Just a Little Heartache (The Brotherhood #5) - Merry Farmer Page 0,38

anxiety pooling in his stomach.

“What were you studying for?” Ian asked. “Exams were finished yesterday morning.”

“Places,” the stage manager called, sending the roaming cast scattering to their places like mice with a cat thrown into the room. “Places, please.”

Ian’s question remained unanswered as he and Blake broke away from Niall to wait in the wings on the other side of the stage. As the orchestra finished tuning and launched into the opening notes of the overture, Paul stepped up behind Niall and thumped his shoulder.

“You are so fucked,” he laughed. Coming from the only other member of the cast dressed as a woman, the comment had a bizarre feel to it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Niall muttered, counting through the bars of the overture in his head and glancing across the stage to meet Blake’s luminous eyes.

“He’s going to be a duke, Niall,” Paul said, not unkindly. “You’re going to be a world-famous playwright.”

Niall twisted to face him, choosing to focus on the least painful thing Paul said. “You really think I’m going to be world-famous?”

Paul laughed and shook his head, but there was far too much sympathy in his look for Niall’s comfort. “You’re good, Niall. You’re great. You haven’t let on to any of us, but I know for a fact you’ve invited at least a dozen theater managers and theatrical financiers from London to attend tonight’s performance, and they’re all here.”

Niall’s face went hot as the orchestra finished the overture and the curtains opened for the opening number, sung by Morton and his chorus.

“Tonight, the play,” Paul whispered in his ear, just loud enough to be heard over the song. “Tomorrow, graduation. The day after that, London. You’ll be leaving him as surely as he’ll be leaving you, make no mistake.”

“There’s nothing between Blake and I,” Niall hissed. “You’re all just inventing things because we act so well together onstage.”

“Right,” Paul said, utterly unconvinced. “And I’m the King of Siam.”

There wasn’t time for anything else. The opening number ended, leading straight into Blake and Ian’s entrance.

“What news, Reinhold?” Blake recited in his beautiful voice. “How did we fare in the wars?”

Niall swallowed hard and watched Blake, seeing nothing but the charm in his smile and the masculine lines of his body. He loved Blake with his whole heart, with his soul. Blake was everything to him. That had to be enough. Paul was wrong. This wasn’t the end just because the show would be over soon. He would be in London, Paul was right, but future dukes spent time in London as well. Plenty of time. So what if they had to spend some time apart from each other? Nothing could keep them apart indefinitely. They would be able to make a life together, Niall was certain of it. Blake loved him and he loved Blake. That was all that mattered.

The play was a smashing success. Niall knew it from the moment he stepped on stage and delivered his first, sad soliloquy. He could feel the energy of the audience, knew that they were fully engaged in what they were seeing. They laughed whenever they were supposed to and applauded vigorously at the Act One finale. The chatter between acts was full of energy, and when the curtain rose on Act Two, the audience applauded in expectation of what they were going to see. It was everything he, as the author, could have asked for and more.

But the entire second act felt like a death march to the single moment of truth between him and Blake. By the time they reached the kiss, his heart was racing and sweat had broken out on his back.

“My heart rejoices to be the bride of such a valiant and noble prince,” Niall said his line as he’d written it, clasping Blake’s hands and looking into his eyes with what had been campy adoration up until that point. Before Blake could continue with his response, Niall rushed on with an ad lib. “My heart will always be yours, no matter how much time passes, no matter what distances come between us, and no matter how the fates conspire against us.”

Blake’s mouth hung open for a moment. Disbelief shone in his face, and if Niall wasn’t mistaken, sadness glowed there also.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. It was going to end, and there was nothing Niall could do to stop it.

“Come, my darling,” Blake grasped for his line, skipping several in the process. “Let us celebrate our