As a child, Ben Shettleton led a somewhat privileged life. The only son of a widowed bureaucrat in the service of the King, he lived in and around Court, but his common birth kept him from being a part of it. His father was well liked, and deemed harmless, so Ben was generally uninvolved with the normal dangers and intrigues of the Nobility. Ben was a bright boy, and his easy nature and charm helped to persuade bored tutors, so frequently spurned by their official charges, to provide him lessons on a wide range of subjects. One such tutor, known […]