Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

49. Boris

Simon glanced down at Wilhelm's hand.  It suddenly felt cold and clammy. He turned to look back at Wilhelm and saw that he was pale as well.

As soon as Simon couldn't see the school grounds anymore, he asked if Boris could pull over.

"Oh...ok." 

Boris pulled the car over once it was safe. Simon got out and hurried around the car to sit in the back seat  with Wilhelm. 

Simon moved across the seat closer to him and buckled himself in with the center seatbelt. Wilhelm was exhausted and leaned his head on Simon's shoulder looking relieved but still miserable and ill. 

"Wilhelm, are you alright?"  Boris turned to look back at him and asked.

"I just-, I haven't slept."  He was slurring his words and having trouble keeping his eyes open.  The look that Simon gave Boris said it wasn't just lack of sleep.

"Ok." Boris nodded then started off toward town again, checking on the state of Wilhelm in the rearview from time to time.

Simon enfolded Wilhelm in his arms and touched his hair as he lay against Simon's shoulder.

Simon whispered to him, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I just need to sleep a bit."  He whispered then shut his eyes and fell into a restless sleep almost immediately in Simon's arms.

Simon could feel the heat from Wilhelm's forehead against his own cheek and thought he probably had a fever. Even though he hadn't slept well either, Simon stayed awake, holding Wilhelm, caressing his hair and watching him the entire ride.

Simon wondered if the stress had finally taken its toll on Wilhelm.  It was as if his body knew that they had done everything they could to make sure August got what was coming to him, and now it had stopped trying to be strong.

Boris drove quickly, and between checking on Wilhelm and Simon in the rearview, he thought of Anette. They'd been friends at one time, but since the prince had begun at Hillerska, he hadn't appreciated her apparent change and willingness to do whatever the Royal Family expected of her.

In fact even since Erik had started at the school, Anette was much more concerned with the elevated prestige and increasing enrolment numbers at Hillerska rather than the wellbeing of her students, at least that's how it appeared to Boris.  He'd never cared about those things.  He'd just wanted to do his job properly and help students who needed it. 

Of all the students at Hillerska Wilhelm and Erik had the most pressure in their lives. What concerned Boris about Wilhelm was that he seemed deeply unhappy to be there, which wasn't surprising considering the circumstances of his arrival at the school. But what was also concerning was that it appeared he was not being given appropriate support for the pressure that his life put on him, and then suddenly his brother had died...

When Erik passed, Boris went to Anette and told her that Wilhelm would be in a very fragile state and in serious need of emotional help that he wasn't sure he would receive from his family.

Anette had dismissed his offer because the Queen didn't believe it was necessary.  It was only once Wilhelm began causing problems and making threats to the Royal Court that he was forced into therapy.

Boris had mostly based his assumption about Wilhelm on his experience with Erik as a patient and what it had taught him about the Queen as a parent. Boris knew the situation well.  Erik had tried to rebel too.  That was also the only reason the Queen decided to put him into therapy either. 

Boris couldn't help but consider the Queen and the Duke negligent parents in many ways, and he wasn't entirely convinced that the extreme pressure of Erik's position and his family's expectations hadn't contributed to his demise...Of course there was no direct proof of that.