The Price {Completed}

Chapter Seven

Ferdinand began to walk around me, and I stood still, only moving my head to watch him as he came around to my front again and took my hand to pull me into our new dance.

                This was not anything like Mr. Lennox's dances. There was no careful plan, no minute choreography. We merely moved as the moment told us, flowing organically from turn to glissade to whatever else arose from the music. We stayed apart at first, dancing around each other, making looping, intersecting circles on the ground. Only after we adjusted to our makeshift dancing patterns did we finally begin to move closer.

  Ferdinand spun on one leg and extended his hand, which I took and used to curl into his chest on demi-pointe. He grinned down at me, his hands curling around my waist as he helped me spin. I came to a stop, launching into a transition step that took me away from him.

I did not know what made me do it, but I danced to the other end of the room, turning to look back at him. He stood where he was, somehow understanding what I meant to do and watching me with his arms still outstretched. I waited, my arms crossed, one foot resting behind me, for the music to swell where I knew it would, and then ran with the building crescendo straight into his arms. He lifted me until my head was only inches from the floorboards, and I felt the breeze of the dancers swishing above us stir my hair. I closed my eyes and let it surround me as Ferdinand circled slowly. As he began to lower me, I looked down to see his face tilted toward mine. We both breathed heavily from the exertion of our dance, our chests heaving, and as he set me on my toes I felt his lips press gently against mine.

                It was exactly what I'd originally suspected he'd wanted to bring me down here for, yet as his kiss fluttered away I wanted it to keep going. He checked my face and, perhaps seeing the longing there, he leaned back in to deliver a more permanent kiss. His hands still rested on my waist and mine were held pinned between us, feeling our hearts burning into a perfect rhythm. We breathed through the kiss until the air grew warm.

                Maybe it could have lasted forever— just us two under the stage, surrounded by the sounds of dance and the welcoming dimness— if the jarring sound of Mr. Lennox's voice above did not startle us away from each other.

                "Where is Nadia?" he shouted. The sound of the dancers' shoes above came to a stuttering end and the piano player sputtered out soon after. The corps began to whisper as Mr. Lennox's cane tapped loudly across the floorboards. "Well? Did she just disappear into thin air between the dressing room and backstage? No one saw her at all?"

                The girls shuffled above us and I glanced uneasily at Ferdinand. I'd been so lost in our moment that I'd forgotten that I was due to rehearse. I'd missed my cue.

                "She's coming. Her dress didn't... fit properly," Rachel answered.

                I didn't wait to hear how Mr. Lennox would reply. I grabbed Ferdinand's hand, pulling him with me up the stairs and through the door into the hallway. At the practice room I dropped his hand, turning to wish him goodbye, when he steadied my head with both his hands and planted another kiss on my lips with a smile.

                "See you tonight," he said, releasing me.

                I waited with a galloping heart for him to disappear around the corner before I could let myself slide into the room and push the door shut with my back. For one precious second I allowed myself to close my eyes and remember the warmth of his hands against my skin and the way his chest and lips felt. The corners of my mouth curled and I touched the spot on my lips that could still feel his. But then I had to shake my mind clear and race to change my costume.

                When I finally burst into the rehearsal, Mr. Lennox looked up sharply from his position by the piano. He stalked toward me, cane clicking on the floor, and gripped my arm.

                "We'll talk about this later," he said.

                Later had to wait, for after we rehearsed, it was time to ready ourselves for the premiere in an hour. With relief that I might put off my punishment a bit longer, I went with the corps to apply our makeup and get all the finishing touches in order. Mr. Lennox watched me walk off the stage in the protection of their ranks, and I felt a shiver ran down my spine as his gaze followed me out the door.

                After we dressed, we came backstage to stretch and keep our limbs warm. Ferdinand stood at the opposite end, grinning at me behind Mr. Lennox's back and making it intensely hard for me to focus on my pre-show tasks.

                Twenty minutes later, the curtain rose and we performed to a packed house. The corps and I danced to rapt attention from the glittering tiaras and patched jackets both, and their eyes never left us throughout. And when I came back onstage after my costume change, wearing my black veil and wilting by the grave, I could feel the audience perk up even if I could not see them. They waited with bated breath, and sighs of delight echoed through the crowd as Ferdinand came onstage.

                Electricity ran down my spine as his hands wrapped around my spine and lifted me into the air. I knew that in order to dance properly I could not be thinking of him, but any time I tried to force myself into that blank space of dance, he would touch a bare patch of my skin and I would vault back into my dizzying mind.

                The dance was drilled into me, and I could perform it without thinking. That was not my problem. I did all the steps as they were supposed to be done, but the extra essence was not there. I grew frustrated as Ferdinand let each touch linger a beat too long. I wanted to push him away, force him to stop keeping me from that comfortable space of delving into Mr. Lennox's atmosphere. But then I felt his smile on the back of my head as he pressed in close, and he dipped to kiss the curve between my neck and shoulder. And suddenly I didn't care about creating that blankness for the dance to paint on. Instead, I let my own smile stretch across my face, hidden safely under the veil, and I let it infuse into my legs and arms until my steps became shorter and sharper, hurrying to rush back to Ferdinand. Our dance changed from my pursuing the grave to being consumed in the need to be near Ferdinand.

                We reached the climax of the dance, with me on one end of the stage and Ferdinand on the other. He was to come and lift me, but instead I began to walk toward him as well. Our hands outstretched, yearning for each other. Our fingertips touched and I opened my mouth to say his name... when a blur from somewhere to my right filled what vision I had through the veil, and I ran into a stonewall of a chest.

                At the impact, my veil slid from my hair and revealed the sight of Mr. Lennox standing between us and breaking my grasp on Ferdinand's hand with a sharp rap. I stumbled backward, knocked off balance. The musicians continued to play, but there was a hesitation as they wondered what they were supposed to do. Mr. Lennox gave them no indication. He only stared down at me with such a fire behind his eyes that I could almost feel it piercing my skin. My breath came in sharp bursts at the fierceness of his face. Behind me I heard the audience begin to murmur and shift, wondering if this was part of the ballet or not.

Mr. Lennox took my arm in an iron grip and dragged me to the wings with my slippers sliding across the floorboards. Stupidly, I thought he meant to have us start over, but as we passed by the man in charge of the rigging, Mr. Lennox signaled for him to drop the curtain. The man, confused, began to ask questions, but Mr. Lennox kept walking past him without a word. With nothing to go on, the man made a decision and pulled the ropes that dropped the curtain, plunging the stage into darkness.

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Author's Note:

As always, I just want to thank anyone and everyone who has added this story to their reading lists, voted, or commented! Your support is everything, and I'm so excited that I get to share my story with you! This chapter was one of my favorites to write as I got to develop the Ferdinand/Nadia relationship, as well as write some more crazy Mr. Lennox moments. I hope you've enjoyed, and I can't wait to see you next chapter, where we find out just exactly what Mr. L's reaction will be!