A Poised Nuisance (Lithe Book 1)

by Iris RIvers

  It wasn’t a good day for the recital, but it was the perfect day for murder.

  Lara sat in the dressing room in Juilliard’s auditorium, applying a decent coat of make-up to her face. Her teeth reflected in the mirror as she slid a tube of red lipstick across her mouth.

  “Ten minutes to showtime!” someone announced from the door.

  Lara capped her lipstick, placing it in her pink bag. Standing from her seat, she felt strangely off. Incomplete.

  Maybe it was the coldness of the blade resting in her spandex, waiting to be used—waiting to kill.

  Or maybe it was the fact that she knew Kai would be dead by the end of the night—that he’d be gone for the remainder of eternity; that Lara would never see him again.

  Either way, she was apprehensive. She wanted to begin the recital more than anything; she wanted to prove herself. But at the same time, she didn’t want to walk out onto the stage; she didn’t want to mark the beginning of the end of Kai’s short life.

  Lara had no choice though, for Lithe was watching. They were waiting, in the audience, to watch Lara stick her dagger into Kai’s chest.

  She had no choice.

  ANA SAT IN THE FRONT row, her seat directly facing the middle of the stage.

  Acquiring these seats wasn’t as easy as she’d thought it would be. By the time Ana went to purchase tickets, most of them had already been sold. She had to sort through countless students until she found one willing to sell this exact seat—even if it meant paying double the original price.

  To her right sat Lilah, wearing an emerald green silk dress. It appeared smooth in the shadows of the auditorium, like a jewel from an exotic cave, shimmering in the darkness.

  Ana herself wore a short dress as well, but instead of Lilah’s envy green, hers was bright red.

  She crossed her legs, idly flipping through the pamphlet someone had given her upon entering the auditorium. A Winter in the Woods, the front page read. Starring Kai Reeves and Lara Blake. She trailed down the list of names. Cole Nelson, Akiko Saito, Bilal Khan...

  At the very end: Evelyn Brown.

  Ana felt a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She knew Evelyn would do beautifully—for Evelyn was a dancer made from moonlight itself—but she wasn’t here to see her Lithe partner.

  She was here to see Lara.

  She was here to see Lara murder Kai.

  Lilah tapped Ana’s bare knee, pointing to the stage, and Ana looked up, noticing a small figure peeking through the curtain, her red lips matching the color of the velvet she hid behind.

  Lara. Ana stared into the pits of her eyes, unwilling to break her gaze. She traced the outline of her thin body—not yet covered in her costume. From beneath the material of Lara’s dress, Ana could make out the dagger she’d given her the previous night, its blade wide. To others, it would likely appear like a wrinkle of her dress, barely noticeable and not worth a second glance.

  To Ana, though, who had killed more men than she could count, the weapon was painfully clear.

  Lara still stood on the stage, hand clutching the curtain. Ana raised her chin, her features stoic.

  You know what you have to do, Ana said with her eyes.

  Lara nodded a fraction of an inch, the movement raising a smirk from Ana.

  I know, her nod replied.

  Lara quickly disappeared from Ana’s sight.

  THE SHOW COMMENCED chaotically. Dancers anxiously lined backstage, applying their last bits of make-up and tying their pointe shoes.

  Lara bounced up and down a couple of times, shaking her limbs out in preparation for the intensity she was about to put her body through. Her costume fluttered around her, threaded in colors of silver and blue, lined with gemstones and lace. She was dressed in winter itself, bare branches and capped roofs. It was the most alluring dress Lara had ever worn, created by the best of designers. Her legs were covered with sheer lace, the material glittering with each step she took.

  Above all, her slippers were more graceful than any part of her costume. They were wrapped in silk, the color like starlight—pale and blue and lucid. The broad strings twisted around her calves in elegant bows, matching the entirety of her outfit.

  Lara looked exquisite—a star born from the blackest of skies.

  A star made for murder and sin.

  She hadn’t seen Kai all night—not yet anyway.

