Julian
Nevan Wilder. Duke of Wellspring. The most powerful man in the kingdom who didn't sit on a throne.
I'd grown up hearing his family's name spoken the way people speak of storms, pestilence or great happenings. The Wilders were regarded with respect, distance, and a healthy understanding that getting too close meant destruction.
They had ruled the Wellspring territories for six generations, ever since Lord Nathanael Wilder, Nevan's great-grandfather, two generations removed, slew the Black Serpent of Ashenmoor that had ravaged the eastern provinces for a decade.
The Crown had rewarded him with the duchy, the land and a debt of gratitude that the royal family had been repaying ever since.
That debt had made the Wilders untouchable.
