38

I shifted nervously on the bench. I wanted to get up and walk away, but I also wanted to hear what Fallon was going to say. I wondered if it tied into what Alvena had tried to reveal before Thale had interrupted her.

Fallon didn’t wait for me to respond to his statement, instead asking me another question. “How is your 17^th century history, Sophia?”

“Not very good,” I said through tight lips.

Fallon’s tutting infuriated me further. “Well, you may want to read up on it, seeing as that was when Thale was born.”

Realisation dawned on me. Of course.

“Anyway, to give you a brief overview, around the time Thale was in his early twenties, civil war raged in Britain.”

I dug through my brain trying to dredge up any history I’d been taught at school and from somewhere I remembered. The battles between the Cavillers and the Roundheads jostling for control of the country. The l