My mother Erisha had no idea about my father’s ambitions when they married. She was only seventeen and as innocent as a fresh glass of milk, so all she saw was a handsome, lordly man who wanted to court her badly. She’s a typical high-class woman whose ambitions only ever went as far as being admired for being a pretty, accomplished thing, but that doesn’t mean she’s not smart. She’s the one who taught us to read before our father or governesses had a chance to get their foot in the door and she’s a talented musician. Listening to how she plays is what inspired me to take up the harp myself when I returned home.

Lookswise, she’s still pretty even now she’s past forty. She’s the one I inherited my hair from, though her grandmother was the last one to actually have curls. She’s a tiny woman, small enough I can tuck her under my chin, and she always smells of lavender. That smell brings me right back to being a little girl, even if I’m the one who can pick her up nowadays.

Personality wise... she changed a lot after I was kidnapped, so Leon tells me. She went into a deep depression and clung to him and my little sister once she was born, hardly letting them out of her sight. Father was murdered in the grounds, so she moved right back in with her parents, not wanting to be at home any more. She only came back after I returned there and the steward sent out word.

She’s still clingy nowadays, though she’s growing a little better. When I came back home I welcomed that much love, as I’d gone for so many years without someone to accept me. She’s been patient with me as I’ve tried to work out who and what I’m meant to be, even when I’m pushing the boundaries of my position too far