And so Oliver ended up telling them about the trial. Which led to him telling them about the assassination attempt beforehand, and then all the matters that involved the Patrick title, along with their theories that it was the High King that lay behind them. He reiterated the story flatly, his own voice seemingly disconnected from the events as he retold it.
"Gods be damned!" Greeves said, slamming his fist onto the table. "That wasn't how it was meant to go! I thought you were on the fast track, boy! I thought, if anything, you were better off than ever before… Who could have known that the title that you were receiving would be so tainted?"
"I think probably the fact that the noble who gave it to me had exiled himself to the woods," Oliver murmured, with only the slightest trace of humour.
"Goodness…" Nila said, her eyes misting over again as she looked up at him. "You went through all that alone? It must really have been hard…"
