“Something tells me that I won’t be allowed in the next meeting?” Nela half asked and half stated. And she was right, there was no reason for their conversation to have only been with the King if she were allowed to be a part of the general meeting of all the lords.

“Good guess, it's not likely that you would be since you hold no titles of your own. Nor are you a knight leading an army, being my strategist is not exactly a prestigious role.” Braydon replied as they walked through the mansion. He would have preferred Nela to be a part of the meeting to answer any questions that the lords may have about her suggestions, since she was the one who came up with them. Instead it would be down to him and King Aled to make the case for them instead. Even if they were sound arguments, they were still based on uncertainty and that was more than enough for there to be disagreement.

“Then are we done for now?” Nela asked, obviously returning from work mode to the woman who felt awkward that she had brushed off her father, though this time she managed to keep her smile.

“For now at least, you can try to find something to occupy your time, though I’d be surprised if there is anything here. I should probably go and save Gerald from whatever mess he will have found himself in by now.” Braydon sighed just thinking of Gerald doing his job or even helping Corban with solving disputes. The man was one of the few that Braydon knew to pay even less attention to detail than he did.

“I am sure that I can find something.” Nela giggled when she also thought of Gerald trying to do something that required more than hitting a problem. He was a very good knight, just that his expertise largely stopped there.

“Oh, and if Duke Ryder takes his men south, you have free reign to go and see your father.” Braydon said as he turned to find where Gerald was. He didn’t need to look to see the happiness on Nela’s face. Happiness that was soon replaced by even more worry, not for Cinar’s safety but what she was going to say to him and, more importantly, what he was going to say to her.

“I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!” A voice came from inside, causing Braydon to sigh before he opened the door. It looked like he had found where Gerald was. Though it also looked like Gerald was not having a great time. 

“Sire, it is not a matter of whether you can accept it or not.” When he opened the door, Braydon was greeted by the back of some lord, a man in great hysterics over what Braydon could only assume was something unimportant. He could tell as much by the face Gerald was making, it was a mix of a lack of interest and enough annoyance to want to strangle the man in front of him. Braydon was just glad that Gerald had enough wits about him to not attack a lord, even if the lord was in the wrong there would be no coming back from that for Gerald.

“And who are you to say that to me?!” Braydon was unsure just who the man thought he was. If he had been an earl Braydon would have recognised him already, and there was nobody else besides the King of a higher rank than Braydon. Being his knight, insulting Gerald meant a lack of respect for Braydon himself and he was not about to stand for that.

“And who are you to say that to my knight?” He knew that the King might have some choice words to say if he got into a fight with another one of the nobles just before Duke Ryder was about to make his move but that was the last thing on his mind. 

Braydon wanted to defend his honour, yes, but Gerald was a close friend before that and he was not about to see him be trodden all over. Not even if Gerald was in the wrong. If he was, Braydon would deal with him in private but he would not give other lords the satisfaction of doing it.

“Well, I am…” When he heard someone address him from behind he turned around and started speaking in the same tone as he had used on Gerald but soon stopped when he saw that it was Braydon who stood there. Braydon may not have been the most important lord at court before the civil war, but they were currently within his town. It was clear that the King had at least a decent opinion of Braydon, and as such every noble who had sided with the King had long since learnt who he was. 

“Well, you are?” Braydon tried his best to keep up an unimpressed face while Gerald was making rude gestures behind the man’s back. It didn’t help that the man had paused when he recognised him, giving Braydon nothing to focus on but the movements Gerald was making.

“I am Viscount Sharpe, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir.” Collecting his wits, Viscount Sharpe toned down his voice and introduced himself. It was clear that he was not going to have anything go his way if he spoke to Braydon as he had spoken to Gerald. The best he could hope for was Braydon overlooking the fact that he had been shouting at his knight and treat him impartially. Though from the unimpressed look he saw he wasn’t hopeful.

“Now what seems to be the problem?” Braydon shot a small glare at Gerald to get him to stop before he continued to address the lord in front of him. Seeing the glare that Braydon showed to his knight, Viscount Sharpe had a bit more hope, thinking that he would be able to get his way.

“You see, this man did me a grave disrespect.” He immediately started with trying to make it seem worse than it was, Gerlad rolling his eyes behind him. Braydon kept the same facial expression giving nothing away about his opinion, he wanted to make sure that he knew what had actually happened before he put Viscount Sharpe in his place.

“And that grave disrespect was?” Seeing that Braydon did not reject the possibility of Gerald disrespecting him out of hand gave the Viscount even more confidence.

“He flagrantly disregarded me when I told him to help me with a small errand.” When he heard what the grave disrespect that Gerald had done the man was, Braydon almost wanted to strangle the man as much as Gerald had moments earlier. It seemed that Viscount Sharpe did not realise to whom Gerald had pledged his allegiance. Or, even worse, had not noticed that Gerald was a knight in the first place, even after Braydon had said that Gerald was his knight.

Darkwood

Hi Hi. 

Guess what?  A piece of fan art (The scene from Chapter 83 where Braydon told Mireille he had to go to battle):

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