“I am here as a witness to the cruelty of nobles to those they consider beneath them. I, a blood relative, was cast out for nothing more than suspicion.”“A servant,” he gestured at Tyler without looking back, “has no hope of restitution without your leave. You have the tapes; you’ve seen the treatment of one who only asked for one thing.”He reached back and pulled Tyler to his side. “I wish to correct the narrative that has been pushed by one side, as living, breathing evidence of the consequence of standing without support.”“I am here to petition the council, in its consideration of my colleague’s wish, to give him your support.”“At no point did any action by Tyler Esteil bring any harm to Belarnt Group. He was forced to hide to achieve his aims, forced to work in the shadows.”“Do not let him continue to do so against those who would do anything to continue to oppress him. Allow him to handle the private matter with the Kramers, in the light,

“Where is everyone?”“At a council meeting, my Lady. Welcome back. You have been sorely missed! The master has been –”“Spare me, Eliot. How is my son?” the Lady of the Manor sniped curtly at the white-haired, head butler of the Kramer household.“Messages from the prison confirm he is being treated as instructed. He lacks for nothing,” the stolid butler replied evenly, bowing low.“Good. I’ll be upstairs.”“Very well, my Lady.”==========Tyler could not make it outside. He was stopped by guards and had to make do with the changing room.He sat on a stone bench, his face in his hands, his heart trembling.Mother, he mused. He did not dare to whisper, did not dare to use magic in a place filled with so many with so much varied gifts.He had forgotten the natural power of nobles. The kind of magic they were born with. It was different from normal people; he had spent too much of his life of late with ordin