakobus hinted a smile, the young man was starting to get the sense of
his message.

"It seems that you are well built... everywhere."

"Your Highness is embarrassing me... You are too kind..."

"Oh no, I would like being... endowed like you."

"At your age, I too was more... modestly endowed."

"Really? Then can I hope to gradually develop... like you?" Jakobus
asked, and lightly brushed on the basket between the young man's thighs.

The groom blushed more visibly than before, but didn't move away.
Jakobus then touched him in a more daring way...

"You are really well furnished. Feel me, instead..."

"But... Highness, I could never dare..."

"Yes, you can. Nobody sees us, here. Touch me..."

"Your Highness is making fun of me..." the young man weakly protested,
embarrassed both by the boy's request and for his hand now openly
fondling him.

"It's hardening, Lukas..." the boy, pleased, murmured.

"If you touch me like this..." the groom excused himself, in a low
voice. More and more embarrassed.

"Mine has become hard even though you haven't yet touched it. Don't you
like how I'm touching you?"

"It is not that, Your Highness..."

"Touch me, you too... it would please me..."

"But, Your Highness..."

Jakobus then took a hand of the groom and guided it on his own hardness.
Lukas for a moment seemed to resist, but then his hand animated and
fingered, lightly and shyly, the boy's erection.

"You feel? It is hard for you, Lukas..."

The young man shuddered lightly but his hand became more daring and
insisting.

"Lukas, wouldn't you like to withdraw with me?"

"Oh, Your Highness... it would be dangerous..."

"But would you like to?"

"If Your Highness would really be pleased... yes."

"Yes, Lukas, I would really be pleased."

"But it is not possible, Your Highness. Somebody could come at any
moment and..."

"Not here, not now. But I will find a way. I desire you, Lukas."

"Your Highness confounds me... and honours me..."

"I will let you know, yes. I will find a way." Jakobus said, satisfied
and parted from the groom.

He looked again between his thighs and smiled noticing how the basket
was now much more visible and prominent than before. He smiled to the
young man who returned a half, hesitant smile. Then Jakobus went quickly
out of the stable going towards the Palace.

He had to find a way to withdraw with that Lukas. He should have a ripe
body, virile, and Jakobus thought it had to be exciting. And also a good
sized member. And also he liked him...

For some days he could not find a good solution. He met Lukas again but
they could only exchange a conspiratorial look. Then he managed to be
alone with Lukas for a few minutes.

Besides caressing him again between his thighs, he asked him, "Where do
you sleep, Lukas?"

"In the servants' quarters, Your Highness..."

"In night time, can you come here in the stable without being seen?"

"I think so, Your Highness."

"And from here you can easily go into the park without problems, can't
you?"

"Well, passing through the manège gate, then jumping over the low gate
that is shut at night with a padlock... But we servants are forbidden to
enter the park, and the patrol does a round passing there too..."

"Between one patrol round and the next, you can enter without being
seen..."

"It is very dangerous for me... If you could come here, in the
stables... possibly..."

"For me, at night time it would be much easier go to the park, I think,
than to come here. Do you know where the gazebo is?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Nearby there is the old abandoned cabin. Couldn't you wait there for
me?"

"I don't know... I can try. When?"

"On Thursday night. My page on duty is old Rudolf. He snores when he is
asleep. When I hear his snores, I can climb out from the window..."

"Good lord! It would be so risky, Your Highness!"

"No, I discovered I can climb down keeping myself in the wisteria and so
I can reach the park. But in the evening, when I undress, the page takes
away all my clothes. I can't go out in my night shirt - besides being
uncomfortable, I would be much too visible... I have to find other
clothes, not light ones..."

"Do you want me to get them? Simple clothes, servants clothes... if Your
Highness would not feel offended..."

"I would come even naked, if I could..."

The young man smiled, "I'll get them for you. Would you manage to take
them back with you?"

"I will find a way. Thank you, Lukas."

"It's my duty, Your Highness..." the young man answered, bowing.

They were not able to meet that Thursday. But Jakobus managed to smuggle
to his room the breeches and workshirt that Lukas got for him. And
finally, one night, they could meet in the old cabin in the park.

"Lukas? Are you here?" the boy asked, excited, entering into the dark
cabin.

"Yes, I'm here, Your Highness." The young man answered in a low voice,
and a hand brushed the prince.

Jakobus took it and they drew near without seeing each other, but pushed
one against the other. Jakobus raised his hands, took the groom's face
and kissed him on the mouth. The young man at once returned the kiss.
The contact with the strong body of the groom provoked a long shudder of
pleasure in the boy.

"Oh, Lukas, at last..."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Can you call me just Jakobus, when we are alone." The prince said
caressing the throbbing erection of the young man through his clothes.

"Yes, Jakobus. You're aroused too ..." Lukas said, feeling between his
thighs.

"Let's undress, Lukas, I want to make love with you. God, I've been
desiring it for so long!"

"Yes, come here... Last night I carried a horse cover, a flint and a
lamp here. If you like I can get some light."

"Can't it be seen from outside?"

"No, I checked last night and from outside no light escapes."

"Light the lamp, then. I would like seeing you naked, finally." The boy
murmured, more and more aroused.

The groom struck the flint and lit the small oil lamp. Jakobus, with
pleasure and a quiver of emotion, saw desire shine in the eyes of the
handsome young man.

"Let's undress, Lukas, quick!"

"Yes..."

They hurriedly undressed, without losing sight of the other.

"My god, Lukas, you have hairs on the chest and on the legs..."

"Don't you like them?"

"On the contrary! You have a really virile, beautiful body. And a
member... wonderful!"

