Nicholas was introduced in the first Volkenheim novel and will be involved in the second! (slight spoiler couldn't quite help myself! Haha)
The first thing to know about Nicholas is that he is not a born Lord. He is a reigning small town Lord but he had to climb a steep hill to get there. It is a part of what makes him believe he has more right to rule. That being, since he acquired his Lordship, the small town that he presides over had seen in increase in profit and trade among st the larger cities. Due to his skills in this area, Nicholas began to see a much broader picture of what could be, with him as the centerfold.
Lord Nicholas was approached by Victor Volkenheim and they formed an agreement. Victor thought he had Nicholas under wraps, seeing as how Victor wanted to be supreme ruler over all the world, and Nicholas was amazingly adept at keeping his own ambitions from him. This was part skill and part distraction - on Victor's part - who was dealing with his sons. Being under the tutelage of Victor, Nicholas learned basics of Puppet magic as well as honing his skills in persuasion, manipulation, patience, and iron will.
Nicholas was the second born to parents that had almost no magic. His sister, the first born in the family, had an odd gift and detested magic. This made Nicholas a prodigy. He could see the potential his sisters gift would have for the benefit of his plan and other future en devours. However, she would not participate. Nicholas tried for years, even resorting to threats and punishment, but she would not comply. One day, she vanished. Fled from her family and Nicholas put her on a back burner. He still wanted her powers but he needed to keep moving forward. Plus, he had no idea where she went.
Once his sister was no longer in the picture, he set his sights on another, Henrietta. It took him longer to get a hold of her. Even though she was kind, she was also strong-headed and Nicholas had to resort to using a dark ink ring, put on without her knowledge to begin to get a hold of her. This was under the false pretense of an engagement ring. While Nicholas had a fondness for Henrietta, he by no means loved her. He found her projection/tuning magic to be irritable at most occasions as it made him have to be more aware and cautious with the use of his own magic and feelings while around her. Until he got that ring on. Then, it became a bit easier.
Things were starting to fall into place as the final battle approached, and Nicholas was making plans on how to get the upper hand on Victor. But, his plans were all put on hold because the Volkenheim brothers interfered. Not only with the outcome of the battle, but with his fake fiance. Nicholas tried to get her to return with the rest of the group saved by the brothers, but Nicholas had not counted on Soul Magic being so strong. He wound up leaving the estate with a broken ankle and a fierce anger.
This anger only festered as he got tortured for months by Victor at the failure that had happened. When Nicholas felt the binds of Victor release on him, he knew his time had come. Broken and down, he held his head high and returned to his estate cloaking it slowly as he recovered. He reduced his staff, erasing the memory of those he let go, and passed off as a distant relative of himself but with the same name. Just a little persuasion and manipulation and the townsfolk thought nothing of it.
With Victor Volkenheim out of the way, Nicholas had one less obstacle to worry about. He restarted his plans and made some new ones to, hopefully, deal with the brothers should they pop up again.
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