CHAPTER 55: STAGE PRESENCE 5

"Are you awake?"

Lune’s voice drifted through the theater wing hallway. Aegis blinked, realizing she’d been staring at the same page of her script for five minutes without reading a single word.

"Yeah." Aegis gave a really deep sigh. "Just trying to rebuild my reality."

"That’s rather dramatic. Do you need another hug?"

"... Yes."

But even as she wrapped her arms around her emotional support roomie, the image wouldn’t leave her head.

Talia’s tongue in Liora’s mouth. Her hand between Liora’s legs. The very, very lewd sounds.

"You’ve been weird since you got here," Lune observed, voice muffled by Aegis’s boobs. "Did something happen?"

"You could say that."

Before Lune could press further, Professor Loralei’s voice rang out from inside the auditorium.

"Next! Princess Talia Stone!"

Aegis’s stomach dropped.

[Oh good. Time to watch one half of the secret couple perform.]

She and Lune slipped into the auditorium to watch.

The space was smaller than Aegis expected, maybe fifty seats arranged in a semicircle around a raised platform. Professor Loralei floated near the stage, literally three feet off the ground in her excitement. Professor Whittles sat beside her, looking far less enthused.

Students filled most of the seats. Scarlett waved from the third row.

"Mouse! Over here!"

Aegis made her way over, trying not to notice that Liora sat two seats down.

The blonde girl’s uniform was perfectly arranged, not a hair out of place. You’d never know she’d been getting finger-fucked in a hallway twenty minutes ago.

[Was I really so dense!?]

Now that she knew what to look for, the signs were everywhere. The way Liora’s eyes tracked Talia as she walked onto the stage. The slight flush on her cheeks. The nervous energy in how she gripped her script.

"She’s going for Queen Rosanna too," Scarlett whispered. "Bold move for a princess to play a commoner queen."

Talia stood center stage, black hair gleaming under the lights. She looked composed. Regal. Nothing like the desperate girl who’d been pressing Liora against stone and begging to bend her over a desk.

"I’ll be reading from Act Two, Scene Four," Talia announced. "Rosanna’s confrontation with Lord Blackthorne."

Professor Loralei clapped her hands.

"Wonderful! Professor Whittles will read Blackthorne’s lines. Begin when ready!"

Talia took a breath. When she spoke again, her entire demeanor shifted.

"You think a crown makes you powerful?" Her voice carried across the auditorium, rich with controlled fury. "I earned my throne with blood and wit while you inherited yours through an accident of birth."

Professor Whittles cleared his throat and read in a monotone that could cure insomnia.

"You are still common-born. The nobles will never accept—"

"The nobles will accept whatever keeps their heads attached to their shoulders." Talia moved across the stage with predatory grace. "I united this kingdom. I brought peace to the borders. I turned Valdria from a collection of squabbling territories into an empire. And you dare question my authority because my blood isn’t blue enough for your taste?"

[Damn. She’s good.]

It made sense. Talia had been trained in performance since childhood. Every noble was. But this went beyond training. She inhabited Rosanna’s character completely.

Which was ironic given Talia’s actual beliefs.

[Guess that’s just even more evidence as to how good of an actress she is.]

"Power isn’t inherited, Lord Blackthorne." Talia’s yellow eyes blazed. "It’s taken. And I’ve taken everything while you’ve sat in your castle, growing fat on taxes from people whose names you don’t even know."

She grabbed an imaginary collar, yanking the invisible Blackthorne close.

"So please, continue questioning my birthright. Give me an excuse to show the court what happens to those who forget that common blood runs just as red as noble."

Silence.

Then applause erupted. Even Professor Whittles looked impressed.

"Brava!" Professor Loralei spun in midair. "Such passion! Such presence!"

Aegis glanced at Liora. The girl was practically glowing with pride, though she tried to hide it behind her script.

[Gross.]

Aegis wasn’t feeling jealousy exactly, but something close. Like finding out your favorite game had a secret ending other players had unlocked but you hadn’t.

"That was incredible," Scarlett said. "How the hell are you supposed to follow that?"

"By being myself," Aegis muttered.

"Easy for you to say. You’ve got that whole mysterious commoner thing working for you."

[Hopefully, that’ll help.]

Talia left the stage, and Aegis caught her looking directly at Liora. A tiny smirk, barely visible. The kind of look that asked ’did you enjoy that?’

Liora bit her lip and looked away.

[GOD, IT’S LIKE THEY AREN’T EVEN TRYING TO HIDE IT!]

"Next! Scarlett Lionheart!"

