"You are plenty loose," she says, encouragingly. "You're wearing a costume! You let me put a flower – a purple flower – behind your ear! You kissed me in public! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Reverend Daughter."

She leans to kiss, not Harrow's mouth, but her cheek, softly, like a knight greeting her maiden. "Would I love you if you were a tyrant, fool?" she asks, so that only Harrow can hear. "Does that seem like a Gideon Nav thing to do?"