"Damn it." Inara Tillock let the spell drop immediately, but given the way the woman had suddenly looked up, the dwarf had clearly been aware of it. It only remained to be seen whether or not she would say anything to her cousin Dan, and whether or not he would believe her.
She'd been very proud of the arrangement she'd made: a pair of identical pictures, painted by the same artist, on canvas cut from the same sheet and using the same pigments. The painting she'd gifted to her cousin was nothing more than a seascape, a picture of a storm-tossed ship fighting its way on. All the enchantments had been laid on its twin, which sat in her office.
The arrangement was meant to minimize the chance of discovery; it was foul luck indeed that she'd happened to trigger it when someone happened to be actively detecting magic. What were the odds? They had to be minuscule. Dan certainly hadn't noticed, but given that he was usually making deals -- or, on one memorable occasion, one of his clerks -- he was generally pretty distracted when she looked in.
She'd have to be careful when looking in on him next. If he did become aware of the painting, he might remove it -- or destroy it. He might also decide to stage a scene or two, to throw her off track. On the other hand, she had to consider the possibility that the dwarf simply wouldn't mention it; she might not want to admit that she was using Detect Magic during their meeting, after all, and even if she didn't mind that she might not have figured out what was going on. This might only have been a near-miss.
It didn't matter too much either way. She already had all the blackmail material she could ever need; if her cousin stepped out of line, she could bring him right back in. Keeping tabs on his deals was satisfying, but ultimately unnecessary. Being caught at it would be nothing more than a minor embarrassment; it wasn't like she used the same trick for every merchant she cared to spy on, after all.
With a small sigh, Inara Tillock went back to work.