The young man smiled, pleased and said, caressing him with his eyes,
"And you have a sweet and smooth and beautiful hairless body,
delightful! You are young but really beautiful. And you'll grow up to be
a beautiful man."

Jakobus laid down on the cover and pulled the handsome groom on top of
him.

"Make love with me, Lukas."

"How would you like doing it, Jakobus?"

"In every way. Do what you like best, and I too will do what I like
best."

"You are my lord..."

"No, I am just a boy now; we are just two males greedy for love."

The young man nodded and began caressing and kissing the youth and fresh
body under him. His hands were rough, compared to those of Johann, and
yet Lukas was using them with tenderness, almost as if was afraid he
could spoil something delicate and precious. Lukas was burning with
passion for the boy who was offering himself to him, but he restrained,
controlled himself, a little out of deference and a little for a kind of
instinctive respect for such a young boy.

Gradually Jakobus managed to turn under him, until he could take the
hard rod of the groom in his mouth.

"Oh, Jakobus!" the young man panted, and without a thought, took in his
mouth the hard stake of the boy.

Jakobus was not able to contain all of the massive erection of the
beautiful groom in his mouth, but just two thirds of it. But he worked
it with greedy passion, giving to the young man wonderful sensations
that he tried to return, devoting himself to the boy.

"Take me, Lukas..." the prince murmured.

"I'm not too big for you? I wouldn't harm you..."

"I don't care, take me!"

"If you feel pain, tell me." Lukas said with a hoarse voice.

He had the boy go on all fours and went to carefully wet his little hole
with saliva. Jakobus was all a quiver in anticipation. Lukas desired to
take him; he caressed his small and firm ass, and was strongly aroused,
but he feared to harm him, therefore when the tip of his mace rested on
the little hole, he hesitated.

"Push, Lukas." The boy begged.

"Yes, but... I don't want to hurt you..."

"Push, please."

The young man started to push. Jakobus felt he was opening wide and
sighed happily. Lukas stopped, tense, timorous.

"No, go on, you are not giving me pain. Push!"

Lukas pushed further. Now Jakobus was starting to feel some pain - it
was really big.

"Oh, Lukas, I like, but..."

"Do you want me to pull out?"

"No, not yet. I have just to get used to you. Stay so, still..."

Lukas had to make an effort, but did it willingly. His rough hands
caressed, sweet and delicate, the boy's chest and belly.

"I like, Lukas... Try to push some more... Ouch! No, stop... Oh, I am
sorry Lukas, but it is really too big..."

"I'll pull out..."

"Not yet. I don't think I could manage, this time, to receive it all."

"It's not important, you don't need to. You have to enjoy it, Jakobus,
not to suffer..."

"Sooner or later we will manage, won't we?"

"If you want, but... I'll now pull out."

"It could be better..." the boy answered with real regret.

Lukas slipped out. Jakobus turned, they embraced and kissed with desire.

"Would you like entering inside me? I can take it without problems, if
you like it, I am used to..."

"And mine is not too big..." the prince nodded.

"Do you want to take me?"

"Yes, Lukas, I would like to."

The groom assumed the position, letting the boy guide him.

"Don't worry, you will not harm me, Jakobus. Take me!" the young man
said, offering himself with a smile of real pleasure.

The young prince sank into him at the first attempt, without difficulty.

"Oh, Lukas, it's good... it's good, isn't it?"

"Sure. Fuck me, now. Yes, so.. hard... harder... so... so..." the young
man murmured enjoying the boy's thrusts.

Jakobus let himself go in a kind of fast gallop, filled with rapture.
Lukas was meanwhile masturbating rapidly, a smile filled with pleasure
in his eyes and on his lips.

The groom's channel was less tight that that of Johann, but Jakobus felt
it soft, warm, wrapping and welcoming. To possess that handsome, virile
body was giving him a sense of almost wild joy that seemed to increase
his own virility.

"You like taking me?"

"Yes, Lukas, very much. And you?"

"I too do. You are a real colt, a thoroughbred. Who knows how many males
you have ridden in spite of your young age."

"Oh no, you are just the second one."

"Only the second one? And you are so skilled already?" the young man
exclaimed.

Jakobus was pleased. He went on vigorously moving in and out of that
pleasurable love channel. It was different from with Johann, but just as
exciting. The pleasure was relentlessly increasing, stroke after stroke.
Jakobus could feel that also the groom was enjoying that passionate
union, and this increased his pleasure.

"Oh, Lukas... I feel... I'm, almost... coming!"

"I too, Jakobus, I too..."

"Lukas... oh, Lukas... Lukas I'm coming... coming... coming..." the boy
panted unloading with strong pushes into the handsome young man.

The groom also reached his orgasm and on instinct made his anus spasm,
so increasing his prince's pleasure.

"Don't still slip out; stay on top of me so, it's much nicer..." Lukas
murmured, panting.

"Alright..." Jakobus whispered, letting himself relax on the strong body
of his companion.

After a while they slowly loosened their embrace.

"Are you happy, Jakobus?" then the young man asked.

"Yes, very happy. It has been good. And you?"

"It has been good for me too. You are a hot-blooded lover, Jakobus!"

"Well you heated my blood. But I am sorry I wasn't able to receive you
inside me."

"Never mind. I'm too big for you."

"Will you make love with me again?"

"If you want it... it will be a honour for me."

"A honour? I... I hoped it was a pleasure, for you."

"Oh, yes of course, also a pleasure, I assure you!"

While they were dressing again, Jakobus asked him, "Did you make love
with many men?"

"Well, yes... I can really say so."

"Who taught you to make love with men?"

