Peter Patel

 was mining and real estate magnate in the City of Turnmoor. He was very wealthy, and bought Patel Manor: one of the Emerald Estates; the one next to the Vargrend Estate which was previously owned by Marquis Byron Avengene.

He was introduced as Donald Patel, a magnate from Tunrmoor, in an apparent mistake.

He was "an unremarkable balding middle-aged man dressed in the rich attire of a successful businessman."

He had a son, Paul Patel, a student at the Bristol Academy. His wife was a good woman, and a good mother to his son, but rarely interested in sex.

Peter, on the other hand, experienced intense lust, especially for younger women. Normally rebuffed by the young noble ladies intent on preserving both the appearance and actuality of virginity for their marriages, he found a sympathetic partner in Brianna Barter disguised as Lady Bellany Norwit.

He engineered several trysts with "Bellany" while she was at the Vargrend Academy, despite that school's attempts to control its pupils' contacts with men.

A notable one was where Brianna impersonated Patel's servant Tiffany, and dined, fenced, and had sex with several of Patel's friends, finishing with Patel himself:
 * Cameron Driskell
 * Edward Bolton
 * Michael Taylor
 * Robert Denslow

He sponsored Lord Charles Norwit, as a crossbow champion of the school. That improved Charles living and training conditions, and also provided Peter Patel a somewhat easier access to Brianna.