by Fawn Bailey
"Don't hold it against me," I said simply. "Training with Carina will be good for you. The competition will make you work harder. Trust me, my little Rose. Do you?"
She nodded, slowly, but surely. I smiled at her and she returned the gesture.
"Besides," I went on. "I think you could use a friend around here, and you two were close before. I'm sure you will be again."
"I..." she started, but seeing my warning look, she just giggled and shook her head. "Fine. I won't say anything."
"Better not," I said, pulling her against me when I felt a sudden need to have her warm, lithe body against mine.
She felt incredible - like there was no other place for her to go in the world but my arms. I'd never get enough of her, that much was becoming painfully obvious.
Slowly lowering my head, I caught her lips in a deep kiss and didn't stop until I was fucking sated. She tasted like sweet coffee and milk and I drank from her mouth as freely as she let me, making her mine with every flick of my tongue, every bite of her full, luscious lips.
"Remember," I said when I could finally bring myself to pull back. "You belong to me. Is that understood?"
She looked right at me and smiled her sweet little smile that made my mind go weak and my dick fucking harder than ever.
"Yes, Master," she whispered obediently, and walked out on me, the scent of her lingering in the room long after she was gone.
Six
Rose
I was told my new dancing instructor would arrive the next morning.
I couldn't sleep. I woke up before 5 a.m. and spent the morning pacing my room, waking up Thorn in the process. He groaned and grumbled and tried pulling me back into bed but I was restless, anxious to meet the person who would be there for the last dance I ever did.
Once we'd had our breakfast and I'd gotten ready, I was eagerly anticipating the instructor's arrival. Thorn had me wait in the lounge area, with coffee and tea being poured by the silent maids as we waited. He wore a mysterious smile on his face which I couldn't explain to myself, and I wondered whether there was another ace up his sleeve.
When I heard footsteps coming down the hallway, I rose from the couch and nervously paced the room, waiting for the doors to open. My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest, and my nerves made me jittery and scared.
"Calm down," Thorn said in my ear, his arms going around my body, holding me in place.
I let him hold me, melting into his embrace and letting him take over. It was so easy now to let him have all of my control. To give up everything and place it in his hands, to let him decide for me. I couldn't imagine a life without him making my decisions.
I was in his arms when I heard the door open, my back to the entrance as I heard heels clicking on the floor. My posture stiffened and I waited with bated breath until a familiar voice greeted me, and my blood felt frozen in my veins.
"Hello," she said, nonchalantly and as if no time had passed at all.
I ripped myself from Thorn's embrace and turned around, my eyes drinking her in, seeing her for the first time in so long - a shocking feeling after I'd accepted the fact that I would never lay eyes on her again.
"M-Madame?" I stuttered in shock, taking a step towards her but once again freezing on the spot. "But..."
My words failed me, my sentence trailing off into nothing. All I could do was stand there and stare at her, trying to come to terms with the fact that she was really standing right in front of me.
"What are you..." I finally managed to get out, but still unable to speak coherently.
My eyes danced between her familiar features and Thorn's troubled expression, and once again, he took over and stepped between us, embracing my former ballet teacher and holding her to his chest. Madame was shivering, shaking and holding back sobs as my Master held her close to his chest. My mind was racing with incoherent thoughts and questions I didn't dare speak out loud. I didn't understand what was happening at all.
"Rose," Thorn finally said once he pulled back from the hug. "I want you to meet Lili Dugare."
"Madame," I said again. "I... I know her already."
In that moment, my heart swelled with love I felt for Thorn.
He had flown in my former ballet teacher, a woman I had been working with since I was a little girl. He had taken the effort to find her, to bring her out here - somehow convincing her to join us.
"I know you do," Thorn went on, and I gave him a big, albeit shaky smile, still shocked by the turn of events. "Lili has been your instructor for years, hasn't she?"
"Yes," I nodded, smiling faintly at the mention of Madame's name.
