If she had been a harder woman Emmaline might have simply disposed of Neil with a spell. It would in many ways be simpler, but while she was a swindler she hadn't yet graduated to cold blooded killer. Besides, she might need him to get back inside the walls if he were telling the truth about that.

"I uhhh..." she began and then gave up.

"My name is Emmaline, I'm an apprentice with the Colleges of Magic," she confessed. She turned her hands palm up.

"I figured that I might convince Otto von Blockhead to buy me a few dinners and perhaps a few presents while I was in town," she went on, shading the truth somewhat. No noble would ever be openly involved with a wizard of course, though there were more than a few such liasons quietly conducted in the capital. It could never lead to marriage however.

"I thought I would slip away before anything too serious developed," she admitted, brushing vainly at her dress in an attempt to remove the dust from the ruined dress. She succeeded only in spreading the muck further and gave up with a defeated sigh.