Page 100 of Dance of Defiance
“Ahh, yes,” Bogdan beams. “Dasha was quite the ballerina herself when she was younger!”
Dasha rolls her eyes and waves him off, turning back to Evie.
“Nothing close to you, obviously,” she laughs. “But I did love to dance.”
“You could always get back into it,” Evelina shrugs. “There are atonof places in New York that teach people like you…former dancers who loved it but haven’t done it for a while. You’d have a blast.”
Dasha smiles brightly. “Yeah? That sounds super fun! I alsohaveto see a performance at the Mercury while we’re in town.”
It would besomuch easier to be pissed about this fucking marriage if the woman I’m supposed to be marrying wasn’t so damnnice. And cool.
I glance at my sister, gritting my teeth when I see the way she beams at Dasha with stars in her eyes.
Evelina hasalwayswanted a sister. When we were little, she’d say it to me as payback after I was an asshole or stole one of her stuffies or something:“I wish I had a sister instead.”
When she got a little older, but still a kid, she’d see Papa with one of his dozen or so girlfriends and get all giddy, wondering if Papa was getting married again and her dreams of a sister might finally come to fruition.
Well, she might actually get her wish now. Sister, sister-in-law…I don’t think it makes much difference to Evie. She beams at the glamorous, pretty, cool older girl who’llbea sister to her sooner rather than later.
“So…” Dasha grins at Evie. “Any boyfriends?”
My sister turns fuchsia. “Oh…no,” she stammers. “No, I?—”
“No boys for my little princess,” Pavel grunts. “The only boys I let near her are the fairies she dances with.” He laughs loudly, and Bogdan joins in.
Evie frowns deeply, turning to glance at me. I shake my head subtly as if to say, “not the time”. But inside, I’m seething in a way that shocks me.
“That one always hanging around you…” Papa snorts. “The little fruity one.”
“Papa!” Evelina says quietly. “You can’t say that.”
He chuckles. “Pfft, I just did. The little prancing one. Valerie. Valencia.”
“Val.”
The fury in my chest twists fiercely as his name rolls off my tongue. “His name isVal,” I bark coldly.
My father gives me a look and then shrugs, shoving more food into his mouth. “Whatever. You know who I mean. The gay one.”
“He’s bi.”
Papa looks up sharply, his gaze boring into me.
Fuck.
Why thehelldid I just say that? What the fuck possessed me to?—
“Excuse me?” he rumbles.
I clear my throat. “He’s bi, Papa.”
He scowls. “The fuck does that mean?”
“It… It means he likes menandwomen,” Evie murmurs.
Our father snorts, grinning widely as he knocks back more vodka.
“Both!” He roars with laughter, turning to grin at Bogdan. “Horny little fucker wants to have his cake and eat it too, eh!”
