"Working again?" His voice as he interrupted the scratching of her pen was soft, and she appreciated it. Any louder would have startled her enough to jar the smooth script she was focused on. She was becoming more accustomed to his habit of entering without sound or warning. Always half-expecting to find him there when she lifted her eyes, she no longer jumped with surprise when she found him near.

She finished the line, then dipped her pen in the inkwell again. "The affairs of the country don't cease just because one is also planning a wedding," she informed him.

"Pity," he responded.

She was amused by his careless answer. She knew that he used his immature facade to goad those around him into misstepping, while in truth he was more mature and learned than many of those who considered themselves his betters. She wondered if he was attempting to goad her now, or merely perpetuate the image of him as a fool who was no threat to her.

She thought it might be both, and she rolled her eyes, because she knew he enjoyed it when she showed her emotions.

The brightening of his mood was almost a tangible change in the room's atmosphere. She looked up to see his smile and he darted forward to press a kiss against her cheek. It was quick, and she was so surprised she didn't have time to react. Then he was three steps away again, flopping down in the yellow-damask upholstered armchair that he had once said made his eyes water. He turned sideways in it, draping himself over the arms of it and leaning back to twirl her pen through his fingers.

"Thief," she commented, though she wasn't sure if it was for the stolen kiss or the stolen pen which he'd slipped from her hand. She fished out a new pen from the drawer of her desk, and continued writing. Eugenides kept his silence, but she could feel his presence beside her. He stayed for two hours while she wrote, seeming content to just sit and watch and be close to her.

Eventually, he left the chair, touched a lock of her hair as he passed by, and then slipped out of the room. Her attendants arrived just minutes later to get her ready for supper.