Bastien gives his eyebrows a contemplative maybe I am raise, while his head bobbles under the cheek-prodding, then grins at Yseult. Good for her. But there's nothing knowing about his grin, nothing salacious. If anything there's a touch of apology, for assuming that at this hour she'd be at her desk with nothing more exciting to do than this.

"We cannot rule out the possibility there is a demon in the ring—it's a magic ring," he says, handing her the list of names on his way to one of the chairs by the hearth. "Maybe one of the mages can check. But if it is a demon, it seems to have one job, and that is telling you what a person's real name is."