Somewhere along the way, though he wouldn’t have been able to consciously tell you when, Stephen has long-since granted Ennaris first name privileges, and he would have told her so if she’d thought to ask, so that isn’t the thing which gives him pause —

No, it’s the suggestion itself.

His pen falls out of his numb hand and drops and hits the table with a clatter, almost rolling off before his quick reflexes snatch it in time. He stills the movement and then looks up at her from where he’s seated behind his desk. “Within the month?” he repeats, shocked. “What? Why?”

He’d thought, hoped, that he’d forestalled this measure for a bit longer than that —