I'd only really known her as Madame - her first name had never been brought up, though I knew her last name was Dugare. While this was a surprising turn of events, I was so pleased to see her there, I ran to her the next second, enveloping her in a tight hug which she returned gladly. Madame had never been one for physical contact, but this time she didn't deny me, holding me close in her arms and whispering how glad she was to see me again in my ear.
Once I pulled back, I noticed there were tears in her eyes, and I saw her glancing at me and Thorn as if there was more to the story they weren't telling me. It twisted my stomach into knots. What else was there to say?
"I... I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle," I went on. "Is there something I don't know?"
Madame wouldn't look at me, but Thorn did, his eyes blazing as he connected his gaze with mine.
"Indeed there is," he said with a cool smile, turning back to face Madame. "Will you tell her or should I?"
My heart beat with uncertainty as I waited for either of them to fill me in. Madame still wouldn't meet my eye but Thorn seemed adamant that she should be the one to tell me whatever it was they were hiding from me. Finally, he smirked and shook his head.
"Oh well," he finally said. "I guess you've always left the difficult tasks to your younger brother, haven't you Lili?"
My heart felt like it was about to burst in my chest, tightening and making it almost impossible to breathe.
"B-brother?" I managed to get out, glancing between them.
"That's right," Thorn went on nonchalantly as if what he'd just said hadn't changed everything completely. "Lili's my older sister."
"Madame?" I whispered, staring at her for confirmation.
Yet still, she wouldn't meet my eye. And it told me everything I needed to know.
I felt like I was going to collapse. The weight of this information felt nearly impossible to bear.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
Ever so slowly, it was hitting me, and the shock was being replaced by anger and pure rage that I hadn't known this. That neither of them had told me when there had been so many opportunities. My eyes connected with Thorn's and I glared at him, but he merely smirked in response.
"You know now," he shrugged cruelly, and my hands formed fists at my side, my knuckles whitening and anger filling my whole body. "There was no reason for you to know earlier."
"Did you know what happened to me all along?" I asked, my question now directed to Lili - Madame - demanding to see how much information she'd really had. "You knew he'd taken me... and you didn't do anything about it!"
She stared right at me but didn't say a word. It told me everything I needed to know.
"Did you tell her?" I asked Thorn instead. "Did she help you get everything in order?"
"She did indeed," he replied as if he didn't sense my anger and the betrayal that clung heavily between us. "Lili has always been there to help you, though. Since you were a little girl."
"Help me?" I repeated. "You made her... you inserted her into my life so she could keep an eye on me, didn't you?"
He merely smirked in response, and my body flared with anger so absolute I couldn't keep up. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to kill him. He'd been orchestrating my life this whole time, and I hadn't even been aware of it.
"How long have you been planning this?" I as
ked breathlessly, my attention on Thorn once again. "How long have you been planning to kidnap me, take me from everything I ever knew?"
"Since you were a little girl," he replied coolly. "Since you still had your mother. Since I knew you belonged to me."
I glanced at Madame, seeing her hang her head in shame. And I felt the anger coursing through me, making me feel so very betrayed.
"You're a monster," I told Thorn.
"You love a monster," he reminded me, and suddenly the truth was too much to bear.
I spun on my heels and raced towards the door, but before I could make my way out of the room, Thorn blocked my path, standing in front of me and grinning me more cruelly than he ever had.
"You're not going anywhere," he told me, and I knew he was right.
No matter how angry I was, how fucking betrayed I felt, I was bound to him now, the invisible tethers holding me to him. I would never be able to run away from him again. I would return every single time, like a lost little lamb finding its way home. He knew it, too. Knew I belonged to him, knew there was no way I would run from him again. And as I looked up into his eyes and saw his triumphant smile, I knew he'd realized it too. I was his for better or for worse, the ownership so complete I backed away from the door and walked sheepishly back into the room, unable to meet his gaze again.