"Taught? Do you mean the first man I did it with?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Oh, it was almost ten years ago. My father owns an inn. It was a
passing guest, a lord. My father that night told me to go to the lord's
room and put myself under his orders and to do anything the lord asked
me to do. So I knocked at the door of his room and went in. He told me
to undress and go on the bed. He too undressed, came on top of me and
took me... he fucked my little ass."

"Your father sent you to him?" Jakobus asked, almost unbelieving.

"Yes, sure."

"But... he didn't know what that guest wanted to do you..."

"He knew it very well. In fact after that night he often sent me in the
guests rooms. They paid my father, to have me in their beds at night..."

"They paid?" Jakobus asked with wide eyes.

"Of course. That's why my father sent me to them. That way he increased
his earnings."

"But you... did you like it?"

"With some guest I did and sometimes very much. With others a little or
not at all. And then with those I was just waiting for them to finish
before going back to my straw bed... Then one day the Superintendent of
the Palace Stables stopped at my father's inn. He loved taking me so
much, that he paid my father a large sum asking him to allow me to come
to work here at the Palace."

"The Superintendent of the Stables?"

"Not the present one, the one before. So I came to work here as a groom,
and I was his steady bed-boy... When he became ill and had to leave his
charge, he didn't take me with him but left me here. For a while I
didn't it with anybody. Until a new stable-boy was hired... and after a
few days we started to have sex..."

"You still do it with that stable-boy?"

"Yes, rather often."

"But he... does he know about us?"

"No, god forbid! I would never talk about you with a living soul, that's
obvious!"

"And... is he better than me in making love?"

"No. He doesn't kiss on the mouth... nor elsewhere. He only loves to be
fucked by me, nothing else. But I like doing it..."

They parted. Jakobus furtively went towards the Palace. He hid waiting
for the patrol doing its round, then climbed up the wisteria, silently
entered his room and slipped behind the bed curtains. Here he took off
his humble clothes and hid them behind the bed-head. He put on his night
shirt and went under the sheets.

He had enjoyed Lukas. He was a really handsome young man. He recalled
the story he had told him - having to go to bed with men he didn't like,
which seemed to him weird, ugly behaviour. He had no reasons to doubt
the young man's story. And the thought that it had been his father who
pushed him to do that, seemed even more weird and ugly. He recalled the
strong and slightly hairy body of his handsome groom, and his member,
big and beautiful even at rest...

"Ah, if I could be free to make love with Lukas as I did with Johann up
there at the Retreat!" Jakobus thought while he was falling asleep.

He couldn't manage to withdraw with the handsome Lukas as often as he
would have liked, but they could renew their love-making just once a
week or ten days. He had tried several times to be penetrated by Lukas,
but he could not receive it inside himself, because of the pain. Lukas
in the end insisted on stopping trying.

"Jakobus, it isn't necessary. I very much like just to be penetrated by
you. And then, as you know, with the stable boy I can only penetrate
him, therefore I'm happy like this. Really!"

Jakobus yielded so he often made Lukas enjoy his mouth. He liked the
sourish and musky taste of the young man. What he liked was not only the
love-making with the virile groom, but also their chatting after making
love. Lukas narrated to him in detail some of his adventures, both
sexual and otherwise, and Jakobus listened to him with pleasure. He
asked him a thousand questions, so discovering a thousand details of a
royal subject's life, a thousand aspects that he didn't know about, that
he didn't even suspect.

They had gradually reached a level of familiarity that Jakobus enjoyed
very much. At times, when they met, alone, in the stables, Lukas
whispered something like, "I would really like sucking your beautiful
pole now, do you know?" and Jakobus giggled, amused and excited. Or
else, "Tell me the truth, instead of riding this black horse, you would
prefer riding me, there in the park, under the sun..." "Oh yes, you
bet!" the prince answered, becoming aroused just at that thought.

Also the secrecy of their encounters added to the pleasure. So their
story went on and strengthened for about seven months. But one night,
while each of them was going back to his lodging, Jakobus heard voices
shouting, "Halt! Who goes there?"

The boy hid in a flower bed and heard the groom answer aloud, "I'm
Lukas, the groom!"

"What are you doing here, at this time of night?"

"I could not fall asleep, so I came out for a short walk..."

"You know that the servants are forbidden to enter the park without
authorization, don't you?"

"Well, it's night, there is nobody. I didn't think I was doing something
wrong..."

"Follow us at the guard post. The sergeant will decide if you did wrong
or not."

"Alright, let's go." Lukas voice answered, limpid and clear.

Jakobus was trembling, somewhat scared. After a while he looked around -
nobody was in sight. With his heart in his mouth, he stealthy reached
the wisteria and climbed up. He entered his first floor room and took
refuge on his bed. His heart was drumming in his chest and the blood was
hammering at his temples. He changed his clothes and went under the
sheets.

He was not able to fall asleep. He was asking himself what could happen
and hoped that nothing bad happened to his handsome groom. He did not
worry about the possibility that Lukas would talk about their
encounters, he knew he would never do so. He was really only worrying
for him.

He could go to the stables only two days later. He didn't see Lukas. In
his place there was another groom, a boy called Manfred.

"Lukas is not on duty, today?" he asked with a careless tone.

"No, Your Highness, his place was given to me..."

"Ah, and why? Where is Lukas?"

"He has been fired, Your Highness. Yesterday, he left."

"Fired? And for what reason? He was a perfect groom!"

"He was been caught in a part of the park where we are forbidden to
enter, Your Highness."

"And... just for that... he has been fired?"

"On the spot, Your Highness."

Jakobus, as soon as he could, asked to be received by his father.

"Papa, I got to know that my groom has been dismissed without notice
because he went in the park without an authorization."

"I know nothing about that, but he evidently got the right punishment
for not respecting the rules."

