I feel that you missed a chance for a bit of setting by condensing the location as 'Just inside the castle'. A sentence or two to describe an audience hall, perhaps contrasting it to Josette's musings from earlier, would not have gone amiss.
'Peel of laughter' -> 'Peal of laughter'.
I realise that your non-usage of contractions is probably intentional, but the dialogue between Nicolette and Alexander comes across as somewhat stilted. It also leaves me unclear as to how Theodore and Josephine are related to the speakers. You missed a chance to inject a dose of setting via your choice of words - for example, Nicolette's "Heavens" might have better been served, in Salvar, as "Sway" (if not aligned with the Church, perhaps "Thaynes" or something similar).
I should point out that, if a quotation begins in the middle of a sentence when the sentence itself has already begun, the first word of the quote is capitalised: 'Excitement lit her amber eyes at the thought, and she added, "what is she like?"' should be '... and she added, "What is she like?"'. You also used 'she added' twice in two sentences here!
'Hired on' -> the 'on' is unnecessary, made me re-read the sentence twice ><.