The ballet doesn’t end that way. Annabella ignored his outstretched hand—she imagined the audience interpreted his reach as Albrecht’s last hope, his longing.
The curtain fell. The audience was utterly silent. Then they broke into thunderous applause and shouts, no single word intelligible in the sudden storm of approval. The stage floor vibrated with their calls, thrilling through her body. It was…beyond wonderful. Worth the delay.
Venroy strode onto the stage, tears streaming down his face. He gripped her hands, saying, “Sublime, Annabella! Jasper! Perfection!”
Exquisite pleasure filled Annabella’s chest, almost too much to bear. The Thomas Venroy. Crying. For her.
“Child,” Venroy continued. “A bravura performance. You have exceeded all my expect—”
“Get back!” Wolf snapped, wrenching Annabella away by her elbow.
Venroy faltered. He swallowed his outpouring of emotion as if slapped.
Annabella frowned at Wolf. There was no call for that. And besides, she really wanted Venroy to finish.
“Of course,” Venroy said, regrouping. “There will be time for this later. So much to do, to plan for…” He tapered off, waving for the corps of wilis to form a half circle upstage.
“I want my bows,” Annabella said to Wolf, obstinate. It had taken years of willpower to bring her to this point; she was not giving them up.
Wolf glowered, his discontent rumbling in his chest, but he stepped forward to clasp her hand. Tightly.
The curtain rose. The audience clamored with approbation.
Annabella shook off Wolf’s clasp and swept into a grande révérence, a prima ballerina’s thank-you to the audience. Every ballet class she’d ever taken had ended with a grande révérence, as was custom, but every performance until now she’d had to settle for the simple curtsey of the corps. Not anymore. She bowed deeply to the audience.
The applause was a gale wind through the Shadowlands. She could feel it caressing her skin, making her glow. The best of both worlds.
She rose and bowed again to the other side. How many times had she fantasized about this moment? Too many to count. She’d practiced in front of any mirror—studio, dressing room, bathroom, department store, even carnival fun house. Thank you, thank you…and all you over there, thanks to you as well. And how could I forget the ones in the balconies? Thank you. This was way better than she’d ever imagined. She could get used to this.
She glanced side to side to join the full company, and all together they bowed again. She gestured grandly to her partner to acknowledge his part; Wolf stared back at her, shadows a potent throb in his gaze.
Yeah, yeah. He’d just have to wait.
The curtain dropped again, but the shouts from the audience did not diminish. If anything the Shadow wind blew stronger. That meant curtain calls.
Sure enough, a stage tech signaled from side stage that he was about to stagger the curtains so that she and Wolf could step out and take another drink of the applause drug. Thank you. Flowers for me? A bouquet of two dozen long-stemmed roses, blood-scarlet against the wili white of her arm. Another deep dip. Thank you.
Annabella and Wolf backed up, and the curtain closed. She listened intently to the applause of the audience. Would there be another curtain call? And if so, how many? She’d bow all night if the audience would let her.
Annabella looked at the stage tech, waiting for a signal, ready, but Wolf grabbed her from behind, his hands digging into her shoulders. Those stupid Segue men rushed onto the stage. What did they possibly hope to do?
Besides, she needed a few more minutes. Can’t you hear them? The audience wanted more.
But Wolf dragged her backward a few paces, his breath hot on her neck, the line of the corps breaking as he pulled her into the trees.
“Annabella!” a rough male voice called above the roar beyond the curtain.
Her attention snapped to Custo, emerging from the side of the stage. He stumbled forward, his chest heaving, his face white, blood smeared across his forehead.
Wolf growled at her back, his clutch on her shoulders increasingly painful.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” Annabella breathed over her shoulder. She sent a pained look to the confused stage tech.
“We must go,” Wolf said at her ear. “Now.”
“You can’t have her,” Custo said. His gaze fell to her left, on Wolf.
Oh, this was bad. Very, very bad. Maybe it was time to cross…
“It’s okay,” Annabella answered Custo. “I want to go. You don’t have to worry about me anymore. This is what I want.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” Custo said as he stalked closer. He opened his arms wide as if to both tame and catch at the same time. “You can’t trust him.”
Wolf yanked her back against him, hard.
“He didn’t know he was hurting anyone,” Annabella reasoned. “He’s not from here. He’d definitely never harm me.”