"But it is extreme! He was not stealing, he was doing nothing bad..."

"We all have to respect the rules, the laws, or else it will be the
chaos. From the king to the last of the subjects."

"But this rule is absurd, it has to be changed! And Lukas hired again."

"Even if I decided to have that rule changed, which anyway I don't
intend to do, the transgression remains therefore also the punishment.
In fact no law can be retroactive; you know this principle very well."

"But you are the king, papa..."

"Kings also have to abide by the existing laws, my dear son..."

Jakobus understood it was useless to insist, therefore he greeted his
father and went out of his study, with a dark face. What troubled him
was not only having lost Lukas, but the fact that he had lost his job,
after all, because of him. And because he was powerless to put the
matter right. For several days Jakobus was tense and taciturn and when
Stefanie and Friedrich asked him the reason, he told them about Lukas
and his dismissal.

"Oh, Jakobus, and so you are sorry?" Friedrich asked.

"Of course I am, for months he was my groom, and he was a perfect groom,
and..."

"But then, if you are sorry about it, they should not dismiss him!" his
little brother exclaimed, with determination.

"Eh, no, Friedrich. Rules are rules, none can infringe them..." Stefanie
said putting on an expression of a wise young lady.

"It is the rule, that is absurd!" Jakobus retorted, sultry.

"But you got a new groom, didn't you?" Stefanie, practical, objected.

"So what! It is not the same as a toy that, when broken, you get
another!" Friedrich said and Jakobus looked at him with admiration. Then
the child said to his elder brother, "When you are king, you will change
all the stupid rules."

"There are still too many years..." Jakobus said to his little brother
with a smile.

But having been able to get the load off his chest with them, even
though of course he could not tell them everything, had relieved him a
little. He absent-mindedly touched the gold pendant he always had at his
belt, the lucky charm that his cousin Johann gave him. And asked himself
how long until to the ceremony of the presentation at the court. He
asked his sister, who was always well informed in such matters.

"Our cousin Johann Mathias? Well, he already turned eighteen, therefore
his presentation ceremony will take place in December, as for all the
youths of his year. On December eighth, in fact."

"Ah, one more month, then..." Jakobus commented.

"Maman says that he will then stay here at court and that he will likely
be named attendant in the antechamber of the throne hall. So we would
meet him rather often. That's good, isn't it, Jakobus?"

"Yes, it will be a real pleasure having him here at the Palace."

-----------------------------

CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 4

-----------------------------

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

---------------------------
----------------------------

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 3 - The prince and groom secret encounters

Back in the castle, Jakobus and Johann could no longer enjoy the freedom
and intimacy they had had at the Retreat, but they had not to cease
making love as Jakobus had feared. And it was there at the castle that
Johann could point out to his cousin a kitchen boy and a page.

"Do you see? Those two like making love with males."

"Really? How can you know? Did you make love with them?"

"No, never."

"They told you?"

"No, no."

"So how, then?"

"It is their way of looking. Notice how their glance lingers more on a
nice boy than on a nice girl. And not only that, notice also how when
they look at a beautiful boy, their eyes linger on the basket between
their legs or on their ass much more than on other parts of the body..."

"It doesn't seem so..."

"Pay attention. Without their realizing, observe them and see that I am
right... From the way they look you can understand that both of them
like and are more interested in males than in females."

To Jakobus, observing not only this pair's looks but also of the others
in general, became a kind of secret game. And he noticed that his cousin
was often right - there were those who looked at everybody in a neutral
way, others who lingered more with their eyes on the women, and mainly
on their breasts, and again others who looked more at men, and mainly on
the two parts that his cousin had told him.

"Johann, but then also the coachman is so..."

"Oh, it could be, but he is old and ugly, so I never paid attention."

"I have noticed he always looks between the boys' legs, especially when
he happens to pass near the kitchen boy..."

"Well, the kitchen boy is the one with the most generously full basket,
I can understand he could like it..." Johann commented, cunningly.

The days in the castle also elapsed fast, even too fast. Count Stefan
came back from his diplomatic mission and again stopped for a night at
the castle. On the following day he would escort the prince to the
capital, to the Palace.

That last night Johann, passing like the other times under the eaves,
knocked at the window of Jakobus' room which he, waiting for him, ran to
open for him.

"Oh, come in!"

"Did you lock the door with the key?"

"Of course."

Johann nimbly and silently slipped inside the room and closed the window
behind him, without the least noise. The two boys were at once one in
each other's arms and kissed.

"The last time, Johann... who knows until when..."

"Yes, but you will find somebody there at court. You know how to do so
now, don't you?"

"It will be really difficult. With guards, pages, lackeys, waiters I am
never alone. I will miss you." Jakobus murmured taking off his cousin's
night shirt and bending to suckle his nipples.

Johann gently pushed him towards the bed.

"In one year, I will almost surely come to serve at the court, Jakobus,
so then we'll meet quite often..."

"Meet, yes. Withdraw together, I doubt we can..." the boy sadly said.

Johann took off his cousin's night shirt and held him to himself,
caressing his buttocks and brushing his shaft against Jakobus' erection.

"Tonight we will enjoy ourselves, don't think about anything else..." he
murmured sweetly.

On the following day, just before the official leave taking, Johann gave
him a gold pendant representing a crown crossed by a sceptre. "Take this
pendant as a lucky charm. Keep it on you always."

"A crown and a sceptre? A wish for when I will be king?"

"If you want you can say that to the others. In reality the sceptre
represents the virile member and the crown the butt, the butt hole...
This is a symbol of love between men, as a souvenir of our nights."
Johann said with a crafty smile.

Jakobus nodded and at once attached it to his belt.

