Chapter 2 #2
“I see no need,” she said calmly. “It is impossible to please everyone. That most enjoyed what I played will be enough. And I pray that in time you might change your mind also.”
The Duke laughed further. “I have heard much of you, Miss Sophia. And I am pleased to say that you are exactly as I have been told.”
“I do not…” Sophia frowned at the comment. It sounded like a compliment, and somehow also an insult. “Thank you?”
“You did not ask for my advice, but I feel the need to give it.” He looked around, noticed that they were not being paid attention, and stepped quickly into her.
Her eyes widened at the suddenness of the movement, and he dropped his voice as he leaned in close so that she could feel his breath on her skin.
“Your composure is unshakable, your poise is perfect, and your self-control is to be admired. But if you ever wish to be great, might I suggest living a little. You might be surprised what you learn about yourself, if you so dare to break free of the invisible chains that you wear as if you were born with them.”
He stepped back quicky, and as he looked down at her, he was sure to smile in a way that made her skin break out into goosebumps.
Sophia could not explain what she was feeling exactly, but only because she had never felt anything like it before.
What she had thought earlier to be anger, was something else.
She was annoyed at the Duke, of course, she was frustrated by his dismissal.
But she was curious also, and for reasons she did not understand, she felt an innate desire to prove him wrong.
Her skin tingled at the mere idea of it.
“Thank you for the advice,” she said calmly, ignoring the way her skin prickled and her heart raced. “I will consider what you have said and take it on in future playings.”
He just laughed. “I am sure that you won’t.”
The remainder of the morning unwound in predictable fashion. Sophia sat with her mother and sister as they watched the other guests perform various pieces of music on a range of different instruments. And as they did, Sophia’s mother pointed out their faults and how Sophia could learn from them.
As Sophia listened, she tried her best to ignore what the Duke had said to her.
What does he know about anything? Music is written to be performed as is, not improvised, not stylized or changed.
If it needed to be fixed, it would be. Surely, precision is what is needed? Not… heart, or what have you.
Still, she found her gaze constantly filtering through the crowd to where the Duke sat toward the back.
He listened with a toothy smile. He nodded his head to the music.
He laughed at times. He clapped with enthusiasm.
And more than once, he found Sophia watching him.
When he did, she looked away, her cheeks flushed red…
only for her to glance up again, find him still watching, at which point she would look away.
She could not say why, but the Duke unsettled her. While most of her peers seemed to think of her as the perfect daughter, he judged her for precisely the same reason. He wanted from her the opposite of what she was always told was right.
Do not let him get to you. With a reputation like his, he is the last person you should care about.
“Sophia… Sophia…” Her mother was speaking to her.
“Oh…” Sophia looked up, finding that she had become lost in her own thoughts. “Mother, I am sorry. What…” She blinked. “Is something the matter?”
“You are about to perform again, dear,” she said. “Where is your head at?”
Sophia shook her head. “Sorry, Mother. It won’t happen again.”
Sophia performed a second time that day and this time when she did, she was aware of the Duke watching. With that in mind, she was determined to prove him wrong, and she concentrated like she never had before. She was precise. She was controlled. She was perfect in every way that counted.
And when she was done, the room erupted with applause for her.
Sophia turned around and smiled softly, careful not to show too much cheer. She then searched for the Duke, expecting him to nod and accept that he was wrong.
Of course, he did no such thing.
He found her eyes, and while wearing that same coy smile as if he was laughing at a joke she did not understand, he shook his head as if to say ‘Not quite there yet…’
Sophia fumed silently.
It was as she and her mother prepared to leave that the Duke found her a second again. Sophia was waiting by the doorway for her mother to say goodbye to her friends, and when she saw the Duke coming for her, she turned away, praying that he would walk right by.
Please, let him walk by…
“Better,” he said, his voice a soft purr. “Although I fear that I am damning with faint praise.”
Sophia straightened and turned to face him. “I am sorry you feel that way, Your Grace. But as you will have noticed, I played perfectly.”
“At least you are confident,” he chuckled.
“I am merely repeating what I have been told.”
Again, he studied her with curiosity. His eyes like torches, burning into her as he let the tension build. She was sure not to look away, but not in a way that was antagonistic. She simply held his gaze as if she expected him to say something nice for a change.
“I do find myself wondering,” he finally began. “How you might sound if you were to stop performing as you think that you must and started feeling as you ought to do. That, Miss Sophia…” He exhaled deeply. “That would be quite the sight, I am sure.”
She had no idea what to say. She didn’t even know what he meant! She had played well. Better than well! And as for all this nonsense about heart and feeling… it was not how she had been taught, and thus it was not something she could possibly do.
“I will keep that in mind,” she said evenly.
He just laughed. “I am sure you will not, but I can always hope.” With that, he turned and walked away, vanishing back in the crowd.
Sophia watched him go, caught between frustration and curiosity.
On the surface, she knew that she ought to not have liked the Duke.
He was the exact opposite of everything she knew, and everything she had been taught to respect.
Yet there was something about him that lingered, a taste in the back of her mouth that would not leave her.
Was he correct? Should she give in to her emotions and play with passion? Or was that a danger to her very way of being that would only lead to trouble? After all, trouble was one thing that Sophia had spent her entire life avoiding.
As I should surely avoid the Duke…