She lost herself in the notes of the music, gave herself over
to it completely. She played like it was the last piece of music she would ever
perform. And she whispered a silent goodbye in her heart, a final farewell to
her parents who were gone, but would never be forgotten. It wasn’t them she was
saying goodbye to. It was the grief that had been her constant companion ever
since the accident. She didn’t need it anymore. She could finally let it go.
Because of one man. Because of what he had shown her in the
brief time he had touched her life. Because of the love of music he had
resurrected inside of her.
Maybe she was never meant to keep him. Maybe he had only been
allowed in her life long enough to show her how to live, to breathe again.
Maybe he was only meant to be her muse and nothing more.
Whatever reason Liron had been in her life, he had changed it
for the better. He had helped her remember how to live and not merely exist. He
had helped her heal. She would never turn her back on that gift.
Melody pounded out the last part of the song, surrendering
completely to the music, letting it flow through her like her tumultuous
emotions, and letting the tragic notes soothe her as her heart bled.
The last note echoed through the room, followed by several
seconds of utter silence. She noticed vaguely that tears were streaming down
her cheeks, but paid them little attention as the audience and the orchestra
members behind her burst into uproarious sound.
She lifted her head and glanced out at the audience. Everyone
was on their feet clapping wildly and cheering in a way that would be much more
fitting at a sporting event. A small, genuinely joyous laugh bubbled through
her chest and she stood, giving several deep bows. Then, she turned to the
orchestra, who were yelling and applauding in the same fashion, and bowed to
them as well.
The music director appeared from the wings of the stage
carrying an enormous bouquet of red roses and more tears filled her eyes—these
of appreciation and genuine wonder at the kindness of her former orchestra
members.
She took the roses and cradled them in her arms while the
director pressed a kiss to her cheek. She turned and bowed for the audience one
more time, then swept her arm wide to indicate the orchestra behind her. The
audience continued to cheer loudly, and the rest of the musicians gave a
unanimous bow.
Since it was the end of the concert, the musicians started to
file off of the stage in a precisionlike manner. Melody took her leave as well,
but started toward the other side of the stage to avoid the stampede of the
orchestra members.
The lights in the house came up so that the audience could
see where they were going, and Melody glanced out at them as she started toward
the wings. She scanned the packed theatre and smiled to herself, then stopped
dead in her tracks as her eyes were drawn to a solitary figure standing along
the far back wall.
She frowned and her heart did a strange
ker-thump.
She
peered closer at the stoic form, still having difficulty seeing clearly due to
the low light and the shadows the balcony cast down onto the main floor. He
stood tall and lean, with broad shoulders and hair that flowed to those
shoulders.
A rush of cold heat passed through her and she felt the color
drain from her face. She stumbled to the edge of the stage and looked out, knowing
she must appear slightly crazed, but not caring.
Slowly, the figure she was desperately trying to get a good
look at stepped forward into better light.
The cold wave of heat that had pooled around her stomach
exploded into fiery tingles along every surface of her body, and she tripped
herself on her high heels and practically broke her ankle wheeling around and
scrambling off the stage’s side steps.
She dashed through the dispersing crowd, darting around
people like she was in some kind of pinball machine, and came to a screeching
halt in front of the most glorious sight she had ever beheld. She couldn’t
speak, couldn’t even move. All she could do was stare at his beautiful face, at
his blue eyes that were sparkling with joy and his wonderful smile that lit up
every corner of her heart that had withered only moments before.
He was dressed in a black suit with a deep burgundy-colored
shirt and a black silk tie. He looked so striking it was ridiculous. Tears
filled her eyes and hovered there while her heart did tumbling motions that
robbed her of breath. “Are you a hallucination?” she rasped.
He gave her a lopsided grin, gently took the roses from her,
and set them down, then slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close
against his chest. “What kind of a hallucination would I be if I told you?” he
whispered against her ear.
