Chapter 26
The dance ended, and Reyn stepped away from her partner with a touch more haste than necessary. She enjoyed dancing with Giorden and didn’t mind his conversation, either, but Velario had made it to the ball at a reasonable hour and she wanted to entice him into a stroll around the Somera’s gardens now that he had been seen dancing. It was chilly enough tonight that the gardens were sure to be deserted, but Reyn knew Velario would keep her warm.
Giorden didn’t release the hand he had gripped during the dance. “Walk with me, Lady Reyn?”
She knew dozens of ways to decline an invitation like this one without giving offense, but Reyn used none of them. Since Selona had engineered his dance with Lady Jianna, Giorden hadn’t looked twice at another woman. He had a reason to pull her from the dance floor. A legitimate reason. He had to.
Reyn glanced around once, but Velario was on the far side of the ballroom, and Jianna was nowhere in sight.
Giorden noticed her hesitation. He leaned in close and whispered, “We only need a few minutes of your time. Then I’ll personally escort you to Velario’s side. Please.”
It was the “we” rather than the “please” that convinced Reyn to go with Giorden. She let him lead her out of the ballroom and through corridors that were not open to the evening’s guests. When they reached an office at the back of the house, she wasn’t surprised to see Lady Jianna waiting.
“You wished to speak with me privately, my lady?” Reyn wondered if it had anything to do with the counterfeiting. Jianna was in the thick of the legal and political fallout from the Sablon Family’s treason.
Jianna stood, clasping her hands in front of her. “I have a favor to ask you, Lady Reyn.”
“What can I do for you?”
Giorden wandered over to the fireplace, making it clear that he was not a part of this conversation, no matter his role in bringing Reyn to the room.
Jianna watched him, her lips tilting up a fraction before she looked back at Reyn. “A forged contract for Family Velassi goods has come to my attention. I need to know if the forger is my agent or his Cysian counterpart.”
Reyn blinked. “What is the favor you want from me, Lady Jianna?”
“I have the forged contract and correspondence from both men. I am hoping you can tell me which one is the culprit.”
“I am happy to take a look, of course, but I don’t know why you think I can help you.”
Jianna chuckled. “Lady Reyn, I have inspected the counterfeit banknotes. Even after being told what to look for, with side-by-side comparisons, I can hardly identify them. If you can spot the forgeries as easily as I’ve been told, then you will have no problem spotting similarities between the contract and one of the letters I have.”
Jianna didn’t wait for a response. She walked over to the desk and picked up three sheets of paper. “Here.”
Reyn followed the other woman to the desk. The lamp in the corner would make it easier to notice any similarities. If she even could.
Reyn scrutinized the contract and letters. If the same hand had written two of the pieces in front of her, it wasn’t obvious. Some attempt had been made to disguise the handwriting. Or Jianna had missed a suspect. Reyn looked closer at the contract. She knew nothing about forgery, but she noticed that the letters were all even, the ink heavy on each one rather than thickening and thinning.
“Do you have a genuine contract I could inspect as well?”
Jianna walked around the desk and opened a drawer. Either she was extremely comfortable in Giorden’s home—leaving sensitive documents in his desk—or she had anticipated the need for this contract, too.
Reyn looked at the contract and knew at once it hadn’t been written by the same person as the forgery. But the forger had imitated that handwriting. She looked closer at the two contracts, noticing the subtle differences beyond the flow of ink. Having identified a few characteristics unique to the forged contract, she looked back at the letters. She tapped one. “This one.”
Jianna looked at the letter she had indicated and pursed her lips.
“I can’t be certain.” Reyn needed to make that clear. “But I see a similarity in how this writer crosses letters. They all go right to left at the same angle. I could be completely wrong, though. How many people cross letters in that exact manner? But if the culprit is one of these two writers, then it is this one.”
“Thank you, Lady Reyn. I appreciate your help. I won’t interrupt your evening any further.”
Giorden was suddenly there. He kissed Jianna and whispered something in her ear, then turned back to Reyn. “I’ll escort you back to the ballroom.”
She waited for Jianna to look up from the letters once more. “I am glad I could help you. If you ever need my eye in the future . . .”
Reyn wasn’t sure how to end the sentence. How much longer would she even be in Lhanaperi? And why would the heir to one of the Forty Families need to seek her out more than once? Reyn noticed details, but she knew nothing of forgery. She might have come to the completely wrong conclusion about the contract.
And yet, scanning the documents had given her a sense of purpose. The same feeling she had when identifying the counterfeit banknotes for Velario.
“I’ll remember.” Jianna told her.
