Page 19 of His Smile
With every hour and every minute that passed in her absencean indescribable rage accumulated within him, it made him feel weak andunhinged all at once. His fucking life was turning to ash, and it was all herdamn fault. Flexing his fingers on the upholstered velvet of his seat, hewatched blindly as act two neared the end. He felt like a husk of his formerself standing in the rubble of his self-control, that unknown dark cravingwithin him howled in anger.
Bring her back. Drag her back if you have to. Do whatever ittakes to bring back her light.
He wanted her before him, those wide beautiful eyes staringup at him as he chained her to him. He wanted her to see what he warned herabout, to show her the dark fire she stoked. He wanted to see the fear bloom inher brown eyes as he consumed her. It pained him to think of pulling her intohis world, to reveal her to the monster behind the smile, to show her things hehad seen and endured, or expose her to the choices he had made to survive andthrive in this world. There wasn’t any room for someone like her, a girl filledwith bright unjaded light, not in his unforgiving world.
But hell, if he wasn’t going to make room for her.
The heavy, somber tones of music began. Slowly the stagetransformed into a wooded meadow, trees dramatically being lowered in thebackground as the lights shimmered across the floor just right to create a darkrippling lake. Fog rolled in from both directions of the stage, and the princelooked around in exaggerated confusion. The string section held the ominousnotes as the figure emerged from the shadowy mist. On the tips of her red satinpoints, her tall figure fluttered to the front of the stage in a slow classicbourrée. Dressed in black, all except her blood red slippers, Odile came alive.
Leaning forward in his seat, along with the rest of thecrowd, he watched Rahina come into her element. It felt as if this was thefirst time, he was seeing her; the tall, graceful bronze figure on stage wasnothing like the cheery mushroom that had hounded him daily. Reenacting the routineof Odette, the white swan, Rahina swayed and leapt around the captivatedprince. Purposely, she made the routine her own, telling anyone who watchedthat she was not Odette, that there could be no confusion—she was the blackswan. Gradually, the music shifted to powerful notes cultivated just for her.Odile was seducing the Prince, and he was falling for her with each step untilhe had no choice but to take her outstretched hand that coaxed him to dancewith her.
Claws of possessiveness scored at the walls of his darknessas the man took her by the waist, balancing her form and lifting her into theair. Roman never took his eyes from her as she stared at the Prince, her smileone of seductive knowing as she wrapped him in her spell. At the end of each ofher sequences, the audience cheered before quieting back down. Soon the Princewas dancing in a furious speed, full of large, complicated aerial leaps torepresent his torn heart between the two swans. In a heart-racing finale, withOdette left of stage and Odile right, both dancing an identical dance as thePrince warred with himself, the Prince chose the white swan. It was ridiculousthe amount of rage Roman felt at that decision, hell he was Russian, he hadseen practically every rendition of Swan Lake there was, and the death of Odilewas not a complete surprise. But God if he didn’t feel this one. As the Princeand the now transformed Odette dramatically danced together offstage to theirhappily ever after, the black swan danced alone in the center of the stageuntil there was nothing but her and the blue mist that was slowly fading tored. She was dying. The music increased with the frenzy of passion one lasttime as her dancing signified her broken heart, her arms constantly reaching tothe direction where the Prince danced away, and Roman could swear, he could seetears in her eyes. With slow, heart-wrenching grace, the black swan sank intothe red mist and died.
The audience thundered. Everyone stood, clapping, cheering,some even crying as the curtain closed. Standing, Roman stood silent andunmoving as he watched the spot where she disappeared until the curtain closedfully.
For the first time in days, he felt the mirth of a smile.There was nothing noble about Roman, and he certainly wasn’t a Prince, but hedid know one thing—he would have his black swan.