Melody’s eyelids fluttered closed as sensual, smoldering
notes drifted leisurely through her mind, igniting similar sensual, smoldering
fire in her body. Her breath rushed out of her in heady relief, and her tears
finally succeeded in falling. She buried her face against his neck, breathing
in his scent, lavishing in it, and snuggling so close to him she may as well
have been attached. “I thought I’d failed,” she muttered against the collar of
his shirt.
“What?” He took her gently by the shoulders and pulled back
just enough to see her. He wiped the tears from her cheeks with tender fingers.
“After my concerto…you weren’t here. I-I thought I’d failed,
that I wasn’t good enough, that what I’d created wasn’t good enough.” More
tears descended under the onslaught of her emotional rollercoaster ride.
He frowned. “Weren’t good enough? Are you insane? I never
want to hear you say those words again. If I had not been able to come here
tonight, it would have been failing on my part, not on yours. It would have
meant that I hadn’t inspired you enough.”
“Liron, I don’t care whose failing it would have been. It
doesn’t matter.
Where were you?
I thought my whole life was over.” She
let out a little sob, feeling like a neurotic spaz.
Liron gave a soft chuckle and pulled her back into his arms,
holding her close and burying his fingers in her hair. “Well, unfortunately, I
had no control over where the portal decided to open. So I ended up in the
janitor’s closet. Took me a bit to find my way out. When I finally did, they
wouldn’t let me into the theatre because I didn’t have a ticket. I loitered
around in the lobby until intermission, when I snuck in and hid in the dark
back here like some kind of criminal.”
She laughed in spite of herself, her turbulent emotions
subsiding. She wrapped her arms around Liron’s waist and held on, relishing in
the solidness, the
realness
, of him. “I thought I’d lost you,” she said
on a sigh.
His arms tightened around her. “Never. I would have found a
way. I can’t let you go. I won’t.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “You don’t have to.”
She grasped him behind the neck and pulled his head down to crush his lips to
hers. He responded immediately, bringing his hands up to cradle her face while
he deepened the kiss and possessed her completely with his mouth and his music
as it invaded her mind, heart, and body. Every lonely space, every cold recess
within her that had appeared at being unable to return to him, incinerated. The
pieces of her annihilated heart fused back together under the velvet assault of
his lips, and the dank despair she suffered while in the human world
disappeared. If she’d had any doubt in her mind about returning to his world
with him, that would have been enough to decide her.
Her link to her world had died with her parents. Now, she
knew she belonged amongst the muses.
“You taste sweeter than I remember,” he whispered over her
lips. “Like a spice I will never get enough of.”
She grinned and snuggled close to him, reveling in his warmth
and his unyielding strength. During all the worst turmoil of her emotional
journey, Liron had been her strength. And when he’d needed her the most, she
had been his as well. She had never felt more fulfilled, more satisfied.
“Are we going to be able to go back home now?” she
questioned.
He nodded. “I have asked Samantha and Raymond to cause some
kind of hoopla in order to get my attention and trigger the portal. They are
waiting for us back at my house.”
Melody gave Liron a flat expression, trying to ignore the
spasm of jealousy that rippled through her at the mention of the other woman.
“Seems like you and Samantha have become rather close over the last two
months,” she grumbled.
His lips twitched in amusement. “Yes, I imagine we have. I am
pretty sure she has an ulterior motive, though.”
Her eyes snapped up to his, and she scowled fiercely. “Like
what?”
Liron trailed his fingers through her hair and sighed in an
exaggerated fashion. “Well, I’m pretty sure she’s only hanging around with me
because she so desperately wants to meet this legendary wife of mine who can
defy the laws of physics and bend the universe to her will.”
Melody felt heat color her cheeks at both the praise and at
her ridiculous, possessive assumption. “Oh.” She smiled bashfully. “Well, I
guess I can live with that.”
He laughed and nuzzled her nose with his. “You have nothing
to be worried about, lovely.” He whispered the words over her lips in a
tickling tease before claiming them again in another breathtaking kiss.
