Under the Surface

"Balbo!" Alexa whispered, leaning over the drunk man, with his face lying on his arm on a table at the bottom of a tavern. 

Narses had brought her there, and being a princess, Alexa was in disguise, but she would have come even if she couldn't hide.

  She should be waiting with the other guests in the cathedral for Klaus's Coronation. But Narses warned her they had finally found Balbo.

Her voice seemed to have some effect and Balbo struggled to raise his head a little and confirm. "Why are you here, Your Highness? Let this stupid man rot without the right to a quick death!"

So that was it. 

Alexa tapped her big friend on the shoulder, "Is your reason for leaving your post and wasting your precious life in a bar?"

"I was a foolish blind man, and I helped to destroy your life, Your Highness! What justifies my stupidity?"