"That’s me!" Scarlett bounced up. "Wish me luck!"

"You’re gonna audition!?" Aegis was stunned.

"Eh, why not?"

Scarlett bounded onto the stage like she owned it.

She’d chosen to audition for Captain Steele, Rosanna’s loyal knight and sometimes lover. The role required sword work, which meant Scarlett got to show off.

"I’ll be performing the Act Three duel between Steele and the assassin!"

She pulled out a training sword and proceeded to have the most intense fight scene with thin air Aegis had ever seen. Every swing had weight. Every parry looked real.

"Hah! You think you can touch my queen? I’ll paint the walls with your blood! TAKE THIS!"

It was perfect. Scarlett didn’t need to act because Captain Steele was basically her with a different name. A loyal, hot-headed warrior who’d die for the people she loved.

The performance ended with Scarlett plunging her sword into the imaginary assassin’s chest.

"No one... touches... my queen!"

More applause. Professor Loralei wiped away tears.

"Such dedication! Such raw emotion!"

Scarlett strutted off stage, sweating but grinning. She dropped back into her seat.

"Nailed it."

"Modest as always," Aegis teased.

"Modesty’s for people who aren’t awesome."

They watched three more auditions. A nervous first-year stumbling through Lady Catherine’s monologue. A noble boy trying way too hard to be Lord Blackthorne. Miheyra from Aegis’s study group doing a surprisingly good job as the fortune teller.

Then Liora’s name was called.

She stood slowly, hands shaking slightly.

Liora walked onto stage like she was either heading to a coronation or an execution. She stood in the center, clutching her script.

"I’ll be auditioning for Queen Rosanna. Act One, Scene Six. The garden soliloquy."

[The same role as Talia. Interesting.]

"Begin when ready, dear," Professor Loralei encouraged.

Liora closed her eyes. When she opened them, something had changed.

"They think me weak because I am kind." Her voice was soft but carried perfectly. "They think me foolish because I choose mercy over vengeance."

She set down the script. She didn’t need it.

"But kindness is not weakness. It takes more strength to forgive than to hate. More courage to build than to destroy."

Liora moved across the stage with surprising grace. Not Talia’s predatory prowl, but something gentler. Like water flowing around stones.

"I was born in dirt, raised in poverty, educated by chance and determination alone. Every noble in this court would see me fail. They whisper that I’m playing at queen, that I’ll crumble under the weight of the crown."

Her voice grew stronger.

"Let them whisper. While they scheme in shadows, I’ll build in sunlight. While they cling to old grudges, I’ll forge new alliances. They see my common birth as weakness, but it’s my greatest strength. I know what it means to have nothing. I know what it means to be powerless. And I’ll make damn sure no one in my kingdom ever feels that way again."

The intensity sounded strange coming from sweet Liora, but it worked. It made Rosanna feel real.

[... Though, uh, to me she’s way more real than she is to everyone else, hehe.]

"So let them plot. Let them scheme. Let them think me weak." She faced the audience directly. "They’ll learn soon enough that kindness and steel aren’t mutually exclusive. I’ll unite this kingdom with compassion, and I’ll destroy anyone who threatens that unity without a second thought."

She paused.

"After all, I have nothing left to lose and everything to gain. That makes me the most dangerous person in this room."

The auditorium went quiet.

Then someone started clapping. Loud, deliberate applause that made Liora blush. Everyone else joined in, but Aegis noticed how Talia’s eyes never left Liora’s face.

[Whipped. Disgustingly whipped.]

"Beautiful!" Professor Loralei exclaimed. "Two incredible Rosannas! How will we choose?"

"Perhaps we don’t have to," Professor Whittles said slowly. "The script does call for flashbacks to young Rosanna and present-day Rosanna."

"Genius! One could play her rise, the other her reign!"

Liora practically glowed as she left the stage. She sat back down.

On one hand, that was crazy to watch in person. On the other, it also meant Aegis might have just lost her romantic lead role to the secret couple.

More auditions followed.

Lune surprised everyone by auditioning for the narrator role with her soft, hypnotic voice. Varyn tried out for Lord Blackthorne and was kind of terrifying in his hatred. Some girl Aegis didn’t recognize absolutely bombed Lady Catherine’s death scene.

Then, finally:

"Aegis Starcaller!"

She stood, script in hand. Her legs felt steadier than expected.

"Kick their asses, Mouse," Scarlett whispered.

Aegis walked onto the stage. The lights were brighter than she’d expected. The audience darker. She could barely make out faces, which helped.

"I’ll be auditioning for Queen Rosanna."