Page 17 of Songs and Spun Gold
“Because it matters what the prince thinks of someone he’s never going to see again.” Katy grinned at her friend before resuming her inspection of their surroundings.
“I suppose not. But he gives the most outrageous compliments!” Angelika giggled, covering her mouth with her fan.
Running a hand over the smooth banister next to her, Katy admired the way the light from the chandelier reflected off it. “You’ve actually met him, then?”
“Once, about a year ago. He said my ‘eyes glittered like starlight against the midnight sky of my gown’,” she quoted rapturously.
Katy glanced over at her friend, grinning at her upturned eyes and fluttering eyelashes. With her hands clasped in front of her heart, Angelika was the picture of a girl mooning over her first crush. “That’s really what he said?” she said incredulously. “And you remember it word for word a year later?”
Angelika’s eyelids dropped closed as she sighed. “I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
“Then why are you sitting here instead of wandering the auditorium looking for him so he can compliment you again?”
Angelika simply sighed once more. “I’ve been looking. I haven’t seen him yet.”
Not long after, the show began. And when it did, Katy forgot about everything else: her amusement over her friend’s infatuation, the fineness of her borrowed dress, the beauty of the theater’s architecture. All she knew was the action on stage; she could never have dreamed of the sets, the costumes, themusic of the orchestra, or the beautiful voices of the singers.
A young woman with braided blonde hair danced across the stage, singing of her love of the hills and the trees. Townspeople sang and danced around her. The villain lurked in the background, singing long, low notes in a minor key that added an element of unease to the village dance.
Then a young man entered. He wore a straw hat that made it difficult to see his face from her position in the box, but something about him seemed…familiar, somehow.
Pushing it to the back of her mind, she concentrated on enjoying the show. Until he began to sing.
“If I spoke to you,
Would you remember me?
Would you know my twinkling eye?
If I said ‘Hello,’
Would you acknowledge me…”
Her heart skipped a beat as a memory scraped its way to the surface of her mind. It was fuzzy, the images and sounds distorted. But the vague picture of a boy with light brown skin and dark brown hair as he sang passionately and gestured with his arms seemed to resonate with the young man in front of her.
“It can’t be,” she whispered. One hand crept up to press against her chest as if she could physically restrain the wild hope causing her heart to beat faster. “It’s impossible.”
Promise … remember me, the baritone in her head pled.
“Remember.” Her lips formed the word soundlessly as her left hand drifted to the bracelet on her right wrist.
… won’t forget me?
The actor’s smooth baritone washed over her, its note of longing calling to the similar ache in her chest. As he sang to the woman he couldn’t find, his voice breaking in all the right places, and the little she could see of his face expressing his earnest desire to be reunited with her, Katy reached her handup to cover her mouth as she blinked back tears.
Even if … can’t remember …
“Katy?” Angelika leaned over, her brow creased. “Are you all right?”
Nodding, Katy fought the emotions that overwhelmed her. The song was beautiful; she never wanted it to end.
She needed it to be over. Now.
Frowning, Angelika turned back to the stage, but Katy could see her shooting worried looks out of the corner of her eye.
When the song finished and the dialogue resumed, Katy nudged her friend’s arm. “Who is that playing Lars?”
“It was supposed to be Georg, but I heard something about an accident,” Angelika replied in a low voice. “I’m not sure who the understudy is. Why?”