After he parted from his uncle, aunt and cousins, he climbed into the
coach with count Stefan and they set off.

During the journey, the count asked him, "Your Highness took advantage
of this sojourn?"

"Oh yes, count, a very good profit. Much more than I could have
guessed."

"Good. Your Highness should now resume the studies..."

"Certainly. Did you diplomatic mission achieve the hoped result?"

"I shall report to the King your father." The man answered dryly.

Jakobus looked in his eyes, without saying a word. The count shifted his
eyes away and looked out of the window at the panorama that was rapidly
flowing past.

"You are married, count, aren't you?" then Jakobus asked.

The man looked at him, somewhat surprised by the question. "Yes, and you
know my spouse, she is one of the ladies in waiting of Her Majesty the
queen Margaretha."

"Yes... But... don't you have children?"

"No."

"And why?" the boy asked.

"Our Lord didn't bless our union with the grace of a heir..." the man
curtly answered.

"Evidently you are not praying enough to Our Lord!" the boy said in a
reproaching tone, giggling in his heart at the perplexed expression of
the man.

He had possibly found a way to get at him.

Back at the court, Jakobus met Stefanie and Friedrich who overwhelmed
him with questions about his month at their cousins' home. Jakobus told
them everything, keeping silent only about the sex he had with his
cousin.

"Ah, it must have been wonderful" Friedrich exclaimed.

"Yes, really splendid. Another world, an extraordinary world. And I
learned plenty of things..." Jakobus said with a dreamy expression that
told his siblings more than any description.

He resumed his studies, his activities following rigidly the set
schedule. The change was large but Jakobus was jealously keeping inside
his heart the memory of the month he spent with his cousin, and this was
now giving him the strength to be more serene.

But now, at night in his wide bed, he was feeling even more lonely that
before and the sole, partial relief was to masturbate, recalling the
splendid nights passed with Johann. But a problem arouse - if the pages
would now find the stains of his seed not once in a while but every
night... they would certainly understand, they would surely talk about
it... So he took the habit to masturbate only when he was in the toilet,
so to not leave any trace of his new activity.

And when his confessor asked him if he was playing with his "pudenda",
he sincerely answered "no, father" because he knew that it was not a
game, but something more serious and beautiful.

Also at court, Jakobus had started examining the glances of all the men
who, in a way or another, attracted him. And after a few months he got
the impression that one of the grooms called Lukas (he was now learning
the names of all the staff as he had resolved to do), a handsome young
man of twenty-three, had exactly "that way" of looking. Thus he decided
he had to try with him. The problem was to be able to be alone with him
long enough. Finally, after he was sixteen, he succeeded.

After the usual riding lesson, and he had taken his bath, he went back
to the stable on some pretext and saw that Lukas was putting away the
harness of his horse.

"Your name is Lukas, isn't it?" he asked him.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"How long are you serving here as a groom?"

"For seven years, Your Highness."

"You were then of my actual age." Jakobus said.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"You were a boy but now you are a handsome young man. The livery suits
you very much, it brings out the pleasant shapes of your body..."

The young man looked at him without understanding, a little surprised
for that compliment.

"And especially your tight knee-breeches..." Jakobus added looking
straight between his thighs, then to his eyes and again between his
thighs, and noticed that the groom was blushing slightly.

Jakobus hinted a smile, the young man was starting to get the sense of
his message.

"It seems that you are well built... everywhere."

"Your Highness is embarrassing me... You are too kind..."

"Oh no, I would like being... endowed like you."

"At your age, I too was more... modestly endowed."

"Really? Then can I hope to gradually develop... like you?" Jakobus
asked, and lightly brushed on the basket between the young man's thighs.

The groom blushed more visibly than before, but didn't move away.
Jakobus then touched him in a more daring way...

"You are really well furnished. Feel me, instead..."

"But... Highness, I could never dare..."

"Yes, you can. Nobody sees us, here. Touch me..."

"Your Highness is making fun of me..." the young man weakly protested,
embarrassed both by the boy's request and for his hand now openly
fondling him.

"It's hardening, Lukas..." the boy, pleased, murmured.

"If you touch me like this..." the groom excused himself, in a low
voice. More and more embarrassed.

"Mine has become hard even though you haven't yet touched it. Don't you
like how I'm touching you?"

"It is not that, Your Highness..."

"Touch me, you too... it would please me..."

"But, Your Highness..."

Jakobus then took a hand of the groom and guided it on his own hardness.
Lukas for a moment seemed to resist, but then his hand animated and
fingered, lightly and shyly, the boy's erection.

"You feel? It is hard for you, Lukas..."

The young man shuddered lightly but his hand became more daring and
insisting.

"Lukas, wouldn't you like to withdraw with me?"

"Oh, Your Highness... it would be dangerous..."

"But would you like to?"

"If Your Highness would really be pleased... yes."

"Yes, Lukas, I would really be pleased."

"But it is not possible, Your Highness. Somebody could come at any
moment and..."

"Not here, not now. But I will find a way. I desire you, Lukas."

"Your Highness confounds me... and honours me..."

"I will let you know, yes. I will find a way." Jakobus said, satisfied
and parted from the groom.

He looked again between his thighs and smiled noticing how the basket
was now much more visible and prominent than before. He smiled to the
young man who returned a half, hesitant smile. Then Jakobus went quickly
out of the stable going towards the Palace.

He had to find a way to withdraw with that Lukas. He should have a ripe
body, virile, and Jakobus thought it had to be exciting. And also a good
sized member. And also he liked him...

For some days he could not find a good solution. He met Lukas again but
they could only exchange a conspiratorial look. Then he managed to be
alone with Lukas for a few minutes.

