By the time Crow got back to his bed chambers, he was more than ready to lay down for the night. He stepped over to the side of his bed and sat down, yawning broadly before he bent down to take off his boots. As he finished removing them, he saw another pair of shoes stand in front of him. He looked up to meet Preston’s gaze with a confused expression. “Did you want something?” he asked, his tone slightly blunt from his exhaustion.

“Let me help you,” the boy said, stepping forward and reaching for the thief’s tunic.

“Hey, hey,” Crow recoiled from the servant’s hands. “I can undress myself, thank you very much.”

Preston frowned, “But it’s my job to—”

“I don’t care,” Crow stopped him by holding up his hand. “I’m not going to let someone else take off my clothes for me unless they’re an attractive woman. Now go get some sleep. I don’t need anything else from you tonight.”

The attendant hesitated for a moment before he gave a reluctant nod, “Fine. Goodnight.” He bowed and then turned to head out of the room, leaving the thief to be alone in his room.

As soon as the door closed behind the boy, Crow let out his breath in relief. He finished getting ready for bed and laid down, drawing the smooth sheets up to his chin. It felt good to finally have a moment to himself. He would have liked to enjoy it for a while, but in the end, his desire to sleep won out and he drifted off into a light slumber.

--

“It’s time to get up.”

Crow groaned and shoved his pillow over his head to block out the sound of whoever was trying to rouse him. His bed was so comfortable, and he was still tired despite the sleep he’d gotten that night. He didn’t want to get up.

There was a brief pause before the voice tried again. “Come on. You need to get ready for your ceremony.”

“Go away.”

Another pause, this one longer than the last. The thief managed to drift off into a light sleep before he eventually heard the sound of footsteps by his bed. He was still barely awake, but he was rather sure the first voice had left the room and returned with someone else. He buried his head further beneath the pillow, hoping whoever was there would take the hint that he didn’t want to get up yet.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get his way.

Through the thick feathering in the pillow, he could hear muffled voices talking amongst each other before he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. “Sir, you need to wake up,” this voice sounded more familiar. “We need to prepare you for the titling ceremony this afternoon.”

“Not now,” Crow groaned again. “It doesn’t take me that long to get dressed. I’ll do it later.”

There was more quiet talking. He began to relax again, but before he could nod off, he flinched as someone suddenly pulled his blanket away from his body. The sudden change in temperature as the cool air hit his skin was jarring. With a pang of annoyance, he sat up to see who had woken him up so rudely. To his surprise, Preston was standing by the edge of the bed with the corner of the sheets in one hand while Hunter stood further back, fidgeting nervously as if he wasn’t quite as on board with the other attendant’s idea.

“What the hell?” Crow snapped. Still in a foul mood from his lingering weariness, he turned on the boy with a glare. “I was trying to sleep.”

“Yes, well, the king instructed us to prepare you for your ceremony this morning,” Preston said. His voice was calm, but he backed away from the bed to put some distance between himself and the angry thief. “I had to get you up somehow.”

Crow just scoffed in response, running a hand through his messy hair as he reluctantly allowed himself to wake up a bit more. However, in the next moment, he knitted his brows, glancing toward one of the windows off to his left. “It’s still early,” he turned back to the attendants with narrowed eyes. “The ceremony isn’t until the afternoon. Why did you wake me up now?”

“There’s a lot to do,” Preston shrugged.

“Surely there can’t be that much,” Crow said with dry disbelief.

“Well, normally there isn’t,” the boy admitted. “But you’re going to take more work.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Preston opened his mouth to reply, but was quickly cut off by Hunter, who chose that moment to intervene. “Never mind him,” the older servant said hurriedly. “There are clothes for you on the table. Preston will help you get dressed, and then we’ll take you to get ready for the ceremony.”

Crow and Preston exchanged a tense glance. Fortunately, the boy seemed to remember their conversation from the night before. He stepped over to the table and picked up a stack of neatly folded, white linen clothing and handed them over to the thief without a word.

Crow stood up and dressed himself. The plain shirt and pants were clean, and the fabric felt soft against his skin. It was quite different from the coarse fibers of the clothing he usually wore. He turned back to the attendants with a sigh, “Let’s get this over with.”