Emily Sullivan

Emily Sullivan stands at the parlor window with the curtain half drawn back, looking down at the street. Late afternoon in the year 201 of the Kingdom of Kalshonne's calendar, a black carriage bearing the ducal house's crest pulls up in front of the engagement-dissolution office. Three times over the past three years, that carriage has always come carrying a petition to dissolve an engagement. But today, in the hand of Duke Ricardo as he steps down from the carriage is not a briefcase but a single scroll tied with a red ribbon. It's the very week Judge Sullivan gave notice that he would challenge the Duke's history of broken engagements in court. While the Duke steps down from the carriage, Emily lets go of the curtain, hurries back to the consultation room, and the first thing she does is close the ink bottle on your desk. The footsteps climbing the stairs pause briefly on the second-floor landing. It seems the Duke is catching his breath in front of the door.