Page 89 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
“I won’t tell,” he said, stepping back. He brushed away an errant tear from her cheek. “But if you ever do need to break—you know where to find me.”
She nodded, stiffing. “Will you stay for lunch?”
“Well, um, if you’ll have me.”
She linked her arm into his. “There’s always room for one more.”
Chapter Twenty-One: Music
Feeling slightly guilty for the amount of time she was spending with Dimitri and the fun she was having at the Manor, Adeline called in one of her half days the next morning. She cleaned and tidied the house. She checked everyone’s clothes were in order. She made them all lunch, and walked them to school. She played all morning with Edie before dropping her off at the neighbour’s and starting her way back to the Manor.
Dimitri wasn’t in his room when she arrived. Neither was he in the library. Curious, she was halfway back down to the kitchens when a sound caught her ears.
Music. Someone was playing the piano.
She drifted towards the sound, realising the door to the music room at the end of the corridor was ajar. Beautiful, lilting music swam through the air, and someone was singing.
Dimitriwas singing.
He’d complimented her voice before, but it was nothing, nothing compared to this. Why hadn’t he told her? Why had he kept something so beautiful locked away until now?
She stood at the door, half expecting the vision to vanish, to find someone else sitting at the stool. But it was Dimitri, eyes closed, fingers curling across the ivories, mouth open in perfect, mesmerising song.
She watched him play, utterly lost to the music, something between a march and a lullaby, both happy and sad, desperately sad. It was wonderful and overwhelming and like nothing she’d ever heard before, and she didn’t know if her heart wanted to break or blossom into a meadow of tears and smiles. He stumbled over some of the passages, his left hand struggling to keep up, but it did not break the spell. Nothing could.
The song finished, and he opened his eyes. They widened at her, as if he’d quite forgotten other people existed in the world at all. “Adeline.”
“That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”You’re beautiful. All of you.
“It’s not quite…” He scratched the back of his head. “It’s not perfect. I still can’t quite get this hand to behave, and it acts up after a while…”
Adeline crept forward, and slid in beside him. She placed her left hand under his. “I can be your second hand for a bit, if you like?”
His blue eye glistened, but he quickly blinked it away. He pointed to the next song. “Do you know this one?”
She tapped out a few of the notes. “I do.”
“Impressive,” he remarked. “Wasted on being a maid.”
Adeline narrowed her eyes. “No one’swastedon being a maid. All jobs are there for a reason.”
“Yes,” he said quickly. “You’re right. I apologise. Again. I just… well. I think you’d be wasted on most things, actually.”
At this, she smiled. She played another bar. “Come on,” she said. “See if you can keep up.”
They played until their fingers hurt, until their voices ran hoarse and their ears rang with phantom music. Adeline had always enjoyed song before, but she had never known it to feel so alive before, the beat a swaying, living, breathing creature, crackling like fireflies along the surface of a pond.
“My parents used to duet like this,” Dimitri admitted. “Father was the pianist. About the only thing we ever really had in common.”
“Mine used to do that too, only Mother was the pianist.”
“She taught you.”
“Yes.”
“What was she like?”
It felt good to talk about her mother, to open up the cupboard that she kept her in. She told him everything she could remember, from the sound of her laugh to the way she’d tuck them up in bed at night. She was kind and warm, but stern and no-nonsense.
