Chapter 19
Rarely did Reynlet nervousness eat at her since leaving Moial. When she had first traveled abroad, she had been too excited to be nervous. In Vairain, she had dived into establishing herself in the social heart of the court and abandoned her wallflower ways without hesitation. In Daalj, she had relished becoming Lady Celedra’s rival and usurping her popularity.
Since coming to Lhanaperi, she had felt at home among the members of the Forty Families. She still curated her personality to match the situations she was in, but while she wore masks, they were all accurate representations of who she really was—simply not all of who she was. She didn’t fear meeting new people or worry that she wouldn’t make a good impression. Even with all the uncertainties because of her lure and her doubts about how she spent her time, Reyn enjoyed the social whirl.
Yet here she was, waiting for Velario, as nervous and worried as she so often had been back at court in Moial, for the second day in a row. Even if the events of the previous evening hadn’t confounded all her expectations, she should have realized the flaw in her plan. She could insist that they both understood what their relationship was and was not all she wanted. It might even be true.
However, she hadn’t considered that she did not know how to behave around someone she had slept with.
Both previous times, she had left the country shortly after she slept with someone. Reyn knew how to flirt. She knew how to tell a man she had no intention of doing anything beyond kissing. She did not know how to look one in the eye after having sex with him. And she not only had to look Velario in the eye that afternoon, she had to cling to him and give the impression that she was falling in love.
She had to let a bit of the genuine attraction she felt for him loose, without making the mistake of thinking that their act was anything more than an act. Because it wasn’t. Velario was handsome and skilled in the bedroom, but he didn’t like her. She refused to like him as a consequence.
Reyn replayed his hurtful words from the night of the opera in her mind. It was enough—barely—to allow her to greet him without echoes from the evening before interfering.
He had no trouble greeting her. “I found a new lead yesterday. We are off to a textile warehouse today.”
Reyn slipped her arm through his, walking closer than necessary, as had become habit during their ruse. Today she felt every place their bodies touched like a brand, though her mantelet and his greatcoat added to the layers separating skin from skin. She shivered and hoped he thought it nothing more than a reaction to the chilly air.
“Perhaps I should have worn my cloak. It is colder than I expected for the middle of the afternoon.”
“Do you want to go back and change?”
“No,” Reyn said quickly. “I’ll be fine. Tell me about our plans this afternoon. What is our excuse to visit a warehouse? It isn’t a usual shopping destination.”
“No, but Family Ferrini distributes some of our silks through this particular warehouse. So you are about to choose a bolt of the finest silk to send to your modiste.”
It took Reyn a moment longer than usual to find the proper way to tease Velario. She felt her lure activate—she was getting better at sensing it, if not controlling it—as she spoke and knew she sounded as light-hearted as usual. “Only one bolt? After a fight, I believe a suitor is meant to shower his beloved in gifts. Stinginess does not win forgiveness.”
“I thought you already forgave me?”
“No, I accepted your apology. There is a world of difference.”
“There’s also a difference between a bolt of silk and a bolt of Ferrini silk. Such a gift is hardly stingy.”
Reyn had seen the price of Ferrini silk before and had admired Selona’s gowns. Velario wasn’t exaggerating. A bolt of such fabric was actually an extravagant present. But as much as he liked to complain, Velario had never hesitated to spend money on Reyn over the course of their subterfuge.
And though she teased him about being a penny-pincher, Reyn felt uncomfortable with the largesse. When she accepted his gifts, as her role dictated, did he see her as nothing more than a greedy social climber? Maybe she should claim that nothing appealed when they visited the warehouse, so that he didn’t feel the need to give her a bolt of silk in exchange for her looking at a few banknotes.
But a bolt of Ferrini silk. Reyn didn’t know if she could be altruistic enough to forgo such an opportunity. Besides, if she claimed nothing appealed, Velario would take it as an insult to his Family. She’d have to accept the silk.
When they arrived at the warehouse, Velario escorted her to the area filled with fine silks and excused himself to talk business while she browsed. She wondered how he planned to look at the banknotes changing hands in the warehouse without arousing suspicion, but left him to it. She was too captivated by the embossed and embroidered silks to devise a subterfuge herself.
Reyn lost track of time admiring the bold colors and intricate patterns of the cloth surrounding her. She had circled back around to her favorite, a deep teal covered in embroidered birds and leaves in a thread a single shade paler, when Velario returned.
He stood next to her and looked at the fabric that had caught her eye. “It’s the same color as your eyes. I’m not sure I should let you get a gown made of this; I’ll have to fight off everyone who sees you in it.”
“Competition encourages growth.” Reyn said primly.
“Well, it’s not like men aren’t chasing after you already. And I want to see you in a ballgown made of Ferrini silk, so I suppose we’d better go take care of the bureaucratic details. If we want the silk to get to the right shop, I need to do the paperwork.”
Reyn nodded. She couldn’t do anything else, not after the look Velario had given her when he said he wanted to see her in Ferrini silk. That wasn’t the look of a man putting on an act. That was the look of a man who had brought her to climax multiple times and taken his own pleasure inside of her. A look that said he didn’t want to see her in the ballgown; he wanted to peel her out of the ballgown.
Heavens help her, she wanted to let him.
For the first time, such a look left Reyn floundering. She had hated the attention back in Moial, where a single smile might see her rushed into a wedding. In Vairain, the looks from men gave her a thrill. Then she let Pedon do more than look, and the thrill never was enough to overcome that disappointment again. Until now. Now the heat in Velario’s eyes kindled a matching conflagration in her.
She fought it down. They had conducted an experiment, nothing more. It wouldn’t happen again. Velario might be physically attracted to her, but she wanted the respect of her next lover, too. She needed to know he wanted her for more than her lure. For more than her body, too.