He joined me soon enough, his arm wrapping proprietorially around my waist and pulling me close, caressing my skin, kissing my neck to prove something we both already knew. His sister looked on with a strange curiosity in her eyes, seeing the way he possessed me, seeing the way I succumbed. A strange kind of understanding passed between us, and I knew we were all aware of it. Our connection, the impossibility of ever breaking apart.
"Lili," Thorn said to his sister. "Your room is set up already. You will begin training Rose tomorrow, once you've had a proper rest. I want her to excel. I want you to push her, not like that pansy who was here before her. I want you to train her so well she will dance like never before. I want this last performance to be incredible."
"Understood," she nodded, glancing at me to see whether I was okay with this.
I wasn't sure just how much she knew. Was she aware of the test Thorn had given me? Did she know what I would inevitably have to go through to be able to stay at his side? Would she try to talk me out of it?
Either way, I knew I wouldn't change my mind. My decision had been made, my fate sealed. I was Thorn's for better or for worse.
"You two will talk tomorrow," Thorn said, effectively dismissing any chance I had of a conversation with my mentor. "Lili, a guard will show you to your room."
A man appeared as soon as he'd uttered the words, taking Madame's small bag and leading her away. She gave me one last look, as if looking for reassurance, to make sure I was alright with what was going on. I gave her my bravest smile, and it seemed to placate her. She left the room without saying another word, leaving Thorn and me alone.
Once she was gone, he turned me around in his arms, his hands on my shoulders as he inspected me. I didn't hide anything from him, not the pain nor the excitement that my mentor was back in my life.
A small part of me was grateful for his role in things. Grateful that he'd guided me on a path I knew I needed to be on, a path that would inevitably lead me into his arms. I now knew it was where I'd belonged this whole time.
"My beautiful girl," he muttered as his fingertips slid down my cheek, gently caressing his property. "I knew I'd made the right choice. I knew all along you were the one for me."
"You never gave me a choice," I whispered, speaking out about my concern in all of this. "You never let me choose."
It was true. I now knew none of this had been my decision. Nothing in my life came because I wanted it. I was a dancer because Thorn had planted the seed in my mind, a seed that bloomed into a beautiful rose just as I blossomed from a young girl with hopes and dreams into a dancer who lived for the thrill of standing center stage, and later on, a woman who thrived under his punishing hand, a woman who lived for pain just as much as she did for pleasure.
"You didn't need one," he said calmly, slowly leaning down until his lips met mine, kissing, biting, taking from me what he wanted. "You would have ended up in my arms one way or another, wouldn't you, little Rose?"
"Yes," I whispered as his lips met mine again and again, and I felt my body submitting yet again - the natural reaction I had when Thorn was around. "Yes, I would have."
I was his. Fully, completely. I belonged to a man who'd trained me for this role before I was even aware of it. He was my past, my present, and my future. He was my everything.
"Tell me you're mine," he demanded, and I looked right into his dark, stormy eyes, and gave him exactly what he wanted.
"I'm yours," I promised solemnly. "And I'll never leave your side..."
Seven
Rose
My training was to begin that morning, and I felt jittery and scared as I prepared for the day.
Would it be the same as it was in London? Would I feel the same passion, the same determination I had when Madame had pushed me before? Would she be as demanding and sometimes cruel as she had been at the old studio?
All those questions and more went through my head as I got ready. My tights went on first, then my leotard. I put my hair into the tightest bun, knowing how much Madame hated flyaways and strands of hair that were out of place. And then I pulled out a box - Thorn's gift from when I had first joined him. My ballet shoes from London.
They were old and tattered, but I loved them just as much as I did the first day when I got them.
I tied the silk ribbons around my calves, finding it impossible to hide the small smile playing on my lips as I left my room and headed for the studio where Madame would undoubtedly be waiting for me already.
The sounds that greeted me felt and sounded familiar, and my body slowly relaxed as I slipped into the room. Something felt different, so much better than it had with Marchante, so much more familiar. It filled me with the need and desire to become great again, to be the best dancer I could be under Madame's watch.
