Page 71 of The Devil and His Goddess

I’d watched clips of her performance from opening night, and somehow, she’d gotten even more rigid and rough since the night I’d watched her during the final dress rehearsal. It was clear to a trained eye that she was thinking far too much and notfeelingnear enough when portraying Odette.

Knowing all of that left me even more speechless to be standing face-to-face with her now. I never thought I’d see the day when Mandi approached me without nasty intent, let alone in search of my help.

Which made me question what she was up to.

“You want my help?” I asked slowly, unable to hide my disbelief.

Her pouty lips twisted into a grimace, and her narrowed eyes darted in my direction like she couldn’t help getting one glare in. “That’s literally what I just said.”

I scoffed and closed my locker door before facing her fully. “Typically when you ask someone for help, you show a little bit of this thing called, ‘kindness.’ Have you heard of it?”

Her cheeks puffed out, and her shoulders nearly hiked up to her red ears as though she wanted to burrow down inside of her own body. I could practically see her fighting tooth and nailnotto throw a snarky remark my way. Her need to learn must’ve been stronger than her need to be spiteful.

“Please,” she gritted out.

I could’ve told her hell no. I could’ve laughed in her face. I could’ve told her she didn’t deserve my help, listing out all of the awful things she’d done in the past as evidence for why.

But whileshedidn’t deserve my help, Samir, Carmen, Gretchin, and all of the other dancers involved inSwan Lakedid. Mandi’s performance wasn’t solely hers. It painted a picture for the entire show. Not doing that role justice would reflect poorly upon the production that all of them had worked so hard on. It would reflect on Perseus, who’d cast her as the White Swan.

If there was something I could do to help the show be better, I had a duty to do so.

“Alright,” I finally replied, adjusting the top of my leotard. “I’ll help. When—”

“Tonight,” she cut me off. She quickly looked around the empty changing room before meeting my eyes. “Let’s do it tonight after work. And don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want people to know.”

I scoffed quietly and just barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I assumed her pride kept her from wanting others to know she’d come to me for help. Or maybe it was the ugly competitive jealousy she’d always harbored toward any ballerina she thought was better than her. For her, having others know she needed my help would be like declaring defeat and admitting that I’d really been better than her all along. It didn’t matter that we shared a stage. She wanted theentirestage. She always had.

“I won’t tell anyone,” I relented. “You’ll need to text me your address so I can—”

“Your place,” she interrupted. “We’ll practice at your place. Don’t you have a literal ballet studio there?”

“It’s Aiysha’s,” I answered. “But yeah.”

She nodded. “Okay. We’ll do it there. Tonight.”

Before we could discuss it further, she dashed out of the room. Even after she’d gone, I couldn’t move, too dumbfounded over what had transpired. Eventually, I found the ability to finish getting ready for a day of practice and training.

My body burned only to be reborn as I worked on the choreography forDancing in the Dark. Sweat lined my forehead, and my breath came out heavy as Elijah and I finished the coda from the third act pas de deux. My torso pressed into his shoulder as my arms curled out in the air beside me like the wings of a butterfly and legs arched back. Elijah had to catch his own breath as he set me on my feet.

“That was damn near perfect,” Elijah panted as the two of us grabbed a drink.

I smiled, unable to reply until I bathed my throat in the liquid goodness that was water.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Perseus chimed in.

He stood by Delilah, one of the répétiteurs. I was glad he agreed because I’d almost been too distracted by his presence to perfect the pas de deux. He really shouldn’t be allowed to wear his hair in a bun with that tight navy sweater and slacks. The numerous rings on his fingers flashed as he rubbed at his chin while studying me and Elijah.

“The only thing it needs to be perfect are the costumes,” Perseus noted, his pink lips curling into a grin.

“Thank you, sir,” Elijah beamed with an awed hand to his chest.

I ducked my head and barely contained my mischievous smirk. “You’re too kind, sir.”

His green eyes narrowed a fraction, and he cleared his throat before he turned to Delilah to discuss the next practice set. With a final goodbye to us, Perseus stepped out, but not before meeting my eyes with a single look I knew all-too-well by this point.

Biting my lip, I eagerly waited for lunch break where I casually wandered through the halls before ending up at Perseus’s office.

The moment I slipped inside, I found myself being hoisted into strong arms. Perseus’s lips sought out mine, and I clutched the back of his head as he devoured my lips, my breath, my verysoulwith his searching kiss.

---