Chapter 13
Reyn was bored. Outside of Moial, she had never been bored at a ball before. Balls had dancing. Men to flirt with. Women to laugh with. And Reyn enjoyed all those activities when her mother wasn’t watching her from the corner, ready to pounce on any hint of partiality.
But tonight, she found the activities less than diverting. After days spent with Velario, it felt odd to watch her words and censor her opinions. Even dancing felt insufficient, for the conversation accompanying the steps was lackluster.
Reyn demurred when Lord Arvin asked her to dance and went to find people she felt comfortable around, who accepted her for herself—or as much of herself as she revealed to them. She scanned the room, but Selona was dancing, as were Alenna, Danten, Lisca, and Khiran.
Off the dance floor, she spotted Giorden. He was with Lady Jianna, however, whom Reyn did not know well enough to forego her masks around. She moved along the wall, hoping a different angle would reveal Fideo—he wouldn’t be dancing, at least.
She didn’t see him anywhere, so Reyn tried her luck with Giorden and Lady Jianna. Even if she didn’t know Jianna well, she at least knew that the Velassi heir was nothing like her Sablon counterpart, Lord Enzi. Reyn might have to temper her personality, but she wouldn’t have to choose between maintaining her popularity or her moral integrity speaking with Jianna.
“Good evening, Giorden, Lady Jianna. Why aren’t you on the dance floor? You two look splendid together when you waltz.”
Jianna shrugged and moved a little closer to Giorden. “I can only stand to spin about the room so many times in one evening. Why aren’t you dancing, Lady Reyn?”
“The best partners were already claimed.” Reyn was careful when she said the words. Not only did she smile and look only at Jianna, she focused on everything she had practiced with Khiran, trying to ensure none of her lure leaked out when she spoke. The last thing she needed was Giorden offering to dance with her and making Jianna jealous.
“Is Velario not coming tonight?” Giorden asked, slipping an arm around Jianna’s waist.
Good, she must have stopped her lure correctly. “He had some business to take care of—he always does—but he promised to come.”
“What did you have to do to extract that promise?” Jianna raised an eyebrow. “Lord Velario is not usually swayed by pillow talk, from what I have heard.”
Reyn glanced from side to side and leaned in. “I find he is more amenable when we are nowhere near any pillows.”
She made her reply almost without thinking. Jianna’s assumption that she and Velario were lovers did not surprise her—it was the impression they were trying to give after all. Reyn’s mother would be appalled at the thought that being lovers went hand in hand with courting, but it was expected in Lhanaperi. What Reyn was not prepared for was her reaction to the thought of Velario with other lovers.
She wasn’t jealous. But she was curious. What did he look for in a lover? He had hated her at first sight. From what she had heard, he had never courted anyone, only taken casual lovers. She wondered if he avoided anyone who might get close enough to make him prioritize anything over his work or if he had simply never come across anyone who stirred more in him than physical attraction.
Giorden chortled.
Jianna smirked. “Good for you, Lady Reyn. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are distracting him. I think he needs your style of distraction.”
Reyn frowned. Jianna was from one of the other Elector Families, but supposedly not a true rival of Velario’s like Enzi. Her comment could be genuine advice, or a trick to get Reyn to interfere with Velario’s work. If it was a trick, Reyn could rest easy, for she was in no danger of distracting him. But if it was advice, it had the ring of a warning behind it. Reyn decided she’d better check.
With Giorden and Jianna, she could play at being confused. “Are people claiming I’m a distraction?”
“It’s just jealousy,” Giorden assured her.
But Jianna shook her head. “A few of the whispers I’ve heard are more than that.”
She narrowed her eyes at Reyn, who immediately dropped her baffled expression. The Velassi heir was willing to offer insight to the Ferrinis, through Reyn. Now was not the time to downplay her intelligence. “What have you heard, Lady Jianna?”
“That Lord Velario was entrusted with oversight of the banks at too young an age. That he is not committed enough to ensure Lhanaperi prospers. And that he is too easily distracted by a woman with mercenary motives.”
Reyn pursed her lips. “I can hardly credit that anyone believes Velario is not committed to his work at the bank.” She wanted to ask more, but a crowded ballroom was not the place. Reyn let a bit of mischievousness enter her tone. “Tell me, am I supposedly after Vel for his money or his title?”
“Lady Reyn,” Giorden said with mock seriousness, “no one doubts your ability to be after both.”
“What a relief. I’d hate to be thought so shallow that I only care about one or the other.”
“Are people calling you shallow, Reyn?” Lisca asked, wandering over with Khiran after their dance. She nodded at the others, then turned back to Reyn. “I hope you used that eyelash flutter on them, if so. I know better, but when you do that,Istill think you must have nothing in your head but flirting. How do you manage it?”
Reyn fluttered her lashes at Lisca, tilting her head at a precisely calculated angle and letting her eyes go soft. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Jianna laughed. “Oh, that is impressive.”
Reyn noticed Khiran’s expression, though, and wondered what he had sensed from her. She certainly hadn’t been trying to use her lure, and she hadn’t felt it, but she generally didn’t. Something about his expression made her think he had sensed something more than the standard lure she occasionally summoned during their lessons.