  Dunne came up behind Lara, touching her shoulders lightly. “Are you ready?” she asked.

  Lara nodded, breathing out. “Of course I am.”

  Dunne walked away, whispering to one of the stage directors. Evelyn replaced her at Lara’s side.

  “You know what to do, right?” she asked, adjusting the skirt of her costume.

  Lara nodded, recalling her interaction with Ana just a moment earlier.

  “Are you afraid?”

  Lara didn’t reply.

  “Thirty seconds!” a man yelled.

  Thirty seconds.

  Tick.

  Tock.

  Time slowed—warped into something indistinguishable.

  It was time; it was what she’d been preparing for all semester—her chance to prove herself, to outshine her classmates.

  Lara wondered if her mother was in the audience. She hadn’t called—as she’d been instructed—but Lara quietly hoped she’d decided to come. If only to see her daughter win; to feel a great deal of guilt as she watched Lara perform the finishing bow.

  The audience lights dimmed; a pale spotlight lit up the large stage.

  It was time.

  Lara bounced onto stage, the music increasing in volume. She cleared her face of all anxieties, remembering why she was here, what she was doing.

  Reaching her long arms to the ceiling, she allowed the routine of the first scene to float in her mind, coalescing before her eyes.

  Kai was on stage just a few moments later, his costume just as extravagant as her own. His shirt matched the color of her dress, bare skin peeking from the openness of his collar, strung together by only a few threads. Fitted in dark, cotton pants, he moved across the stage, arms extended in an elegant embrace to the melody.

  He refused to look at her, Lara noticed. Even as they cradled one another, her hand lightly grazing his toned arm, his eyes remained on her costume, on her hair, everywhere but her face. The two fell into a painful hug, spinning together as they gripped the other’s torso.

  They continued to dance beside one another as a few others joined them on stage, synchronizing their movements. The music softened, leaving the auditorium near complete silence.

  At that, their first scene was complete.

  THE RECITAL WAS NEARING its end. They had reached the second-to-last scene; the scene in which Lara and Kai met for the last time before his death scene.

  As Lara danced over to Kai, her legs shaking, she couldn’t help but realize that it wasn’t only Kai’s character’s last scene alive, but also Kai’s.

  She looked at his face as they closed the distance between themselves; she watched as his lips parted and his lashes fluttered.

  Kai’s fingers reached for her sides, gripping her skin as he pulled her close, arms enveloping Lara as he painted an expression of agony across his face.

  Slowly, effortlessly, he pushed his fingers into Lara’s stomach as he lifted her into the air, watching her steady face.

  Lara held her breath as they began to spin. She continued to hold her breath as she waited, waited a few more moments, then released a gush of air from her lungs, celebrating her success.

  She had done it; she had completed the move she’d continuously failed. Lara did not fall from his grasp like he was made of liquid smoke; instead, she held her head high, looking at each face in the audience.

  Kai stared up at the red of her lips as he held her, the color a painful reminder of everything that had happened between them.

  The church. The taste of her blood as his lips met her own. The note.

  Kai dropped her to the ground
flawlessly, then completed a simple glissade as Lara pliéd.

  The audience gasped in awe, some snapping their fingers. Kai could feel the weight of their eyes like rocks dragging him down to a bottomless sea.

  Then, quickly, the music began to thrum faster as more dancers piled on stage, dressed in the costumes of the royal guard. They all reached for Kai’s arms, pulling him away from Lara’s touch. She gasped at the loss of his presence, her features masked in anguish and rage. Desperately falling to the floor, Lara watched the guards leap back with Kai, dragging his legs across the stage.

  And, as he was pulled into the darkness beyond the stage, Kai wondered if it had been a mask at all.

  KAI QUICKLY REACHED for his next costume as he slid his previous one off, listening to the music that played for the dancers on stage as he prepared.

  As he pulled his shirt over his head, throwing it to the floor, Lara walked into the changing room, already dressed in her second costume. She stopped at the sight of Kai shirtless, sweat glistening across his chest like a second skin.

