Page 74 of Dream in Darkness
We have another show just like this tomorrow night. Arm in arm, we head out of the big top and back towards our tent.
“Hey, what was up with Luc and Lilian?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“Sh,” she says, her eyes going wide as she pulls me into our tent with the force of a thousand demons. “You cannot ever repeat this.”
“Spill.”
Yasmeena audibly exhales. “Before Lilian and Baelor were married, Luc asked her parents for her hand. I don’t know all the details, but from what she told me, it really hurt her. She felt like an object for sale, not a person, so she rejected the offer.”
“What? Luc seems to be genuinely interested in her,” I say, confused.
“Yeah,now.Lilian agreed to marry Baelor, which enraged her parents, and says that after their wedding, Luc started actingweird towards her. Always wanting to know how she’s doing, or finding ways to see her,” Yasmeena shares. “I only joined Hel’s Carnival a few years ago, so I don’t have any details besides what Lilian has shared with me. I’ve considered asking Draven or even Reina or Absinthe, but I didn’t want it getting back to Lilian. She’s my best friend. So please, never tell a soul, not even Taryn. Only The Devil’s Masquerade knows, as far as I’m aware.”
“I won’t. I promise.” I hold out my pinky, and she takes it in hers.
“Between you and me, sometimes I wish she had’ve married Luc, but that’s all in the past now.”
“Yeah, I can see why.”
“Anyway, let’s go to sleep,” Yasmeena says, and I crawl into bed.
She turns off the lantern, slipping into bed beside me. My entire body turns pink, my heart racing. I don’t know what to do or how I should react, so I give in to my instincts and wrap my arm around her.
I don’t know how much longer we have like this, but I wish it could last forever.
Movement No. 28
Yasmeena
Suspended in the glow of the spotlight, Tempest and I perform for a second time in The Sinner’s Circus. Our bodies move completely in sync as we head towards the apparatus. The bar feels solid, the cold steel biting through my chalk-coated hands.
I hook one knee over the bar, lean into the strap, and offer her my hand. We lock eyes as she takes it, our muscles working together as Leo pulls the lever, carrying us up into the air.
Our bodies move through shapes we’ve practiced at least a hundred times, but up in front of this audience, they somehow feel new, sharpened by the risk and voyeurism of it all.
We hold a crucifix pose, suspended and beautiful, and I’m grateful we chose the bodysuits we did for tonight.
Completely sheer. Raw and exposed.
Yesterday’s performance was about uniting our species, but tonight is a true Sinner’s Circus show—sin and all.
Tempest shifts, and I trust her with my weight. Her hands slide to my waist, guiding me up until our faces are a hairsbreadth apart.
We move again, and this time she locks her legs, releasing one hand to trace the line of my shoulder with her fingertips as if we’renot at least twenty feet up in the air. She doesn’t seem to notice or care, aware ofexactlywhat she’s doing to me.
We’re lowered towards the ground, and we make our final pose. We both have an arm hooked around one of the cables, our knees connecting at the center.
Once we complete our act, we get off the trapeze, but my foot gets caught on the bar and I trip, landing awkwardly on my ass. It’s… embarrassing, to say the least. The crowd still cheers, a thunderous applause practically shaking the big top, but I can’t help but feel frustrated with myself. We had this big, beautiful moment, and I ruined it by being a klutz.
“Would you feel better if we practiced tonight?” Tempest asks, and I nod, grateful she’s my partner for this.
Everyone gradually exits, leaving Tempest and me completely alone in the big top, And it feels like everything hits me all at once.
All of the politics. The turf war, and the fact that we might actually be close to ending it. The Legion and the whispers of mutiny on other continents. Everything else, too. Baelor cheating on Lilian, and being a fucking perverted creep. The way Luc looks at Lilian. Little Nico’s fragile new family.
The way my heart threatens to beat out of my chest every time Tempest is around, but how I know nothing will ever come of this. She’s too dedicated to her pack, and I’m too dedicated to the carnival. It’s a lot, and it’s finally catching up to me, affecting not just my mental state, but physically as well.
“I think you’re overthinking things,” she says, and puts her hands on my shoulders, gently massaging them. “How much do you trust me?”
