Read Online Dancing On Air by Nicole Hurley-Moore - Free Book Online
Authors: Nicole Hurley-Moore
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bodice of her costume, over her heart. She longed to peek through the velvet curtain at Evander, but she must change. She turned and ran past the stagehands and towards the dressing room. Lisette was stripping out of her princess costume even before she got to her dressing table. She stepped out of the blue satin skirts and tossed them to one side. Then she put on her white tulle tutu — it was made with multiple layers of tulle that fell to her mid calf. Once on stage, the tutu gave Lisette an airy, delicate and weightless effect. She secured it around her waist and then unhooked the two blue and bejewelled panels from her bodice. Looking in the large mirror, she unpinned her glittering tiara and placed it on the table. Then she reached for the band of white silk roses and pinned them onto her hair in the tiara’s place. Her final task was shrugging into the sheer fairy wings and tying them in place. In a matter of moments the princess had disappeared and was replaced by the woodland fairy.
Evander’s note almost burned against her skin. Lisette wondered if she should hide the note somewhere on her dressing table but then dismissed the idea. There were no secrets in this room and no privacy. The last thing she needed was for the girls to discover Evander’s existence. Gossip spread like wildfire in the theatre and Lisette did not want to explain anything to her aunt. She already knew what Marie’s reaction would be. She would forbid her to ever see Evander again.
Aunt Marie had never let her forget that she had taken her in and raised her when Lisette’s mother had died. In Aunt Marie’s mind, Lisette owed her everything, including total obedience. Marie expected her to do as she was told, to practice and study her art, until the day she would be a successful ballerina. When Lisette became a prima ballerina with all of London at her feet, then she would be able to provide and repay the debt she owed Marie. Men, love, adulation were all distractions that would not be tolerated. Men’s affections were fleeting and love was mere illusion, as fake and as orchestrated as any scene played before an audience. There was only the dance. That was the only thing that was truly real.
Lisette placed her hand over her heart, the safest place for the note was where it was, beneath her bodice. Then, she took a deep breath, and hurried out to take her place in the wings.
‘You should not have come,’ Lisette said as she leaned against the darkened doorway of the prop room. She turned her head and looked down the corridor nervously.
‘I could not stay away,’ Evander said.
Lisette looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. ‘Pretty words again, my lord. However you did stay away, didn’t you?’
Evander reached over and took her hand in his. ‘It is not just pretty words, Lisette. I had family business to attend to with my brother. It was unavoidable. The truth is, I thought about you all the time I was gone. I know that we have barely met, but I want to learn all there is about you.’
‘Do you say that to all the girls you woo to your bed?’
Evander’s eyes widened and, with a slight laugh, he asked, ‘Really Lisette, what would you know of such things?’
‘I have grown up in a theatre...this theatre. I have seen the way of things; handsome lords and rich men weaving their pretty words to make the girls fall in love with them. Then when they are done — when their eyes catch onto the next prize — they leave the girls crying and wretched in their ruin and misery.’
‘Lisette, I swear to you this is different... I am different,’ Evander said.
‘Perhaps, but it would be better if you turned your attention elsewhere. I cannot be with you. I have a duty to my aunt and I cannot be swayed from my course.’
‘What duty?’
‘I must become a prima ballerina so I can repay her for all her sacrifices.’
Evander stared into her eyes. ‘She must love you very much.’
‘She doesn’t love me at all,’
Evander’s note almost burned against her skin. Lisette wondered if she should hide the note somewhere on her dressing table but then dismissed the idea. There were no secrets in this room and no privacy. The last thing she needed was for the girls to discover Evander’s existence. Gossip spread like wildfire in the theatre and Lisette did not want to explain anything to her aunt. She already knew what Marie’s reaction would be. She would forbid her to ever see Evander again.
Aunt Marie had never let her forget that she had taken her in and raised her when Lisette’s mother had died. In Aunt Marie’s mind, Lisette owed her everything, including total obedience. Marie expected her to do as she was told, to practice and study her art, until the day she would be a successful ballerina. When Lisette became a prima ballerina with all of London at her feet, then she would be able to provide and repay the debt she owed Marie. Men, love, adulation were all distractions that would not be tolerated. Men’s affections were fleeting and love was mere illusion, as fake and as orchestrated as any scene played before an audience. There was only the dance. That was the only thing that was truly real.
Lisette placed her hand over her heart, the safest place for the note was where it was, beneath her bodice. Then, she took a deep breath, and hurried out to take her place in the wings.
‘You should not have come,’ Lisette said as she leaned against the darkened doorway of the prop room. She turned her head and looked down the corridor nervously.
‘I could not stay away,’ Evander said.
Lisette looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. ‘Pretty words again, my lord. However you did stay away, didn’t you?’
Evander reached over and took her hand in his. ‘It is not just pretty words, Lisette. I had family business to attend to with my brother. It was unavoidable. The truth is, I thought about you all the time I was gone. I know that we have barely met, but I want to learn all there is about you.’
‘Do you say that to all the girls you woo to your bed?’
Evander’s eyes widened and, with a slight laugh, he asked, ‘Really Lisette, what would you know of such things?’
‘I have grown up in a theatre...this theatre. I have seen the way of things; handsome lords and rich men weaving their pretty words to make the girls fall in love with them. Then when they are done — when their eyes catch onto the next prize — they leave the girls crying and wretched in their ruin and misery.’
‘Lisette, I swear to you this is different... I am different,’ Evander said.
‘Perhaps, but it would be better if you turned your attention elsewhere. I cannot be with you. I have a duty to my aunt and I cannot be swayed from my course.’
‘What duty?’
‘I must become a prima ballerina so I can repay her for all her sacrifices.’
Evander stared into her eyes. ‘She must love you very much.’
‘She doesn’t love me at all,’
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