In the place she’d seen him die.
The door creaked open. Gigi stood on the threshold with a cup of hot chocolate in each hand. The worry on her face turned to wonder and then to grief. “Your dress came.”
“What do you think?” Selene tried to hide the bitterness and dismay with a twirl.
“It’s perfect.” Gigi leaned against the door frame, favoring her injured hip.
“A perfect waste.” Selene bit the inside of her cheek until the welling of tears was replaced with the welling of blood.
“You don’t know that.” Gigi offered a cup of hot chocolate in supplication. “It all depends on the other auditions.”
In any other circumstance, Selene could have held on to the hope. She’d showcased her voice and her capacity with magic. But this wasn’t any audition. Perfection was a requirement for Selene to make it into the competition and perform for the king.
“I melted the face off a statue.”
“What did Madame say?”
Selene took the hot chocolate from Gigi’s hands and took a sip. It was a comfort she didn’t deserve. She didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know how to sum up the events of the afternoon without weeping. The awfulness of Priya and the loss of her music and the catastrophe of her aria and the breaking of her dream. Her head still ached from the magic, pressing up against the edges of her sanity, trying to tear through. Gigi looked at Selene like she was staring into a well of sorrow and seeing the depth of her disappointment.
“Some stars burn bright. Some stars burn out.”
A little of the hot chocolate splashed out of Selene’s cup and onto the pale silk. The stain spread over the fabric. Gigi winced. Selene knew the melody to lift the chocolate from the cloth but decided against it. Let this be another thing she’d broken. Let this be ruined, too.
“I’ll talk to her. She always stresses the rules. This is such a violation.”
“You know how she is when she makes up her mind about a situation.”
“How did they get your aria to begin with?” Gigi rubbed her temples. “You’ve been so careful.”
Selene checked the drawer where she kept her music. The lock hadn’t been tampered with.
“Could they have stood outside your practice room?”
Selene made a face. “You saw them in our dictation class. Besides, I made a change to the coda three days ago. He sang the final version.”
“Then how—”
“Does it matter? It’s done,” Selene snapped.
Gigi’s features shone with indignation. “Priya and Revelio can’t get away with this.”
“They already have.”
“You’re so talented, Selene. There are countless courts and halls that will want you as their mage. You could go anywhere.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Selene cried. “I want to go home.”
The words tumbled from her mouth before Selene knew she was saying them. She wished she could gather them up like little stones and hide them away. She wasn’t sure why she’d said them, where the feeling had even come from. The palace wasn’t home. Selene’s home had been her father and he was gone.
“Thisis your home.”
“This,” Selene said. There was so much she could say about the Opera Magique. It was an opulent cage. A shackled opportunity. She so desperately wanted the glorious burden that came at its end. She wanted to be the one to win, no matter what it cost her. She crossed her arms over her chest, a chill creeping through her veins. “This is only temporary.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Gigi pleaded.
So much was changing. Selene thought of the way Gigi had cowered when she saw the mirror. Did Gigi really think this was the result of the ghost stories they’d been told as children, meant to frighten them into submission? There was nothing in this opera house beside memories and music and disappointment.
But Selene had seen something in that mirror.