Chapter 9
Stretching her legs to a point in the steaming milky water, Rahinalet out a small groan. The extra-large bathtub had been one of the main sellingfeatures of her one-bedroom apartment. Leaning her head back on the bathpillow, Rahina shut her eyes and listened to the soft notes of music driftingin through the open door from her dark bedroom. Inhaling, her chest rose andfell in the bath’s water, the smell of lemongrass and eucalyptus was calmingand very much-needed. Last night the performance went perfectly despite theconstant lead weight stuck in her chest from the past week.
For the first time, she felt as if she actually was Odile.Rahina could more than identify with the character’s longing pain she felt whenthe Prince turned his back on her in that final scene. She knew exactly how itfelt to feel your heart drop to your stomach and your soul crack after taking achance and putting your all out there in hopes that someone would finallyunderstand. What made it even worse was that the sharp sense of betrayal was byevery right absolutely absurd. Roman never led her on, nor did he even onceinsinuate that he even liked her company. In actuality, the man did everythingto show her just how much he was the wrong man for her enthusiastic, misplacedpursuit.
Sinking deeper into the water until it came up just beneathher chin, she stared at her feet peeking out of the steaming water at the otherend. With no way of stopping them, images of Roman’s imposing figure andderanged smile appeared at the forefront of her mind, causing the throbbing inher chest to intensify.
“Damn him,” she whispered.
He was just so damn perfect. He was everything she wanted;he was a man that made her body sing in awareness just by walking into a room.And once you got past the absolute guarantee of danger and excitement in hiseyes, there was something spellbinding about him. Something that said if shecould gain his focus, she would be in for the ride of her life. But sadly, hedidn’t want anything to do with her.
Pattering sounds coming from her bedroom through the opendoor made her pause. Leaning a little over the rim of the tub, Rahina strainedto listen. The pattering sound continued, checking her phone which was sittingnext to her, she relaxed when her weather app confirmed it was raining,forecasting thunderstorms.
On a rainy night like this, what was Roman doing? Was he inhis office still? Reclining back on her pillow she stared at the white tiledwall unseeingly as she pictured him sitting at his desk leaned back in hischair talking on the phone as the storm raged outside his largefloor-to-ceiling window. Or was he out with another woman? The throbbingfeeling in her chest twisted sharply. Was that why he turned her away sosuddenly? Feelings of inadequacy began to crawl around her heart, searching fora way in. Angrily, she mentally shook the feeling away. No, she refused to godown that path. If Roman didn’t want anything to do with her, fine, his loss,that meant she was just wasting her time on him anyways. Pushing down the hurtfeelings, Rahina grabbed for her phone to turn up the music.
The chime of an alert, signaled she received a text. Usingher free hand, she had kept out the water, she tapped the message from hersister Rubina.
(Are you still pouting about that joker-faced psycho?)
Frowning, at her sister’s spot-on perception, Rahina tappedin the two letters of a blatant lie “no.”
(Liar.)
(You and I both know you can do a million times betterthan him.)
“You have never even seen him, first of all, and secondlythere is no one better, trust me.” As soon as she pressed send, she feltguilty. She was supposed to be getting over him, she had just told herself thatit was his loss. Turning around and saying he was the best in all the landdefinitely wasn’t conducive of getting over the big, beautiful bastard.Readjusting in the tub, the water rippled and sloshed as she stretched her soremuscles.
Looking down at her phone, Rahina watched the ellipses iconfade in and out, indicating Rubina was still typing her reply. A few moreseconds passed with no reply, and Rahina was tempted to call when the messagefinally came through.
(It doesn’t matter if I have seen him or not yourdescription was more than enough. But I do have something I’m reluctant toconfess.)
Rahina’s curiosity piqued. “What?”
(I’m pretty positive I may have seen him last night atyour performance, a few minutes before I was led in to see you.)
Sitting straight up in the water, her thumbs shook as shetyped back. “You saw Roman? How?! Where?!”
(I shouldn’t have even told you, but I know how much youwant to know.)
Rahina sat on pins and needles as she stared impatiently atthe typing icon.
