Page 155 of The First Taste

I cock a brow. “I’m not sure how the door got locked. We were merely discussing her inability to arabesque from a pirouette.”

He narrows his eyes on my face. “I’m warning you, Calum.”

Kaia hops up, testing out her shoe. She walks over to us, looking back and forth between us. “Did you tell Bas that you’re going to give me an hour of extra training twice a week?”

I smile pointedly at her. “No. We hadn’t really gotten that far.”

Basil’s brow wrinkles. “Just the two of you?”

I nod. “Yep. Unless you want to stick around?”

Bas crosses his arms, looking between us. “Maybe I will. Just for today.”

I want to throw him out of the room. But I don’t. Instead I spread my hands wide. “Great. Kaia was just saying that she doesn’t know the choreography at all yet. So maybe you can help with that.”

He fixes me with a smug little glance. “Of course.”

He walks over to the other side of the room, dipping his feet in the box of rosin powder to increase his traction. Then he walks to the far corner, glancing at Kaia.

“What do you want to learn first? An easy combination? Or would you prefer to start with something more advanced?”

Kaia’s throat works for a second as she glances at me. “Advanced, please. I would rather do something wrong with you two here than learn easier moves.”

I fold my arms across my chest and tilt my head. Bas starts out in fifth position, arching his arms upward. “Okay. So… let’s start with this combination. It goes like this…”

He executes several turns and then two leaps, ending with an arabesque. Then he does a great big leap across the floor, his movements exaggerated.

When he finishes, he looks up at Kaia. “That’s one of the hardest combinations in the entirety of Sleeping Beauty. Are you ready to try it?”

She gives him a quick nod, trotting to the rosin box. After daintily dabbing her feet in the powdered tree sap, she takes her place in the far corner. She assumes fifth position, blowing out a breath.

“I can see you thinking,” I call out to her. “I should see the emotion from the scene or nothing at all. You’re supposed to be effortlessly graceful.”

Her eyes flit to me, then refocus. Her expression turns slightly smiling. She raises her arms over her head and completes the pirouettes and the leaps. I can already see that she’s too hesitant and she starts a half second too late. There is a distinctly awkward moment when she lurches out of the last turn and into the first leap.

Kaia does her big jump at the end, finishing by kicking one leg behind her and raising her arms. I blow out a breath and rub my hand over my mouth.

That performance wasn’t horrible, but it was far from moving me at all.

Bas’s lips twitch. “She needs music.”

He pulls out his phone and plays around with the room’s stereo system. I look at her with a frown.

“How did that feel for you?”

Kaia looks down, her cheeks flushing. “Not great.”

“Hmm,” I say, vaguely agreeing.

Lively classical music starts to play and Bas takes a deep breath. “From the top. You can turn around do the same combination going that way.” He flicks his wrist to the opposite corner.

Kaia hastens to take her position. Again, I can see she’s overthinking it.”

“Kaia,” I bark. She looks at me and I pull my hand closed in the air over my face. “Effortlessly graceful.”

She nods, looking ahead and shuttering her expression. She waits for five breaths, then raises her arms and begins to step into the first turn.

This time, it’s better. Her timing has improved. She clearly has a knack for pirouettes, executing them well. But the two small leaps and the grand jeté at the end fall flat.