I was Lucan, and the selection hall smelled of hot wax and cold perfume.
Every noble daughter in the room had practiced her smile in a mirror. I could tell by the way the smiles all leaned the same way.
Vessa: They kneel when you pass. Let them kneel.
Her fingers dug into my sleeve, gentle as a nail.
The herald said my name, and the hall went down like a wave.
Silk sighed. Knees found stone. It was the same sound every year.
Oriane: Your Highness honors us.
She said it like a song. She had sung it to somebody else last year.
I nodded. My face did the polite thing without me.
Then I saw the gray dress at the end of the row.
Everyone was on the floor. She was not.
It bothered me. Not the insult. The fact that she was not even trying to hide it.
A woman who wanted a crown would be on her knees with the rest.
So I walked the line, slow, the way my mother liked.
I stopped in front of her. Close enough to see her breathe.
Up close she was plain. Gray wool, worn boots, no jewels.
There was a raw red line across her palm, like she had argued with a knife and lost.
Lucan: You did not kneel.
Tansy: I did not.
Lucan: Are you always this rude?
Tansy: Yes.
No apology. No flutter of the eyes. Just the word, flat as a coin on a table.
The hall had gone quiet in that careful way, the way a room goes quiet when someone is about to be made an example.
My mother was smiling. Her smiles were the worst weather in the palace.
Lucan: Your name, then. Since you have decided to be interesting.
Tansy: Briar. House Briar.
She said it smooth. Too smooth. There was a clerk's little mark beside that name in the ledger, and I remembered it now.
Tansy: House Briar has poor knees, Your Highness. We save them for work.
Somebody behind her breathed out too fast. It was almost a laugh.
I leaned in, just enough. I wanted to see if she would move.
She did not. My heart did something stupid and unhelpful.
Lucan: Try to keep it up. The court gets bored.
Tansy: Then the court and I have something in common.
I should have forgotten her by dinner. Noble daughters blur together like coins in a purse.
Instead I kept hearing that flat yes.
I wanted to see her again. That was a bad sign for both of us.