When Melody pulled away this time, she looked up at him with
so much love in her heart she felt she would burst. She ran her palms up his
chest and he made a happy noise in his throat and closed his eyes. She grinned
and reached down to take his hand while she picked her roses up with the other
one. “Come on. Let’s go. I have a couple things I need to get from my house
before we go. Just one suitcase.”
He frowned and followed behind her toward backstage. “Only
one?”
She nodded, and was stopped by the music director as they
walked back up onto the stage.
“Melody!” he cried, enveloping her in an enthusiastic hug.
“You were wonderful tonight! The way you played! And
Adagio in G
of all
things!”
She smiled softly. “Thank you. It was a wonderful
experience.” Liron’s fingers tightened over hers, and her heart responded to
his touch by skipping.
“Melody,” he said, sobering. “I know this past year has been
difficult for you, but we would love to have you back. Would you consider
taking a place in the Philharmonic once again?”
She filled with warmth at the invitation and gave a soft
sigh. “Thank you so much for the offer,” she said, “but I’m actually moving.”
He looked surprised. “Oh, really?”
She nodded. “Yes…out of the country, in fact. I need a new
start, you know?”
His eyes softened and he nodded in acceptance. “I understand.
Thank you, Melody.” He hugged her again. “For everything.”
“No,” she said, returning his embrace. “Thank you. You have
done more than you even know.”
He pulled back with a smile. “Just know that the invitation
is always there for you.”
“Thank you.” She watched him walk away and glanced up at
Liron to see him gazing at her with a gentle smile playing around his sensual
lips. He didn’t need to speak. All the love and pride he felt for her was
reflected in his eyes. She raised herself up to press a tender kiss to his lips
before continuing backstage.
“Mel!” Nikki cried when she entered the dressing room. “That
song you played was—oh!” She stopped short and blinked up at Liron in surprise
before a wide grin blossomed across her face. She glanced at Melody. “Is this
him?”
Melody smiled. “Yes, Nikki, this is Liron. Liron, my friend
Nikki.”
Liron stepped forward, took Nikki’s hand, and kissed the back
of it. “A pleasure,” he murmured.
Nikki stared at him with a bewildered and slightly adoring
expression on her face before she shook her head and got a hold of herself.
“L-Likewise,” she stammered. She looked back at Melody. “I told you he would
come.”
Melody grinned, elation burbling inside of her like magma.
Liron slid his arm around her shoulders and held her against his side. She fit
comfortably there. A little frown creased her brow, and her smile faded as she
realized that this would probably be the last time she would see her friend. A
small bit of sadness crept in, and she swallowed hard. There was no way Nikki
would be able to understand. She hated that she was going to hurt her. “Nik…I
have something for you. It’s at my house. Will you come by tomorrow? I’m going
to leave the key in the flowerpot by the front door. Just let yourself in. Your
gift is sitting on the piano…all right?”
Nikki’s smile vanished like someone had waved a magic wand
and that strange, knowing look came to life in her eyes again. Her gaze darted
from Melody to Liron and back again. “Why can’t you just give it to me?”
Melody chewed on her bottom lip, and she gained a small
amount of comfort from the way Liron squeezed her shoulder. “I…I’m not going to
be there, Nik.”
Nikki stared at her for a long moment, as if tossing things
around in her head, before her eyes grew glassy. “I’m not going to see you for
awhile, am I?” she rasped.
Melody’s own eyes filled with tears—for the millionth
time—and she shook her head as her throat constricted.
Nikki bit her bottom lip. “You’re going somewhere, aren’t
you? Somewhere that I probably don’t even want to know about because it’s going
to warp my brain in about five different ways, right?”
Melody laughed despite the sadness of the situation. “Yeah,
probably.”
The lip Nikki had been chewing on trembled and she darted her
gaze to Liron again with a kind of pained expression. “Is he gonna kill you?”
she blurted.
Melody startled. “What? Kill me? What in the world?”
Nikki took a daring step forward. “You know, go all blood-sucker
on you and then turn you into some insanely beautiful…thing…you know…like
him
?”