  His eyes met hers, shadowed in an emotion too deep for Lara to decipher, and grabbed the shirt for his next costume. His eyes didn’t wander from Lara as he covered his body with it.

  Lara looked away, her cheeks suddenly flushed and dense. Silence filled the air in response to the gravity of each other’s presence. When she looked up again, Kai was facing a mirror, hiding the septum ring that had accidentally peeped from between his nostrils during the show.

  Say something, Lara begged silently in her mind. For they will be your last words to him, and his to you.

  But Kai didn’t open his mouth, vehemently refusing to utter as much as a whisper as he moved to his gym bag, arm reaching inside as he searched for something. He froze as he found it, closing his hand over the material.

  Lara waited. Then he pulled his hand from the bag, walking over to where Lara stood at the open door. A few voices sounded from behind her, giving instructions to the dancers that were about to walk on stage.

  Kai unclenched his fist, revealing a silken strand pooling from his fingers.

  Lara felt her throat go dry. It was the same silk he had insolently stolen from her hair, the one from their very first rehearsal.

  Lara watched him move toward herself, his steps reconciling with the beat of her heart. He reached for her shoulder, and Lara grimaced, shutting her eyes. Kai tuned her around gingerly; his touch was careful, like he was touching a fragile piece of glass, like his finger was grazing alongside the edges of the same glass she had placed into his slippers so long ago, blood dripping down to his knuckles, his skin cracked and stinging.

  She faced the hallway, waiting for what he was about to do.

  Cut my throat? Suffocate me?

  She hoped Kai was planning to kill her—to kill her before she had to kill him. She wasn’t sure she could bear to force a blade into his heart—not now. Not when something—something she’d never felt before—was crawling along the confines of her heart, whispering things to her boiling blood, calming her restless mind.

  Instead of doing as she wished, Kai pushed her hair away from her neck slowly—so painfully slow that she shuddered at the touch. Lara squeezed her eyes shut, feeling goosebumps rise from her sensitive flesh. His fingers grazed the skin of her shoulders, of her spine, moving like a floating piece of glass in the ocean—undisturbed and isolated.

  Kai was so close to her scars that Lara was sure he’d be able to tell what marked her skin. She wanted to pull away, to hide herself from him, but she couldn’t—she couldn’t.

  Lara was afraid. She was afraid of him, but more than that, she was afraid of herself, of what she was feeling as he touched her tenderly.

  Kai took her hair and twisted it into a bun at the back of her head, the movement so delicate that Lara almost leaned into his touch. He pulled the silk from his finger and wrapped it around the strands, tying it into a dainty bow.

  Please, Kai. Say something.

  Lara didn’t want Kai to let go, to free her of his touch, but still, despite her silent pleas, he dropped his hands, unlatching himself from her tightly wound soul.

  He continued to stand close to her, but it wasn’t close enough.

  This is it, Lara thought as she turned to face him. This is how it ends.

  “T—” she began.

  “Don’t,” he interrupted, moving out of the room.

  Thank you.

  IT WAS THE LAST SCENE—THE scene of Kai’s death.

  Lara wanted to flee the auditorium. She’d told herself she could do it—that she hated him enough to do it—but something had happened. Something had changed her.

  The audience fell into a ringing silence as the lights dimmed once more, the curtains opening to reveal a completely different scene.

  Fake snow fell from the ceiling, snowflakes illuminated underneath the soft lighting. Bare trees lined the background, the color of their branches turning gray and dull as snow fell atop the bark.

  The music stringed as Lara entered the stage, arms extended and toes pointing outward. Lara shuddered as the snow met her skin—not because of its coldness, but because it was what she knew she would feel as she plunged a dagger into Kai’s heart.

  Her vision blurred as she performed a grand jeté, sweat already coating the top of her forehead. As Lara turned, she caught a glimpse of black, shiny hair in the audience.

  Seo-Yun?

  Kai entered from the left before she could confirm her mother’s presence, his face cold like he hadn’t been touching her just a few minutes before.

