Happily Ever After

“I always hoped I'd die first. I know it's selfish to say out loud, but, who are you going to tell at this point?” the old king said to the queen that had ruled at his side the past forty years. She chuckled before she started coughing. The king's grip on her hand tightened.

“All the enemies of the kingdom that I've battled, and I can do nothing to keep you here a little while longer,” the old man growled. She patted his hand.

“Death takes us all in time. Now is mine, and I'm not sad. I've had a good life,” she said, her voice a mere whisper.

“Defeating the evil witch. Slaying the dragon. All the strange and curious things that brought us together, that became the story that they've told about us ever since. It seems so strange to hear it sometimes, but it's just what we had to do at the time,” the king mused. The queen smiled.

“That wasn't the real magic though. Watching our own children grow and have adventures of their own. Rescue villages from trolls. Find lost tomes. Complete quests for wizards. Then to watch them marry and their own children grow,” the queen said.

“Where has all the time gone?” the king sighed.

“In good company,” the queen said, tightening her grip on his hand one last time.

“I'll be sad in my days alone. But I have no regrets. It's been a good life, and I'm so glad I got to share it with you,” the king said, mist gathering around his wrinkled eyes.

“It's funny. It sounds so silly when they read it in the story books, but it really can happen,” she whispered.

“What can?”

“Happily ever after,” she sighed. Then she went still. Her eyes stared at the ceiling, almost as if she were just lost in thought. But the king could see that her chest rose and fell no more, and so he brought his hand across her forehead and closed her eyes forever.

“It really was,” he replied, his lips trembling under his bushy gray beard and mustache. He patted her hand and stepped outside to break the news to the rest of the family. He looked down the balcony from her room at them all gathered. Their children, and grandchildren and cousins and all the people of their household that looked up to them both. Some began weeping. Others forced a smile for their father. He simply nodded in reply.

“It really was...”