Page 12 of Music of the Night
A muscle in her face twitched. There was something else she wasn’t telling me. Dropping her gaze, she shook her head. “I’m not frightened… Such incidents seem to suit this place.” She shivered. “But I plan on leaving, anyway.”
Ah. So she wished to leave. “What keeps you from leaving now?”
Her fiery dark eyes held mine and emotion blazed behind them. “I did not come to High Tower because I had a choice,” she admitted. “I only intend on staying until I learn to sing well enough to leave. . .to take care of myself. There are other theaters, less reputable but I can earn my keep if I can captivate an audience.”
The fever in her words allowed me to glimpse the passion in her soul. I sensed an unseen kinship between us. Sitting on the steps, I passed her dried meat and she tore strips of it off with her slim fingers, chewing slowly.
“I am certain you will succeed,” I told her, deeply aware of my need for her voice, yet disquiet rippled with the knowledge she was more than simply a pretty face, a voice to use for my wishes. She had admirable aspirations and if we continued, I’d ruin her.
She glanced at me, her sensual mouth tilting up into a smile. “What about you? Don’t you want to leave this place?”
A lump grew in my throat but I swallowed down my initial response. “I have wished it many times.”
“But something keeps you here?”
Turning away I nodded. “Yes.”
She frowned. “We’ve had this conversation and you’ve essentially told me nothing, nothing about yourself, and, not much about High Tower.”
Her disappointment was clear, and I had to remind myself she was stronger than I expected. Perhaps the music would not unravel her soul. She was right though; I had told her nothing. “Talk about yourself,” I encouraged. “We share a passion for music, but I know little about you.”
“There’s not much to say,” she retorted, almost glaring at me. I opened my mouth in surprise, but she laughed. “I supposed I’ve been very sad and gloomy since coming to High Tower. Nothing to do with this place, but with what happened before. Here it’s quiet, set away, and I need the solitude, or at least I did. Now, I’m ready, I think to find my place in the world and gather the strength to go out and seek my fortune. I was a high-born lady, before this, but those words mean nothing now. My family name is ruined, the money is gone, and I don’t want to rely on Count Zorik’s charity for the rest of my life. I suspect it comes with chains of its own, metaphorically speaking of course.” The smile was gone from her voice leaving a wistfulness. “My mother died when I was young, I don’t recall her much, except she loved to sing. She passed her gift to me and I’ve always wanted to become better, I just did not give it any thought because I had many distractions in the city. There were balls to go to and new dresses, and I had friends. We’d walk the streets, laughing and talking about nothing at all.”
Once she began speaking, it was difficult for her to stop, and yet pain swirled around her words. Something had driven her to High Tower, but she danced around that pain, wouldn’t speak of it.
“The city of Solynn is much different from here, laughter around every corner, the carriages clattering up and down the cobblestones. It was so much, the noise, the people. I liked to escape to my mother’s garden, a tiny patch of green outside the manor, and read of other places. I always wanted to travel, to see more than just the city, to experience the country, bright and beautiful, to climb the hillocks and hear my voice echo across the moors. The world is impossibly enormous and I doubt I could travel it all in a lifetime.”
Listening to the fever in her words made me realize she deserved much more than the gloomy horror of High Tower. Yet, how could I fulfill my plan and give her happiness?
“There, I’ve said too much.” She gave a shaky laugh and stood. “I should return and leave you to your work.”
Her voice went up at the end, as though asking a question. I sensed she wanted me to ask her to stay, and I both wanted her to stay and wished her to leave me alone.
“Return soon,” I bade her.
10
Aria
After I surprised Uriah with the gift, the air changed between us. The shift was ever so subtle but the distance and the tension between us faded into friendship. Even though I shouldn’t want him, something about him that went beyond his beautiful music, compelled me. I sensed a kindness and regret in his tone and gestures. He was more alive, more passionate than any suitor I’d courted in Solynn.
Even though it was foolish, I dreamed of him. If I left High Tower, could I persuade him to come with me? What was there for him in the tower except loneliness and misery? Was the music a worthy excuse? I determined to ask him more about his work as I snuck outside to find Beauty, saddled and waiting for me.
It had been six weeks since my first lesson, and as I rode through the silent town snowflakes whirled above my head. When the tower loomed before me, a lightness bubbled within me. For the first time since my father’s passing, I had something to look forward to, someone who brought me joy.
Heart racing, I dismounted and tied up Beauty, then slipped toward the doors of the tower. As usual, they opened before me and Uriah lifted his dark head, that one eye appraising me.
“Lady Aria.”
The mere sound of my name on his lips welcomed me inside. I smiled as he moved away from the plants, which wilted as his presence left them.
“Take a moment to warm up,” he said.
Our nights of singing had fallen into a routine. I arrived and warmed up. We sang, took a break, and started again.
My gaze was drawn upward as I moved to the middle of the room, taking my place in the circle of runes. “What’s up there?” I asked, nodding to the spiraling staircase.
“So, you are curious about me,” he jested, a small smile rising on his face.
