A few hours passed, and Logan had to leave, much to Janus's' delight. Logan was just so boring. Once the Crofts were gone, Janus went over to his father.

"Hey, Daddy," he began. "I wanted to talk to you about-"

"One second, Janus, darling," Lord Adders cut him off. "I can't talk to you now, Lord Croft gave me a large amount of important paperwork to sort through. Maybe we can go through this at dinner, alright?"

Janus hesitated and nodded. "Yes, Daddy. Of course. Good luck with your work."

His father beamed at him affectionately and ruffled his sons' hair. "I'll see you at dinner, kid. Enjoy your day." And with that he left, leaving Janus alone.

Watching his father leave, Janus hesitated, before deciding to go after his mother, whom he had seen heading towards The Blue Room.

The Blue Room was named The Blue Room because of how blue it was. The walls were a light, pale blue, nearly white, and navy, velvet couches and armchairs were gathered neatly around an ebony table. The curtains were made from turquoise silk, framing the windows that stared out across his family's' lake. The Room was cool and quiet, the old ebony piano often out of use unless his parents wanted Janus to show them what he'd learnt, which wasn't very often.

His mother was perched on one of the navy armchairs, in a crimson dress. Her hair was similar to her sons', black at the roots and dark gold at the tips, her skin was a creamy brown colour, and her scarlet dress made her light green eyes stand out like pale emeralds in the sun. Her dress was well-fitting, cut low across her bust and the sleeves slipped lightly of her dark shoulders. Around her neck was a fashionable neckpiece, made of gold and jewels that you couldn't help but appreciate.

She seemed to be working, almost frustratedly, on a piece of embroidery, pricking her fingers repetitively on the needlepoint as she tried to finish a tight corner.

"Janus, darling," She said before he even had a chance to mention anything. "Can you please fetch me Hetty? I need her to help me before Lyla Mirning's' birthday next week, which we're invited to."

Janus internally sighed but nodded obediently. "Yes, Mummy. Of course." He left The Blue Room and instantly snapped his fingers at a young man, cleaning the bannister. "Hey!" He ordered loudly, getting the young man to snap to attention. "Find Hetty Brooks and tell her that Lady Adders wants her now, in The Blue Room."

"Of course, Master Adders," The man said, steeply bowing and badly hiding the impatience on his face. "Does Lady Adders need Miss Brooks now?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Huffed Janus impatiently. "Oh, and send Virgil Blacksky up to my room as well."

The servant glared at the floor but tried to seem calm as he nodded and obediently began to walk away.

"Not to mention, you're doing an awful job on these bannisters!" Janus shouted after him. "They're not shining yet!" And with a smirk, knowing he had abused his authority well, Janus quickly pelted up the stairs, feeling himself asserting a bit more control in his life.

He burst open the door to his room, shutting it quickly behind him. Breathing in the air of his room, Janus let out a sigh of emotion. He wasn't sure what emotion it was, but it was something. He wandered across the room, standing in front of his window and shrugging off his waistcoat. It was still too stiff, annoyingly, but it made him look amazing, so he'd wear it to dazzle guests. Besides, it made his brooch stand out very well, which was always appreciated.

Janus sighed again, with the same indeterminable emotion from before. He ruffled his hair a little and took off the brooch and untucked the shirt from his trousers, waiting for Virgil to come in. As he waited for his friend, he sat on his window sill, picking up a book that he'd left discarded and opening the window slightly to get a small breeze on his face. He didn't even have time to open the book when he heard a distant whistle from the gardens.

With a frown, he looked out, only for his face to fall, unimpressed. It was the boy from the stables, leaning on a pitchfork in the garden below, looking up at him with a coy grin. He whistled again and blew a kiss up at Janus with a wink.

Janus fumed, glaring down into the garden, but decided not to start a conversation with him, knowing it would only end with him in a bad mood. Instead, he shut his window and decided to ignore the boy, opening his book and beginning to read.

That's when something small hit the glass. Looking up, Janus saw a small bit of gravel fly up and hit his window. With a sigh, he shut his book loudly and opened the window again, leaning out slightly.

"What do you want?" He shouted, irritated.

"Three things!" Answered the boy. "One, you to come down here. Two, you to make out with me. Three, I would quite like to fuck you, too."

Janus went bright red with embarrassing fury. "Well, you can fuck yourself! Go away!"

The boy shrugged and smirked coyly. "I'm a good kisser, though! You really won't regret it!"

"I'm sure I will," Janus shouted back. "I don't like you!"

"Aw, come on, sweetheart, you barely know me! I could treat you well, if you give me a chance, y'know."

Janus glared. "I told you, I'm not a market town whore, now get lost!"

He slammed the window shut and drew the curtains closed, getting up and walking away grouchily as the tapping on the window started again. He was almost about to give in and open the window again when Virgil arrived.

"Hey, Janus," Virgil said, entering the room and shutting the door quietly. "I thought we were gonna hang out at midnight."

