Page 24 of The Ruse

If such a thing was possible.

I got so caught up listening to the perfect pitch of Elyse’s voice that I totally missed the first few notes that Raoul was supposed to sing.

Nash snickered at my mistake, of course, but I tried to ignore his smirk and focus on singing my small part in Elyse’s song. I turned in my seat to face Elyse as I sang the lyrics where Raoul talked about how he and Christine had been close many years earlier, and how even though Christine might not remember him, he remembered her.

Elyse picked up the melody from there. Acting her part perfectly, she kept eye contact with me until she got to the complicated run. There was a beat where her voice cracked and she had to pause to catch her breath, but then she was able to hit the last note. By the time she was done, everyone in the whole room sat in awe for a moment before bursting into applause.

We made it through the first hour of the script, and then Miss Crawley told us to take a ten-minute break.

“Weren’t expecting that, were you?” Nash said to me once Cambrielle and Elyse had left the circle together.

“What?” I furrowed my brow at my blond-haired, blue-eyed nemesis.

“For Elyse to sound like that,” he said. “I saw how you reacted to hearing her voice.”

“Yeah, she’s really good.” I ran my hands across my knees before standing. My legs could use a good stretch after sitting for so long.

Nash stood as well, and after stepping closer, he lowered his voice and said, “I know you’ve been away for a while, so it makes sense that you’re a little rusty, but—”

“I’m not rusty,” I cut him off before he could add whatever insult or threat he had planned. “Sure, I stumbled during that first song, but at least I’m off book.”

“You have way less lines than I do,” he said.

“I could do your part, too,” I said.

“Too bad you’re just my understudy, though.”

“This time.” I gritted my teeth, hating that Nash had the upper hand right now. I sighed. “Miss Crawley probably knew she couldn’t cast me for both Jean ValjeanandThe Phantom without people accusing her of favoritism. That’s why she gifted the role to the guy whose parents were subsidizing the show.”

“You think I got the part because my parents made a donation?” Nash scoffed.

“I don’t know, but it would make sense, right?” I shrugged, knowing it would only rile Nash up further.

And just like I’d hoped, anger flared in his expression. Nash hated it when people assumed he got perks because his parents were the town billionaires. Hated that he was always having to prove himself and in competition with some other force—be it me, his half-brother Carter who was in the same grade, or his parents’ money—to prove he was good enough on his own merit.

It was a weakness that I enjoyed exploiting whenever I could.

Nash looked around the room briefly before saying, “I got the part because I was the best person for the job.”

“If you say so.”

His jaw clenched. “I did.”

“I’m sure you did.” I patted his shoulder in a placating gesture that I knew he would hate.

Nash thrived on the approval of others, and the fact that I was making it sound like he hadn’t actuallyearnedthis role would drive him mad.

In fact, I was pretty sure he was considering dragging me over to Miss Crawley right now so she could tell me that he’d won the role fair and square.

He didn’t need to do that, of course. I would never admit it to him, but I knew he was a good actor—a good singer, too. He and I had always been neck and neck in things like this for a reason.

He was aworthy opponent,as some might say.

And if I hadn’t also auditioned for his part, I might have even told him as much. But since he’d never let me live it down if I admitted to losing the part to him fair and square, I would keep that little bit of information to myself.

“Getting to play Raoul does have its perks, though,” I said instead, unable to help myself.

“It does?”

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