"– The note?" he guesses. "I was – uh – busy."

She nods. 

"It would have told you to meet with Lord Grosvenor so that he could explain the situation to you. As I can more easily move about without drawing attention, I was sent on his behalf." 

"I apologize for… missing the meeting," he tries.

"You are almost certainly not to blame," the raven reassures him.

"From Lord Grosvenor's account of events, it seems that you simply did not have an opportunity to read the note unobserved, a known flaw in this method of communication. However, since we have now made contact, I can explain to you the parts of the situation about which you have been left uninformed.

"To begin with," she says, voice dropping to a hoarse whisper, "Marcella is not the rightful ruler of Wonderland."

Uh-huh.

He opts to say: "… No?"

"No. She came to power through the use of magic, which she used to overthrow the previous king and eliminate his heirs," she explains.

"I represent a group of people who believe that this state of affairs should not be allowed to continue, and would like to request that you do not give Marcella any information which she could leverage to strengthen her position further, even if you have no desire to work with us directly." 

Pause. "I'm not sure what information she'd find most useful – or what information I could pass off as being interesting that isn't. And she did try getting quite a lot out of me earlier."