Rowen had never, ever been this nervous before a performance in Avalon. It didn't help that she was offstage until well into the second act, so she'd already sat through the first hour of the performance, cheering on her friends and listening as the audience applauded for them.
"Come here," Mitchell whispered in her ear, tugging at her arm. She followed him up a metal ladder and across a narrow walkway, into a section above the stage that she'd never been to before. "You can see the audience and the dancers," Mitchell said, showing her where to crouch.
"Won't they see me?"
"You're right behind the lights. You'll be nothing but a patch of blackness to them—don't worry. I found this spot when I was twelve."
Rowen crept out on the thin walkway, enjoying an aerial view of the dancers. Every time the girls spun, their skirts flared, making them look like perfect little pastel circles.
After a moment, however, she looked out at the audience. Most of them were strangers, but her eyes quickly found familiar faces. There was Shawn, of course, who was there to see not only her and Meghan, but Thomas and Mitchell and the dozens of other dancers who he'd become friends with through his sister. Next to him were his parents, who Rowen was getting to know better—they were warm, hard-working, amazingly caring people, and Rowen found it impossible to imagine that she'd once suspected all humans of being barely more than monsters. Seated beside them were Tamani and Laurel, with little Sharlet on Laurel's lap.
They'd gone back and forth on that. Sharlet looked like a one-year-old human—fae infants never really looked like human babies—and spoke like a human four-year-old. But she'd wanted to come see her cousin—another of Tamani's human family words— dance so badly that Tamani and Laurel had made her swear not to say a single word. Rowen worried that her announcement to Shawn's parents would make it impossible for Laurel and Tamani to bring eight-week-old Sharlet anywhere near them, but Tamani assured her that humans rarely asked awkward baby questions to your face.
Manners, he'd said.
Human etiquette: Rowen had given up on it.
Rowen smiled warmly when her eyes lit on the people sitting next to Laurel: Chelsea and Jason. Their children, being actual human babies, were not trusted to keep their mouths shut, so they'd been left with something called a sitter. But the adults had both come. It had been more than two months since Rowen had apologized to them, and Rowen was still mortified at her terrible mistake. But they'd come, and she loved them for that.
And beside Chelsea, Lenore. Lenore, who had already been given assignments to complete in her new role as ambassador to the Sea Kingdom. She seemed to revel in the responsibility, and Rowen didn't think it was just the job. Lenore seemed more positive, more fulfilled than when they'd parted in Avalon almost six months ago. She'd let go of much of her bitterness. Rowen had asked about it, but in response Lenore simply shrugged and smiled. Whatever had provoked the change, Rowen was glad for it.
Rowen felt tears gather in her eyes as she looked at the row of people who loved her. Six months ago she'd felt so alone. Even four months ago, when family had been invited to watch auditions, there'd been no one in those seats for her. Tonight, she was going to dance for the most important people in her life, and she couldn't wait.
As if reading her thoughts, Mitchell poked her and whispered, "We should go warm up."
Rowen took a slow breath and tried to calm her nerves as they limbered up and marked their way through their pas de deux.
Then it was time.
As they waited in the wings, Rowen peeked out at Meghan, sitting on a throne next to the Nutcracker Prince at the top of the stage. She glowed with a happiness that went far beyond mere acting as she lived her dream of playing Clara before an audience for the very first time. It was a huge night for Meghan and Rowen couldn't have been happier for her.
"Watch out," Mitchell said, pulling her back a few inches as a crowd of younger dancers exited the stage to the sound of applause. "Ready?" Mitchell whispered as the first strains of their music filled the auditorium.
"To dance with the best partner in the world? Yes," Rowen said affectionately, and Mitchell grinned and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek.
The lights came up, the orchestra sounded her cue, and Rowen stepped onto the stage.
THE END
*****
Oh my goodness, guys. I can't believe you hung in here with me for almost 350 pages of Rowen's story! I've been wanting to write this story for YEARS, (and have been promising it to readers for years) and I can't believe it's done!
So yes, please vote, because it's fun to get stars, but mostly, **thank you**. Thank you for reading the Wings series, thank you for tweeting and commenting on Arabesque, and thank you for supporting my other books that, let's face it, are the ones that pay the bills.:)
I will be leaving this book up on Wattpad forever. BUT I have had lots of people ask if I'm going to make it available as a full book, and YES, yes I will.Hopefully by the end of the month it will be available online as both an eBook and a paperback. So if that's what you want for Christmas, I've got you covered.;)
So ... I was talking to my husband the other day and said, "I guess this is it. I don't know how I could write a sixth Wings book. I mean, the natural pairing would be an Avalon faerie and a Sea faerie, but that's not even physically possible." *pause* "Unless...." And within two minutes I had come up with the plot for an entire sixth Wings book. Does that interest you? NOT SOON. You have to be very clear on that. But having read this one, let me know in the comments if you would be interested in another Wings book.
Thank you again for coming on this journey with me. It's been such an interesting process. (This is NOT how I usually write my books. I draft a whole draft quickly and then edit a lot. *wink*) and I know I took a while on the ending. (It took longer than I expected, whoops!) But here it is!!!
And don't forget that I do get to do fun projects like this because I have a career that YOU GUYS support (thank you!!!) and my most recent release just came out last Tuesday, so I'd love it if you'd check it out.:)
xoxoxoxoxoxox
Aprilynne
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