*Before…

My people loved my father and mother and they loved my eldest brother Justin as well. I grew up thinking that we were good folks and had few real enemies and we did well for our folk in our lands.

And that was one of those things that I was going to inherit third son or not. I was going to do things, do whatever I could to help the people in Lyonnes.

And that’s gone; well it’s gone for as long as it’ll take me to find things out and to get strong enough to maybe do something.

But here’s Nicole who has actually done it here today and I know that she’s done more and that she’s already held in high esteem with Lady Tatiana and very much by her folk here.

I’m in that mixture of both awed and wistful and jealous of it all.

But I’m still very, very proud of her too.

CHAPTER 57
In the end, I spent two weeks off work. My bosses were very clear in their instructions, and I was told that it was being recorded as ‘gardening leave’ rather than sickness absence, to avoid the stigma such things bring. Effectively, I was suspended on full pay, but without the implied misbehaviour.