Page 79 of Juliet & Her Romeos

Swan draws in his breath.

Ambrose is truly doing it.

This is going to be a Ballet Bonding Night…

I chew my lip, fixated on the way that Ambrose is pushing his thumb into one of the thorns on the roses hard enough to make blood well up, before trickling down and staining his white cuff.

Please, please, please.

Then Ambrose raises his fierce amber gaze to mine.

The intensity of his love in that look blows me away.

Yet also the intensity of his burning hate.

Ambrose prowls toward Swan and me, holding out a rose to each of us at the same time. “I claim this Romeo and Juliet as my bonded mates.”

In a daze, I clasp the bloodied rose, holding it to my heart, at the same time as Swan does.

Have we won?

Is this real?

Can we truly have been selected to bond with Ambrose?

CHAPTER TWELVE

Romeo Hall, Sanctum

Slowly, my eyes flutter open.

Fear makes my heart instantly speed up that I’ll find myself back in my cold, dark bedroom because last night on the stage hasn’t happened yet.

It was only a dream.

Except, no mattress in the academy would be this soft. No dancer would be allowed this many warm blankets. And these violet, satin pajamas are definitely new.

It’s Christmas morning, and I’m waking up in Romeo Hall.

This is real but it doesn’t feel like it yet.

Swan and I won the R & J contest and became primo and prima —principals.

Ambrose selected us to join his pack and brought us home with him to the hall, which for years I’ve imagined, despite it being hidden behind the forest at the back of the academy.

It’s always been close but unreachable.

As untouchable as Ambrose.

Last night, Ambrose didn’t speak to Swan and me from the moment that we left the stage.

Not a single word.

Instead, his expression was closed off and inscrutable once we stepped into the vintage limousine, which drove us away from the academy.

First, we said tearful goodbyes to our friends, and I hugged Mary.

Swan dragged Thiago aside to tell him where he’d secretly stashed everything that he’d stolen (liberated) for the Christmas party.

---