Dorian catches an Orlesian's noble eye during the ball. Dorian knows what the guy wants but before they can sneak out for a quick, meaningless fuck, the plot to assassinate Celene unravels, so, sadly, Dorian doesn't get any. Several weeks/days after the ball, however, a formal letter arrives, requesting the Inquisitor's permission to court Lord Dorian.

"It was a plot point, dude," says Cucumber-bro, in the slow, patient voice of someone speaking to a stupid dog. "It was an actual, literal plot point you typed in with your own like, sinful hands." "No it wasn't," says Shang Qinghua immediately. "I think I would like, fucking remember writing a scene where some chick gets an actual fucking dragon corpse dropped on her door and immediately gives it up for the person who brought it!"