Janus sighed loudly. "Yes, yes, I know, but while I was walking with Logan, something happened and Mummy and Daddy are too busy to listen."

Virgil frowned slightly and sat down at the windowsill. "What happened with Logan?"

"No, no, nothing to do with that old nerd," Huffed Janus, sitting on his bed and curling his knees to his chest in a thoughtful manner. "It's this boy from the stables, we were walking past and he started to, well... make advances on me."

"He flirted with you?" Virgil asked, frown deepening.

Janus nodded. "He was being, uh, really descriptive and, oh, you might want to get away from the window."

"Why?" Virgil asked.

"That boy is probably still down there, he was just before you came in, trying to get me to sleep with him."

Virgil obediently backed away from the window, sitting next to Janus. "Um, what did he look like?"

Janus furrowed his brow. "His clothes were stained and grimy. I think his shirt was supposed to be white but, honestly, it's more grey. And he had a patched-up jacket, all different shades of brown. Although, he did have some earrings in, which quite surprised me. But they were just studs, nothing too expensive-"

"No, I meant, like, his face," Virgil interrupted.

Janus blinked at him. "Oh, um, let me think. Right, so, um, he had green eyes and tanned skin, uh... his hair was kind of greasy yet cleaner than most workers around here. I- I think he had a bit of moustache, or at least he was trying to, and um... I don't remember much else, actually."

Oddly, Virgil looked a little relieved. "Oh, that's Remus Milton. He's weird. He does all the looking after the horses while his brother teaches people how to ride them."

"Who's his brother?"

"A-ah," Virgil nodded shyly. "Roman Milton. He's nice."

Janus smirked slightly. "He sounds cute."

Virgil shook his head. "No, he's not. I doubt you'd like him much, he doesn't seem like your type at all."

"Oh. Okay," Janus replied, a little taken aback. "If you say so. Hey, how about we head out for a walk in the grounds? I wouldn't mind messing around at the sea or the lake if you want. I want to practise skimming stones again in case Daddy's ever free enough to take me one day."

Virgil glanced over to him, then shrugged. "If you want to."

Janus stood up instantly. "Great! Then I need to change, can you wait outside?"

"Sure thing, Jan. Please don't take too long."

Virgil and Janus often ended up at the lake. It was always calm, with a slightly sad lack of life, but that meant you could dangle your feet in without fish rubbing against them. A small, grassy ledge sat over the deepest part of the lake, and Virgil was sitting on the ledge, his shoes and socks discarded as he swung his feet back and forth in the lapping waters. Standing above him and skimming stones was Janus, complaining about the Mirning family.

"Besides, I don't see why Mummy likes Lyla Mirning. She's not at all interesting. She never wears any nice jewellery, at least, she doesn't pull it off. Honestly, and she just can't seem to find colours that suit her. Pale clothes, they'd work with her complexion, but she just always dresses up so brightly and it makes her look so ill."

Virgil shrugged. "Maybe she just likes wearing bright colours."

Janus sighed loudly. "Oh, I know, I know. But I still don't see why she wears bright colours in front of guests. It just makes her look sick and then no one wants to visit. Not to mention that her husband is only ever talking to that one maid. I think there's an affair going on. And Lyla probably is sick, actually. She's far too pale not to be, and she's always visiting her father out on the mainland. Yes, James Mirning is definitely having an affair with that maid. It makes sense-"

"Look, Janus, I-I don't mean to upset you but I don't even know these people. Can we talk about something else?" Virgil interrupted, a small snap to his voice

"O-Oh," Janus said softly. Virgil had been in a grumpy mood since he had visited Janus after the Crofts had left and Janus wasn't sure how to help. Awkwardly, he knelt down next to Virgil, before lying on his stomach across the grass and dipping his fingers into the water, stirring it gently. "Sorry," He mumbled.

Virgil glanced down at his knees. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped."

"It's okay, you weren't interested anyway." The two were silent for a bit and, then, Janus lifted up his hand and wormed one of the rings off of his finger and held it up to Virgil. "Here you go."

Virgil looked down at it in surprise, even though this was often a regular occurrence. "Are you sure-?"

"Yeah, of course, I am," Janus said. "That's a silver ring, with jet and amethyst. The weird thing about jet is that it's actually a really low rank of coal but it's still really valuable. You can have it if you want. I don't mind."

Virgil looked down at the ring hesitantly. "I-If you don't mind. It is quite pretty." And he picked it up nervously from Janus's' palm, sliding it onto his own finger.

Janus watched, not saying a word, and smiled brightly. "There you go. I just thought, because you like purple and black, that you'd like that. What do you think?"

"It's beautiful," Virgil mumbled, looking it over. "When did you get it?"

"Uh, a while ago. I can't remember," Janus shrugged. "Should we head back to the House? I should probably change for dinner."

Virgil blinked at him. "Okay, sure. If you say so, Jan."