Chapter 27
Reyn regarded theletter in front of her as though it were a prophecy of doom.
Selona looked up from her book. “What’s wrong?”
“This is a letter from my mother,” Reyn told her friend, waving the offending piece of paper in the air. “That’s what is wrong.”
“She doesn’t want you to return home yet, does she? Oh, please say that isn’t the reason for your scowl.”
“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Your mother told her about Velario. I thought you said Princess Biatra wouldn’t worry my mother over seeing me with a man.”
“She wouldn’t have reported a fling or a night of flirting. But that’s not what’s been going on between you and Vel. She was bound to report his courtship.”
Reyn groaned. “If I don’t announce an engagement within the next few weeks, Mama will demand I return posthaste, afraid I’m up to no good.”
“Up to no good?”
She sighed. Selona knew of the restrictions Moialan women lived under, but she had never internalized them. “If Mama knows I’ve been spending so much time with Velario, but that I don’t expect a proposal, she’ll start worrying about what I am doing with him in private. I have no Moialan chaperone to safeguard my virtue here, and while Mama trusts Princess Biatra, I fear this will be too much for her.”
“But when my mother next writes and reports that the courtship ended, yours will stop worrying, right?”
“It’s not that simple,” Reyn informed her friend. “First, if she thought a suitor had jilted me, Mama might bring me home fearing I am brokenhearted. Second, for your mother to report that the courtship ended, Velario and I would have to stop spending time together, feeding the rumors.”
“I know you are still helping him track down the last of the counterfeits, but he can’t need your help for much longer. A few more days won’t make that much a difference, will they?”
Reyn looked at her friend from the corner of her eye. Neither she nor Velario had told Selona that their ruse was no longer a ruse. Reyn was too happy enjoying her time with Velario to want to dissect it as she knew Selona would insist on. She didn’t know what had kept Velario from sharing. Perhaps he didn’t discuss such things with his cousin. Maybe he thought Reyn would want to handle it. Maybe he thought it wasn’t worth mentioning, since their new relationship, whatever it was, would be short-lived.
She hesitated too long. Selona pointed at her. “You aren’t faking anything with Vel! And you didn’t tell me. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know what to tell you,” Reyn admitted. “Just like I don’t know what to tell my mother.”
Selona huffed out a breath. “I object to being lumped into the same category as anyone’s mother. You know you can tell me these things. And why are you worried about your mother? If your relationship is real now, what is the problem?”
“I’ve explained my mother to you, Selona. She will expect an engagement any day now.”
“I’m sure that between us, Mama, Lisca, and I can bring Velario up to scratch before your mother begins to worry.”
Reyn blinked. She would have expected such a comment from her mother, not Selona. “Who says Velario and I want to marry?”
“You said it isn’t fake anymore.”
“So? Just because I am sleeping with him doesn’t mean we are planning the rest of our lives together. You are the one who insists that not every relationship needs to be about true love and happily ever afters.”
“Youaresleeping with him! I knew it!”
“Selona,” Reyn snapped. “Focus. I have to find a way to stall my mother, because unlike what you and she both assume, I don’t foresee a marriage in my immediate future.”
Nor would Reyn let herself hope for one. She liked Velario, and she liked their current relationship. She wouldn’t ruin anything by expecting more. Why shouldn’t she enjoy the moment?
She wanted more than a moment, though. Not just with Velario, but with the life she was building in Lhanaperi. She understood her magic. Moreover, Reyn had found something she wanted to do with her life beyond shop and flirt. The former forger had said she was a natural at identifying counterfeit documents. He joked that it was a good thing the Forty Families hadn’t had her around before he reformed. If Reyn stayed in Tryn, she could start her own business helping the Families identify forged papers.
If she stayed in Tryn, maybe her relationship with Velario never had to change, either.
Selona’s grin slipped. “But why not? I know I encouraged you to have some fun, but that’s not what this is with Velario, is it? I mean, I could have sworn you were in love with him.”
Reyn crossed her arms. “What do you mean?”
“Velario is the only man you are ever yourself with, Reyn. You never held him at arm’s length, hiding behind your flirting. If anything, you challenged him with your flirting from the beginning.”
