Schloss Hohenschwangau
1869
It didn’t take long after arriving at Hohenschwangau for Niels’s wife to understand that, although he’d started treating her as a friend, the husband who’d been forced upon her had very little interest in any kind of meaningful relationship with her. She couldn’t begin to understand the connection between Niels and the king, but there was no denying they shared a bond. When she asked Ludwig about the art in the castle, he had no interest in talking to her about it. Instead, he’d pull Niels outside for a walk. They’d disappear for hours and when they returned there was something off about the both of them. She couldn’t determine what precisely, but it was something almost familiar.
She took to spending her time with Elisabet, but was reluctant to bring up the subject. In the end, she didn’t need to; Elisabet did instead.
“It’s quite a relief to have you here,” Elisabet said. “You can’t imagine what it’s like when there’s no one around but the two of them. They were always focused entirely on each other, but it’s all the more noticeable since they’ve been separated for so long. Before, I could almost believe we were the Three Musketeers. We had heaps of fun together. Perhaps things will go back to normal after a few months.”
“Months? Surely we won’t be here that long,” the Valkyrie said. “What am I meant to do?”
“Whatever you’d like.” Elisabet looked at her through narrowed eyes. “You’re not madly in love with him are you?”
“With my husband? Heavens, no, but I’d come to believe we were friends who would make a life together.”
“If you’re not in love with him, you’re in a brilliant position. Travel. Take a lover. Now that you’re out from under the thumb of your father-in-law, the world is offering you endless possibilities.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It is, once you throw off the mantle of obligation,” Elisabet said. “Do you see me living as a slave to my husband?”
“You’re married?”
“I am.”
“And Herr Ney doesn’t mind you living here at the palace, without him?”
“He’s Dr. Montgomery, if you must know,” she said. “Most of the time I don’t even tell people I’m married. What business is it of theirs, after all?”
“You didn’t take his name?”
“Why should I have? I’ve got an identity of my own. I don’t need his.”
The Valkyrie had not the slightest idea how to respond to that. When she retired to bed that evening, she stayed awake, listening for Niels to open the door to his bedroom on the other side of the corridor. He and Ludwig had decided to go for a midnight walk under the full moon, but he didn’t return until luncheon the next day.
“Where have you been hiding?” she asked, pulling him aside when he and Ludwig came into the dining room.
“Forgive me, I’ve been a beast. The night was so beautiful we stayed out until the sun started to rise. I fell asleep as soon as I got to my room and only just awakened. What have you done this morning?”
“Nothing except wait for you.”
“You have all the resources of this magnificent place at your fingertips. You don’t need me to take advantage of them.”
She realized that once again, she was on her own, destined to never be happy, not unless she took the only action she could think of that would make a positive change in her life.