Besides caressing him again between his thighs, he asked him, "Where do
you sleep, Lukas?"

"In the servants' quarters, Your Highness..."

"In night time, can you come here in the stable without being seen?"

"I think so, Your Highness."

"And from here you can easily go into the park without problems, can't
you?"

"Well, passing through the manège gate, then jumping over the low gate
that is shut at night with a padlock... But we servants are forbidden to
enter the park, and the patrol does a round passing there too..."

"Between one patrol round and the next, you can enter without being
seen..."

"It is very dangerous for me... If you could come here, in the
stables... possibly..."

"For me, at night time it would be much easier go to the park, I think,
than to come here. Do you know where the gazebo is?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Nearby there is the old abandoned cabin. Couldn't you wait there for
me?"

"I don't know... I can try. When?"

"On Thursday night. My page on duty is old Rudolf. He snores when he is
asleep. When I hear his snores, I can climb out from the window..."

"Good lord! It would be so risky, Your Highness!"

"No, I discovered I can climb down keeping myself in the wisteria and so
I can reach the park. But in the evening, when I undress, the page takes
away all my clothes. I can't go out in my night shirt - besides being
uncomfortable, I would be much too visible... I have to find other
clothes, not light ones..."

"Do you want me to get them? Simple clothes, servants clothes... if Your
Highness would not feel offended..."

"I would come even naked, if I could..."

The young man smiled, "I'll get them for you. Would you manage to take
them back with you?"

"I will find a way. Thank you, Lukas."

"It's my duty, Your Highness..." the young man answered, bowing.

They were not able to meet that Thursday. But Jakobus managed to smuggle
to his room the breeches and workshirt that Lukas got for him. And
finally, one night, they could meet in the old cabin in the park.

"Lukas? Are you here?" the boy asked, excited, entering into the dark
cabin.

"Yes, I'm here, Your Highness." The young man answered in a low voice,
and a hand brushed the prince.

Jakobus took it and they drew near without seeing each other, but pushed
one against the other. Jakobus raised his hands, took the groom's face
and kissed him on the mouth. The young man at once returned the kiss.
The contact with the strong body of the groom provoked a long shudder of
pleasure in the boy.

"Oh, Lukas, at last..."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Can you call me just Jakobus, when we are alone." The prince said
caressing the throbbing erection of the young man through his clothes.

"Yes, Jakobus. You're aroused too ..." Lukas said, feeling between his
thighs.

"Let's undress, Lukas, I want to make love with you. God, I've been
desiring it for so long!"

"Yes, come here... Last night I carried a horse cover, a flint and a
lamp here. If you like I can get some light."

"Can't it be seen from outside?"

"No, I checked last night and from outside no light escapes."

"Light the lamp, then. I would like seeing you naked, finally." The boy
murmured, more and more aroused.

The groom struck the flint and lit the small oil lamp. Jakobus, with
pleasure and a quiver of emotion, saw desire shine in the eyes of the
handsome young man.

"Let's undress, Lukas, quick!"

"Yes..."

They hurriedly undressed, without losing sight of the other.

"My god, Lukas, you have hairs on the chest and on the legs..."

"Don't you like them?"

"On the contrary! You have a really virile, beautiful body. And a
member... wonderful!"

The young man smiled, pleased and said, caressing him with his eyes,
"And you have a sweet and smooth and beautiful hairless body,
delightful! You are young but really beautiful. And you'll grow up to be
a beautiful man."

Jakobus laid down on the cover and pulled the handsome groom on top of
him.

"Make love with me, Lukas."

"How would you like doing it, Jakobus?"

"In every way. Do what you like best, and I too will do what I like
best."

"You are my lord..."

"No, I am just a boy now; we are just two males greedy for love."

The young man nodded and began caressing and kissing the youth and fresh
body under him. His hands were rough, compared to those of Johann, and
yet Lukas was using them with tenderness, almost as if was afraid he
could spoil something delicate and precious. Lukas was burning with
passion for the boy who was offering himself to him, but he restrained,
controlled himself, a little out of deference and a little for a kind of
instinctive respect for such a young boy.

Gradually Jakobus managed to turn under him, until he could take the
hard rod of the groom in his mouth.

"Oh, Jakobus!" the young man panted, and without a thought, took in his
mouth the hard stake of the boy.

Jakobus was not able to contain all of the massive erection of the
beautiful groom in his mouth, but just two thirds of it. But he worked
it with greedy passion, giving to the young man wonderful sensations
that he tried to return, devoting himself to the boy.

"Take me, Lukas..." the prince murmured.

"I'm not too big for you? I wouldn't harm you..."

"I don't care, take me!"

"If you feel pain, tell me." Lukas said with a hoarse voice.

He had the boy go on all fours and went to carefully wet his little hole
with saliva. Jakobus was all a quiver in anticipation. Lukas desired to
take him; he caressed his small and firm ass, and was strongly aroused,
but he feared to harm him, therefore when the tip of his mace rested on
the little hole, he hesitated.

"Push, Lukas." The boy begged.

"Yes, but... I don't want to hurt you..."

"Push, please."

The young man started to push. Jakobus felt he was opening wide and
sighed happily. Lukas stopped, tense, timorous.

"No, go on, you are not giving me pain. Push!"

Lukas pushed further. Now Jakobus was starting to feel some pain - it
was really big.

"Oh, Lukas, I like, but..."

"Do you want me to pull out?"

"No, not yet. I have just to get used to you. Stay so, still..."

Lukas had to make an effort, but did it willingly. His rough hands
caressed, sweet and delicate, the boy's chest and belly.

"I like, Lukas... Try to push some more... Ouch! No, stop... Oh, I am
sorry Lukas, but it is really too big..."

