Page 14 of Run, Starlight (The Royal Ballet Presents #3)
ENZO
She starts again, moving away from the spotlight, not afraid of being in the shadows. Marcella makes me so hard, it’s difficult to control myself and stay in the shadows. I watch mesmerized as she starts dancing once again. She knows she’s the star and the lights will follow her wherever she goes.
As her faithful servant, I do just that.
The body of the man who was here before me lies at the corner, his eyes still open and mouth agape in shock. I wanted a privileged position to watch my Marcella, and he had the best seat of them all. Now, I do.
I’m not necessarily a professional, but it wasn’t hard to figure out the buttons to help her shine. Marcella is right; the choreography they gave her isn’t daring enough. I wonder who I have to push to make sure she gets her way.
“Enzo...”
The voice doesn’t surprise me. My brother is the only one who can track and sneak up on me. I don’t take my eyes off the stage as he approaches, playing with the lights just to watch her dance again. This time, she knows it’s for me.
Lucky stays quiet for a long moment. He can try to hide, but she has him as much as she has me.
“I needed you today,” he finally said. “Cygnus sent a target.”
They don’t interest me anymore. Being sent to finish an uninspired task doesn’t feel like it used to. Not when it compromises my time watching her. I don’t reply to Lucky. He knows me enough to read through my silence.
“Why do you change your tone when you talk to her?” he asks instead.
Now, that is a great question. I smile. Marcella just performed the most graceful landing after a triple pirouette, as if she’s weightless.
“Enzo, the housing guy,” I tell him.
“I understand that part. But I heard you with her. You’re... soft.”
“She deserves softness.” I nod to myself. “Don’t you think? She’s precious.”
The spotlight I command follows her across the stage, and she once again impresses me with the perfect choreography, even if it’s slightly different from before. That just means she’s dancing from the heart and changing as she goes.
“Enzo, we have to talk about this.”
This time, I turn to him. Anything we had to talk about was talked about last night. He tried her. He knows what’s at stake here.
“What do we have to talk about, Brother?”
“Her,” he says, but he doesn’t look at her. I wonder if he does this to keep himself from falling.
“There’s no talking,” I remind him. “Only destiny, only art. She’s both. And she’s ours. ”
“You never asked me if I wanted her,” he replies, and I hear anger in his voice.
“We have the same destiny, Lucciano. If she’s mine, she’s then yours.”
How can he not see? We are brothers, but our fate runs deeper than blood. We only have one another on this earth. Our souls are linked as if we are the same.
“Destiny doesn’t ask,” I tell him, returning my eyes to my little star.
He sighs, disappointed, but I don’t see why. If anything, I deserve a grateful acknowledgement that I found her and brought the universe’s plot to the forefront of our lives. It’s important to follow your soul’s purpose.
“When are you planning to take her?”
I haven’t looked at a calendar in years. I don’t know what month we are in, and I don’t see a reason to learn now. Timing is only divine. It doesn’t follow a schedule. Lucky knows this.
“Let her dance at the opening show,” he says when I don’t reply.
That’s fair. She’s not the prima ballerina. It’s a mistake, of course, and maybe I should fix that. Although we were brought here to protect the prima ballerina, our mission changed.
“She’ll do fantastic,” I declare.
Tension rolls off Lucky’s shoulders when I accept his terms. I wish my brother could see the bigger picture. It’s not good for him to be so grounded in the now. He always focuses on the tangible and the details instead of looking ahead and believing every move brought us here.
Our crappy childhood, the twists and turns that pushed us to Cygnus’s territory and entrusted these tasks onto our hands. He’s stuck on what we have to do instead of asking why .
Why did destiny take so much care of us? Why are we here in the theater right now?
It all culminates in her.
At this stage, she’s tired. Marcella pushes herself more than anyone I’ve ever seen, another quality of a star. It’s not only the talent but how committed you are to hone your craft. She should rest for now. A lot is waiting for her in this life.
I turn off all the lights abruptly. I know she’ll get what I mean. Go, Little Star. Rest. Lucky turns the soft light to illuminate her path, warm and barely there, but it’s enough to guide her backstage.
“She’ll learn to love the dark,” I assure him.