The Fiancé's Treachery: A Dancer's Vengeance

Thom

teering wheel, while Connor sat beside me in the back, murmuring useless platitudes. I kept my face buried in his ch

Isla was waiting in the great hall. She was dressed in a simple white dr

g forward. "I saw the news...

y. Douglas and Connor immediately softened, th

glas said, his voice ge

hen, as if she couldn't contain her excitement any longer, she turned, a brilliant smile bre

center of the hall. Sitting atop it, gleaming

ging with triumph. "The National Ball

have dominated. The culmination of twenty years of sweat, sacrifice, and endl

lves, the satisfying click of my joints as I moved through a Grand Jeté. I remembered

uldn't ev

They flanked Isla, showering her with praise, their earlie

incredib

you cou

g a victory bought with my blood and dignity. I was an aftert

air and began to push myself away, the sof

ss. She hurried after me, catching up at the base of the stairs.

. "It looks pathetic on you. Then again," she added, her eyes raking over my useless

. My face went pale, my hands tig

Isla shrie

down the first few steps of the grand stair

sl

horror. They rushed past me, kneeling beside her, the

ded, his eyes finding mine, in

It's my fault," she whimpered. "I shouldn't have crowded

ost brilliant. She hadn't just accused me; she h

ar, cold fury. He stood up, towering

er," I said, my v

was now examining a supposedly twisted ankle. "Do you have any idea wh

wn legs, permanently destroyed by his design, were for

"Her legs?" I asked, my voice dangerousl

hed as if I'd

r a fleeting second, I saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes

glas commanded, his voice leav

all, but it was a rock agains

id, her voice trembling bravely. "I know April is going through a lo

d. "You're too good, Isla," h

wheeled myself into the quiet solitude of the li

. He brought me a glass of warm milk, ju

is eyes pleading for a conne

te bathroom, and poured the milk down the sin

of night by a sound in my room. My eyes snapped

y eyes shut, feigning sleep, my

on the floor with a jarring thud that sent a shockwave of pain through my useless spine. Before I

every impact a fresh agony. I bit my lip to keep from

a cold, damp flo

ain, the two voices tha

this?" It was Connor

like stone. "She hurt Isla. She's becoming unhinged, da

Douglas, th

usy is making her ugly. We ne

eart was a thousand times worse than the agony in my body.

anded a third voice,

es shut, bracing

sickening thud of a wooden rod against my

thing but the jarring vibration, a ghostly ec

Thud

l. I curled into a ball, my sil

uddenly as it b

uglas asked, his vo

s ripped fr