Black Waltz by Yoshiyuki Ly

Author:Yoshiyuki Ly [Ly, Yoshiyuki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yoshiyuki Ly
Published: 2018-09-24T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Shadow of Venus

(Stella)

The curtains close; the audience speaks not

Their praise, right away, for the night is sharp,

The sun is wounded, and at last we spot

The evidence so hidden in the harp

Of secrecy, just as your mother plays

Her part, her song stabbing too close to home;

You weep in front of mirrors overstayed,

The images: you recoil as shown,

Yet here I remain, Shield and Shadow yours;

I lift the rain; your evening star fades

By threats of my blade ending this long course:

My mother’s amateur mistakes she shades

From green to red—the crimson battlefield,

It bends with sorrow full yours; I’ll not yield.

I finally came back to reality as the curtains closed.

I had lost myself in the play. I’d lost myself in my previous life, getting caught up in her struggles…and even now, my heart ached for her and Vespair.

The silence from the rest of the audience spoke of a similar story.

I watched as Lucrezia and Xavier turned to stare up at the balcony—at Nyte—in pure horror. Her past self was the one who had caused Vespair such pain. As the rest of the audience continued to sit in pure shock, Lucrezia whispered to Xavier with urgency, glancing at Raine and me on occasion.

I didn’t have the energy to wonder what they were up to.

All this time…Vespair had loved a past version of me. By Raine’s stiffness, she had suspected this already, and had now had her suspicions confirmed. I wondered if she knew the full story about Vespair and Mistress Fury, without the redactions and streamlining. I made a mental note to ask her later.

From the balcony, Raj stood up and broke the silence. She gave a long and loud slow-clap, grinning as she did. “What a great fucking show!” she cheered, dripping with sarcasm. “Hell of a performance, that was! You all loved it, didn’t you? Loved seein’ how I’m such a shit person and Vespair was the real hero all along! And how me and Videl pretty much ruined the world for a good three centuries! It’s brilliant! Go on, clap! It’s entertainment, ain’t it?”

The curtain slowly opened. All of the actors in their magical disguises stood along the stage, looking terrified. They feared that the audience hated their performance, given everyone’s lingering quiet.

A few passionate souls stood up first, giving a zealous round of applause. The rest of the crowd followed soon after, the garden erupting in roaring appreciation. The actors bowed in relief and gratitude.

As everyone around me rose to their feet, moved by this rendition of my previous life, I stayed in my seat, eyes to the ground. Raine stayed seated with me, just as pensive as I was.

I couldn’t imagine that the Nyte I knew was capable of such toxic possessiveness, such vindictiveness. My suspicions aside about her possibly telling about Raine and me, I would have never pictured her going to such lengths as her past counterpart had in the play, in history. The way her actress had looked pleased when Videl announced she had killed Vespair, smirking

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