Upon arriving at the palace, Kurt told Blaine to follow at a distance and remain silent unless he was spoken to. Blaine really hated having to listen to him, but this was the prince after all, so Blaine, begrudgingly, obeyed. He watched as the prince knocked on a door and waited until he was granted access, he held his hand up to Blaine signalling for him to wait where he was, then Kurt disappeared behind closed doors. After a few moments the door opened again to the king and Kurt. Blaine bowed lowly to the king.
"My son tells me you've reconsidered my offer?"
"Y-yes Your Majesty. I was merely worried about my family and needed to time think over what to you. I'm an only child, and so I wanted to ensure they would be well should I accept such a gracious offer from my King." Blaine bowed again.
"Well, why didn't you just say that?" The King was smiling. "Family is the most important thing, young Blaine, I would never ask someone to just walk away from those they love. I invite you to come and go as you please to see your parents, but be here to sing when necessary."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Father," Kurt began, "perhaps we could have Blaine sing for Duke Smythe and his family for lunch today, before the gala tomorrow evening."
"A marvel idea, my son. Gerald." The king called over his shoulder.
"My lord?" A greying man in a black tux with penguin tails appeared.
"Gerald, this is Blaine of the Andersons, our new entertainer. Blaine, this is Gerald, the head butler. Please show him to his room, and around the castle. He is to sing at lunch in the dining hall at high noon."
"Very good, my lord. Follow me, if you please, Blaine of the Andersons." Blaine followed Gerald down the hall to a winding staircase, and all the way down to the bottom. "These are the servants' rooms." He explained. "And this," he stopped at a door halfway down on the left side, "is your room. I trust your things will be arriving shortly."
"Yes, the prince said—"
"Very good." He cut Blaine off. "You are only ever permitted to use these stairs to go between floors, these are just for servants." He said as he led Blaine back to the stairs. "You, however, will only ever need to go between this floor, the first floor, and no rare occasion, the second floor, should either Highness be entertaining in the lounge." After a brief showing of the second and main floors, Gerald stopped walking out front of a door. "This is the dining room, where his Majesty has asked you to sing in over lunch with the Duke. You are not to speak; you are not to just wander into rooms. You are to strictly obey the rules I give or there will be consequences. Understood?"
"Yes sir." Between his hatred of the prince, and his now fear of crossing Gerald, he was already hating life in the castle.
"Very good. Wait here." He disappeared behind the dining room doors. A moment later he returned holding papers. "The prince has requested that you sing this song for the Duke and his family. You may now enter." Blaine hadn't even had a chance to look at the papers handed to him before he was walking through the door. He noticed the King and the Duke sitting on opposite sides of the table, the Prince sitting on one of the longer sides of the table next to a boy looking roughly the same age, the Duke's son, Blaine assumed. And a woman sitting across from the prince who had to be the Duke's wife. He took a brief moment to look down at the papers in his hands, sheet music, and across the room, he saw it: a harpsicord.
He nodded towards the harpsicord. "May I?" He asked the king.
"By all means." King Burt smiled, and Blaine made his way over and took a seat at the keys, resting the paper on the stand just above. He took a deep breath then his fingers danced across the keys, soon his voice followed. He was grateful that he had heard this song once or twice before, so he wasn't completely going in blind, though, he had suspected that it was the Prince's plan to trip him up. By the end of the song, the Duke's family gave a small applaud.
"He is marvelous!" The Duke's wife spoke. "Wherever did you find such a boy with such a talent?"
"My son had heard some people talking about this young boy's talent and insisted that we hear him for ourselves. He is truly fantastic. Blaine," The King turned to him as he was still sitting at the harpsicord.
"My king?"
"Another song if you please."
"Anything in particular you would like to hear?"
"If you look at the next few pages," Prince Kurt began, "I've selected a few options, any of those will do nicely." It was then that Blaine noticed the small grin on Kurt's face, and for the first time noticed the boy next to Kurt was staring intently at Blaine. Blaine then turned back to the harpsicord and kept playing and singing until the royals had decided they were done with lunch, and excused Blaine to his chambers.
When Blaine had returned to his room, he noticed his belongings were sitting on his bed, he set down the sheet music on his bedside table and unpacked his things. He was glad that his nicer clothes were what was backed, and not his more mundane clothing, it wouldn't befit being in the palace. Blaine spent the evening in his room and only left to attend dinner with the other servants. They seemed nice enough, but after the past few days Blaine had, he needed time to his self. First, he meets this noble in the woods who clearly had no respect for anyone who wasn't noble, only to discover he is the crowned prince. Then he is kissed by the prince and brought back to the palace to sing for the royals by the same prince. He would prefer his mother pestering him about a bride over the past few days he's experienced.
After dinner, Blaine returned to his room to see the same boy he saw at lunch standing in his room. "Can I help you, M'lord?" Blaine asked.
"Ah, the singer has returned!" The boy turned to look at Blaine. His face was slightly animalistic, and his eyes were dark, and hooded. His mouth was curled wickedly, and his hair was tussled.
"Is there anything that I can do for you, M'lord?" Blaine tried again.
"Yes, there is actually." His curled mouth turned impossibly curlier. "I would like to hear you sing again."
"Of course, M'lord, perhaps we should return upstairs so I can sing for you."
"No, no, that won't do." His voice was devilishly sultry as he tore his tunic over his head and slowly started walking towards Blaine. "I would like you to sing my name as I take what belongs to me."
"M'lord," Blaine began as he backed up and felt a small bump from hitting the wall, "I have nothing of yours, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Oh yes you do." He pressed his body flush against Blaine's, and grinded into him.
"Get away from me!" Blaine pushed the boy back, and then there were footsteps at a face pace down the hall. By the time the door opened in a flurry Blaine was on the ground and the boy underneath him, begging Blaine to get off. Two guards lifted Blaine and carried him upstairs to the thrown room. When he chanced a glace back, the boy had a haunting smirk on his face. He was, more or less thrown to the ground before the King, tears now flooding from his eyes.
"We caught the boy on top of the Duke's son, my Lord." One of the guards addressed the King.
"Is this true?" But he wasn't talking to Blaine, the boy had followed the guards up the stairs.
"Y-yes S-sir." The boy feigned being scared. "I found a note on my bed saying to go to that room, and when I did, he ripped off my tunic and pinned me to the ground! I couldn't get away! I was so scared.
"If you were actually scared," Kurt stood from his throne and approached Blaine, carefully kneeling down in front of him, "you would look more like Blaine and wouldn't have that smirk on your face. Father," Kurt turned back to look at his father, "just look at Blaine, he's shaking, clearly he is the victim of Duke Smythe's son, not the other way around."
"I couldn't agree more. Guards! Cease Duke Smythe's boy and call the Duke to me. Now!" He roared.
"Father, I'm going to take Blaine out of here, with your permission."
"Of course, my boy, anything he needs is his. He's to stay in the guest wing tonight, so we can keep a close eye on him." Kurt nodded at his father, then helped Blaine up, he was still crying, but at least he wasn't an innocent found guilty, especially because the accuser is of noble blood, and he is not.
