miss a note. She wanted to get a good seat, in the front, and be able to look up and stare into his eyes. She wanted to see if her vision of him matched her memory, or if it had al just been an il usion. She wanted to know for sure if she stil felt the way she thought about him. And she desperately wanted to hear that voice of his again.
Everyone, humans and vampires alike, had been talking about him for weeks. The palace was practical y buzzing with his name. She hadn’t real y paid attention before, as it had just been at the periphery of her consciousness.
But now, she real y wondered. She could sense that he was of her race, one of her kind. But where was he from? Which coven did he belong to? And why was it that, no matter how many people she asked, no one seemed to know?
Everyone seemed to think he came from somewhere else.
And no one seemed to know when he was leaving, or even why he was here. He had just, seemingly overnight, become an accepted fact of Versail es. It al seemed so mysterious to her.
Even more mysterious, he seemed to blend in effortlessly, as if he had always been here.
Particularly the way he carried himself, so arrogant, one would have thought he was royalty. The accepted rumor about him was that he was a young Russian Prince, traveling through France, and was visiting Versail es for a few weeks to grace them with his presence. That he was the most celebrated vocalist in al of Russia, that he was close personal friends with composers like Mozart and Clementi and Salieri.
Pol y glanced at her watch as she turned down another corridor, and realized that she was, in fact, quite early. Now, she was embarrassed. She certainly didn’t want to be the first one to arrive in that big, empty room, and she didn’t want to seem too desperate.
She deliberately slowed her pace, and just as she began to wonder where to go to idle the time, she suddenly heard footsteps coming up behind her. She looked over and saw somebody else walking down the corridor.
Her heart dropped. It was him.
Sergei, his thick, wavy hair perfectly styled, dressed this time in a royal, red satin coat, white breeches, and shining black shoes, caught up to her at a quick pace, matching hers. He looked straight ahead, as if not bothering to look her way, or to even acknowledge that the two of them were the only ones in this huge corridor. He seemed to lack even the basic decency and grace to turn and say hel o. Was he so arrogant that he was waiting for her to acknowledge him?
Pol y gulped. Up close, in this light, right beside him, he was even more gorgeous than she had remembered. She found herself completely frazzled by his sudden appearance, and had a hard time col ecting her thoughts.
“Hi,” she said, final y.
He glanced at her.
“I presume you’re coming to my concert,” he stated, not smiling, looking away.
Pol y stammered, not sure how to respond. “Um…I was heading in that direction, yes.”
He smirked, as if catching her in a lie.
“Quite early, aren’t you?” he snipped.
She racked her brain for a response, but none came.
“Of course you are. You don’t want to miss a note, do you?”
he asked.
Again, Pol y was unsure how to respond. He had a way of making her feel so nervous and on edge with every word he said.
“That’s al right, I don’t blame you,” he said, “I wouldn’t want to miss me, either.”
Pol y cleared her throat. “You’re…a very talented singer,”
she said.
“I’m a vocalist,” he corrected. “Singers are common.
Vocalists are rare. And yes, I know that already.”
Pol y fumed. She hated being corrected. And she hated how conceited he was. A part of her just wanted to turn and storm away, to forget the whole thing.
But another part of her, a part she couldn’t understand, felt so attracted to him, felt drawn to him like a magnet. Why, she wondered? She had never al owed herself to be poorly treated by anyone in her life. The fact that she couldn’t stand up for herself bothered her more than anything else.
“Where are you from?” she asked. “How long wil you be here?”
“As long as I like,” he said. “I don’t put time limits on myself.
Why? Would you rather see me go?” he asked, glancing her way