"No I'm gonna!" Lyra insisted quickly, cuz saying it out loud would bully herself into actually doing it. "I'm gonna..."
There was no kidding herself; no use hesitating, it would only stress Rosario out, and she was already looking at her weird. Lyra pressed her thumb between her fingers, up against the ring, hand swallowed up by the sleeve. "On New Year's day— night, really, a bit before midnight— the night we won all this— me and Ave— we got married."
Please don't be mad at me, she added, silently, too intent on watching Rosario's reaction to even take the bottle of Dutch courage (of Russian tsarina courage) from her.