At this, Lisbet glances to Eren, crouching in the shadows. His gaze is downcast, and he is so still he might have become stone himself.

Nethe stops pacing. Her chest heaves. ‘I think you understand.’

‘It is impossible,’ croaks Lisbet. ‘You must not do this.’

‘We are chaste,’ says Ida, in a small voice. Lisbet snorts mirthlessly. ‘Believe me. I know the risk we take by even being seen together, but our love is chaste, Bet. It is the best we can do. I cannot be without her.’

She begins to cry openly, and Lisbet’s already fading resolve vanishes. ‘Don’t cry,’ she says. ‘Oh, Ida, why did you not tell me?’

‘For all the reasons you fear. If Alef were to find out . . .’ She shudders. ‘I did not want you to join us in the lie.’

‘But if you are truly chaste, then it is friendship. They cannot damn you for that.’

‘Of course they can,’ says Ida. ‘Alef will never believe it. He will wring my neck, and the law will allow it. Not that he will let anyone know he is a cuckold.’

It is Lisbet’s turn to shiver. She knows Plater would not hesitate to do violence to any of them. The true darkness of his punishment for Ida comes to her: his possession of her is torture. He sent the woman he wished to marry into silence, kept the woman she loved in a sort of purgatory.

Lisbet rubs her friend’s arm. ‘What should your children think, if you were exposed?’

‘She is Ida, too,’ says Nethe. ‘Not only a wife, not only a mother.’

‘I am not saying—’ Lisbet drives her palms into her temples. ‘This is all in circles. All I am saying is this cannot continue. The dancing, for all to see.’

‘I know,’ says Ida, in a tiny voice. ‘We know. We have nowhere else to go.’

The words rise before Lisbet can swallow them down.

‘Here,’ says Lisbet. ‘If it is true you are chaste, and only friends.’

Blinking away her tears, Ida nods. ‘It is, Lisbet. I swear it.’

‘Then we can meet here, together.’

Astonished silence greets her words. Lisbet herself cannot believe she has spoken them.

‘You are sure?’ Nethe’s voice is hoarse with excitement.

Slowly, Lisbet nods. ‘There must be one place safe for you. I would not have you discovered. And it is a dance tree, after all.’

Nethe whoops, and Ida’s face comes alight with joy.

‘But you must not touch anything, and cover over the path with brambles. And you must not tell a soul.’

She looks at Nethe as she says this, and knows she understands her to mean about Eren, as well as the tree. Nethe nods, and holds out her scarred hand to help Lisbet to her feet.

Nethe places into her hand the pebble, and Lisbet drops it gently back beneath the ribbons. She watches them sway in a slight breeze, the sightless stars beyond. They are bound up in each other’s secrets now, bonded tight as roots to earth.