Chapter 4
Selona, despite beingbusy doing whatever it was Velario deemed so important at the bank, made plenty of time for Reyn. She brought her around to all the best spots to socialize and introduced her to everyone. By the time Reyn was outfitted for a Lhanaperan ball and Selona received an invitation she deemed worthy of accepting, Reyn felt comfortable among the Forty Families.
She didn’t need Selona to stay by her side at the ball.
“I’ll be fine, Selona.”
“But it’s your first ball here in Tryn. What kind of friend would I be if I abandoned you?”
“The best kind. I know you want to enjoy yourself. Your cousin has been working you to the bone. You don’t need to hover over me. You can find your distraction, and I’ll find my own.”
“Vel has been in a beastly mood of late. You’re sure you don’t want me to make the rounds and introduce you?”
“You’ve already introduced me to most everyone here, Selona. Go. I see Giorden over by the refreshments, with no lady by his side.”
Selona looked over and smiled. “He really shouldn’t be left to his own devices, should he?”
Reyn laughed. Giorden was the younger son of Lord and Lady Somera, with thick dark hair, deep blue eyes, and an almost constant bevy of ladies in his vicinity. She pushed Selona toward him. “Go.”
Selona gave Reyn one more careful look, then went. Reyn watched her friend sidle up to Giorden and waited until he asked her out onto the dance floor before turning away. She had her own plans for the evening.
Reyn scanned the crowded ballroom, looking for a fitting person to use for her experiment. Though her true friends were all women, she always found it easier to connect with men. She flourished among the opposite sex.
Based on the little they could figure out about her weak, inconsistent lure, Lisca and Khiran thought this made sense. She flirted with men, and while flirting, she unconsciously amplified the lure. Khiran had suggested observing the effect she had on the women in the vicinity while she flirted to get a better understanding of how powerful her lure became. The men’s responses might have nothing to do with magic, but she should be able to recognize if the women were being influenced. It had never occurred to her to analyze how women reacted to her while she flirted with the men.
Khiran guessed that her lure was stronger than anything she had managed while pretending to flirt with him based on her descriptions of past interactions. Strong enough to affect multiple people.
She spotted the perfect man to focus her attention on standing by the balcony doors. Fideo came from a minor branch of Family Dachsi, but was welcomed as often as people with far more influence because of his genial manner. She would actually enjoy chatting with him. And she would no doubt end up in a crowd of people, men and women alike.
Reyn made her way over to him. “Master Fideo, what a pleasure seeing you here. You are not dancing?”
Fideo grinned. “My attendance at balls comes with the tacit understanding that future invitations will only come my way if I do not step on the dance floor.”
“Your dancing cannot be that horrible, I’m sure.”
“My partners’ three broken toes say otherwise.”
“Three?”
“Don’t worry, while I am a terrible dancer, I’m not as dense as it sounds. The first time, I only broke one of my partner’s toes. When I dared to try again, I managed to break two toes of the next lady who stood up with me. I wouldn’t want to try again and break some woman’s entire foot.”
Reyn plucked at her skirts and kicked out her left foot. She wore heeled dancing shoes, with embroidered silk stretching across her toes. She flexed her foot and gauged how closely Fideo watched the movement. “I suppose women’s footwear does not offer much protection. Perhaps you could try if your partner dressed for riding?”
Before Fideo tore his gaze away from her ankle, another man inserted himself into their conversation.
“Don’t let this oaf talk you into a dance, Lady Reyn.”
“Lord Arvin, surely you know Master Fideo is so honest that he informed me of the dangers himself?”
Reyn wondered if Arvin’s presence would ruin her lure experiment or cause an even greater surge of power. She found him conceited, condescending, and crass, and that was after only thirty minutes in his company at a crowded park. She would have given him the benefit of the doubt and allowed that first impressions were not always accurate, but Selona had assured her that he only grew worse the better you knew him.
The thing was, when around annoying, loathsome people, Reyn always redoubled her efforts to be charming. If that desire to look even better in comparison—and to ensure that any cutting remarks brought no censure—went hand-in-hand with an increase of her lure, then she should rejoice at Arvin’s presence.
Especially since he was the heir to his Family. Even the most minor of the Forty Families was a force to be reckoned with in Lhanaperi, and bachelor heirs had the attendant flocks of women around them. Indeed, it only took a few minutes before a crowd of women joined Reyn, Fideo, and Arvin.
Reyn settled into her role for the evening. She smiled, giggled, and looked at men through lowered lashes. She played the gentlemen off each other—a touch of her fan here, a coy look there—letting them block their rivals from demanding more than she wanted to give. It took concentration and effort, for her every move was calculated.
She wondered if she ever did anything besides play a role in company these days. In Moial, she hadn’t played a role so much as suppressed herself, not wanting to draw attention under her mother’s eyes. Then she had traveled to Vairain and become the friendly, curious gossip. When she and Merine had moved onto Daalj, Reyn had served as a distraction and competition for Lady Celedra. Now, she didn’t know who she wanted to be.
