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She tried not to drop her drink

As if this were any casual date, he guided her through a set of double doors that led through an ornate sitting roorand balcony fit for, well, royalty

Red velvet and gold struck her fros to the scalloped curtains fra the box to the auditorium beyond A wall of balconies stretched away on either side in floor-to-ceiling rows, each separated by loalls decorated with gold leaf and glittering chandeliers An enorht froowns

Clair sank weakly into the chair Aleksy pressed her toward “I didn’t think Russia had a czar any they’d be executed for trespassing

His slass of alcohol “It’s actually the president’s box now We could have used ht and I’ly

“You must love the ballet Ianything about him “You have your own box and support the company Everyone seems to knoho you are”

“Litso so shramom” His expression altered as he repeated the phrase she’d heard as they entered The carefully co—which was a revelation in itself “Scarface”

The bluntness of the er on his behalf wouldn’t be welcome

“I’ “And no, I don’t have a particular love of ballet Coive the ancient raph my return to the city Do you like the ballet?”

“I’ve never been,” she answered, lowering her gaze as she absorbed his offhand question Her preferences had obviously been the last thing on hisof her life, yet he’d brought her here for reasons that had nothing to do with her She had to stop wishing for more! She went back to the nickname Irrepressible curiosity made her ask, “Does it bother you that people see the scar, not you?”

“There’s no separating one from the other, is there?” His look hit her like a face full of icy slush, his tone chilling her blood

“I don’t know,” she replied, ignoring the bite of his hostility, fighting not to take it personally even though she sensed a hint of accusation in his deery?”

“Why? Does it disgust you?” His fingertip unerringly found the line of raised tissue He drilled her with his eyes, but she didn’t have to lie

“No I don’t notice it more than any of your other features, like the shape of your nose or color of your eyes” She stopped speaking as she heard how revealing that sounded She was stunned to realize how thoroughly she had already memorized his face: the hint of a raised bump on his nose, the wicked slant in his eyebrows, the cleft in his chin She had to force herself not to let him entrance her now

“It’s an advantage,” he said flatly “While people are trying to decide how many of the rumors they should believe, I’ve summed them up and leapt three steps ahead”

“You like that it et close to you,” she guessed, earning another baleful glance that h, so nized their similarity She feared isolation, so she forced herself to find content people off so ferociously? Caring?

The thought was a double-edged sword of understanding and hopelessness so acute it made her head swim

“This scar reminds me who I ao, Clair,” he said in a gentle warning that made her heart batter her ribs So he had suffered a very deep wound Nevertheless, she would listen to his story if he wanted to tell her Had he ever told anyone, she wondered?

The lights faded before she could ask Faces below rotated to watch the curtain rise Music swelled as Petrushka began to unfold with its tragic puppet, considered cruel but instead capable of emotion, trapped in a cell, unable to reach the ballerina he loved

Aleksy loathed small talk It was a step into faed Clair had been spot-on when she suggested he was happier holding people at a distance