Page 41 of Encore
“Go home and rest. We get to the pivotal scene tomorrow.”
I was nervous, and it didn’t make me feel much better that Marsden did, too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do much about it except show up tomorrow, dance, and hope for the best.
Chapter37
Arden
Iunderstood why Marsden cast me in this role. It was complex and challenging. Getting the audience to root for a character as a love interest after they’ve accidentally murdered the prima ballerina is a hard sell. I had my doubts about the material being good enough to do that, even if I danced and acted my ass off. But, now that we were deep into the ballet, I knew I’d be given the tools to do that.
I had no problem pretend killing Damita when Bellatrix was dancing this part. Beyla was the better dancer for this role, but it was against my nature to hurt my mate, even if it was just pretending. What if someone stepped wrong, and I really hurt her?
We’d gotten through all the fight choreography with the four of us. I’d been in stage fights before that were totally unrealistic. It looked like two dancers pretending to be roosters and not actually in some sort of altercation.
This one was totally different. It was ballet, but it was gloriously violent and looked like we were actually fighting. Marsden was excited and screaming praise at us. Beyla was watching us like she wanted to eat us alive. I loved it when she looked at me like that.
That all went to shit when Marsden called Beyla to the center and started teaching her part. It was mostly mime and acting, trying to break up a fight until she jumped between Bevan and me. I was supposed to stab her with my sword, and she would die in Bevan’s arms.
Except I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t even want to watch her pretend to die when Marsden might tell us all he felt like he wanted to kill people at the end of rehearsal. I didn’t want to picture it because I didn’t know how to stop Marsden. Madame Lucinda had gone through this more than once, and she didn’t knowhowhe was doing it. Plenty of agents at the Paranormal Investigation Bureau had tried to figure out what happened to those missing dancers and come up empty.
Marsden yelled, and the piano stopped playing as we ran through the scene, and I just stood there like an asshole instead of fake stabbing my mate.
“What the fuck are you doing, Arden? The scene is crucial to the whole ballet. Damita’s death is what gets her warriors to realize they shouldn’t fight, and that she has enough love for all of them. You’ve killed people on stage before. I typecast you in that role a lot because you’re usually amazing at it.”
“You never asked me to pretend to kill my mate before, Marsden. Doing a ballet that tends to be fatal, too.”
“Arden, are you seriously having a tantrum because I asked you to fake stab Beyla because it’s part of the plot, and it’s what your character does?”
“Yeah, and I think I’m allowed after everything your girlfriend pulled. This isn’t just pretend stabbing my mate. When we wrap this up, your dumbass could stab her for real.”
Was I the only one who wasn’t okay with this? He’d been doing this for one hundred and fifty years. Marsden never left a body or evidence. Everyone wanted to call him cursed, but I was calling him a pretty prolific serial killer. A curse made you kill. It didn’t teach you how to disappear a corpse in the middle of New York City and get rid of any evidence. The only people who taught that kind of shit were Nicolai’s shady-ass family.
Beyla walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist. I crushed her to my chest. I really liked this ballet. I didn’t want to take Bevan and Nyx’s parts from them when they finally got recognized. Our lives weren’t worth it. We needed to be having an intervention with Marsden to just drop this insanity and never attempt this ballet again.
“Arden, it’s okay. We need to do this. You forget I’m not just a ballet dancer. Kaine Dragovich taught me to fight since I was a teenager. My magic awakened early, and I had some of the best witch tutors in the States. I’ve even gotten to chat with Minerva Krauss over tea several times about curses.”
“No shit!” Bevan shrieked. “Girl, you have to tell me everything. I’m such a fan.”
I loved Bevan, but he really needed to focus right now. We were supposed to have her back and protect her.
“Arden, I get you don’t like it, but Beyla is a trained agent,” Nicolai said. “She probably knows several ways to beat your ass across the room. She might actually do it if you keep acting like you know better than she does.”
“I’d pay money to watch her whoop your ass,” Merlin said.
“You’re all forgettingIpayyoumoney to dance, and Arden is sitting here throwing a tantrum because he thinks a trained agent needs his protection. Beyla is related to my Selena, which makes her a very powerful witch.”
“He’s right, Arden. I’msupposedto be here, and I can take care of myself. I know you’ll have my back if I can’t. This is the entire reason I’m here.”
I stepped back and nodded. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this. Why were we doinganythingfor Marsden after all of this? As far as I was concerned, Beyla could just throw his ass in jail.
But I wouldn’t be controlling, and this was something she wanted. So, when the music started again, I pretended to stab my mate in the stomach.
I hated every minute of it.
Chapter38
Beyla
We were all holding our breaths when Marsden called rehearsal. Arden was right behind me, ready to pounce on Marsden if he didn’t like what he said. I knew Arden was into BDSM, but he only did that with people who enjoyed it. I liked what he had exposed me to so far and wanted to go further.
