Page 51 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
“We’d love to.”
“Arden and Nyx will be there. Can you behave yourself?”
“We like and respect Nyx, even if none of us get why Merlin’s powers didn’t work on her. She doesn’t take shit from anyone, even if it means getting stuck in the corps. Arden is a self-righteous asshole who thinks he’s better than Merlin and me because he keeps all his relationships secret. So what’s he hiding, huh?”
“Can you just forget all that and be nice at dinner? We’re all in a lot of trouble. I know you can feel it too, even if you haven’t admitted it to yourself. You need to know what you’re dealing with.”
“You’re finally ready to take out Bellatrix? I’m in.”
“Would you believe me if I told you this is way worse than anything she’s ever pulled?”
“Then, I’m definitely in. I’ll talk to Merlin about it. I’m guessing it has something to do with why we have an Unseelie glaring at you to hurry up and get warm.”
I looked up, and Marsden looked right at me like I wasn’t doing exactly what I needed to do. Fuck him. This wasn’t a scheduled rehearsal. I was here on my own time. Marsden wasn’t about to drop anything that would help me with this curse in front of Nicolai. So, this was about dancing and something he either didn’t want Bellatrix to see. Either that or he was about to put something in motion that would set off the ancient rivalry that I didn’t have any interest in getting caught up in.
At any rate, he knew better than to ask me to do a damn thing until I was properly warmed up, even if I was just his girlfriend’s understudy.
He walked over to Nicolai and me at the barre, and I swear to shit, if he was about to stop me and make demands, I was going to hex him.
“Keep doing what you’re doing. Get nice and warmed up. I was grateful when Madame Lucinda told me how dedicated you are to your craft, Beyla. You too, Nicolai. That’s when I decided to make use of it so we can get this ballet off the ground.”
“I don’t get it. I’m the understudy. I’m not going to be on stage at all.”
Marsden cleared his throat.
“I’m aware. Rehearsals aren’t going as smoothly as I would have hoped, and we are behind as far as the leads go. We should be further into the choreography by now. Damita has importantpas de deuxwith each of the warriors, and it’s vital we get to them soon and rehearse them thoroughly. These dances need tooozechemistry and precision. The audience has to be rooting for Damita to end up with all four warriors. All my warriors were picked because I knew they could pull it off. We need to get past the initial meeting dance soon, and get to these because I want extra rehearsal time. We need extra time because that’s all in just the first act, and we have an entire ballet to finish after that!”
I was about to say something, but Nicolai beat me to it.
“Youknowwhy rehearsals aren’t going smoothly, Marsden. Everyone but Bevan has partnered with Bellatrix on stage, and every one of us has had to fake every ounce of chemistry with her, not to mention the massages and heat required for the back pain we get because she refuses to help with lifts! I danced with Beyla before class, and Bevan danced with her after. She’s a dream to lift, and the chemistry was off the charts. I imagine it would be the same with Merlin and that asshole Arden. We all love this ballet so far, but your girlfriend is actively trying to sabotage it. So, to be clear… we’d prefer dancing with Beyla.”
Marsden glared at Nicolai. I looked past him, and Madame Lucinda was shaking her head sadly. She probably knew full well where Santiago Suarez was, but couldn’t tell me. She also knew damn well we were all being manipulated. Madame Lucinda didn’t like Bellatrix. She knew Nicolai was right, and had every reason to want her gone. She had been pretty vocal about everything else so far, but she didn’t have his back on this.
“Enough, Nicolai. I know what I’m doing. I have a plan. I’m going to teach you and Beyla the duet. Beyla will demonstrate and teach it to Bellatrix. Bella is just high strung. If she sees Beyla isn’t a threat and is trying to teach her the choreography, she’ll drop this, and we’ll pull this ballet off. I’m talking to her about all this when we are alone as well you know.”
That was a remarkably shitty idea. I barely knew anything about Bellatrix, but I knew how ballerinas like her operated. If she found out Marsden taught me a single step of choreography outside of scheduled rehearsals, she would lose it. She knew damn well he enjoyed fucking ballerinas. Her evil lizard brain was going to make the leap and think I was fucking him, too. Things were going to get worse, not better. I also got the feeling Marsden wasn’t saying a damn thing to help when they were alone.
“That’s not going to make things better, Marsden,” I said.
“Nonsense. All of you only know Bella from rehearsal and class. I see a different side to her when we are alone. You should be warmed up now. Come to the center so I can teach you the choreography.”
Nicolai grabbed my hand and squeezed it as we walked to the center. It was so random, but it felt nice. That random gesture told me he had my back. Neither of us had a choice in this. Marsden outranked us, and he had plenty of other dancers to choose from, even if Nicolai was his first choice. But I had to go along with this because the only way I was breaking this curse was to get it on stage, in front of an audience. No one had died yet, but if Bellatrix kept this up, we were never going to get past the first dance.
“Just do what he says,” Nicolai whispered. “Tell us what you need to say over dinner, and we’ll come up with a plan for that, and for dealing with Bellatrix.”
I squeezed his hand. I was so glad he’d dropped the lothario pretense, because he was pretty great underneath that, and he was amazing to dance with.
Chapter3
Arden
Ihated it when she left my arms to get out of bed, but she also wasn’t ready for me to spring the whole devoted mate thing on her, even if she seemed all about the snuggling. I’d forever be able to please her once she was mine, and I couldn’t be selfish. I wanted her to stay in bed and hold her, but she wanted to get out. I’d never make her do anything she didn’t want.
I ate breakfast with Nyx at their apartment, and she couldn’t stop herself from telling me I looked like a smug motherfucker after getting an invitation to her bed. I didn’t regret it. It felt amazing. I just couldn’t understand why I kept feeling like having Bevan there would complete the entire thing.
I was in an excellent mood as I walked to the studio with Nyx. I got to sleep holding my mate, and I was heading to her right now. I loved her dedication to ballet. It showed as soon as I partnered with her in rehearsal when Bellatrix got benched.
I utterly lost my shit when Nyx and I walked through the studio doors, and I saw Beyla dancing a passionatepas de deuxwith fucking Nicolai! Marsden was there, and based on the music playing on the CD player, this was fromThe Sugar Skull Girl.