"I'll pull out..."

"Not yet. I don't think I could manage, this time, to receive it all."

"It's not important, you don't need to. You have to enjoy it, Jakobus,
not to suffer..."

"Sooner or later we will manage, won't we?"

"If you want, but... I'll now pull out."

"It could be better..." the boy answered with real regret.

Lukas slipped out. Jakobus turned, they embraced and kissed with desire.

"Would you like entering inside me? I can take it without problems, if
you like it, I am used to..."

"And mine is not too big..." the prince nodded.

"Do you want to take me?"

"Yes, Lukas, I would like to."

The groom assumed the position, letting the boy guide him.

"Don't worry, you will not harm me, Jakobus. Take me!" the young man
said, offering himself with a smile of real pleasure.

The young prince sank into him at the first attempt, without difficulty.

"Oh, Lukas, it's good... it's good, isn't it?"

"Sure. Fuck me, now. Yes, so.. hard... harder... so... so..." the young
man murmured enjoying the boy's thrusts.

Jakobus let himself go in a kind of fast gallop, filled with rapture.
Lukas was meanwhile masturbating rapidly, a smile filled with pleasure
in his eyes and on his lips.

The groom's channel was less tight that that of Johann, but Jakobus felt
it soft, warm, wrapping and welcoming. To possess that handsome, virile
body was giving him a sense of almost wild joy that seemed to increase
his own virility.

"You like taking me?"

"Yes, Lukas, very much. And you?"

"I too do. You are a real colt, a thoroughbred. Who knows how many males
you have ridden in spite of your young age."

"Oh no, you are just the second one."

"Only the second one? And you are so skilled already?" the young man
exclaimed.

Jakobus was pleased. He went on vigorously moving in and out of that
pleasurable love channel. It was different from with Johann, but just as
exciting. The pleasure was relentlessly increasing, stroke after stroke.
Jakobus could feel that also the groom was enjoying that passionate
union, and this increased his pleasure.

"Oh, Lukas... I feel... I'm, almost... coming!"

"I too, Jakobus, I too..."

"Lukas... oh, Lukas... Lukas I'm coming... coming... coming..." the boy
panted unloading with strong pushes into the handsome young man.

The groom also reached his orgasm and on instinct made his anus spasm,
so increasing his prince's pleasure.

"Don't still slip out; stay on top of me so, it's much nicer..." Lukas
murmured, panting.

"Alright..." Jakobus whispered, letting himself relax on the strong body
of his companion.

After a while they slowly loosened their embrace.

"Are you happy, Jakobus?" then the young man asked.

"Yes, very happy. It has been good. And you?"

"It has been good for me too. You are a hot-blooded lover, Jakobus!"

"Well you heated my blood. But I am sorry I wasn't able to receive you
inside me."

"Never mind. I'm too big for you."

"Will you make love with me again?"

"If you want it... it will be a honour for me."

"A honour? I... I hoped it was a pleasure, for you."

"Oh, yes of course, also a pleasure, I assure you!"

While they were dressing again, Jakobus asked him, "Did you make love
with many men?"

"Well, yes... I can really say so."

"Who taught you to make love with men?"

"Taught? Do you mean the first man I did it with?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Oh, it was almost ten years ago. My father owns an inn. It was a
passing guest, a lord. My father that night told me to go to the lord's
room and put myself under his orders and to do anything the lord asked
me to do. So I knocked at the door of his room and went in. He told me
to undress and go on the bed. He too undressed, came on top of me and
took me... he fucked my little ass."

"Your father sent you to him?" Jakobus asked, almost unbelieving.

"Yes, sure."

"But... he didn't know what that guest wanted to do you..."

"He knew it very well. In fact after that night he often sent me in the
guests rooms. They paid my father, to have me in their beds at night..."

"They paid?" Jakobus asked with wide eyes.

"Of course. That's why my father sent me to them. That way he increased
his earnings."

"But you... did you like it?"

"With some guest I did and sometimes very much. With others a little or
not at all. And then with those I was just waiting for them to finish
before going back to my straw bed... Then one day the Superintendent of
the Palace Stables stopped at my father's inn. He loved taking me so
much, that he paid my father a large sum asking him to allow me to come
to work here at the Palace."

"The Superintendent of the Stables?"

"Not the present one, the one before. So I came to work here as a groom,
and I was his steady bed-boy... When he became ill and had to leave his
charge, he didn't take me with him but left me here. For a while I
didn't it with anybody. Until a new stable-boy was hired... and after a
few days we started to have sex..."

"You still do it with that stable-boy?"

"Yes, rather often."

"But he... does he know about us?"

"No, god forbid! I would never talk about you with a living soul, that's
obvious!"

"And... is he better than me in making love?"

"No. He doesn't kiss on the mouth... nor elsewhere. He only loves to be
fucked by me, nothing else. But I like doing it..."

They parted. Jakobus furtively went towards the Palace. He hid waiting
for the patrol doing its round, then climbed up the wisteria, silently
entered his room and slipped behind the bed curtains. Here he took off
his humble clothes and hid them behind the bed-head. He put on his night
shirt and went under the sheets.

He had enjoyed Lukas. He was a really handsome young man. He recalled
the story he had told him - having to go to bed with men he didn't like,
which seemed to him weird, ugly behaviour. He had no reasons to doubt
the young man's story. And the thought that it had been his father who
pushed him to do that, seemed even more weird and ugly. He recalled the
strong and slightly hairy body of his handsome groom, and his member,
big and beautiful even at rest...

"Ah, if I could be free to make love with Lukas as I did with Johann up
there at the Retreat!" Jakobus thought while he was falling asleep.

