Secrets Within the Estate

3

By the time the sun had set, Liam was exhausted. 

He had woken up as a poor runaway slave who stole money from innocent people, and somehow, by the end of the very same day, he was now the lover(?) of some rich guy who seemed to hate his father. 
So many things had happened in one day and he still didn't understand half of what was going on.

As soon as Caspian brought him into the house, a bunch of people came to take measurements of Liam for clothes, clean and cut his hair, ask him a million questions, move things in and out of the house, and make sure he was comfortable.
But, if anything, all the pampering overwhelmed him and made him uncomfortable. The only time he was able to have to himself the entire day was when he was bathing.

Caspian had also disappeared after he brought Liam inside, and Liam wondered where he had gone.
He didn't know where anything was, and he was too nervous to ask anyone anything.

He sat next to the window and looked out at the courtyard. There were lanterns hanging from each building, all emitting a warm yellow glow in the dark night.
He wondered how his sisters were doing with the old lady, and wondered what he would do to deal with everything.

He accepted the deal because he didn't want to be handed in; he didn't think of how things would be after he did, or what would happen.
He sighed as he thought about what his sister said; he really didn't think it through.

Liam noticed that there were guards all around the house and in the courtyard. He wondered why there would be so many, and if something had happened to create the need for so many.
Liam looked away from the window and at the clothes he was wearing instead.

He was given a set of light blue silk pajamas to wear. They were the best pieces of clothing he had ever owned. They were clothes he couldn't even afford to imagine having.
As a child, he always wanted things he knew he would never be able to own, and by the time he turned fourteen and his father sold him off as a slave, he realized that wishing for those things was useless.

Slaves didn't get nice things.
So a slave wishing for nice things was useless because it would never happen.
Liam thought that he would be a slave for the rest of his life, and when he ran away to take care of Lyra, he was even more fearful than he was while being a slave.
If he was caught for anything and taken to the authorities, only two things could possibly happen.
The first was him being sent back to his owner and taking a life-threatening beating, or he would be hanged if what he did was bad enough.

Liam's whole world was turned upside down in only one day, and he still couldn't wrap his head around it no matter how hard he tried.

The pajamas were slightly too small for him, but he didn't mind. The man who gave them to him said that there would be clothes made for him the next day and that they'd be exactly his size.
He got off the floor where he was sitting and walked to the door that led outside, but he didn't open it.

He wasn't sure if he was allowed to go outside or not. He remembered Caspian saying to ask someone to escort him if he wanted to go anywhere, but where would he go? It was the middle of the night, and he didn't know where anything was. But he also didn't want to sit and do nothing and he was too anxious to sleep.

After several minutes of silently standing there, he slid the door open and poked his head out to see several guards outside in the balcony.
"U-um excuse me..."
One of them looked over at Liam. "Can you not sleep?" The man asked.

"Um... n-no... d-do you know where u-um, wh-what do I-"
"The young lord?"
"Y-yes... do you know wh-where h-he is...? Is h-he awake?"
"He's in his study, I believe."
"O-oh... he's not sleeping...?"