The Toll {Book 2}

27. Changing Course- Nadia

Ferdinand started practice at the St. Vitus the day after we'd met the princess. I tagged along, pulled by his nervousness, but also by Hannabella's insistence that I not mope around in my room. Somehow she knew how much the dancing made my heart burn with longing and shame, though I couldn't be surprised that she did. She always knew what I was thinking or feeling, like she had a special door into my soul. She knew exactly how much I'd cry and sulk if I was left to fester alone in my rooms, and so she bundled me up and shipped me out at the crack of dawn with Ferdinand.

So, even though it was still too early for most of the city to be awake, I was sitting in the theater seats, watching the Restoration ballet taking shape up on the stage. Mr. Gramercie directed the dancers through warm-ups, then into lessons, where he taught the opening figures of his ballet. The Maestro accompanied him on the piano, with an old Rumoni tune that we all knew from our childhoods. This, apparently, was Mr. Gramercie's goal. To awaken the old Rumoni folktales and songs, mixing them with choreography and a loose plot, to memorialize the old country that we once all knew and loved. If you had even a single drop of Rumoni blood in your veins, it would be hard to resist the patriotic pull of that pounding music.

While Mr. Gramercie's assistant, a young woman with hawkish eyes, directed the corps, Mr. Gramercie focused most of his attention on Ferdinand. I could tell, even from a long distance, that Ferdinand was panicked. He went through the steps with the eagerness of learning that all professional dancers held, but something about the way his shoulders held stiff and how he was so quick to stop, let me know that he wasn't exactly as at ease as some might think. Mr. Gramercie, unheading of the hidden turmoil, rushed through, too excited to have someone talented under his tutelage.

Pushing to my feet, I crossed down to the backstage door, pushing it open and stepping into the narrow but still cavernous room behind the curtain. Pulleys and ropes filled the walls, tied up and ready to lower curtains or scenes or people from the rafters. Above my head, a series of catwalks suspended above the back and front stage, enabling staff to better control the production. No one was around, at the moment, since the dance was not yet ready for production.

I paused by the edge of the curtain, looking out at the stage, this time from the back. I was near where Ferdinand stood with Mr. Gramercie. They were talking intently, Mr. Gramercie with the fervor of a visionary, and Ferdinand with a crease between his brows and his hands on his hips. He was covered in sweat already, from all the grand jumps Mr. Gramercie envisioned, and his chest rose and fell swiftly. I waited until he glanced up, catching my eye, before blowing him a kiss and smiling. His own smile crept along his face, briefly, before Mr. Gramercie snapped his fingers to regain Ferdinand's attention.

I kept my smile and stayed where I was in the gap between the curtain and the wall. Ferdinand could see me when he needed to, and perhaps it would steady his nerves. He already looked more relaxed, and the lines were gone from his forehead. He executed a leap and then an immediate spin, earning a clap of approval from Mr. Gramercie. It was all I could do to not clap myself.

After a few more minutes of observation, I suddenly felt a presence over my shoulder. Years of living with Mr. Lennox had put me on guard, always knowing who was nearby. Whoever it was behind me now, they were approaching me quickly. Before I even gave my body the order, it spun around on its own and I nearly collided with Galina Mosin's ample bosom.

"Countess!" she boomed, gripping my hand between her own. "I was just coming to find you and ask you about the meeting with the princess last night!"

"Oh..." I said, unsure what to say. Princess Alice had been a darling, and I had found myself quite forgetting that she was so close to the crown. We'd been able to talk about dancing and books and some paintings, and it was almost like talking to Hannabella. Easy and unpressured. Yet, with Galina now breathing down on me from her impressive height, I felt like I should somehow not let anyone know this. Perhaps my attachment to Princess Alice could remain safe in my memories.