Page 25 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Perseus

I WATCHED THE FINAL DRESS rehearsal of Swan Lake from the center orchestra seating section. Opening day for the show was tomorrow, and I wanted to ensure that every last detail was perfect before then. Rupert watched from the wings, aiding in overseeing production from there. We also had early reviewers throughout the theatre. Their reviews would go out tomorrow, and hopefully, they’d drive patrons to the show.

It had been a week since Drake attacked, and the coward hadn’t shown up for work, which I’d expected. It was a good thing, too. I didn’t want to commit murder right there in front of all my employees. That would be pretty hard to explain away.

I’d still do it if the opportunity presented itself, though.

I’d checked the home address we had on file for him, only to discover a filthy and abandoned apartment. It seemed he’d dipped after getting caught.

Did that mean he’d given up?

Everything pointed to yes.

Harper hadn’t received any more texts, voicemails, or visits. That, paired with the abandonment of his place, was evidence that he’d given up his obsession.

Thankfully, Harper still heeded my advice. She didn’t go anywhere alone, and if Aiysha was going to be out late, Harper stayed at Silverlight to work on her upcoming ballet performance with me overseeing the practice.

At least, she did when we weren’t fucking.

Ever since the truth about my identity came to light and her wall came down, we’d been like two sex-starved fiends. It had only been a week, and yet I didn’t think there was a single room in all of Silverlight that we hadn’t fooled around in.

“How’s it going?”

The soft whisper in my ear made a delicious shiver travel down my spine and straight to my cock. I smirked but didn’t take my eyes off the stage as the swans performed Act Two.

“I’m pleased overall for now,” I replied quietly. My eyes narrowed, and I immediately jotted down a correction. “Gretchin needs to close that gap between her and Kami.”

“Good catch,” Harper complimented.

From the corner of my eye, I saw her lean her forearms on the back of the chair next to mine. Her black hair fell over the seat as she rested her chin on her folded arms and watched the ballet on stage.

“You just finish practice?” I asked softly as I made another note of a minor correction.

“Yeah. I was going to head home since I’m exhausted, but I wanted to catch a bit of the final dress rehearsal first.”

Swan Lake was being done in a separate theatre from the inhouse one. I hadn’t been at Silverlight since that morning seeing as today called for my presence here, overseeing the last details before opening day tomorrow. I’d barely gotten a kiss from Harper when we passed each other on my way out, so having her so close to me now after an entire day of not being with her was distracting to say the least. Still, I managed to focus on the ballet happening on stage.

Barely.

Mandi reappeared on stage with the rest of the swans and Samir, who played Prince Siegfried. Harper and I fell quiet as we watched Mandi begin the routine after her reappearance. The white costume against her fair complexion and hair looked wonderful and serene on stage. She danced with the grace and strength befitting a principal dancer of her level, but …

“Hmm,” Harper mumbled seemingly unknowingly under her breath.

“What?” I whispered, still watching my lead on stage. “What do you think?”

From my peripheral, I caught Harper’s head briefly turning my way before she faced forward once more. “Nothing. She looks great. They all do.”

“But?” I prompted. I’d heard the unspoken word at the end of her statement.

She was quiet for a bit. The two of us watched as Odette and Siegfried began their opening pas de deux.

Eventually, Harper commented, “But she’s focusing too much. She’s clean and fluid while being sharp, but she’s almost too much so. She’s so focused on doing it perfectly that she’s not feeling the soft vulnerability of Odette right now.”

The spot-on note made blood rush to my cock. Harper was just so damn perfect. Nothing was sexier than a woman who was confident in her field of work, and Harper was a goddamn expert in hers. That deep attraction toward my dancer had me aching to be inside of her. She could talk ballet to me all night, and I’d fuck her happily while she did so.

“Mn,” I grunted in agreement. “My thoughts, too. She’s excellent when it comes to portraying Odile. The cunning and seductive nature of the Black Swan seems easy for her. Odette has been harder for her to portray just right.”

“She still looks great,” Harper replied after a moment more of watching. “Most people probably won’t even notice that she could be softer and more innocent in her expressions and movements. We’re just not most people. I doubt it will detract from the show for people who come and watch.”

Harper was right. It was a small detail in how Mandi carried herself and the expressions she wore. They were good, but she wasn’t amazing . I couldn’t help but recall the recordings of Harper as the White and Black Swan. She left you breathless. She spoke to your very soul. She was allure manifested.

But Harper could only be in one place at a time. Since our company, which had grown since my taking over, would be doing two shows at once, I had to decide where she was needed most.

I’d considered making her the lead in both, seeing as how this show would be opening four weeks sooner than Dancing in the Dark , but learning an entirely new show on top of doing a demanding role like Odette and Odile would’ve been too much. So I opted to keep Harper in the one production and gave this lead to Mandi. I didn’t regret that decision, either. I couldn’t fucking wait to see all Harper did as Psyche in Dancing in the Dark .

