Greyson makes me forget I even have one. His gaze doesn’t stray up to it, he doesn’t pay it extra attention, or any at all. He thinks I’m beautiful. But he’s not here, and Mia is.
“Did Shawn have you convinced?” she whispers, pressing her nose to my hairline. “Did he give you a two-minute spiel and offer to whisk you away? You can’t fall for his bullshit, Violet. Not this time.”
Giselleis a tragedy.Sleeping Beautyalmost is, too. Two girls tricked by people who think they know better. Giselle dies because of it. Aurora falls asleep for a hundred years and wakes up in a new world.
Who pays a lesser price?
Which of them is better off?
“He didn’t convince me of anything,” I say. “What happened that night?”
Giselle danced with the man she fell in love with and saved him from dying. What’s more powerful than that? Being kissed awake by a prince?
“You confronted me,” she moans. “I don’t know what he said to you, or if he said it again. He knew you weren’t going to be cast as Giselle. But he didn’t see your talent like I did. Didn’t think it was something that could just burst out of you. You told me he said you neededtime.”
I try not to rear back, but I must make some motion, because she twitches. She twists my hair between her fingers. Not pulling, just staring at the blonde strands.
“I came to Rose Hill to see you,” she says faintly. “I waited outside the studio. And you yelled… I’ve never seen you so mad. So hurt. Atme. But was I so delusional to think that you’d make it so far, so fast? True, raw talent like yours is rare. I had to nurture it. And you! I nurtured you, made you into who you were. And you just wanted to leave me to go be one of his soloists.” She scoffs, pounding her chest with her fist. “I make prima ballerinas.Nothim.”
“You scared me,” I guess. “That night? Was I frightened?”
By the way she sucks in a breath, I know I’m right. I can almost see it, too. What a reality check. To be told by a choreographer that I so admired that my director was leading me astray. Filling my head with fantasies, when all I needed was towork harder. I know how angry I’d be at Mia.
If I’m only good enough to be a principal dancer at Crown Point Ballet, of course I would never leave her. I’d never get a contract as a principal anywhere else. And a few years of being the best, of getting the roles I wanted… Yeah, I can see how she could’ve manipulated me.
It hits my ego, too.
I can’t help but begrudge the fact that I have to learn this twice.
“You ran to your car. Sped out into the road, and that stupid boy hit you,” she spits. Her eyes are wild.
This is escalating. I scramble for something to ease her—and give her what she wants.
“I’m going to stay with you.” My stomach turns. I take her hand and thread my fingers with hers. “Please don’t make me dance as Giselle again. I want to be Aurora for you.”
A tear rolls down Mia’s cheek. It falls off her jaw and lands on my chest. “You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that.”
It’s all a lie.
She releases me and straightens, dragging the chair with her back into the kitchen. I watch her from the floor as she opens the fridge and pulls out containers, pours a glass of water. Iseeher take a vial from her pocket and let a few drops fall into the water. She mixes it with her finger, then comes back to me.
Is it a test?
She offers me the water first, her eyes large as I bring it to my mouth.
I don’t think I can get out of drinking this.
“Is that food?” I ask, lowering the glass slightly.
She nods. “But you’re dehydrated. Drink up.”
I close my eyes and nod, then take a sip. It doesn’t taste any different. There’s just a hint of sweet aftertaste. She hands me the container second. Cut up chicken, broccoli, and yellow rice with a plastic spoon shoved into it. I eat quickly, practically shoveling it into my mouth. Any faster and I’ll be sick… but maybe the food can slow whatever drug she gave me.
Might be wishful thinking.
My stomach turns, and I brace my hand on the floor. “What was in the water?”
“Something to help you sleep,” she says. “It’s late. You need rest.”