Page 176 of Dance of Ruin

I laugh quietly. Sadly.

“Or… Who knows? Maybe I’ll write a damn book,” he adds. “God knows, I’ve got enough material.”

I don’t let go of the silence this time, and he takes my hand like it’s the first time in years he’s felt that he’s allowed to.

His palm is warm. Rougher than I remember.

“I’ve been a bad man, Naomi,” he says. “Greedy. Short-sighted. Selfish.”

He squeezes my hand.

“But I never once stopped loving you.”

Tears are slipping down my cheek before I can stop them.

“And I amsovery proudof you.”

That’s the final straw.

I get up from my chair and wrap my arms around him as I sob against him.

EPILOGUE

NAOMI

There’s alwaysa kind of energy right before a performance, just before the audience quiets and the curtain rises, that feels like a held breath.

I honestly love that feeling.

Backstage the Mercury Theater is humming with nerves, the rustle of costumes, whispers, and the distant tuning from the orchestra pit. The smell of rosin and baby powder hangs in the air, mingled with deodorant and sweat.

The theater is full. Not with the usual season ticket holders or random walk-ups, but a VIP-only crowd for this “Special sneak preview performance” ofSwan Lake.

It’s not the first one we’ve done, and I doubt it’ll be the last before the show officially opens. But Kir feels they’re important for drumming up investment and patron money, and if that keeps the lights on and the rest of us employed, I’m all for it. Plus, hey, I like the practice.

Tonight, since we’re only doing excerpts from the show, I’m in my Odile costume already.

The black swan. The temptress. The deception.

My tutu with the feathers on the shoulder fans out in a halo of sequined black tulle. My eyes are lined with smudged kohl, lips painted a wicked blood-red. The mirror barely feels like it showsmeanymore, and instead, it truly feels like I’ve become someone else.

And yet, I’ve never felt more myself.

Evelina stretches on the floor as Milena finishes pinning my headpiece, her fingers deft and precise.

“So, is he coming tonight?”

I blush as I turn to Evelina. Obviously, the secret about Nico and me being together came out a while ago. But in the last few weeks, since the night those men came crashing into Nico’s apartment, it’s become a lot moreopena thing.

As in, no longer a tabloid scandal. Now, it’s justus.

I lift a shoulder. “I’m not sure. He had some stuff he had to take care of tonight, but he’s going to try to make it, even if it means sneaking in halfway through.”

Evelina sighs. “Now where canIfind a boy to sneak in halfway through?”

“You’re looking for a boy to sneak it halfway in yourwherenow, baby girl?”

Eveline turns deep crimson as she whirls and slaps at Val’s chest.

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