Chapter 8
The murmuring of the voices got closer to Will's ear. He groaned from the throbbing in his head, and squinted open his eyes drearily.

Just then, Crow opened the door letting in a smell of scrambled eggs, toast and jam and some sweet tea. It was delicious and overpowered the lavender.

“I'm fine. Get out!” Crow whispered in a frustrated manner to someone at the door, and shut it quickly with his foot once he was in.

“But cake will wake him up!” came someone else's voice.

“Shut up, Isaac!” Crow whispered back, kicking the base of the door with his shoe.

The slam sent a shock of sound to Will's head, causing him to groan again. Crow looked over quickly, walking over to the bedside.

It was a good sized bedroom. A desk of drawers for clothes, with one drawer open and jeans spilling out, a full-sized bed with two comforters on it over Will, with one small hand-sewn quilt folded up at the foot, and a window to the left of the bed, across from the door. But the window wasn't letting in any light.

“Hey?” Crow asked in a hushed tone. “You awake?”

Again, Will groaned, his face contorted in pain. He squinted open his eyes to see the ceiling and the young man with navy hair dressed in a dark red button-up with a black vest over it, both were unbuttoned giving sight of his skin from his neck to his belly, before the red shirt was tucked into his khaki pants.

Seeing someone mildly familiar, Will groaned again closing his eyes. “My head hurts.” He mumbled with a gruff voice.

“Oh!” Crow, set down the tray of food on a side table. “Be right back.” He whispered and quickly left the room, leaving the door open.

Will squinted open his eyes again, turning to look toward the door, and then up toward the food. He forced himself to roll over a bit and sit up.

I'm still in the clothes I was wearing at the party? Will thought, looking down at his dress shirt that had been undone completely. It's all wrinkled... Will looked over, a hand coming to his forehead to hold the throbbing in place. He saw the food and next to the tray he saw the ribbon from his neck.

“Hey I got some pain killers for your headache.” Crow said quietly as he came in the door. He closed it once he was in, then came over and stood next to Will. After he had given Will two of the pills, he handed him the cup of tea.

Without any complaint, Will downed the pills and took a sip of the tea. It was sweet like honey and sugar had been added, but not too much. “Earl Grey?”

“Yeah. Organic.” Crow nodded, “I think Dove found it in the pantry...”

Will rubbed his temples a bit, mushing his hair around some, and then reorganized it a bit with his fingers. With a sniffle and then a yawn, he looked to the food.

Crow jumped a bit, suddenly taking the tray and putting it on Will's lap. “Oh. Here! It's for you. I didn't know what you'd like, but I hope it's okay?”

Will nodded a bit, as he stared at the food and then up to Crow. “You're the guy from the party...”

Crow nodded a bit, slowly. A feeling of dread was coming over him. “Yes.”

Will sat in thought for a moment. “I remember the dancing, and then I left... And when I came back you were still there.” He paused, looking up at Crow. He was suddenly feeling more awake as he saw the golden orange eyes watching him. He rolled his eyes, looking back to him, “You do realize kidnapping me will get you nothing, right?”

Crow tilted his head, confused. “Uh... why do you think that?”

“I can't ransom for anything.”

Crow nodded, crossing his arms. “Oh, right. Because obviously I kidnapped you to get a ransom, or sell you off to the black market.” He took a step back and made a mock deep bow. “Forgive me, Your Grace, Marquis Will Bel'vaz of Tahnila.” As he straightened up, he saw the shocked look growing onto Will's face, and saw his skin pale. “...Uh? Your Grace?”

Will shook his hands up suddenly, shaking the food on his lap as his whole body moved. “St-stop that! Shut up! I'm not- You can't---” He took a quick breath, feeling a flustered blush of shock coming on his face. “You can't just bestow that title upon Will the Kitchenboy. It doesn't work like that!”

Crow stood up, pushing his lips to one side, tilting his head some and raised a brow, creating a very quizical look. “Oh, yes. You're very obviously not the son of Grand Duke Adell and Grand Duchess Lae'ri.” He rolled his eyes, putting a hand on his hip. “Look. We can sort titles and crap out later. For now, why don't you just eat something and concentrate on that headache going away.” He walked to the door, opening it. Over his shoulder he said, “You hit your head when you fell, so try not to think too much. You might make the headache worse.” And he shut the door, walking down the hallway.

Will stared after him in stunned shock.

Okay... So... Either he's teasing me to a really insane point about my thinking I'm the Grand Duke's son... Or, he really does know I'm his son? In which case.... Will's thoughts stopped in a pause. He was trying to figure it out. In... which case... That means he wasn't around when the declarations and notices went out.

As Will picked at the food, he continued to think back. But that happened... A year after Mom died, so... RO XX.42? Or was it 43? Must've been 43, cause that's the year Alexander was born.

Without noticing himself, Will had begun to actually eat the food. It was delicious, much better than the foods he'd been given as his meals that last few years. This food tasted good and didn't have any questionable ingredients.

Your Grace, Lady Mia sure has encouraged the strange foods and spices. Dad hated pesto until he married her. He rolled his eyes inward. And he learned to love it.