  Does he know? Lara wondered, moving to conjoin their hands. His thumb brushed across her scarred knuckles, and he pulled his brows together as if he hadn’t meant to do that—touch her as he had before.

  They moved together like an ocean breeze, swaying gracefully through the winter landscape. Snow piled atop Kai’s head, coating the darkness of his hair with a vibrant white—the white of a dove; the white of the moon.

  A kaleidoscope of colors formed before Lara’s eyes, filling her lungs and brushing her skin. It was like she was in a dream—a dream beside Kai, beside his intense gaze and dark skin. She drowned in sensations as they faced each other; as Kai looked at Lara and Lara looked at Kai. He was ethereal—unearthly; impossibly heavenly. She was ungodly—descended from darkness; monstrous.

  In this moment, there was only virtue and nobility.

  In this moment, there was only Lara and Kai. Villain and vice. Enemy and muse.

  The song hummed slowly, piano chords pulling them closer, filling the space between them and hushing their steps. This was their reunion—their fusion before the final collapse.

  Kai placed a hand to the back of Lara’s skull, thumb tracing the skin of her neck. His eyes glazed dark, as if he was remembering the last time his fingers had been this close to her throat. When they had stood in the dark hallway of a dirty bar, his hands wrapping around her throat like he was about to suffocate her—kill her.

  He clutched her skull like it was the one thing he could hold forever, like he wanted to grasp the insides of her mind and protect them for eternity.

  The song dulled around them, the audience nearly falling from their seats in anticipation. From the inside of her dress, Lara grabbed the blade that had been carefully strapped to her spandex. She pulled it out, heart hammering as the audience gasped in excitement.

  Kai looked down at the blade, eyes weary.

  Can he tell? Lara wondered. Can he tell that it isn’t a prop but a true weapon—a blade carved from the finest of stones?

  With her free hand, she splayed her fingers across his chest, over his trembling heart. Lara closed her eyes, feeling the life beat from inside his ribcage, the blood pump into his veins, his lungs deflate. Kai held a breath as she pushed her fingers slightly, needing to feel more of his liveliness.

  He was here, breathing oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. He took more breaths as Lara savored the sensation—the truth—of Kai whole a
nd beating before her.

  He was alive. But soon he wouldn’t be, and there was nothing Lara could do to stop it.

  She looked to his eyes once more as her own watered, projecting sorrow and guilt.

  Into his heart...

  His heart.

  His heart.

  Her mouth formed two, careful words as she brought the blade to his chest. I’m sorry. She pushed it lightly into his skin, testing the sharpness. I’m sorry. Kai winced. I’m sorry. She tore open his flesh. I’m sorry. She shoved it deeper. I’m sorry.

  Kai’s face filled with a horrible confusion—with thoughts of heartache and bewilderment. Tears fell from Lara’s eyes as he looked down at the open wound on his body, as he fell to the floor. She hovered above him, carefully touching his parted lips, feeling their wetness from the salty tears that slipped from his flickering eyes.

  “I’m so sorry,” she gasped aloud, careful to obscure the audience’s view of Kai’s body.

  She brought her hand to the warmth of Kai’s blood, shivering as she coated her fingers in its unbearable violence, her hands sweating as her grip tightened on the tang of her dagger. She stared at his blood—the color of rubies and undead roses; the color of everything Kai and Lara had once been—alive, alive, alive, a heartbeat quivering underneath the liquid, and then into his eyes—

  Dying.

  Dying.

  Dead.

  Kai’s eyes, carved from the purest of stones and the foulest of stars, fluttered shut.

  THE AFTERMATH

  “But he's all in a muddle about himself, his position, his power, and indeed about everything in the world. He's the victim of a critical age; he has ceased to believe in himself and he doesn't know what to believe in.” ––Henry James

  As the curtains closed and the lights dimmed, Lara finally shut her eyes, hiding herself from what she’d done. The weapon fell from her hand, clanging against the bloody floor.