“What do you think I’m doing here?”
“Vexing your father. Vexing me.”
“Magic can be dangerous.” Victor looked at her like he was trying to decide if he could tell her the whole truth. “And there is already far too much suffering in the world.”
It was an answer to her question and not an answer. There was something he was hiding, something more to his presence here. Far too political, with a grain of painful truth. He knew the dangers of magic, had seen them carved into Selene’s skin. He’d been there with her when her father had gone mad and ripped out her throat. If he was here to keep her safe, then he was here to stop her.
Something sparked within her. Just a thought, planted in her like a seed, echoing within like an ocean trapped in a nautilus shell. She opened her palm and gestured to the rows and rows of blue velvet seats, adorned with gold.
“In a few short days, these will be full.” She pointed back to the boxes that framed the stage. “You will be there, of course.”
The King’s Box was the second closest to the stage, with a wide balcony.
Victor smiled, a dimple forming at one side of his mouth. He pointed to the other side of the stage. There was a smaller box there. It lacked the elegance of the King’s Box but had a slightly better angle to the stage and superior acoustics. “I will be there.”
“You’ve done your research.”
“I like to know what I’m getting into.”
Selene took him through the side exit. “To our right is one of our rehearsal spaces. To the left is the orchestra’s space. And back that way is the grand hall. Where would you like to go?”
“I need to see this place as you do. To the right, please.”
It shouldn’t have surprised Selene, but it did. She had taken visitors on tours before. They always avoided the dark corridors and drafty rehearsal spaces and marveled at the art and architecture of the public rooms. Everyone wanted to see the show. They seldom wanted to know what lay beneath.
“It’s too dark in here. That will have to change. Electric lights. A little illumination. There might be fewer accidents if you could see.”
Selene hated electric lights. They were so gaudy and without any nuance.
Victor must have noticed the slight downturn of her mouth. “You do not approve?”
“It is not my place.”
“Please, tell me. This is your home, not mine.”
“There is something distasteful about modern lighting. It takes away the shadows, the mystery. There is no magic like the flicker of candlelight.” Selene exhaled, thoughts roiling like the dark. “There are better ways to protect us.”
“Like what?”
Mirrors,she thought. The one thing Madame had made sure to remove from the opera house to keep the ghost hidden away. But she didn’t want to come out and say it, not yet. It had to be his idea.
“Let me think on it.”
“All right.” Victor chuckled. “You shall keep your candles, then. But more of them. I would not want anyone to twist an ankle in these dark spaces.”
They stopped at the door at the end of the corridor. Selene sang open the lock with three short notes.
“Why is your practice space locked?”
“A precaution,” Selene said. “To keep away peeping eyes before the competition.”
“Weren’t you just practicing onstage?”
“Auditions.” A smile tricked up her lips. “There is more to L’Opéra du Magician than one night.”
The room was dark, save for the light of one high window. From the looks of the door, someone had tried to carve out the lock, to no avail.Priya. As if stealing her music hadn’t been enough.
“If I may,” Selene said.
