“Well, no,” Igor flustered. “But I’m sure it can’t be that difficult. I bet I could be at your level in a year or so.”
It’d taken me my entire life to get here and not a day less. Seeing Igor try to get one lap in around the rink would make my day. “Maybe after you’re done telling little girls to starve themselves, you can give it a shot.”
Igor scoffed— he was so full of himself, he hadn’t heard me. “I don’t understandwhythey have you skate to music, or wear costumes. It’s just a jumping contest. Why don’t they get rid of all the extra nonsense and crown the winner depending on who can do the best jumps and spins? Isn’t that the point?”
My blood boiled. “Figure skating isn’t about the elements, or what you can do,” I growled. “It’s about telling a story, expressing how you feel through your body. Figure skating blends athleticism and art.” It’s why I loved it so much— it combined the two worlds.
“Yes, well, that’s not really asportis it?” Igor laughed.
“I don’t get why you see it that way. As a ballet director, you should know the difference.”
“Ballet’sdifferent.You don’t understand, because you’re not a dancer.” Igor sniffed.
Who did this guy think he was? I had almost two decades of experience in the figure skating world, compared to Igor’s observation as a fan. Normally, I’d just rip the guy a new asshole, but unfortunately, Odette cared about him. And I’d cut my own heart out before I hurt her.
So I did the most non-Emma thing I’d ever done in my life— I took it. “I’ll keep your suggestions in mind.” Then I walked away from Igor, before he could bother me further.
Before I knew what was happening, Theo had grabbed my arm. He steered me toward the Rec Room balcony, but not before snagging a bottle of champagne and two glasses off the table.
“I don’t think I can take another word from that ignoramus prat,” Theo growled.
“Oh no, I can’t either,” I agreed. “He’s purely intolerable.”
“Then let’s spend the evening drinking our woes away against the night sky,” Theo offered, shaking the bottle. “I’m sure talking tohimis the last way you want to celebrate your win.”
I smiled. “I think you have the right idea.”
Theo and I spent the rest of the night on the balcony under the stars, sharing a bottle of champagne and our problems over our fated mates— who were both too far away for either of us to reach.
Chapter Thirteen
Ethan
The last day of October had arrived in a bluster of leaves and wind. The weather had cleared up enough that it was a warm day, perfect forHeimskanun. The smell of spice cookies and baked apple pies wafted through the air as me and my little group wandered the city streets for the fall festival.
Dolinska was full of the usual festivities. Children bobbed for apples and carved pumpkins against the noises of the joust and the polka music. Actors on stage performed a play depicting the Seven Gods, and acrobats ate fire while they balanced on high wires suspended between buildings.
I didn’t feel much like celebrating… and yet, I knew I had to. This would probably be my last holiday. I wouldn’t make it until Christmas. Emma held onto my arm, though I was more or less leaning against her as we wandered between the dancers and the ale booths. Multiple people glanced my way and whispered as we walked amongst the autumn festival, though they averted their eyes once I turned to glare.
The papers were full of speculation that I had some kind of disease I was hiding from the world. No one had yet guessed demon possession.
Every step I took felt like dragging iron bricks behind me. I could barely focus onHeimskanunwith the pain radiating throughout my body, particularly, at the part where the leshane had bit off my leg. I wasn’t even sure if I’d have the strength to stand vigil at my father’s grave tomorrow for the Day of the Dead. I was nearly dead myself.
But Emma kept holding on tight. Our friendship had improved slightly since the figure skating competition, and I wasso proud of her.She was the most brilliant skater I knew. Her long program to our song had nearly brought me to tears— she was that moving when she performed. Her skating stirred emotion in me that I hadn’t been sure was still there. I was certain she’d achieve gold when she skated at the European Championship next spring.
I only wished I’d be around to see it. Instead, I’d be six feet under, as cold in the grave as the ice she danced upon.
Everyone, save for me, was dressed forHeimskanun— I’d been too tired to slip on more than my day clothes and a jacket. Kiara and Delmare wore peasant dresses in yellow and black, with long sleeves that billowed outward. Alexei and Stefan had vests in similar colors, with the typical white shirts and black pants.
Theo and Odette wore matching outfits, for the second year in a row. Odette had sewn them herself. The orange and brown flowers embroidered on her white dress matched the ones on Theo’s black vest, and he took her hand to twirl her in the streets as they walked. Itseemedlike they had made up, though I wasn’t quite sure that was the case. I supposed they were getting along merely out of politeness, rather than actually solving what was between them.
Emma wore the same white dress with red embroidered flowers that I’d bought her last year, her hair woven into a headband of white roses. She looked so beautiful— I kept her as close as was proper for friends, though not near anywhere as close as I desired.
“The festival doesn’t seem as big this year,” Emma commented as she looked around. “Some of the stuff is missing.”
It was. The puppet shows and a few other competitions were gone. In their place were small cardboard shanty towns, and people holding makeshift signs asking for help. We’d passed so many homeless people on our way into the festival, and it only seemed to get worse the farther in we went to the city. It was a big sign of how quickly my cousin’s policies had changed things in Malovia.
An old woman, probably in her nineties, sat near the corner in ragged clothes. She had a thin shawl around her shoulders that would do little to shield her from the cold. She drew off the shawl to wrap it around a little girl at her side, who couldn’t be more than six. The girl held a cardboard sign that said,Please help us.
