Page 35 of Malice in e minor

“I’m up there doing my thing by myself, but Misha brings in dancers and Orion plays with other musicians sometimes. They both prefer bringing in unknowns. It’s not an ego thing. We were unknown once. We want to help other artists.

“I can’t go into too much detail, but some contracts aren’t worth it. If they promise you the world, you’re probably not going to like how they give it to you. If you don’t hate them, you’ll hate yourself. And, Harlowe, it’s always them you should hate.”

So, I guess that answered why they were here. It was something with their contract. If they’d lost it, they could probably get another unless they’d been blackballed. I didn’t think they had been or they wouldn’t be here.

I just didn’t know what any of that had to do with me.

“Immortal Nightmare didn’t break up. Orion will bring in other musicians to play his music, but he loathes writing with them in nearly all scenarios. He’s only ever met a few people he’d like to compose with. He felt that way when he saw your subway video. Misha started subconsciously moving when he heard the music and I got an idea for a painting. We want to collaborate with you.”

What the actual fuck? Why were all these people wanting to work with me all of a sudden? It was flattering, but it literally never happened to me before.

“Woah, you look ready to maul my sack. It was a compliment.”

Yeah, sometimes, people thought I was angry or in a bad mood and I was just thinking. Sometimes, it was why Apple didn’t just call their charges Apple Juice and other times, it was about why fucking Immortal Nightmare wanted to collaborate with me of all people.

“No, I’m just confused because this didn’t happen in undergrad.”

“Mm hmm and did the people you went to undergrad with know you can compose like that?”

No, they didn’t. My undergrad program let me take music composition classes as electives, but I couldn’t double major. I probably would have had a nervous breakdown if I tried because music was a lot of work. I had to choose, and I chose performance because it had better job prospects.

“Not really.”

“Well, we do. And Leif does too. He originally wanted Orion to score his ballet, but apparently he’s scared of Orion and me. We aren’t trying to steamroll you, but Misha would be playing the lead in that ballet. The concept sounds interesting and Leif is talented as fuck. Go look up the Seven Deadly Sins on the school website. He did Wrath with that Cullen guy.

“We’re interested in collaborating with you and Leif on this ballet. Nothing is set in stone. We need to know if we can all work together. We are going to have a meeting in our dorm room with Leif and hopefully you to see about bringing this ballet to life. I think Misha invited Cullen so he can throw hands if we’re mean to you.

“We aren’t forbidden from performing. If this collaboration goes well, we’d like to do more with you. When you graduate, your name would be out. You could have any contract you wanted or a solo career. You wouldn’t need anything this school would get you.

“You have the talent to make it without Blackvale’s help. You could just piggyback off of Immortal Nightmare to get your name out. Then, you could tell anyone to get fucked if they offer you a contract that asks too much or is imbalanced. And before you say anything, that is exactly why Orion and Misha prefer to work with unknowns. Orion doesn’t usually want to compose with anyone unless he’s really inspired, but he does like working with other musicians. And we’re all inspired by your subway video.”

That…made a lot of sense. I didn’t think he meant someone was going to offer me a contract for my soul, but there was a singer I liked in high school who stopped making music after two albums because her label was working her like a dog and had her presenting as the complete opposite of what she actually was.

Still, I hadn’t met Leif. I’d spent limited time around Orion, who’d I’d be spending the most time with on this ballet. Misha and Azriel seemed cool, but I wouldn’t be working with them.

“So, we are meeting in your dorm room to see if we’re all copacetic?”

“Yes. We’ll cook dinner since we’ll probably be awhile. You mentioned grilled cheese to Misha, and that’s one of his comfort foods. Leif isn’t into sex or relationships, but he does like carbs and cheese. It’s a win-win. And Cullen might be there to make sure everyone behaves. You in?”

I mean, all of this was a huge honor I wasn’t sure I deserved. I’d never scored an entire ballet before, but Orion had. I could use his help if we could work with each other.

“I’m in.”

This had the potential to be really ugly, but fucking Azriel was the one who pointed out we could still work within the bounds of our contract and prevent Harlowe from ever signing one. We’d been given just as many loopholes as our chains had been yanked and we still didn’t know why.

We didn’t know why we had to cancel a sold-out tour and attend grad school like we needed it. The three of us were just unceremoniously dumped here with zero orders until Harlowe showed up.

I would have felt differently about the whole thing if she was a terrible person and I didn’t actually want to write music with her. She could be. I hadn’t spent much time around her, but she’d been decent to both Misha and Azriel. I was a dick when I got asked to play her tour guide and there were no tantrums. She was just kind of done with me after that.

It was a turn on. I knew she was a fan, and she thought I was sexy, but the only reason I knew that was because she didn’t know I spoke Spanish. If I was just basing things off how she always tried to leave when I tried to talk to her, she hated my guts. Actually, that might not be too far off on account of the dick thing. I liked that she didn’t chase us in the slightest because most people here did that.

The problem was that Misha and Azriel were getting attached. Azriel more than Misha. Azriel didn’t just take a muse for inspiration. He had all consuming relationships with them. Azriel would essentially burn the entire world down and dance on the ashes for his muses.

Azriel’s muses either broke him or he broke them when they ended. Misha and I weren’t planning on betraying him or dying, so I wasn’t worried I was one of his muses. I was worried he was fixated on Harlowe and had already been calling her his new muse.

He couldn’t keep her. None of us could. He claimed her. He pulled a ton of strings to get her here and he was involving us in those plans. I’d been given a job assisting her advisor during her hours with Aurelia, so I heard the story about how she ended up in the subway. I didn’t know the first thing about celestial powers, even though I’d met Gadreel and his brother numerous times and a demon. It wouldn’t shock me at all if we were ordered to Blackvale in preparation for her.

I wanted to hate her, but I couldn’t. I barely knew her, so it was still a possibility.