Page 46 of Dance of Devils

I pull away from her sharply. I have to.

I’m fuckinghard.

I march back over to the iPad and glance back at her. “When I hit play, I want you to count yourself in and then go straight into it. Don’t pause like you were before. There’s no pause, Brooklyn. Thepiquéslead directly into the pirouetteen dehors.”

Brooklyn opens her mouth to say something, but I shake my head.

“No questions. Justdoit.”

I tap play again. She counts herself in and goes right into it. But she keeps that goddamn pause right before the pirouette.

“Stop.”

She whips her head around, glaring at me without a trace of a filter when I abruptly stop the music.

“Again, from the same place.”

“I didn’t?—”

“You did. Don’t question me, Ms. Ellis.”

She glares at me. I glare right back.

“Is thatclear?”

“Yeah,” she snaps.

My mouth purses as my gaze holds hers captive. “Excuse me?”

A blush tinges her cheeks.

“I mean, yes, that’s clear…sir.”

Fuck.

My cock really,reallyneeds to calm the hell down when she says that.

“Again. And…go.”

I tap play, and the whole thing starts again. This time, she nails it, and goes directly into the pirouetteen dehors. So when I abruptly pause the music again, there’s pure wrath on her face when she whirls on me.

“What thefuck?!” she hisses. “Ihadthat!”

“Yes, you did,” I growl, narrowing my eyes. “Now you can do it without someone holding your hand.”

I’m not trying to be an asshole. But I know theImperiya Korona, and this is nothing compared to the whip-cracking that goes on there.

But again, the thought lodges and then crumbles in my head.

She won’t be dancing in Moscow.

She won’t get the apprenticeship.

I clear my throat. “From the top. Go.”

I tap play, relishing the way she shoots me one more glare and then slips into position. She nails the transition perfectly again.But once she’s made it through that part, I stop the music and make her start from the top of the variation again.

Then a third time.