CHAPTER 28 #3
Helena snorted. “I believe I already gave an opinion on the matter. I’m not interested in being courted tonight.” She turned her glare to Tobias, even though he was calmly ignoring her. “In fact, I’ve had an excellent idea.”
Tobias lifted his glass to his lips and raised a single eyebrow. “Which is?”
Smirking, she tossed her ticket in his direction. He didn’t bother to make a grab for it as it fluttered to the floor. “I’ll return to the castle, and Tobias can have my seat. That way, Luther won’t be forced to sit next to a lowly miller’s daughter.”
“Intriguing.” Tobias swirled his glass, studying her with his half-lidded eyes. She raised a challenging eyebrow, but he didn’t respond further.
Luther looked swiftly at Tobias before returning his gaze to Helena. “Princess, you cannot want to miss the performance? It is sure to be excellent.”
“No, thank you.” Her eyes didn’t leave Tobias, but he kept staring at the gilded ceiling. “I’m not interested in watching a love story on the stage tonight.”
“Perhaps I could escort you back,” Luther said hurriedly, stepping forward. “If you do not wish to view one on stage, perhaps—”
“No, Luther.” She finally looked at him again, eyes shuttered with disdain. “It is your choice if you wish to leave, but you will not be attending me. Now if you’ll pardon me, the solitude of my suite is calling my name.”
Axel moved his knees sideways to clear the path for his sister. He watched with amusement as she collected her guard and left the theater with her head held high.
“Is—should I—” Liesl twisted in her seat, mouth open. “If she’s—”
“Nonsense. You’re my lady’s maid, not hers,” Katy replied lightly. Her lips twitched, eyes on Tobias as he picked up Helena’s ticket. “If she wanted you to accompany her, she would have asked.”
Luther looked about the room, appearing a little lost, before dropping into a seat. “She left,” he muttered. “She really left.”
“May I join you, my lady?”
Tobias lowered himself into the chair on the other side of Katy’s sister, taking a slow sip as he did so. Liesl grinned at him. “Sorry she ran away. Guess you’ll have to make do with me tonight.”
“Pity.”
Tightening his arm, Axel tugged his wife a little closer, taking care not to jab the armrest into her ribs. He wasn’t sure if his sister was simply evading her suitors, or if she was up to something more.
But in the meantime, she’d fixed his problem without even meaning to. Falling back against his chair, he settled in to enjoy the performance.
~
Eager to impress after their long absence, the cast and crew had outdone themselves. The sets were breathtaking, the costumes beautiful. The dances fit the music and were perfectly performed. Every note, whether from orchestra or singer, rang with emotion and soared with a lovely timbre.
But as Katy leaned her head against his shoulder and Liesl gasped appreciatively on her other side, Axel fought to contain his restlessness.
The music swirled around him, entering his pores and whispering to him of standing in the midst of the swell, lifting his voice to match and soaking in the glittering lights above.
It crooned of spinning in a dance, catching glimpses of faces in the darkness beyond, and feeling the energy of hundreds of onlookers buoying him up to new heights in his craft.
He had often felt the allure of the brightly lit stage during these performances, but never had he felt it as strongly as tonight.
“Can you hear it
Stirring all around you,
Hear it calling,
The magic that surrounds you?
Take a breath and see
That it’s calling you to me
To the home we had but lost when fear crept in.
Come help me start the music once again.”
The actress’s rich alto voice washed over him, seeping into his skin and filling his ears. It called to him like a voice from a dream, distant and half lost in echoes. If he didn’t know better, he might have thought it was Lotti’s.
But Lotti always cowered in the shadows, claiming her face wasn’t fit for the light. This actress, with her dark red hair and porcelain skin, couldn’t say the same.
“Search and you will find
That I’m always on your mind;
Can I not be safe inside your heart as well?
Accept my hand and let our heart song swell.”
The feel of the music changed, and Axel tightened his hand on Katy’s shoulder as an oily sensation slid through his mind and down his limbs. It urged him to rise and join the actress on the stage.
“Axel?” Katy’s breath tickled his ear. “Are you all right?”
Squeezing his eyes shut, he reached over and grabbed her hand. He turned toward her, lowering his forehead to hers as his stomach twisted. “I’m not sure. I suddenly don’t feel well. And I feel—” His leg twitched. He took a deep breath and released it into his muscles, but they stayed tense.
She brought her free hand up to the side of his face, her fingers sliding into his hair as she held his head. It grounded him, relaxing the tension and soothing his stomach. “Do we need to leave?”
“No—no, it’s passing.” His breathing slowed. “Something I ate must not have agreed with me.”
“Are you sure?”
He’d always thought music had its own magic, but music couldn’t actually carry magic…could it?