Page 24 of Encore
“How does Ivory play into all of this?”
“Bella grew up in a world where girls weren’t friends. Girl-on-girl crime was encouraged. It was disgusting. When she first got here, I think she understood it wasn’t like that here, but she never made friends with anyone. It was different with Ivory. I encouraged it because she seemed lonely. Ivory was supportive, and they seemed to have a good relationship.
“Ivory didn’t threaten Bella. She was the one that suggested I date her, too. I realized Ivory was also a very talented dancer. I promoted her to soloist and then, eventually, started giving her leads. Bella understood she wasn’t good in specific roles, and she hated dancing them. She preferred Ivory getting those roles.
“I didn’t see it before, but I do now. I gave Ivory her roles because she was an excellent dancer, but she used Bella to get my attention. Bella said she would retire last year, but she changed her mind during curtain calls at the last show of the year.The Sugar Skull Girlwas supposed to be her last show, but she changed her mind again and thought her body would hold up another season.
“I thought they were both content to understudy each other and dance the roles they were best suited for, but apparently not. Ivory wanted her out of the way, and she was tired of waiting for her to retire. She orchestrated all of this.”
“Getting her to shoot me is a fucked-up way of making sure Bellatrix didn’t dance anymore.”
Surely, he could see that was fucked-up. If the room hadn’t been full of mirrors, I wouldn’t have seen the gun. I wasn’t bulletproof either.
“I don’t think Ivory intended for you to get hurt. You didn’t just threaten Bellatrix as a dancer. She was terrified of your magic after you stopped her from hurting Madame Lucinda. Bella grew increasingly paranoid that you would use your magic to harm or curse her.
“I told her if she attacked anyone in class again, that was it. She was gone. I knew you’d never use magic against her unless you were protecting someone. Ivory was at my apartment when I gave her an ‘evil eye’ pendant. I gave it to her with the condition that she didn’t give you an excuse to use magic against her because I knew how they worked. She made me a promise.
“I thought if she had the pendant around her neck, she’d be less paranoid. We could get through rehearsals because she wasn’t looking over her shoulder for some sort of magical attack. She seemed fine when she was with me, but she spent a lot of time with Ivory. I thought nothing of it until Bellatrix brought a gun to rehearsal, and I saw what had been painted on it.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. This was my nemesis who kept outsmarting me when it came to finding Santiago Suarez?
“Why did you give her a real evil eye? Those fight back if you come at a witch with ill intent. My ex that broke my feet was awful at history, but you’re at the level of those people that think Australia isn’t real and the Holocaust never happened.”
“Because Bella operated under the assumption that everyone lied to her. She fact-checked everything. It took years for me to build her trust. I thought Ivory and I were the ones keeping her from going totally off the rails, but clearly, it was just me. What do you think she would have done if she found out I gave her a pendant and told her it would protect her, but it was fake?”
“I don’t know, Beavis, but she might still be alive and in jail instead of dead!” I yelled.
“Unseelie can’t see the future, Beyla. We have our runes if we need answers, and we can mix herbs to force visions, but we can’t control them. I knew you would have seen her pendant and were trained in other ways besides magic if she got violent again. How was I supposed to predict Ivory giving Bellatrix a gun and her using it? No one in the supernatural community even uses them. Were you given one with your badge?”
I sulked because he was right. Not only was I not given one, but I also didn’t even know how to use a gun. Kaine taught me every form of self-defense he knew when my feet were healed. Ripley, Ravyn, and their warlock men taught me every offensive and defensive spell they knew. I could take anything out of someone’s hand with magic, but most of my bureau training was for potion bombs, not guns.
Why did it have to be a gun?
Marsden clapped his hands.
“The agent at the bureau took the information I gave her about Ivory’s signature on the gun. Her fingerprints were on the bullets. The serial number was filed off, and someone had tampered with it like they were trying to make bullets fired from it unable to be traced back to it. They should be searching her apartment and arresting her shortly.
“Ivory played a stupid game. Bellatrix is dead, and Ivory lost everything. She’ll not only never perform on stage again, but she’ll also spend the rest of her prime ballet years in jail. I could sit here all afternoon trying to explain Bella’s history and why she was the way she was, but it’s not going to make this any better for any of you. This is still a rehearsal, and there’s a lot of work to be done. Places, please!”
How did he keep doing that? He made so many stupid decisions when it came to his girlfriends, but he was a master at avoiding shit he didn’t want to talk about. Finally, I’d gotten what I needed about Ivory and some history on Bellatrix. Still, this conversation was headed towards me demanding he produce Santiago after I wrapped my head around the fact thatbothof his girlfriends tried to kill me over a role.
Yeah, we could threaten to walk if he refused to tell us where Santiago was, but I knew he’d call our bluff. The guys could easily find jobs at other ballet companies. I doubted I’d have a job at the bureau if I left because Marsden was being difficult, even after what Bellatrix and Ivory tried to do to me. Getting an audition with another ballet company would be next to impossible without being with another company since I graduated high school. Marsden was willing to have Ivory blackballed. He’d probably do the same to me.
Plus, I might question my career choices, but at this moment, I was still an agent with the Paranormal Investigation Bureau. Marsden couldn’t do this ballet unless he brought in guest artists if we left. Santiago would find someone willing to try this ballet again.
I still didn’t know how, but I wassupposedto be here right now trying to break this curse. Everything that had happened to me this far in my life had led me to this point. I couldn’t destroy five careers just to get to Santiago Suarez. I needed to find another way.
I gritted my teeth and took my position in the center of the floor. I’d have to get creative, but I was going to find Santiago. And I was going to do it before Santiago and Marsden intended for him to be found.
Chapter21
Merlin
Iwas trying so hard to be mad. I didn’t enjoy holding on to negative shit. I was like that ice witch in the cartoon my sister was obsessed with that I pretended to hate because it was all over our house, but I was secretly kind of into it. I just let it go like Elsa.
This? I was pissed. Bellatrix seemed to be some pet project to Marsden, but there was no shame in admitting something would never work and moving on to something healthier. I always knew I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but I had a backup plan for when I retired or if I got injured.
My mom had won several Tony awards. She was a total beast on the Broadway stage, and she’d originated a few roles in London. I adored being on the stage and performing. I always had. I had this grand idea that if I took voice lessons and learned to not be totally tone deaf, I could work my way up the ranks in Broadway like my mom.
