"Lady Valeria Embercrown has arrived."
My pen stopped halfway through a word.
Eight days in this body, and someone had finally brought me a problem I recognized by name. I preferred the suitcase.
"She's expected?" I asked.
The attendant's eyes shifted toward the door. Bad question.
"Her household sent notice this morning. The receiving room is prepared."
I put the pen down.
"Have tea brought in. I'll join her shortly."
He bowed and left.
I stood, sat again, and checked that all my notes were under the plain folder at the back of the desk.
Valeria Embercrown.
Infernal Crown route. Smiling conversations. Contracts that became much less attractive after someone explained the last page.
And Cedric, being Cedric, had assumed sharing a talent for making people miserable made them natural allies.
I remembered how that worked out in one branch.
A public accusation. Treason. His family's protection failing to save him from the consequences of a transaction he thought would make him useful.
The game hadn't shown me every meeting that led there. I knew the ending better than the paperwork.
That was becoming an annoying pattern.
I checked my cuffs, kept the sore palm turned inward, and went to meet her.
Valeria stood beside the window of the receiving room, looking at the garden. She turned as I entered.
The resemblance to her game portrait hit me before anything else did.
Then she moved, and the comparison became less useful.
A still image hadn't shown the little pause before her smile, or the way her eyes checked my face before settling on it.
"Cedric. You kept me waiting."
"Not long enough to stop you coming back, I hope."
It left my mouth before I had time to decide whether it sounded like him.
Her smile widened slightly.
"We'll see."
I took the chair opposite hers. A narrow table stood between us, already set with cups and a plate of small cakes.
She sat after me.
I had no idea whether that was manners or a decision.
The servant poured tea. Valeria watched the cup fill, then waited until the door had closed before speaking again.
"I heard you were keeping to your rooms."
"I'm sitting in this one."
"So you are."
She lifted her cup.
I left mine alone. My hand was steady at rest. I didn't feel like finding out whether it would stay that way with hot tea in it.
"Your concern is touching," I said. "Was that the whole visit?"
"Would you prefer it to be?"
"I'd prefer to know before the tea gets cold."
She set her cup down and reached for a slim folder beside her chair.
"A practical mood. Good."
Three sheets slid onto the table. I kept my expression still.
There it was. Paper, again.
"An arrangement for the academy," she said. "Supplies, private introductions, and access to merchants who don't enjoy explaining every purchase to an academy clerk."
"Sounds expensive."
"It saves money if enough people use it. More importantly, it saves time."
She turned the first sheet so I could read it.
There were names in the margins, a list of ordinary goods, and a short description of shared ordering. Training materials. Personal equipment. Replacement parts.
Nothing on the page announced that I should start measuring my neck.
"Household accounts remain separate," she continued. "No one needs to pay another student's debts. An introduction from you would help settle the first group."
It sounded useful. I could imagine Cedric agreeing before he had finished reading.
I pulled the page closer.
"An introduction to whom?"
"The agents are still being selected."
"Then who receives my letter?"
"For now, me."
I looked at her.
She held my gaze without effort.
"You make that sound more complicated than it is," she said.
"It usually becomes complicated after the letter leaves my hand."
"You weren't so interested in the details when we last spoke."
My thumb pressed against the edge of the page.
What had I supposedly agreed to before waking up here?
I could pretend to remember, agree with the wrong thing, and spend the rest of the conversation trying to repair it. Or I could ask a question Cedric had a reason to ask.
"What changed since then?"
Valeria rested one finger on the second sheet.
"The number of people involved. I thought you would appreciate the wider reach."
"Names change the value of an arrangement."
"Certainly."
She didn't offer any.
"You have students in mind already," I said.
"A few. Most will wait to see who else agrees."
"And you want my name to make them stop waiting."
"Your name and your judgment."
She said the second part without looking at the pages.
I almost asked which of those she thought was worth more. Cedric would have liked the compliment. I was too busy wondering how she would describe this meeting to the next person on her list.
Interested. Supportive. An agreement in principle.
All useful words when the other person wasn't there to correct them.
"Then be clear when you speak to them," I said. "I'm reviewing a proposal. I haven't joined an arrangement."
Valeria lowered her cup to its saucer.
"I haven't told anyone you have."
"Good."
She took a small cake from the plate and broke off a piece. I wondered whether she was hungry or simply giving me time to hear how suspicious I sounded.
I read the second page slowly enough to give myself time to think. It described preferences and possible contributions, not fixed obligations.
The third sheet was shorter. An expression of support.
My name would give the arrangement standing before the final terms existed.
That might be common noble business. It might be the first step toward the branch I remembered.
I didn't have enough information to know.
I had enough to leave the pen alone.
"Send the finished terms," I said.
"This isn't the final agreement."
"Then there's no hurry for my seal."
For the first time, her smile stopped changing.
The silence lasted only a moment.
"You used to complain about waiting for clerks."
"I've recently found them useful."
She leaned back.
I wondered whether I had gone too far. Cedric disliked details. Cedric trusted his name to make consequences disappear. Cedric would probably have signed the attractive woman's paper and congratulated himself for being clever.
I couldn't imitate him all the way to the execution block.
Valeria reached for her cup again. Her fingers trembled.
Barely. A small movement at the tips before they touched the handle.
She changed the angle of her hand and lifted the cup cleanly.
I looked down at the papers before she caught me watching.
Cold room? Anger? Something in the tea? I had no useful answer.
Nothing else about her looked unsteady.
"Is your father advising you on this?" she asked.
The question was soft enough to sound casual.
"Do you need his approval or mine?"
"I was hoping for a conversation with you."
"Then we're doing well."
She let out a quiet breath that might have been a laugh.
I wasn't enjoying this nearly enough to join her.
"You seem different," she said.
My back wanted to straighten. I kept it against the chair.
"You arrived with three pages and expected me to read none of them."
"I expected you to remember the benefit."
"Access. Influence. Less time waiting. I read the first page."
"And?"
"The benefit is there. The people responsible aren't."
I tapped the empty space beside the proposed agents.
At least I had found a problem visible on the paper. I didn't need to pretend I knew anything beyond it.
Her eyes followed my finger.
"I'll bring you names."
"And the full terms."
"You intend to make me earn this introduction."
I moved the pages back toward her.
"You said it had value."
She studied me for another moment, then gathered the sheets.
No threat. No sudden confession. Just paper returning to its folder.
That didn't make me feel much better.
"Keep the first page," she said, sliding it back. "So neither of us forgets what we discussed."
I left it on the table.
"I'll read the next version when it's ready."
Her eyes flicked toward my untouched tea.
"I should leave you to your recovery."
"I hadn't realized I needed one."
"Then the rumors are as careless as usual."
She rose.
I stood with her, careful not to use the arm of the chair. My legs had started feeling heavy halfway through the visit, and I didn't want that becoming the most interesting thing she learned today.
At the door, she turned back.
"Cedric."
I met her gaze.
"If your terms change, tell me yourself. I'd rather hear them from you."
"Bring yours first."
Her smile returned, smaller this time.
Then she was gone.
I stayed standing until the sound of her steps faded beyond the corridor.
Only then did I sit.
The tea was cold. I drank some anyway. Nothing in the room had changed, but my shirt felt damp under the collar.
I took the page back to my room and read it again beside my notes.
No agents. No final terms. Nothing signed. That last part mattered most today.
I wrote down her questions as closely as I could remember them. Especially the one about our previous conversation.
Then I added the tremor beneath observed facts, leaving the space for an explanation blank.
I hadn't agreed to her proposal.
I had agreed to see the next version.
For now, I could live with that. I would need a better answer before she returned.