No.
The thought of Eva with another man, smiling, laughing, kissing,fucking, drove me mad. She wasmine. She would not marry another, would not fuck another, would not evenlookat another man. I would bury myself so deep into her soul that roots would grow. Any flowers she bloomed would bear the scent of me.
The darkness inside me roared.Find her. Take her. Find her. Take her.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
I slammed my fist into the ground, my jaw clenching. “There will be no other man,” I growled, my voice colder than the Arctic. “Never.”
My cousin crossed his arms, lifting me off the ground and leading me toward the locker room. “I agree.”
“She ismine.”
“I know.” Nikolai leaned in and smirked. “So what are you going to do about it?”
The men flinched as I passed them, the air tightening with every one of my steps. But unlike before, my mind wasn’t fogged with rage. It was clearer than ever, sharper than a razor’s edge.
I showered in the locker room, watching Pavel’s blood swirl down the drain, overlaying it with the memory of Eva’s wound.
Fuck, I didn’t even know if she was okay. I didn’t knowanything. All of my messages were going undelivered, and my attempts to drive past her brother’s house were always swiftly thwarted by Nikolai. He’d sliced the brakes to my car, so that was currently sitting in the shop, waiting for a distant cousin of mine to pick it up.
Before, I’d debated killing him for all of his intervention. But now, I was grateful for it. He kept me from getting myself killed before I could come up with a better plan.
After I dressed in my signature suit—my plan solidified from the time spent standing in the hot water, letting the droplets fall down my spine—I found Nikolai waiting by the exit.
“So,” he said, twirling his car keys in his hand. “What’s the plan, cousin?”
“I need the Company’s rehearsal schedule.”
He smiled before reaching into the glovebox and shoving a packet of papers into my hands. “Already got it. Now what?”
“Now,” I said, gritting my jaw, “I go to the damn ballet.”
January 28th
Aleksandr
I’m coming, Eva.
I could breathea little easier the next morning as I leaned against the mirror on the edge of the Company’s practice studio, watching the other dancers move through the Dance of the Knights. In two weeks, they’d managed to make the number almost flawless. I was so proud to be part of such a theater, to be surrounded by some of the most talented dancers the city had ever seen.
The Montagues and Capulets moved across the stage in an elegant yet imposing dance. Mia swirled her invisible skirts, and I smiled at her as she twirled around a man who looked exasperated by her already. Meanwhile, Elsie looked calm and collected as she moved in time with Tybalt, her body light where he was strong.
It was one of the many reasons I loved this ballet—the push and pull, the back and forth, never knowing when Romeo and Juliet might rush off together and sneak a dance.
Madame Germaine slowly approached me, and my body stiffened, the movement causing my shoulder to ache.
“You have returned,” she intoned, looking at me up and down. Her eyes paused on the bruise clearly visible beneath my tank top.
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
True to Mia’s word, she had talked Jules into letting me return two days after she came over, though he’d promised to call Elsie to confirm my end times so I wouldn’t try to sneak off and meet Alek. Though I wished I could have seen him, I had no way of doing that. Jules still had my phone, so I couldn’t contact him. And even if I could have gone to see him, there was no guarantee that he would have wanted to see me. After all, I had brought this whole mess upon all of us.
“I have had Jeanine rehearse in your place,” Madame Germaine said.
