"Blaine?" His mother called to him as he swiftly moved towards the backdoor the next day.
"Just going out for a walk." He smiled at her, and when she nodded, he was gone. He didn't fully understand what he was doing himself, if he were honest. Did he hope to see the noble again? If Blaine saw him again, what then? The noble hadn't exactly been nice. But for some reason, he felt a pull back into the forest, if for no other reason than to find out why he felt a call to return. As he approached, he saw a familiar pale boy with coiffed hair, humming away.
As if on cue, the boy turned to see Blaine approach. "Ah, Blaine, I was starting to wonder if you would show up today."
"You were waiting for me, M'lord?"
"Well of course, someone with such lofty ideas on life is definitely worth another moment of my time." Blaine just stared at him, slightly shocked, and slightly questioning the boy's own ideas on life. "You see, Blaine, you are a puzzle, a challenge of sorts, to everything I've come to know in the life I lead. So, to say I am curious how someone with less than I has such ideas, would be an understatement. The words 'marry for love' are foreign in my circles. We marry for power, and out of obligation. Not because we want to marry, but because we are told to."
"I knew that was the case with royalty, but with all nobles?" Blaine asked.
The boy nodded. "Everyone trying to have their daughter marry the prince, it's all quite a bore really."
"Which would make it difficult for you, and other nobles whose parents want them to marry, I suppose? Since all the parents of daughters of age, are trying to have them marry the prince."
The boy paused a moment, before finally saying, "Indeed, but I, unlike most of the male nobles, have no interest in marrying yet."
"Pardon me for being presumptuous, M'lord." Blaine bowed his head slightly and was looking at the boy through his eyelashes.
The boy waved him off. "You have no reason to be sorry, how could you know if not told? Anyway," the boy began, changing topics. "Jasmine has told me much about your singing voice. Sing for me."
Blaine didn't mistake that there was no asking in that, the boy was simply telling him to. He thought briefly of not singing, but this noble knew who he was, and if he truly was a crass as he appeared, there's no telling what he might do if Blaine didn't sing. So, Blaine began the same old tune that he'd sung thousands of times, the tune that even the boy in front of him knew. He watched the boy as he kept singing line after line, looking for some hint of, well, anything. Approval. Distain. Anything. But the boy remained just as stoic as he had and just listened to Blaine, until the final words fell from Blaine's lips.
"Hmm." The boy pondered for a moment. "Well, you have good range, that's for sure. Your pitch is, eloquent, and your tone almost lives up to the name given to it by the noble girls who come into town just to hear you sing. Truly remarkable for someone if your status."
"Forgive me, M'lord, but status has nothing to do with singing."
Again, the boy waved him off. "I have an idea." The boy began. "Yes, very well then." He said more to himself than to Blaine, and with that, the boy ran off in another direction leaving Blaine utterly confused. Blaine walked back to his house in a bit of a daze. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to return to meet this noble. He was arrogant, rude, and had a clear lack of respect for anyone below him.
Blaine had schooled the thoughts of the noble when he returned back home. "Had a good walk, dear?" His mother asked.
"Yes," Blaine began, "it's so peaceful in the trees." Blaine helped his mother with the housework in the morning as he didn't have to go to his father's shop until the afternoon to help out.
Blaine was just packing up a lunch for him and his father when there was a knock at the door. His mother went to open the door, and after a few words were exchanged, she called over her shoulder, "Blaine, come here please." Confused, Blaine swiftly made his way to the front door and stood by his mother. Before him was a palace guard, holding a silver platter and a letter on it, Blaine's name written.
"From the king." The guard told him. Blaine looked at his mother for a moment, then very hesitantly took the letter, then the guard was gone.
"What could the king want with me? I haven't done anything wrong." Blaine asked his mother.
"Go on, open it." Was all she could say.
Blaine flipped over the envelope and say it sealed in wax with the king's seal, this was as official as it got. He carefully ripped open the envelope and slid out the letter,
'By order of the King,
Blaine of the Andersons is called to the King's palace tomorrow at 8pm to sing for the king and the prince.
King Burt'
Blaine looked up from the letter, stunned. "Well?" His mother asked.
"I will be singing for the king."