He couldn't manage to withdraw with the handsome Lukas as often as he
would have liked, but they could renew their love-making just once a
week or ten days. He had tried several times to be penetrated by Lukas,
but he could not receive it inside himself, because of the pain. Lukas
in the end insisted on stopping trying.

"Jakobus, it isn't necessary. I very much like just to be penetrated by
you. And then, as you know, with the stable boy I can only penetrate
him, therefore I'm happy like this. Really!"

Jakobus yielded so he often made Lukas enjoy his mouth. He liked the
sourish and musky taste of the young man. What he liked was not only the
love-making with the virile groom, but also their chatting after making
love. Lukas narrated to him in detail some of his adventures, both
sexual and otherwise, and Jakobus listened to him with pleasure. He
asked him a thousand questions, so discovering a thousand details of a
royal subject's life, a thousand aspects that he didn't know about, that
he didn't even suspect.

They had gradually reached a level of familiarity that Jakobus enjoyed
very much. At times, when they met, alone, in the stables, Lukas
whispered something like, "I would really like sucking your beautiful
pole now, do you know?" and Jakobus giggled, amused and excited. Or
else, "Tell me the truth, instead of riding this black horse, you would
prefer riding me, there in the park, under the sun..." "Oh yes, you
bet!" the prince answered, becoming aroused just at that thought.

Also the secrecy of their encounters added to the pleasure. So their
story went on and strengthened for about seven months. But one night,
while each of them was going back to his lodging, Jakobus heard voices
shouting, "Halt! Who goes there?"

The boy hid in a flower bed and heard the groom answer aloud, "I'm
Lukas, the groom!"

"What are you doing here, at this time of night?"

"I could not fall asleep, so I came out for a short walk..."

"You know that the servants are forbidden to enter the park without
authorization, don't you?"

"Well, it's night, there is nobody. I didn't think I was doing something
wrong..."

"Follow us at the guard post. The sergeant will decide if you did wrong
or not."

"Alright, let's go." Lukas voice answered, limpid and clear.

Jakobus was trembling, somewhat scared. After a while he looked around -
nobody was in sight. With his heart in his mouth, he stealthy reached
the wisteria and climbed up. He entered his first floor room and took
refuge on his bed. His heart was drumming in his chest and the blood was
hammering at his temples. He changed his clothes and went under the
sheets.

He was not able to fall asleep. He was asking himself what could happen
and hoped that nothing bad happened to his handsome groom. He did not
worry about the possibility that Lukas would talk about their
encounters, he knew he would never do so. He was really only worrying
for him.

He could go to the stables only two days later. He didn't see Lukas. In
his place there was another groom, a boy called Manfred.

"Lukas is not on duty, today?" he asked with a careless tone.

"No, Your Highness, his place was given to me..."

"Ah, and why? Where is Lukas?"

"He has been fired, Your Highness. Yesterday, he left."

"Fired? And for what reason? He was a perfect groom!"

"He was been caught in a part of the park where we are forbidden to
enter, Your Highness."

"And... just for that... he has been fired?"

"On the spot, Your Highness."

Jakobus, as soon as he could, asked to be received by his father.

"Papa, I got to know that my groom has been dismissed without notice
because he went in the park without an authorization."

"I know nothing about that, but he evidently got the right punishment
for not respecting the rules."

"But it is extreme! He was not stealing, he was doing nothing bad..."

"We all have to respect the rules, the laws, or else it will be the
chaos. From the king to the last of the subjects."

"But this rule is absurd, it has to be changed! And Lukas hired again."

"Even if I decided to have that rule changed, which anyway I don't
intend to do, the transgression remains therefore also the punishment.
In fact no law can be retroactive; you know this principle very well."

"But you are the king, papa..."

"Kings also have to abide by the existing laws, my dear son..."

Jakobus understood it was useless to insist, therefore he greeted his
father and went out of his study, with a dark face. What troubled him
was not only having lost Lukas, but the fact that he had lost his job,
after all, because of him. And because he was powerless to put the
matter right. For several days Jakobus was tense and taciturn and when
Stefanie and Friedrich asked him the reason, he told them about Lukas
and his dismissal.

"Oh, Jakobus, and so you are sorry?" Friedrich asked.

"Of course I am, for months he was my groom, and he was a perfect groom,
and..."

"But then, if you are sorry about it, they should not dismiss him!" his
little brother exclaimed, with determination.

"Eh, no, Friedrich. Rules are rules, none can infringe them..." Stefanie
said putting on an expression of a wise young lady.

"It is the rule, that is absurd!" Jakobus retorted, sultry.

"But you got a new groom, didn't you?" Stefanie, practical, objected.

"So what! It is not the same as a toy that, when broken, you get
another!" Friedrich said and Jakobus looked at him with admiration. Then
the child said to his elder brother, "When you are king, you will change
all the stupid rules."

"There are still too many years..." Jakobus said to his little brother
with a smile.

But having been able to get the load off his chest with them, even
though of course he could not tell them everything, had relieved him a
little. He absent-mindedly touched the gold pendant he always had at his
belt, the lucky charm that his cousin Johann gave him. And asked himself
how long until to the ceremony of the presentation at the court. He
asked his sister, who was always well informed in such matters.

"Our cousin Johann Mathias? Well, he already turned eighteen, therefore
his presentation ceremony will take place in December, as for all the
youths of his year. On December eighth, in fact."

"Ah, one more month, then..." Jakobus commented.

"Maman says that he will then stay here at court and that he will likely
be named attendant in the antechamber of the throne hall. So we would
meet him rather often. That's good, isn't it, Jakobus?"

"Yes, it will be a real pleasure having him here at the Palace."

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CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 4

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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

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