Page 10 of Songs and Spun Gold
Axel
If I spoke to you,
Would you remember me?
Would you know my twinkling eye?
If I said ‘Hello’,
Would you acknowledge me
Or turn away and sigh?
When I look at you,
I see a face I know,
But something’s not quite—”
Lotti waved a hand from her position in the shadows, cutting him off. “That was much better, Axel,” she said approvingly in her rich, alto voice. “But you’re still losing your support on the high note. Feel the expansion in your rib cage along your back, and let your lower back provide a solid frame for your abdominals.”
Closing his eyes, Axel focused on his body and began again. “If I spoke to you, would you remember…”
His voice filled the dark theater, reverberating through the audience chamber with the soft fullness that a well-constructed space always lent to singers and actors alike. Often when he met with his reclusive teacher, it was in a practice room below ground. When the theater’s rehearsal schedule left the stage free for one of Axel’s clandestine practices, Lotti usually insisted on keeping the dark red curtains drawn; she didn’t want to attractattention to her presence.
Today, however, the curtains were open, and he sang to the empty chairs. Pretending they were full of attendees, the bright lights of the chandelier shining down upon him, he poured every ounce of energy he had into his performance.
It was as close as he would ever get.
The stray thought caught him off-guard, and he faltered in the middle of a quick passage, leading to an unpleasant crack. He winced, but Lotti simply played the run on her flute and said, “Again.”
Lotti was an interesting creature. When he’d first met her, he was twelve, a wide-eyed youth exploring the Himmelsburg Theater and dreaming of a day he knew would never come: the day he could join the cast. She’d been lurking in a corner of the backstage area, swathed in a dark cloak with the hood pulled low over her face. He had practically jumped out of his skin when she stepped out of the shadows, but she soon soothed his fears with her beautiful alto voice.
Then she’d told him that she’d heard him sing and that he did it well. And she’d offered to teach him how to do it better.
Axel didn’t know where she’d studied, but she was an excellent teacher. He’d learned much from her during their unsanctioned lessons over the last ten years.
And in that entire time, he’d never seen her face.
Every once in a while, he tried to coax her out of the shadows in which she hid. No matter how hard he tried, she never complied. Never lowered her hood. He wasn’t even sure how old she was.
“Do that every time, and you will have the crowds eating out of your hand.”
Her sultry voice wrapped around him as the release of his final note dissipated into the empty theater. Leaning into its comfortable familiarity, he pressed his eyes shut and toldhimself her words didn’t hurt. “Thank you.” He forced a small smile as he turned toward her. “Too bad they’ll never hear it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“My father would never allow it.” Axel stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled toward the corner where she stood. “I have enough trouble sneaking away for lessons; I’d never find the time to attend rehearsals, let alone an entire run of performances. And if I wanted to make sure my father didn’t find out, I’d have to use some of the stage cosmetics to disguise myself.”
“You could give a recital.”
Axel exhaled a laugh. “He only lets me sing for select groups. Apparently, the crown prince should be seen as a leader, not a performer. Hence the disguise were I to sneak on stage.”
He thought he saw a glimmer under her hood, but it might have been a trick of the candlelight. “It is a shame to keep a voice such as yours hidden.”
“Like keeping a face such as yours hidden?”
She drew back farther into the shadows, and when she spoke, her voice was colder than normal. “My face was not meant for the light.”
