Topher Lydon

Richard will deny that to his dying days. But probably.

Richard and Atreus (The two from the pitched battle for the horn, the drop bear, and the river.)

we ALL know he'd be running the Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure, sitting in a rather nice chair, stroking a cat, and plotting the downfall of Russia

They hope:

The Boar's Rest:

Dowager Lady Adele Haskal has her work cut out for her. WELCOME TO FRANCE Good morning

Considering his part in the attacks on the Community, that is for the best.

Welcome to France:

In the rain-lashed borderlands of the Vexin, Darien Haskal has carved a fragile peace with blood and steel. But when King Radoslav's royal progress arrives, it brings not celebration but a nest of vipers: a scheming duke, a fanatical nun wielding forbidden magic, and the golden knight whose smile hides a blade. As ancient curses awaken and political machinations tighten like a noose, the Vanguard's found family must protect their own—a feral heir, a dying prince, and a love that defies the Church itself. In a fortress perched between kingdoms, war is coming. But the Vanguard has survived the end of the world. They'll survive a dinner party.

The profound, hard-won peace of the Great Hall lasted exactly fourteen minutes. Darien Haskal was still sitting in the heavy oak chair on the dais, the lingering warmth of Wylan’s presence a soothing balm against the damp chill of the Vexin rain, when the heavy timber doors at the far end of the hall opened once more. They did not slam this time. They opened with a slow, deliberate, ominous creak that carried far more dread than any explosive entrance. Ser Val stepped across the

The rain in the Vexin did not fall; it assaulted. It drove horizontally across the deep, treacherous valleys and jagged limestone cliffs of the borderlands, a freezing, relentless gray sheet that battered against the high, reinforced stone walls of Château de la Dernière Espérance. The locals, in their cynical, war-torn wisdom, had long ago stopped calling the region by its proper Frankish name. They called it the Vixen—a sly, cunning, fiercely contested strip of earth straddling the bloody boun

In the Vexin, yes. It is quite common for a high noble of the realm, such as a Duke, to have lesser titles and lands. Sometimes not within the domain of the primary title. Haskal's keep, the Boar's Rest, is the Castle Darien has restored and established his territory around. It is a real Castle, and the ruins are still there: Château Gaillard (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto ɡajaʁ]) is a medieval castle ruin overlooking the River Seine above the commune of Les Andelys, in the French department of Eure, in Normandy. It is located some 95 kilometres (59 mi) north-west of Paris and 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Rouen.