Page 50 of Mated By Twilight

“And even then, all you do is dramatically drop your arm,” Tillos said, running his hands down her arms. “It’s a subtle movement considering the scale, and some versions of the play don’t even have her doing that.”

“Yeah, there are some interpretations where the sleeping queen is already dead.” Sollit grinned. “It adds to the futility of the overall story and her supporters in particular. Never liked that interpretation though. It feels like there’s no choice for the characters in that case.”

“That’s what makes it so good,” Tillos countered. “The pointlessness of their actions is what’s so fascinating about the characters. It’s what makes the tragedy.”

Leah could only smile as they continued to debate the story of the play. She didn’t even know the full story, so she couldn’t add to their discussion one way or another. She had also never been in theater in school, just choir. So, she didn’t even really have the background to join in.

She would have joined theater. If she could. But her parents had only reluctantly agreed to let her be in choir – and shecould make an argument there about singing in church and its similarity. Nothing she could have said would have convinced them that acting and wasting time on stage was worthwhile. The church hadn’t even done Christmas pageants, because acting was so looked down upon.

But she wanted to learn. She was eager to know more.

Even if it meant she had to deal with the unpleasant Shorvi again.

“I can’t wait to see you perform,” Sollit told her after the discussion finished – they agreed that the futility of the characters was what made the tragedy so compelling, but that having the sleeping queen already be dead was a good way to undercut it.

“I feel like you could just watch me sleep in real life and get the same experience,” she chuckled. “But I’ll do my best.”

“We will. Watch you, I mean,” Tillos promised, arms around her torso.

“And we do enjoy it,” Sollit agreed, holding her waist.

She felt so loved, so supported between them, that even the prospect of returning to the stage again didn’t seem so bad.

Chapter 21

Sollit

“I will not let you!” Sollit roared, grabbing his belly, covering the wound that was slowly but surely draining his life. He stood, shaking, in front of the queen’s door. She slept within her opulent chamber, helpless and dependent upon him, the one who betrayed her the most now protecting her from all encroachers and traitors. If she died, his base of power would go with her.

Tillos, holding a poisoned dagger, ready to cut the queen, glared at him silently. It wouldn’t take much. And that was the point. The poison on the blade was so strong, just the barest scratch would kill her. She would appear to die in her cursed sleep, and Tillos’ power would be assured.

“This must be done!” He declared, eyes flashing. “You are blinded by power!”

“And you are blinded by greed!”

“Move! Or you will die with her!”

Sollit threw out his hands. Face set with determination. He couldn’t let that happen. No matter what, he would protect his-

“Leah, stop peaking!”

Corvidair’s shout broke the tension of rehearsal like a hammer smashing through glass. A tiny squeak from behind him came even as Sollit turned to check on his mate. She was floating there, the ‘bed’ she would eventually be on not yet ready for the performance. So, she was just hovering in the air, enjoying the zero-g as the others moved around her.

She was getting back in position, but not before he caught her peeping. It wasn’t the first time she’d been caught staring at him or Tillos or both since they started rehearsal. It was a good thing her first performance was such a simple one, because her stage experience was lacking. But she didn’t need much to just lay there.

Except she couldn’t seem to stop watching them. Which Sollit found so adorable, he didn’t care how many times they had to rerun scenes that had her in focus – which was most of them. The fact that she couldn’t look away from them made him rather proud. A sentiment he knew his brother shared, even as Corvidair was telling her she needed to stop moving.

Skara, who was happy to not have to lay there like a lump – her words – for the entire show, had been recast as a loyalist who would oppose Tillos in the second half, after Sollit was dead. Her end was suitably tragic too. No one made it through this play alive. Corvidair had a deep love for plays that ended miserably. Personally, Sollit didn’t see the appeal, but then he felt any story that didn’t end happily for practically everyone involved was just a downer.

After chastising Leah, they reset the scene and started from the top. This time, his curious, happy mate managed to play suitably deceased through the rest of rehearsal. They finished out with her singular movement throughout the play – the dramatic arm drop of death.

Tillos stood over her, dagger aimed at her heart. Sollit – a ghost now, which would be obvious in a wardrobe change in the actual play – stood on the other side of her. Menacingly. He pretty much just glowered at him across the bed, daring him to commit the atrocious act.

Tillos, hands shaking, imaginary bleeding from wounds from the battle that brought him here, glared hatefully down at the sleeping queen.

“You die tonight. And we are all free of your tyranny!”

With a mighty roar, he threw himself forward. The dagger – just a prop – harmlessly collapsed in on itself as it ‘stabbed’ her. The force of Tillos throwing himself on her caused her to move, and her arm dropped –dramatically– over the side as the light on Sollit dimmed, his ghost fading as Tillos committed his final act of greed.

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