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“Truth be told, I don’t particularly enjoy the title. It comes with a price, and you said it yourself—that crown is heavy. And like most valuable things, it’s very fragile.”
Her interlocutor bit her lower lip. Juliette’s heart sped up, her breathing grew shallow. Had she revealed too much? Why couldn’t she stop speaking?
However, when she replied, Vyatka’s voice held a tremulous note. “You don’t act like anything about you is fragile. Certainly, you give your opinion freely. Maybe too freely.”
The glare was back, and Juliette ducked her head. Was the Soviet ballerina speaking about Juliette’s ill-advised remark about her révérence?
“Ah, I just wanted to…” Juliette trailed off, stumbling over the thought. She had no idea what had possessed her earlier when she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, or where she wanted to take her comment now.
“I think the words you’re looking for are, ‘I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.’”
Vyatka tightened her see-through shawl around her, and Juliette licked her lips before answering.
“I work with injured dancers… And obviously, a neck injury like this… It’s my job?—”
Vyatka’s glare stopped Juliette dead in her faltering explanations.
For a few seconds neither spoke, the sound of Juliette’s breathing the only one permeating the room. Then she exhaled and gave Vyatka her most winning smile.
“To borrow advice from the indomitable Madame Bianchi, I should stay out of your business. My apologies.”
“And yet you made me your business. And are risking that aforementioned crown for me. You are not what you seem. Nor are you what they say you are.”
Juliette laughed sincerely for the first time this evening, and it felt good to just be able to release that tension she had been holding on to.
“Neither are you. What a surprise you turned out to be, Mademoiselle Vyatka.”
“Katarina, please. And nobody is what they pretend to be.” Something suspiciously similar to ice settled around Juliette’s heart. The voice held the same notes Juliette had heard filtering in when Vyatka was chased by the detestable KGB agent. Juliette wondered about the reason behind this tone. She wondered about so many things, yet the woman had fallen silent again, and Juliette realized the conversation was over.
The door opened, and this time Lalande was back. If his face was anything to go by, there had been a breakthrough and Juliette’s very long evening would finally be coming to an end.
“Mademoiselle Lucian-Sorel? If I may have a word?” He held the door open for her, and as they both stepped into Francesca’s secretary’s space, he gave it a cursory glance as if making sure that they were alone. Then he looked Juliette square in the eye.
“Let’s put our cards on the table. I will arrange for Katarina Vyatka’s defection under two conditions. It’s only going to happen if you agree to both of them. I don’t want you to argue.Just say yes and she will remain in Paris, granted full asylum under French law.”
So, this man had turned out to be exactly like the rest of them—an opportunist. Juliette knew when she was being played. But she could still feel that vise around her heart, restricting her breathing, reminding her of the foolhardy promise she had made. And those dejected eyes had sliced just as sharply as they had the moment Juliette had seen them turn empty the very first time.
“I assume you will outline your conditions, Monsieur Lalande? Or am I to agree blindly?”
His sudden smile was sharp, teeth gleaming too brightly. “Would you?”
Juliette sighed. She was tired. A brilliant and beautiful woman just a few feet away was being used as a pawn in a political tug-of-war, and this worthless man had the gall to play games.
“No. But since this is nothing but a farce to you, let me try and guess what the next steps in this charade would be.” Juliette crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath, Lalande watching her warily. “If I say no, the life of an exceptionally talented ballerina would be endangered. After attempting to defect, she can’t go back to Moscow. Her career would most certainly be over, and we have no way of knowing if she would even be able to keep her freedom. So I must say yes. But also, if your demands are such that my ‘yes’ is impossible to give, we both know that my next move is to less-than-respectfully go over your head and demand an audience with the president.”
She pursed her lips. Lalande remained silent. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders, obviously surrendering whatever high ground he thought he was holding. “My first condition is that Vyatka must join the Paris Opera Ballet company.”
Juliette bit the inside of her cheek. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that Katarina would not be joining them. What else would she be doing in Paris? If she had wished to join the Royal London Ballet, she would have defected last month during Bolshoi’s tour of England.
“And the second demand?”
“Condition.” He coughed awkwardly before proceeding. “As the new Culture Minister, I will be taking a more involved role in the administration of the Paris Opera Ballet. In fact, this was part of why the previous minister was replaced and I was elevated to the position. To fix things.” He applied harsh focus to the wordfix, and Juliette pursed her lips. He was making it sound as if Paris Opera Ballet was broken. Still, she lifted her chin slightly, indicating that he should go on. His tone was even more wary when he proceeded again.
“Both companies are not living their best days. My predecessor reserved his influence for the budget only, and I think it was a mistake to allow things to get out of hand as much as they have. With both the opera and the ballet troupes.”
Juliette narrowed her eyes. She was aware of the financial difficulties the companies were going through. Truth be told, any ballet company in the world that was subsidized by governments never had quite enough money for everything it needed, no matter how generous their budgets were. And their recent reviews weren’t worthy of those budgets. Juliette Lucian-Sorel’s name could be papered over many cracks, but not all. And even she was beginning to get beaten up in the press.
She chewed slowly on her lower lip. Bureaucrats were nothing but trouble, and dealing with them on a daily basis was not something she’d look forward to. But Katarina Vyatka getting a second lease on life and gracing the stage of Paris? No, Juliette would deal with what came from Lalande whenshe approached that bridge. And moreover, it would likely be Francesca who’d have to handle the fallout anyway.
