A Vous Me Lie—I am Bound to You. (An early motto found in a book of Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III.)

Young Richard of Gloucester has returned to his brother King Edward’s court after training in the household of the Earl of Warwick. Quickly the young man finds himself caught up in court intrigues: the famous Smithfield Joust, the Woodvilles’ theft of Thomas Cook’s tapestries, the killing of the Earl of Desmond in dubious circumstances. He also is befriended by the older John Howard, and experiences his first tastes of love –which results in the births of his two natural children, John and Katherine.
Duty soon beckons, however, when Warwick’s friendship with Edward is irrevocably broken and George of Clarence, Richard’s other brother, takes Warwick’s side. Rebellion now threatens the stability of England and even Edward’s throne. Young Richard, not yet eighteen, must retrieve Welsh castles, sit in judgment on traitors to the crown…and even stamp on the toes of the side-swapping Lord Stanley. He meets some loyal friends along the way but, unwittingly, he makes enemies too, who will one day return to haunt him.
As the clouds of war darken, Richard is finally driven into exile in Burgundy with the King. Butas the ship leaves the harbour, he swears he will return…

Part 2 of I, Richard Plantagenet: The Prequel.
All five of the I, Richard Plantagenet novels, both the two prequels and three main books of the series can be read as independent, self-contained stories of the life of Richard III.