“Sing for me,” he said.
Selene looked at what they had written, committing the notes to memory. She wove them together into a mournful melody, leaving out the magic. She needed the music first.
And oh, this aria. She glanced down at the sheet music—written in their combined blood—and let her voice caress the line. It was gentle and wanting, like a bandaged-up broken heart, a thin scar on a once-open chest. She wanted to carve this music into her skin and keep it there. She wanted to sing it until her throat was filled with blood. She wanted to stay here in the dark and forget, forget, forget.
Selene shivered and focused on the music.
It was only twelve measures. Not quite a song. But a start. It highlighted the strengths of her voice, pushing it into perfect clarity. This piece was the best of her.
When she was finished, she looked at the ghost. This piece was the best of him, too. He made her better. He made her want to be more.
There’s nothing else for me, she thought. But she wasn’t sure she believed it.
“I will hold on to the memory of your voice long after I’ve forgotten every other part of me.”
“You’ll remember everything,” Selene said, “when you step into the light.”
“You are the light.”
For a moment, she thought he might kiss her. They were close enough for it, a sixteenth note of space between them. They couldn’t touch; they were never supposed to touch. That didn’t change this want, thisneed.
“Selene.” His eyes were wide and wet and so very blue. Not as cold as she once thought. The heart of a flame could be as blue as ice.
She knew this part was coming and hated it.
“Bring me a fragment of what once was.”
And for the first time tonight, Selene was sure. She would complete this task and come back to him. She would be here again with this beautiful man and listen to the warm lull of his voice. More than a vow. She wanted to set him free, like she wanted to win.
Chapter 25
“There you are.” Gigi was waiting on the edge of her bed when Selene slipped into the room. She jumped to her feet. “Come with me.”
“Why are you still awake?” Selene said coolly. She pressed her hand to the sheaf of music tucked into her dress.
She knows.
Panic rose like wisps of shadow inside Selene. She needed her secrets kept for a little longer. This could ruin everything.
“I found something. I think I know what’s going on with Madame.” Gigi grabbed Selene’s hand, pulling her out of the room, down the stairs, and into the near-perfect dark of the sleeping opera house.
Selene practically ran to keep up with Gigi, moving as lightly as she could. Gigi’s steps were soundless, infused with a dancer’s grace and elegance and intention. “Where are we going?”
They’d crossed the back of the auditorium, down to the farthest corner of the opera house. Gigi stood in front of a door. This space was forbidden as much as the space beneath the opera house. But Selene had never dared cross this line.
“It’s in my mother’s room.”
“Is she—”
“A carriage from the palace arrived an hour or so ago and she left with it. I don’t know how much time we have.”
Gigi whispered a song into the lock. It surprised Selene that she knew it, but it shouldn’t. Gigi had lived in this suite before she’d moved into the dormitories. Like Selene, she’d had a life before all this. Madame Giroux had been Gigi’s mother first, teacher second. What she was now, neither of them quite knew. There was a strange sadness to the realization. Selene wasn’t the only one who had lost something.
“Come on.” Gigi was already inside. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
Selene hesitated. This felt like such a violation. But so what? Madame didn’t care about her privacy or well-being. Whatever strange agenda she had, Selene didn’t have the space to care anymore.
She stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.
