Season 3 Young Royals (Version 1)

45. August in Årnäs

He was accompanied back home by two officers. Rickard had convinced the judge to let August return home to decide what should be sold to pay the settlement, and also to get his affairs in order to prepare for the two years that he would be in prison.

His mother had been present at the hearing but August had avoided making eye contact with her for the most part. He didn't expect to feel such shame in her presence but he realised he shouldn't have been surprised that he did.

He had learned to give his mother more credit for what she'd gone through with his father, and the fact that she'd basically gone through it alone because his father's family had turned their backs on her.

As he walked up the steps to the main entrance he saw his mother standing just inside, waiting for him with her arms folded across her chest.

August walked steadily ahead of the two officers, but still couldn't make eye contact with his mother until he came quite close and looked down at her as if he were a shamed child.

She looked up at him, gave him a sad smile, tears came to her eyes, then she unfolded her arms and wrapped them around her son's waist resting her head on his shoulder. August hesitated a moment then folded his arms around his mother. Louise pulled away and wiped her eyes discreetly.

"So...we have some idea of what should be sold to cover the expenses." She swallowed with difficulty and continued, "I can show you if you want to check that everything's ok."

He looked down at her and tried to smile, "No, I trust you...I just want to check through some of dad's things in his office if that's alright."

"Of course. You've already got all the ownership documents in your safety deposit box but there might be things of sentimental value if that interests you." His mother reached out and touched his upper arm, smiling weakly.

"Yes, I'll look around a bit." He touched her arm momentarily then turned away to climb the stairs to his father's office. The policemen followed closely behind and stood in the doorway of the office once August had gone in.

He knew they were watching him, but realised he didn't have much time and wasn't even sure he'd find what he was looking for.

He scanned the wooden and leather decor, then walked over to look at the wall of books behind his father's desk.

He wanted to see if anything was hidden between the pages of certain volumes, but, he found nothing and couldn't take the time to check each one. It did seem like a place his father would hide something important and personal, but he gave up on the books for a moment and turned to the desk drawers.

He looked over at the officers. They looked away quickly, pretending to mind their own business as August continued his search.

His mother had given him the keys to the locked drawers of the desk some time after his father had died, so he knew that they didn't contain what he was interested in.

He felt under the desk into the crevices to see if there might be a switch or lever that would open some hidden compartment, but found nothing.

He sighed deeply and sat down in his father's chair to think for a moment, ignoring the officers who were most certainly watching him with puzzled expressions.

He propped his elbows on the armrests and folded his hands under his chin as he furrowed his brow and wracked his brain. 'Where the fuck did you put it, dad?' he wondered.

He spun the chair around slowly to look at the books from a slight distance now. He skimmed the titles of the books. He'd read many of those here regarding economics, politics, and the monarchy, including "Monarkins Historia i Sverige", but there were a few others he hadn't even noticed, about the arts, poetry, music...

As he was skimming the titles as quickly as he could, he noticed a book titled Kärlek är"... the spine of which said it was about the life of Carl Jonas Love Almqvist who lived from 1793 to 1833...so apparently he'd only reached the age of forty by the time he died. The title stood out to him.

He furrowed his brow a moment as he sat there contemplating the spine of the book from his seated vantage point. He looked at the officers who, as expected, pretended not to be watching him as they suddenly looked away again.

August pushed himself up using the arms of the chair and approached the bookcase. It was a more modern book than the others, probably only ten to fifteen years old, and did seem out of place surrounded by mostly tomes of politics and economics...

He discreetly checked out of the corner of his eye to decide if he could grab it casually enough not to be suspicious.

He reached up and slowly pulled the book out, feigning just a casual curiosity...he immediately noticed the gap in the pages in the center of the book and brought it back to the desk without opening it.

He sat down and turned his back slightly to the door, trying to hide his discovery. He slowly opened to the gap in the pages and saw them. Three letters folded twice each. He took the first and opened it slowly too.

He smiled as he realised what he had in his hands.

He pretended to look around more, grabbed a few more papers that he barely looked at, replaced the book, and turned to head back downstairs.

"Alright mamma, I guess I'm off...Here, this is for Wilhelm if you can do me a favor and get it over to him." He put the letters into her hand carefully, holding her hand with both of his, and gave her a knowing look as the police followed down the stairs behind him.

"Oh..ok, älskling, I'll get it to him." She looked puzzled, but kept quiet.

"Thank you, mamma. I'll see you soon."

August walked out the front door followed closely by the officers and headed off to prison.