I was Tansy, and the wine on my dress had dried into a stiff red edge.
The corridor was cold and empty, and my shoes clicked too loud on the stone.
Prince Lucan stood at the far window with a cup in his hand. He did not look like he drank it.
His eyes came down the hall and landed on me like a hand.
Lucan: You left my coat on a chair.
Tansy: It was never on my shoulders. Let it keep itself warm.
Lucan: Most women in this palace would wear it and smile.
Tansy: Most women in this palace would wear a leash and call it jewelry.
He laughed, low. I felt it in my chest like a missed step on stairs.
I walked past him without hurrying. Hurrying would have told him something.
He said nothing at all behind me, and that was somehow louder.
My door was not shut.
It stood a finger's width open, and the dark inside felt wrong.
Oriane sat on my bed with my chest open beside her and the pin in her hand.
Oriane: Briar gray, and rider's silver. How strange.
I stood in the doorway and felt my heart go small and hard, like a fist closing.
Tansy: Get off my bed.
Oriane: Your bed. You say that like you paid for it.
Oriane: A rider's pin, in a Briar girl's chest. Do you know what the queen does with liars?
Tansy: She keeps them close. You are still here.
She turned the pin over, slow, the way you turn a key you have not found yet.
Oriane: There is writing on the back.
Tansy: It was my father's.
Tansy: House Briar keeps what it has. Give it here.
Oriane: Your father rode dragons, did he?
Tansy: My father is dead. The pin is what is left of him.
Her green eyes went over my face like a hand searching pockets for coins.
Then she smiled. It was a small, pleased, patient smile.
Oriane: Then keep your father's silver.
She dropped it into my palm, and her nails scraped me on purpose.
Oriane: We are going to be such good friends, Tansy of Briar.
She left the door open behind her, so the whole corridor could see my mess.
I stood there with the pin in my fist until my palm hurt.
She had not read the name. She would.
A secret is a weapon. A weapon is a debt.
I hid Ferris's pin in my boot, and I slept badly.
Deep under the floor, the dragon pit made a long low sound, and I felt it in my teeth.