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"Oh, look at how many people are here," Lysandra said Her low-cut ice-blue dress did little to hide her cleage as she craned her neck over the rail Celaena blocked out Lysandra’s prattling as the courtesan began tossing out important names

Celaena could sense Saold velvet curtains concealing the stage She should say so kind She felt hi So the audience to take their seats

It was now or never She didn’t knohy her heart thundered the way it did, but she didn’t give herself a chance to second-guess herself as she twisted in her seat to look at hilanced once at his clothes and then said, "You look handsome"

His brows rose, and she swiftly turned back around in her seat, focusing hard on the curtain He looked better than handso She’d tried to be nice Somehow, it didn’t make her feel that much better

Celaena folded her hands in the lap of her bloodred gown It wasn’t cut nearly as low as Lysandra’s, but with the slender sleeves and bare shoulders, she felt particularly exposed to Sam She’d curled and swept her hair over one shoulder, certainly not to hide the scar on her neck

Doneval lounged in his seat, eyes on the stage How could a man who looked so bored and useless be responsible for not just the fate of several lives, but of his entire country? How could he sit in this theater and not hang his head in shame for what he was about to do to his fellow countryht up in it? The ale kissed her cheeks and departed for their own boxes Doneval’s three thugs watched the uards, then Celaena frowned

But then the chandeliers were hauled upward into the do notes as the orchestra began playing In the dark, it was nearly impossible to see Doneval

Sam’s hand brushed her shoulder, and she alht his mouth close to her ear and h I bet you already know that" She lare, and found hi as he leaned back into his seat

Suppressing her urge to se as thefor them A world of shadows and mist A world where creatures and myths dwelled in the dark old curtain drew back, and everything she knew and everything she was faded away to nothing

Thewas breathtaking, yes, and the story it told--a legend of a prince seeking to rescue his bride, and the cunning bird he captured to help him to do it--was certainly lovely, but themore beautiful, more exquisitely painful? She clenched the ar into the velvet as theher away in a flood

With each beat of the drum, each trill of the flute and blare of the horn, she felt all of it along her skin, along her bones The ether, only to rend her asunder again and again

And then the climax, the compilation of all the sounds she had loved best, amplified until they echoed into eternity As the final note swelled, a gasp broke fro down her face She didn’t care who saw

Then, silence

The silence was the worst thing she’d ever heard The silence brought back everything around her Applause erupted, and she was on her feet, crying still as she clapped until her hands ached

"Celaena, I didn’t know you had a shred of human emotion in you," Lysandra leaned in to whisper "And I didn’t think the perforripped the back of Lysandra’s chair "Shut up, Lysandra"

Arobynn clicked his tongue in warning, but Celaena re, even as Sah her The ovation continued for a while, with the dancers eain to bow and be showered with flowers Celaena clapped through it all, even as her tears dried, even as the crowd began shuffling out

When she relance at Doneval, his box was empty

Arobynn, Sa before she was ready to end her applause But after she finished clapping, Celaena re the orchestra begin to pack up their instruments

She was the last person to leave the theater

There was another party at the Keep that night--a party for Lysandra and her madam and whatever artists and philosophers and writers Arobynn favored at thatroohter and music still filled the entirety of the second floor On the carriage ride ho she wanted to see was Lysandra being fawned over by Arobynn, Sam, and everyone else So she told him that she was tired and needed to sleep

She wasn’t tired in the least, though Emotionally drained, perhaps, but it was only ten thirty, and the thought of taking off her gown and cli into bed made her feel rather pathetic She was Adarlan’s Assassin; she’d freed slaves and stolen Asterion horses and won the respect of the Mute Master Surely she could do soo to bed early

So she slipped into one of the h that she could only hear a burst of laughter every now and then The other assassins were either at the party or off on so dress was the only sound as she folded back the cover of the pianoforte She’d learned to play when she was ten--under Arobynn’s orders that she find at least one refined skill other than ending lives--and had fallen in love ier took lessons, she played whenever she could spare a few minutes

The ain, the sa under the surface of her skin, beating in tiive to hear the music once more!

She played a few notes with one hand, frowned, adjusted her fingers, and tried again, clinging to the an to sound right

But it was only a few notes, and it was the pianoforte, not an orchestra; she pounded the keys harder, working out the riffs It was alht She couldn’t remember the notes as perfectly as they sounded in her head She didn’t feel theo

She tried again for a few minutes, but eventually slammed the lid shut and stalked froainst a wall in the hallway Had he been listening to her fumble with the pianoforte this whole time?

"Close, but not quite the sa look and started toward her bedrooht sitting in there by herself "It et it just the way you reht-blue tunic brought out the golden hues in his skin