‘Two of them,’ I say. And when she doesn’t answer, I say, ‘What?’

‘I don’t like people giving me things.’

She means she doesn’t like me giving her things, though at least she hasn’t thrown her kerchief away. Even wears it sometimes. I hang up a pair of stockings and a shirt. Blackthorn’s still standing there, staring at me and the washing line. ‘You mean the kerchief?’ I ask. ‘Which one?’

Blackthorn takes her time answering. ‘The one you didn’t buy at the fair,’ she says, coming down the steps.

That day comes back to me, the trip over to Silverlake, the load of flour, the red kerchief under the sacks on the cart. Out of place. But it’s out of place here, too. The one I got at the fair is in Blackthorn’s hands right now, clean and folded. Last time I saw her wearing it was the day Prince Oran and his man Donagan dropped in, the day she made sure she wasn’t home.

‘Found it on Scannal’s cart one day when I got back from a delivery,’ I tell her. ‘He said it wasn’t his. Thought it must be yours. Thought I must have had it in my pocket, from the last wash. Or snagged on my cloak.’ Sounds far-fetched to me, and her face tells me she thinks so too. Though if I was giving her another kerchief I’d pick one in a different colour. Green would look nice on her.

‘Mm-hm.’

‘All over flour, so I put it in the washing pile.’ I remember why I didn’t tell her. That was the day the girl drowned in Dreamer’s Pool. The day Blackthorn had to look after the prince’s lady. She had enough of a tale to tell, without mine on top of it. ‘Would have said. Slipped my mind.’

‘Mm-hm.’ That’s all she’s got to say, so I hang up the rest of the wash, and after a bit she goes back inside. It’s only when I’m all finished that I take a look at the kerchief on the line, and I see it’s not the same as the other one after all.

19 Oran

19

~ORAN~

Donagan did not come back to sleep in the antechamber. Our old friendship, the easy way we had been with each other for so long, was entirely gone. He behaved exactly as a superior kind of serving man behaves, performing his duties to perfection, setting not a foot wrong. He said only what was required to ensure I was washed, brushed and where I was supposed to be. He was cool. Distant.