Excerpt from the upcoming Lords of Steel: (March 17th)
"Who are you?" He felt her hand rest on the side of his face, her eyes focused entirely on him. His Uncle stood in the doorway of her chambers, ignored or possibly even forgotten.
"Edmond Justinian Dunham-," he replied, but rushed to finish the last part, "-the second." He hoped he had gotten it all, but by the tensing of her hand he could tell he had missed some small, but somehow consequential detail.
"No, Edmond. You forgot the 'Lord' again."
"But I thought that Uncle Thomas was the 'Lord'?"
Her smile was comforting, but his mother's eyes did not seem to share that same sentiment. "He is Duke Thomas Dunham, but you will be Lord Edmond Dunham the second, my son." The hand on his face relaxed a little and smoothed out his messy dark brown hair.
"And he will be a great Lord just as his father was, serving our great King." Edmond watched carefully as his Uncle entered the room, his tone kind and yet unusually tinged with harsh warning, not for Edmond, but his mother.
His mother raised herself from her spot kneeling before Edmond and looked his Uncle in the eyes. "My son will never serve that man." With that said, she whirled back around on Edmond, grabbing his wrist and leading them both out of the room, hardly a glance spared back at the Dunham patriarch.