Page 81 of Tendu: Dancing in the Castle

Will pushed the big door open a chink, the noise from within revealing the huge number of people in attendance. “A room for you to flirt your way round, Zolotov,” he remarked.

“You gonna shag your way round it, Hearst?” asked Justin, arriving behind us, back in his glittery suit from the murderous song. “I personally intend to do both. Alas, sweet Phi, there can be no similar hope for you. Mother Dreadwell awaits.”

And the door swung wide open.

Chapter 26

Twosmallguidedmissilesparted the crowd and almost knocked me over. I hugged my babies: Ophelia and Freya, the daughters of my old teacher Peter, who followed closely in their wake. I’d missed them. Their guileless compliments on my dress and dancing, and genuine delight and wonder at the castle, brought home what an exclusively adult world we’d been living in.

Benjamin, a little over one year old, eyed me suspiciously. “He doesn’t remember me,” I realised.

“He does, Phi,” said Yvonne, Peter’s wife.

“You’re looking beautiful, darling girl,” said Peter. “I have to hand it to you, Zolotov. I had grave doubts, but they’ve all come on, even little Justin.” Without pausing for breath, he turned straight to Will. “That was very interesting choreography, William.”

“Say what you really think, Peter,” I suggested.

He smiled. “Your solo was my favourite, my dear. It was ethereal and magical. As for the rest, theSarabandewas risqué, butCirclebroke some boundaries. Your mother may have had a small stroke.”

The dour matriarch stood nearby, squat and toad-like beside my father’s spindly height. The half-empty gin glass in her hand was not a good sign.

“I’m not facing this alone,” I said to Will. “Your shagathon will have to wait.” I took him by the arm, and we walked over to my parents.

“Well, Amalphia,” said my mother. “I have to say that was not quite what we expected. There were some very nice pieces. That girl in the red dress; beautiful, isn’t she? Her solo was excellent.”

“Weren’t you impressed by Will’s choreography?” I asked, hating how she had completely ignored him.

My father brought his property surveyor’s attention down from the ceiling, and said, “I liked the scenery for that last bit. It was historically evocative and suited the building.”

“Don’t be silly, James. That whole thing was obscene.”

Absence had not made my mother more bearable. As ever, I recoiled inside and longed to remove myself from her company. Peter introduced Aleks, and she remarked that she’d read about him. Aleks praised me to my parents, saying how proud they must be to have such a beautiful and talented dancer for a daughter.

“He’s certainly full of himself,” she said, once Paul had whisked Aleks and Will away to do the rounds of people, and Peter had gone to help Yvonne with crying Benjamin.

“He only talked about me,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but as if he knew everything. I know the type. Would be quite good looking if he wasn’t so ‘lived in.’”

“Lived in?”

“Been around a bit, hasn’t he? They’re not the same as us, Amalphia, these foreigners.” She lowered her voice. “They do bizarre things in bed. Not that that need worry you.”

I understood the inference at once: someone like him would never look at someone like me. At least, not in a bizarre-bed way.

She brightened, excited about her next subject. “Now dear, have you heard from Gavin at all?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Her disappointment was that of a petulant child, prize taken away. “I had hoped he might be here.”

“I told you he was abusive to me.”

She sighed. “You’re a difficult girl. You need a firm hand.”

No matter how much I expected the worst, it always pulled me up short. I wavered between making a comment about the firm handling of my childhood, or the fact that she had only liked Gavin because he joined in with her disparagement of me with such gusto.

“Possibly all is not lost,” she said with a sigh. “I noticed that young man over there admiring you earlier. Some men like bigger girls, you know, and he spoke so nicely to me while we were waiting in here.”

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