Page 23 of Heart of a Rebel

The stage darkens as someone stands front and center talking. But my eyes are on the figures setting up behind them. Sebastian, Eloise, Rome, and Noah all take their places. If Eloise is still nervous, I know that up there she won’t show it. She’s perfected the art of keeping her composure. And even if she was on edge, the music has this ability of melting it away.

“Enemy Muse.” The man on the stage sweeps his arms out as he walks away.

I lean forward with my elbows on the table and my chin on my knuckles, watching, waiting. Feeling the energy shift before the first chord strikes. It doesn’t take someone knowing a lot about music to know Enemy Muse has something special. Something unique.

Irreplaceable.

Rome sweeps the strings of his guitar once and lets it echo through the room like a fucking invitation. And the crowd is quieted, on edge, waiting for it.

When the lights come up and Sebastian steps forward with a smile—the force of the sun—stretching his face, all hell might as well break loose. Because the first words come out and the band captures every heart in here.

The crowd comes to life. They’re singing, screaming, begging for them. But all the while my eyes are dragged in one direction—to Eloise, taking up her place on the stage with pure, unfiltered confidence.

She’s wearing the smug smirk she dons when she’s performing, looking like a piece of art up there for us all to sit back and admire. And as the song shifts and Sebastian reaches the chorus, a smile breaks out on her face, and I know she’s proud of the words I heard her spend hours, days, weeks putting together.

“A dark horse on the horizon

Bringing battle to our land

Sowing seeds and planting visions

Of violence in the sand

I swear I saw it in your smile

A tick of vengeance in your tone

Been there once

Been there twice

I should have known

Don’t lie tonight

There’s been enough of that for one life

We were feeling fine

But it’s poison on a good night

Say what you want, what you will

Who you are is lost, and still

Don’t lie tonight

I just might let you

A dark horse rolling in

Undoing all we could have been

I should have seen it

Should have known

Rotten words that felt like home

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