- and then once Keltham has been adequately rewarded she can get her facial expression properly under control, and kneel, and peek up at him with wide incredulous eyes. She doesn't have Abrogail's Splendour, obviously, but she did give herself a little boost before she came in, and she thinks she's a very convincing provincial Taldane wizard girl at court for the first time.

Gorthoklek is relaying Keltham's thoughts to Sevar in real time; Keltham is thinking that, all right, the look on Carissa's face makes even that horrible-ass etiquette lesson completely worth it.

He's still charging the Queen an extra 20% for it, though.

Is that the delay loop they put Keltham in while she napped. A slightly larger share of the bemused delight on Carissa's face is genuine. Poor Keltham. 

Okay, now they can actually do this shit, right?

Yes, according to the personal opinion of Aspexia Rugatonn, which she is making known to Abrogail by appropriate means.

Fine, yes, she may as well get it over with and finish this humiliation.

Keltham has heard that the Queen of Cheliax desires a thing that it is his to give or withhold.

THAT IS NOT WHAT THE ETIQUETTE TEACHER SHOULD HAVE -

Aspexia.  This can only be Aspexia's work.

The Queen of Cheliax desires some part of the time of her subject, Carissa Sevar, in which to dally with her; but this matter, the Queen is given to understand, Carissa Sevar has placed into the hands of Keltham, along with all else that she is.

It - moves him, actually, and it moves him at least in part because all of this formality is speaking to some part of him, in a voice that should ordinarily be reserved for wedding ceremonies and not Governance.

Quick glance to see how Carissa is reacting to that.

So incredibly expressively. Keltham pulling this off would, to naive Carissa, seem like a fairly godlike feat of coincidence-management, and he deserves to feel that he has utterly transformed Carissa's sense of what he's capable of. And also that this is really sexy of him. And also that her wildest fantasies are coming true, which, honestly, they kind of are, aside from how badly this is going to hurt once she's in fact alone with Abrogail fuck when did she get mentally into the habit of calling Her Imperial Majestrix Abrogail.

Even taking into account that you know you have no idea, still, Carissa, you have no idea.

"Blah blah blah blah blah blah six hundred gold pieces blah blah blah various additional terms and conditions apply and the Queen of Cheliax can take them or leave them," Keltham says, almost in the correct etiquette that an incredibly powerful outsider should, in principle, use to say such a thing politely to the Queen of Cheliax when handing her an ultimatum.

His thoughts are clear on the point that this is what the etiquette teacher told him to do and he is obediently doing it.

...it seems possible that Abrogail has, in fact, pissed off Aspexia Rugatonn slightly more than she previously realized, over the last few days.

Speak then your terms, Keltham.

blah blah blah x50 == well, basically, the limits on what can be done to Carissa are going to be in a sealed section laid down on Keltham's behalf by Paracountess Isidre Thrune (no sorry he can't remember all those middle names, who does that to their kid, hopefully this isn't too awful an error).

And also Keltham's worried about Carissa's heart being stolen away from him - not least by her possible delusion that Carissa's own person could possibly be taken away from him, even by the Queen of Cheliax, if Keltham himself had decided to get serious about keeping her - so he now, as indeed the greater part of his compensation for this rental, demands that before he hands over Carissa, the Queen sign such agreements as will duly incentivize her to attempt no such thing and ensure a correct outcome for her if she does.  If by untampered truthspell it is proven that Carissa has come to love the Queen and to love her more than she loves Keltham, then Keltham has the right to walk out on all this shit not withstanding other bargains to be signed later, and haul Carissa's chained-up ass away with him, if he chooses.

Carissa does not even have to pretend that's really hot, because it just objectively is. 

She does have to pretend at being surprised, of course, but she lets the surprise melt off as soon as is reasonable into just that that's really hot. And - she doesn't think Keltham has the subtlety to read this off her face, but -

- but that she wants to know, very badly, if he means it, and she wants him to mean it, she wants to be in the power of someone capable of meaning it.

Gorthoklek informs her that Keltham is continuing to struggle hard with reading the facial expressions of anyone who isn't a dath ilani, and he's managed to pick up that Carissa is currently happy but not that she was trying to ask him a question or that this question had a particular desired answer.

The first part of Keltham's request (she's not dignifying it by calling it a demand) is entirely acceptable.  The second part is a matter for Cheliax, not the Queen's dalliances.  Carissa Sevar is a citizen of this country, and while she might be bargained away in some extremity, she would not be bargained away lightly.

Keltham's doing Cheliax a favor much larger than that.

And is this then to be taken as partial repayment of that favor?

It's to be taken as an unlikely conditional that the Queen needs to set up using her own political capital in order to fuck dally with Carissa.  When and if Keltham feels like formalizing his and Carissa Sevar's relationship in the eyes of Cheliax, maybe he'll negotiate with Cheliax for Cheliax's part in that; but this current thing is not an unconditional outcome requiring an unconditional payment, it's about making it so that the Queen wouldn't be able to yoink her.

(Keltham is starting to stumble over his etiquette, but is still gainfully trying.)