Chapter 22: Joanna Confronts Lord Renly Barrow

The morning after Aria told her, Joanna slept until seven o'clock, dressed herself without her maid, and wrote two letters. The first was to her mother, which she sealed without reading back. The second was to Lord Renly Barrow, which she read back twice, changed nothing, and sealed with equal care. It requested, in language of perfect courtesy, the favour of a private interview at his earliest convenience. It gave no reason. It did not need to.

Lord Renly's earliest convenience proved to be half past ten, which told Joanna something. A man with a clear conscience would have written back with a time two days hence. A man who suspected something would have arranged it for the same afternoon, immediately, before she could speak to anyone else. Half past ten suggested a man who had spent an uncomfortable evening attempting to determine, precisely, what she knew.

She received his reply at breakfast without expression, folded it once, and placed it beside her teacup.