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"Some. Less time for it than I'd like." Letha exhales. "The Academy mages want Despina married to a mage if she insists on not being one herself. The nobles don't want her marrying a commoner. And Stephan's friends don't want her marrying his murderer. So it's all going very well."

Letha's engagement to Princess Despina is hardly outside heroic tradition—Ilias the Realm-Warden married the queen of Ithos just after he first sealed the demons away. Still, it hasn't been uncontroversial, though one of those objections is new.

"People are still upset about Stephan?" you ask. "No one's been accusing me."

"You didn't stab him, did you?" Letha sighs. "None of them could get away with arresting me, but there are still people skeptical over Stephan even if they believe the rest of the prophecy. If there was any way to prove that he deserved what we gave him…it would be easier. For you as well, even if no one's turned on you yet."

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"You never met a man named Galen Burke, did you?" Letha asks as you continue. The name is unfamiliar, and you shake your head. Letha exhales. "Didn't think so. He visited Stephan a few times before you were hired. Helping with the demonic research, he must have been, though I didn't know it then. I've heard his name attached to a few rumors about me lately, saying I knew what Stephan was up to all along, but I don't know where he actually lives. Not in Elith. You ever hear word of him, let me know."

You round a corner into a more somber hallway and up a steep stone staircase. After several flights, you emerge into a new corridor with a pair of guards at the door. The nod Letha gives them looks much more sincere than the ones she allowed the nobles, though she shuts the door very firmly behind you.

The corridor is plain: fine hardwood floors, but nothing decorative except a few ancient portraits on the walls. Not what you'd have expected for what you assume is Princess Despina's private wing. "She doesn't like frills," Letha says with a glance back at you, as if reading your mind. "And she'll be writing letters just now. We should wait a bit."

Letha leans back against the dark-painted wall beside one of several doors with a sigh. You wonder what insight she expects Princess Despina to bring to this situation, considering the princess rather famously has no magical inclinations. That's a sensitive subject, though.

,You've heard the stories of their courtship, how the tales of Letha's heroism swept even the famously stoic princess off her feet. What you find hard to understand is Letha's part in it. Princess Despina isn't the warmest person in the world, if you believe the mages, and you never thought Letha's motivations were political.

Letha reads the question in your eyes before you've found a tactful way to ask it. "I admire people who fight for something," she says. "Despina fights harder than anyone I've ever known."

Her voice is softer now, and she glances over at the door.

"And you can tell that to anyone you hear whispering about us in the city, too," Letha adds.

"Aren't people entitled to whisper about Princess Despina, if she spies on everyone like they say?" You narrow your eyes. "Does she spy on me?"

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