It appears to be, because he moves another pawn without commenting.

Then she'll do that for as long as she can get away with it, trying to think of explanations for him. He knows the true one, presumably. So what does he want.

He wants to take advantage of it being really obvious that she's just mirroring him to get her into a position where she's in check. A lot fewer moves are legal in check.

Wait, she just did the same thing as him but this time it was illegal? Why??

"Put your bishop back where it came from, Sevar, and tell me what's gone wrong with your performance."

"I have been spending less time on my duties. Sir."

"Try making another move, why don't you."

This one?

"No. Put it back. What have you been spending time on instead, Sevar?"

"The fort's new first arcane, sir."

Punctuated with more attempts at playing chess:

"And what is he diverting your attention to?"

He gave her the answer just a few minutes ago and she did her very best to memorize it. "Asmodeus commands that his servants exercise authority over one another not just because it is pleasing to Him but because it is pleasing to them, sir."

"Ah-ha. Well, unfortunately for your and Fortuny's budding romance Asmodeus has also commanded that we hold the fucking Worldwound. Are you spending spell slots on this nonsense?"

"All of my spells are for the Worldwound, sir."

"Sevar, I may have opined that you belong in a workshop but it is not actually within my remit to send you to one where you can safely expel a brat, or do I misread Fortuny's tastes entirely? Check."

Yes, it is a completely impossible situation, it is forbidden either to become pregnant or to use a spell protecting herself, she has no idea what she was supposed to do but she's very sure it's not fabricate mindreading records and she cannot admit that's what she did. "I figured I'd figure it out if it came up, sir."

"I am not impressed with the quality of your answers, Sevar."

She feels angry, which is very stupid, because no one in this situation has behaved anything but reasonably, except for her. 

"If I may use a spell once a month for my health there will be no risk of trouble, sir."

"Yes, well, you actually may not do that on a routine ongoing basis. How many second-circle spells am I taking out of your disreputable hides?"

"What was I supposed to do, sir?"

It is a very very stupid question and she cannot actually believe that she said it aloud. There is a kind of clarity in having said it; things can hardly get any worse. They probably won't kill her. Third circle wizards, even mediocre ones, are a substantial investment. But they will hurt her more than anyone has ever bothered to before, because it is a heretical question on three different levels and an insubordinate one on six.

He captures her knight and crushes it to dust in his fist. "You were supposed to go over his head, and if you couldn't locate the sense to do that, you were supposed to not lie to his commanding officer when asked directly about it. Just the same way as if I start acting like I've been suborned by a succubus you are supposed to go to the next fort and get someone to contain me, not wait around until my commanding officer swings by for a surprise inspection and cover for a mistake that could get us all dragged into the Abyss. I have, Sevar, so little tolerance on mistakes that could get my whole fort dragged to the Abyss. How often will a whole fort turn on one foolishly prepared second-circle spell? Seldom. Not never. We operate on thin margins. They're not so thin we can't supply the forts with whores. Little though it occasionally seems like it you represent someone's earnest attempt at an education and I expect you to put it to operational use."

Go over his head and say what? That it made her sad? That's a toddler's complaint. That it was making her work slower? Any reasonable person would observe that she could just continue to do her job even if she did not like it. You are not, actually, supposed to go running to the fort's commander any time a man demands to fuck you and any reasonable fort commander would be furious with you if you did. Everyone does it and the commander would have absolutely no time in which to do his job if he had to field whining over it and if she had whined to him he would have completely reasonably and correctly told her to get over herself.

She does not say any of this. 

"I prepared Alter Self without permission on three occasions."