Page 30 of Malice in e minor

“Well, I don’t know her, but I can tell you that she already doesn’t like me and I’m super into consent and people who respect that. I can run interference if she makes Leif uncomfortable. I can also make it super weird so she won’t even look at him if I’m standing next to him.”

“How weird?” Rue asked.

“I can only tell this story once you get a few in me, but remind me to tell you the story about my best friend’s ex, a side pickle, a bottle of hot sauce, and a cup of iced coffee. If he walked in that deli while we were eating after that, he turned around and walked right out. Which was awesome because that deli had the best egg salad sandwich and we didn’t want to have to find a new sandwich spot.”

“Pinky promise if you make it weird, it’s when I get to watch it go down,” Cullen said.

“I’ll do my best. I’m going to go record a video by that statue of the oddly sexy angel in the quad. I have no idea what Leif looks like because he’s wearing a mask at rehearsal. I also don’t want to upset him if he’s shy, so if you could find the time to introduce us, I’d love to talk about scoring his ballet.”

And I was. I might make a bigger enemy out of someone who already didn’t like me, but I didn’t much care what other people thought and I wasn’t going to not do something I’d enjoy and could open doors for me because Isobel thought she owned someone who didn’t want her.

Iwas tasked with talking to Leif, since we were already friends and had a ton of classes together. And I legitimately liked him and wanted us to do this. When he asked me to dance the lead in his ballet, I happily accepted and I was famous for turning roles down unless it benefitted Immortal Nightmare.

Blackvale wanted me to dance the Sugar Plum Cavalier, and I said no. It was a bigger, more technically demanding part than the Rat King, but I’d rather have fun. And I knew before parts were even announced that Rue was going to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. I liked Rue as a person and I liked partnering with her, but Cullen had a certain magic with her on stage that I didn’t. They asked me instead of him because of my fame instead of his ability.

Maude was banging away at the piano while we stood at the barre and kicked our legs in grand battement. She was older than dirt and mean as fuck. Orion adored her, and I brought her favorite tea before class every day.

I heard a violin in the quad and briefly turned my head out the window. I smiled. Harlowe was playing in the quad under the angel statue. Students filming themselves making art all over campus was common. You had to be able to get your name out there. You never knew who was going to see it and give you a job.

I wanted to turn and look, but it was generally considered rude to not angle your body inward and outward when kicking to the front and back so you didn’t kick someone in the arse or face when you were packed at the barre like we were.

I needed to pay attention to class and not Harlowe. Madame would whack me with her cane if she thought I was zoning out. She didn’t care in the slightest I was famous. I adored that woman even if I hated this place.

Leif was in front of me at the barre and Cullen was behind me. I was much closer to Leif than I was with Cullen because we had more classes together. Cullen was interested in choreography, but it wasn’t his passion. Cullen was going to perform when this was over and then he wanted to teach. Leif breathed choreography.

I heard Leif draw in a breath when he realized she was out there. When Maude stopped playing, I snuck a better peek out the window. Oh, she was stunning, and she had to be freezing cold. She was standing out there in black leggings and a raggedy black skirt with a corset over a long-sleeved black top. She had her signature black boots on. There was a slight wind blowing her hair back.

“Think she knows the urban legend around that statue?” Leif whispered.

I chuckled. Probably not. Everyone on campus called it the hot angel and had conspiracy theories, but that was a statue of Lucifer and it gave Azriel an excuse to tell his favorite art history story involving Lucifer statues.

Saint Paul’s Cathedral hired Joseph Geefs to do a sculpture of Lucifer and then they decided the sculpture of Lucifer was too sexy and would make people have impure thoughts. So, they hired his brother, Guillaume, to do a new statue, and he did an even hotter Lucifer.

He showed me the two statues and the one at Blackvale was the hottest Lucifer statue because it looked the most like him. I had to correct myself every time I thought that because the angel fucked me over and Orion and Azriel hated him.

I was dripping with sweat by the end of class. Madame was brutal today. She was obsessed with jumps and leaps lately, which was usually my forte, but even I had my limits. I grabbed my bag because I had yoga next. I was going to walk over with Leif, Cullen, and Rue since we all had it together.

Cullen and I both tried to ask Leif something at the same time. Cullen nodded to me, but I told him to go ahead. I wasn’t rude, and I had a feeling I was going to have to convince Leif to work with Orion and Azriel. They weren’t bad at all, but people here could get annoying.

“Hey, so your dream violin player is starting to be a good friend of mine. Rue and I mentioned your ballet, and she’s interested. Harlowe actually seemed pretty excited about it. Topher told her to start filming videos to capitalize on the subway video and she’s asked a few dancers to join in on a few. I can introduce you and you should join too.”

Damn. She asked dancers to be in her videos and she didn’t ask me? Then again, I’d only spoken to her once. I hadn’t followed up after I asked to hang out and she invited me for grilled cheese.

I was in a weird space last night. I’d been planning on going to her dorm room after rehearsal, but Belinda texted me more of her AI photos. I wasn’t naked this time. It was just us performing Romeo and Juliet. She was one of those who thought it was a romance story. I hadn’t told Azriel and Orion yet.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about your ballet and Harlowe too.”

Cullen narrowed his eyes at me. He was fiercely protective of his friends.

“Orion saw the video too. He wants to work with her. I brought up your ballet and that you do too. He thinks it would be cool to work with her to score your ballet and Azriel doesn’t want to be left out. He said he’d do the sets.”

“No offense, but your boyfriends don’t exactly play well with others. None of us like Belinda, but all she did was hit on you.”

Is that what they all thought? We got hit on all the time. If we reciprocated, no one cared if we acted on it as long as there were no feelings and everyone was honest. I didn’t particularly give a shit if the rest of the school thought Azriel was just feral and possessive, but I considered Cullen and Leif friends.

“Belinda didn’t just ask me out. No one would have cared if that was it. I keep blocking her and she keeps creating new accounts to message me the fucked up AI photos she’s making of us. Some of them are just us in ballets she wants to do and we’re naked in others. Azriel would have forgotten about her if she stopped sending the photos, but she also signed up to nude model for his figure painting class.

“Azriel and Orion play well with people when they don’t give them a reason not to. They want to do this. They think Harlowe is talented, and I showed them the video of Cullen dancing your interpretation of Wrath when the dance department and the music department got together to do the Seven Deadly Sins. They are actually honored to make your vision come to life if you want them.”