I half-expected to find Carina in the room as well, but when I walked into the room, there was only one person in there, and it wasn't my former friend at all.
She was stretching. Slow motions, moves that I knew all too well from years of doing ballet, a tattered pair of ballet slippers on her feet not dissimilar to my own. Madame fell in tune with the music, her body moving to the notes of Swan Lake, the notes I had heard so many times but still felt as beautiful and powerful as they had on the first day.
I waited until she was finished, a small smile playing on my lips as I watched her. Once her stretching was completed, she turned towards me and gave me a mysterious grin that told me she had more in store for me - what, I didn't know.
"I thought we'd train alone today," she said. "My brother insisted Carina joined us, but I managed to convince him. I always had my way with him, you know."
I didn't say a word, just approached slowly and offered her a timid smile as she came forward, meeting me halfway and placing her hands on my shoulders.
"I know you can do this," she told me. "I know you can find it in yourself to show me and the world something incredible."
"I haven't trained properly for so long," I sighed. "It has been nothing like London... I'm worried I've lost it."
"Lost what?" she asked gently, and I realized with a start this was the closest we'd ever come to a heart-to-heart. "Do you think you can't dance anymore, Harlow?"
"I'm afraid I can't... perform," I admitted. "That I'll stand on the stage and I'll let the fear take over. That I won't be able to dance like I used to."
"Why do you think that?" she wanted to know.
I struggled with my answer, not knowing what to tell her. What was I supposed to say? The truth was, I was worried her brother had made me incapable of the feelings I used to harbor for dancing. I was so smitten, so in love with Thorn, it was almost impossible to
believe I could still pour my heart and soul into dancing. I wanted desperately to dance again, yet I was constricted by the thought that I might not be able to do it.
I knew Thorn felt like there was the endless competition between him and my dancing. He thought dancing was the enemy, the one thing that could take me away from him because I yearned and ached and needed it to keep going. But he didn't know I'd already made the ultimate sacrifice.
Even though he hadn't cut my tendons yet, I had already accepted it as something that would surely happen, a sacrifice I was willing to make to stay with him. A path I was supposed to take to accept my life as Thorn's Rose... and I was willing to do it. I was willing to give everything up for the love of my life. I wanted to be immersed fully in our world - the world of Rose and Thorn.
"I'm afraid I'm betraying him," I finally managed to admit. "I'm afraid he sees it as a competition between himself and dancing."
I didn't need to name names, Madame knew who I was talking about instantly.
She raised her head high and gave me one of her signature mysterious smiles.
"Let's prove him wrong, then," she said simply, extending her hand towards me.
I hesitated for a mere second before offering a smile back and taking her hand.
"Are you ready?" she asked, and I nodded.
"More ready than I ever will be," I said, and with that, my training began.
Hours later, I was more exhausted than I had been in years. The pain shot through my limbs without mercy, reminding me of just how long it had been since I'd danced like this.
And I knew the worst part was still coming - this was only the introduction. The next day, I would train with Carina, and my competitive side would come out to play, desperate to prove to everyone that I was better, stronger. That I was the better dancer.
Madame had trained me harder than she ever had before. She was never cruel, but she did push me to my very limit and then some more until I collapsed with exhaustion. I felt angry because I wasn't as prepared as I had been when I'd been in London. I wanted to prove to her I could do this, prove it to Thorn as well. But most of all, I needed to do this for myself. And despite my achy limbs, the strain I'd put myself under was nothing compared to what I would achieve once this training was over. I would give the performance of a lifetime, I would show everyone and anyone who'd ever doubted me just what I was made of. But most of all, I would show Thorn that I danced not just for myself, but for him. I wanted him to know every move, every twirl, every jump, was there to impress him. I didn't care whether other people watched. From the moment he'd taken me, I danced for him and him only.