Dancing On Air (8 page)

Lisette felt torn. This was the first night she had seen him in more than a fortnight. She had put down his absence to fickleness and inconstancy. Lisette had dismissed him from her mind; at least that was what she told herself. And yet she had carefully kept his rose, it was dry and faded and hidden in her room. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, seeing Evander in the audience sent a flare of excitement through her heart.

Charlie stepped forward and held out his hand. Lisette placed her hand on his. He then spun her on pointe once, twice and then for a third time before she sank into a deep curtsy as the
corps de ballet
filed in from the wings. Normally the dance would continue, but the sound of the applause made Charlie falter. He pulled Lisette to her feet, spun her once and then allowed her to take another curtsy. Lisette’s eyes opened with surprise as a single long stemmed pink rose fell before her. It was tied with a dusty pink satin ribbon and there was a small card attached. In a fluid movement she scooped up the flower and looked towards Evander. He was on his feet, clapping. Lisette made a show of inhaling the perfume of the rose, her eyes never leaving his. Evander smiled and bowed towards her. But then Charlie took her hand once more and led her from the stage.

Marie Devoré was waiting in the wings. She was dressed in the usual severe black, her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and she leaned heavily onto her walking stick. Her eyes narrowed as Lisette exited the stage.

‘Your first rose,’ she said as she nodded towards the pale bloom that Lisette held between her hands.

‘Yes, Aunt,’ Lisette lied. There was no point in telling her aunt that Evander had given her one once before. She clutched the rose, hiding the tiny card within her hand.

‘Your performance was fair, but there is still work to be done,’ Marie said with a sharp tone. ‘Do not let this applause go to your head. You are not the prima ballerina yet.’

‘No, Aunt.’

‘Good. I have made a decision... Whether Bessie returns or not, the role of the princess is yours. Even if your dancing was only passable, it is ten times better than Bessie’s.’

‘Thank you, Aunt Marie. Do you think Mr Michaels will object?’

‘Not if he was watching you dance. Leave it to me. Now, change quickly. You must join the
corps de ballet
for the rest of the performance,’ Marie said as she slowly turned on her heel. Leaning on her cane, she walked away into the darkened corridors.

Lisette knew that she should change, but there was little time. She took a deep breath, opened her hand and looked down at the rose with its crushed pink satin bow. Carefully she tugged the tiny card out from its folds. Opening it, Lisette smiled as she read the words.

Quickly, she slipped it beneath the bodice of her costume, over her heart. She longed to peek through the velvet curtain at Evander, but she must change. She turned and ran past the stagehands and towards the dressing room. Lisette was stripping out of her princess costume even before she got to her dressing table. She stepped out of the blue satin skirts and tossed them to one side. Then she put on her white tulle tutu — it was made with multiple layers of tulle that fell to her mid calf. Once on stage, the tutu gave Lisette an airy, delicate and weightless effect. She secured it around her waist and then unhooked the two blue and bejewelled panels from her bodice. Looking in the large mirror, she unpinned her glittering tiara and placed it on the table. Then she reached for the band of white silk roses and pinned them onto her hair in the tiara’s place. Her final task was shrugging into the sheer fairy wings and tying them in place. In a matter of moments the princess had disappeared and was replaced by the woodland fairy.

Evander’s note almost burned against her skin. Lisette wondered if she should hide the note somewhere on her dressing table but then dismissed the idea. There were no secrets in this room and no privacy. The last thing she needed was for the girls to discover Evander’s existence. Gossip spread like wildfire in the theatre and Lisette did not want to explain anything to her aunt. She already knew what Marie’s reaction would be. She would forbid her to ever see Evander again.

Aunt Marie had never let her forget that she had taken her in and raised her when Lisette’s mother had died. In Aunt Marie’s mind, Lisette owed her everything, including total obedience. Marie expected her to do as she was told, to practice and study her art, until the day she would be a successful ballerina. When Lisette became a prima ballerina with all of London at her feet, then she would be able to provide and repay the debt she owed Marie. Men, love, adulation were all distractions that would not be tolerated. Men’s affections were fleeting and love was mere illusion, as fake and as orchestrated as any scene played before an audience. There was only the dance. That was the only thing that was truly real.

Lisette placed her hand over her heart, the safest place for the note was where it was, beneath her bodice. Then, she took a deep breath, and hurried out to take her place in the wings.

‘You should not have come,’ Lisette said as she leaned against the darkened doorway of the prop room. She turned her head and looked down the corridor nervously.

‘I could not stay away,’ Evander said.

Lisette looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. ‘Pretty words again, my lord. However you did stay away, didn’t you?’

Evander reached over and took her hand in his. ‘It is not just pretty words, Lisette. I had family business to attend to with my brother. It was unavoidable. The truth is, I thought about you all the time I was gone. I know that we have barely met, but I want to learn all there is about you.’

‘Do you say that to all the girls you woo to your bed?’

Evander’s eyes widened and, with a slight laugh, he asked, ‘Really Lisette, what would you know of such things?’