“Only four more weeks until you’re on stage again,” I hummed with a small smile.

I could practically feel her excitement spike behind me as she squeezed her arms tighter on the back of the chair. “I can’t wait.”

Harper had said she came to see a bit of the show, yet the ballerina stayed rooted to her seat with eyes transfixed on the stage. As the performance concluded with the curtain drawing closed and applause sounding from staff and early reviewers, Harper finally stood, and I turned my head her way.

“That was excellent,” she praised, her glittering eyes staring down at me. “I think your first ballet will be a success, Mr. Artistic Director.”

A grin tugged at my lips. “It’s Peasant to you.”

Laughing, she squeezed my shoulder. “Right. Peasant.”

She leaned down like she was about to kiss my cheek, but the curtain parted for the cast to take their bows. She drew up short of me, and with the company now back on stage, she merely smiled softly.

“Goodnight, sir.”

My body nearly jerked with the need to pull her in. I wanted her to call me what only she did. I wanted the gift of her kiss. I wanted her .

But she was already gone. With some reluctance, I faced the stage and watched the final bows of my company.

The dress rehearsal performance had been great, but I didn’t feel that sense of proud accomplishment. Not yet. I probably wouldn’t be able to take in and let go of that breath until tomorrow night’s show, which would be my first real production since taking over.

And even more than that, the true test of my abilities would come with Dancing in the Dark . That was my true ballet—my heart and soul given for all to witness through dancers I’d selected, music I’d written, and choreography I’d created. I was sure it was going to be the best show of them all.

“‘BLACK SWAN STEALS THE WHITE Swan’s Show.’ What a load of shit!” Mandi fumed.

She tossed her phone back onto her dance bag and slumped against the wall while Samir continued reading the review on his own phone.

I sighed, finishing my own reading of the article written by one of the early reviewers who’d attended last night’s dress rehearsal show. Like Harper and I, that reviewer had an eye for the artistry and complexity of ballet, especially when it came to a role as difficult as the White and Black Swan. He’d noted the brilliance of Mandi’s performance as the Black Swan but found her lacking as the White Swan.

“‘Missing a certain innocence,’” Samir mumbled while reading. He looked down at a sulking Mandi and nudged her gently with his toe. “It was the first show. You’ll get more comfortable with it the more we do it. This role just takes time.”

“Harper didn’t need more time,” Mandi snapped as she shot a glare Samir’s way. She seemed to remember that the dance master, répétiteur, and I were in the room, so she gave us an apologetic frown. “Sorry. I just … I don’t know what more to do. I thought I was doing both parts really well.”

Mandi was good.

Harper was better.

That wouldn’t be helpful to add into the conversation, so instead of pointing this out, I opted for constructive criticism. We rediscussed my own notes I’d taken the night prior, working through the moments where I’d noticed the White Swan could use more fine-tuning in expression.

I spent the morning with Samir and Mandi, working on the opening pas de deux of Act Two. With today being the big day, I was harder on them, yelling out the moments when Mandi needed to watch her expression and character portrayal.

During one of the breaks, Samir cast a nervous glance Mandi’s way. “You know,” Samir hedged, “you could always ask Harper to help you. She was the swan for two years. There’s nothing wrong with getting advice and pointers from her.”

If Mandi had a knife and a way to get away with murder, I was sure she would’ve killed Samir right there on the spot. She went ramrod straight, and her face flushed a deep crimson as her nails curled. The spike in her anger reached out to my demonic senses, and that wasn’t even an emotion I was prone to picking up on.

“Do you not agree with Samir?” I asked Mandi in an easygoing tone.

Her brown eyes flicked to mine, and her chest seemed to rise and fall harder as she reigned in whatever she was feeling. After swallowing a few times, she rasped, “Let’s see how tonight goes. I wouldn’t want to bother her. I know she’s busy.”

She smiled sweetly at me, and I put on an equally fake one in return. Clearly, Mandi didn’t want Harper’s help. Whether that stemmed from pride in general, jealousy, or a dislike of Harper, I wasn’t sure. Either way, the reluctance to grow due to some petty reason annoyed me greatly.

I left that practice room so the two principal dancers could finish getting ready for this evening’s show. My irritation only seeped away as I passed by another practice room and heard the muted music for one of Harper’s solos in Dancing in the Dark . I slowed my steps to watch her through the pane of glass on the door, transfixed like a moth to her ever-vibrant flame.

She spun and dipped and flew through the air in a vision of pure beauty. My lungs were seized of air. My heart was trapped in her grip. My body was hers to command. And I’d never been happier. I wanted to stay just like that—her puppet, her worshipper, her peasant.