"Oh, Ro!" Remus sang, capering down the corridors the next day. He expected Roman to be in the Gold Room, where he always was, but when he got there, there was no one.

"Huh?" Remus blinked a couple of times. Perhaps he - in all his brilliant sight unlike his brother - had missed Roman. He hadn't. Roman wasn't there.

"Ro?" Remus yelled. "Roman? Where are you?"

"Is he still in his room?" Remus wondered. "Guess it can't hurt to check."

Remus knocked on the door to Roman's bedroom. "Ro? You in there?"

"Go away, Re." Came the muffled reply. Remus blinked.

"Uh, no." Remus said and opened the bedroom door. Roman was still in bed.

"If I could see where you were," Roman grumbled, "I would glare at you."

"What's wrong?" Remus asked.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?!" Roman repeated. He sat up and crossed his arms, his messy hair making him look a lot less intimidating. "Re, last night was the last night of the ball. I'm never going to see Vee again. That's what's wrong!"

"Ro, you've known Vee for three nights-"

"It doesn't fucking matter." Roman snapped. "You wanted to screw a guy with scales when you were drunk, the first time you met him! You can't talk."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you, Ro, he really did have scales."

"Yeah right." Roman said. "People don't have scales, Re. Besides, you said it yourself, you were off your face on the first night."

"Yeah but I met him again." Remus insisted. "Last night. I hadn't touched a drop cause I was helping you with the scheme-" Roman's face cut him off.

"You didn't." Roman said. "Re, please tell me you didn't pour tar down the steps."

Remus shrugged. "Well, it worked."

"Please tell me you haven't apprehended Vee." Roman said.

"Nah, someone scared him and he ran off. Think he slid down the banister." Remus said. "He's smart. Too smart for you, Ro-"

"Just get to the point." Roman said, flopping back down in bed and pulling the covers over his head. "Why are you talking to me about Vee if you don't have any news."

"We got one of his shoes." Remus said. Roman sat up in bed again.

"A shoe?!" He asked. "How is a shoe meant to help?!"

"I don't know." Remus said confidently, pointing at his brother. "But it's a start."

Roman sighed and put his head in his hands. "You're hopeless, Re." He muttered. "There are probably thousands of servants in the whole kingdom with the same shoe size and type as Vee, how in the fuck are-"

"His shoe's gold." Remus interrupted. Roman lifted his head in Remus' direction.

"What, solid gold?" Roman asked.

"No, not solid." Remus said. "It's just, like, covered in gold or something. I think it's had gold leaf woven through it or something."

Roman laughed through his nose. "Expensive taste for a servant." He muttered to himself. "How do we even know that's Vee's shoe?"

Remus shrugged. "We've got an eye-witness account. He said he saw a tall boy with black hair and grey eyes running away from the steps, leaving a shoe in the tar."

"Do we know this 'eye-witness' by name?" Roman asked. Remus shrugged.

"He gave his name but I'll be damned if I can remember it." Remus said. "Something like Edward but shorter and a lot more stupid. Eddie... Edwin... Edin. Edin, that was it."

I'll just let that little piece of information sit and just let you all know, I am going to torture Virgil more, yes.
Bye,
Blaize