‘I have grown up in a theatre...this theatre. I have seen the way of things; handsome lords and rich men weaving their pretty words to make the girls fall in love with them. Then when they are done — when their eyes catch onto the next prize — they leave the girls crying and wretched in their ruin and misery.’

‘Lisette, I swear to you this is different... I am different,’ Evander said.

‘Perhaps, but it would be better if you turned your attention elsewhere. I cannot be with you. I have a duty to my aunt and I cannot be swayed from my course.’

‘What duty?’

‘I must become a prima ballerina so I can repay her for all her sacrifices.’

Evander stared into her eyes. ‘She must love you very much.’

‘She doesn’t love me at all,’ Lisette answered with bitterness in her mouth.

‘Then why are you obligated to her?’

‘She raised me when my mother died. She has trained me to succeed and I have given her my word that I shall.’ Lisette took her hand from his. ‘We should not meet again.’

‘Do you dislike me that much?’

Lisette stared at Evander. His tone seemed tinged with disappointment and even despondency. It moved her and tugged a little at her heart. ‘No, no of course not. But I cannot give you what you wish and my aunt will be furious if she was to discover us.’

‘Give me a chance, Lisette, and I will make you fall in love with me.’

‘I daren’t.’ Lisette took a breath. Evander was charming. He turned her head and had the power to sway her to his will. She teetered on the brink and as she looked into his eyes, she wondered if he would be her downfall.

‘I promise I will not abandon you.’

‘For now, my lord, but you will, eventually. I’m sorry, I cannot risk it.’ Lisette steeled herself. She could not afford to risk her future for a promise — promises were easily broken and quickly abandoned.

‘If you do not risk, then you do not live. Surely there must be something beyond the walls of this theatre that you desire?’

His words wound around her resolve like the serpent in the garden, tempting and enticing her. He offered her affection and laughter; he was a bright flare in her otherwise dull world. It was true, she did live her life in half fear. She never went against her aunt and was almost a prisoner of the theatre. The only time she felt totally free was when she danced and the feeling of euphoria was always fleeting. In the darkness of the night, she would dream of being loved and having a family. Perhaps then she would be able to reclaim the happiness she had felt as a little girl, when her mother still lived.

‘Lisette, please,’

Lisette’s head snapped up. For an instant a rose-tinted picture popped into her head. Would Evander be kind? Could she trust him? Or possibly the biggest question was...could she trust herself?

‘Will you leave me wretched, ruined and miserable?’

‘I swear Lisette, on everything I hold dear, that will never happen. Come, Lisette, let me show you that there is more to life than this theatre.’

‘I can’t. My aunt is still here and she will be suspicious if I do not accompany her home.’

‘Tomorrow then. Tomorrow, where we first met and at the same time.’

Lisette was silent for a moment as she weighed up the risks. ‘Very well, I shall meet you at the Hearth Fire. Now you must go before someone sees you.’

Evander caught her hand and brought it to his lips. ‘Thank you, Lisette. You will never regret it.’

‘We shall see, my lord... We shall see.’

Lisette walked by her aunt’s side as they walked down the lane. The sun was shining brightly but there was a chill to the breeze. It swept past Lisette and made her shudder. She pulled her shawl closer and picked her way over the cobblestones. It was something she would have to accept. Autumn had arrived and very soon the sunny days would give way to rain and freezing winds.

Lisette opened the stage door and allowed her aunt to precede her. The theatre was dark and cold and empty. Tommy was not sitting at his station and, as they walked down the empty hallways, they did not encounter any of the company or even the stagehands. The only sound was of their footsteps and the beat of Aunt Marie’s walking stick against the well-worn wooden floor.

Lisette always enjoyed this part of the morning. When she had been a child, she always saw the empty theatre as her own private playground. She knew its nooks and crannies, from the bowels of the building right up to the Gods. Each staircase, trapdoor and half-forgotten door had been hers. Most of the girls of the
corps de ballet
were scared of the theatre and its so-called ghosts but Lisette always regarded it as her tattered and eccentric home.

Aunt Marie opened the dressing room door and for the briefest instant the look of surprise registered on her face.

‘What are you all doing here so early?’ Marie demanded as she strode through the door. Half a dozen or so faces turned and regarded her. Many wore looks of apprehension as she approached. Sally, Alice and Fanny sat next to Tinder Michaels and Tommy, whilst two of the stagehands stood behind them.

‘Ah, Madame Devoré, we hoped we would be the first to break the news to you,’ Tinder said as he stood up and gave her a bow.

‘News! What news?’ Marie’s brow formed into a severe frown. ‘What is all this about?’

‘Do not fret, Madame. It is good news! Good news, about our little Lisette,’ Tinder said before he reached over to the nearest table and picked up a newspaper. ‘It’s all here in the Illustrated Theatre Review.’

‘What is?’ Marie sat down and waited impatiently for Tinder to explain himself.

‘Why a review, of course. Come and sit down Lisette, you’re going to like this,’ Sally said as she gestured her friend to sit next to her.

‘Apparently, the review was added right at the last moment before the paper was released,’ Tinder explained.

‘Well, get on with it. What does it say?’ Marie said briskly as she sat down.

Tinder opened the paper to the back page and started to read.