At that, the crowd broke out into wild applause.
Marve gave a signal then Skippy dropped the curtain. Then, we waited. The crowd whistled, cheered, and clapped. Grinning happily at one another, we waited until the curtain was lifted once again then returned to the stage to soak in the accolades.
The moment I stepped onto the stage, the crowd broke out into wild cheers and rose to their feet.
“Titania! Titania!”
The crowd whistled and clapped.
I looked toward Kai. He smiled, looking genuinely happy, then bowed to me. My eyes fixed on him, I curtseyed in return. Looking over the crowd, I noticed that the fair foreign gentleman in blue was gone. And still, John was nowhere to be found.
We made our final bow then the curtain closed for the last time. We all headed away from the theatre to the tent behind it which served as our backstage dressing area. I linked my arms with my fellow actresses, Lizzie and Amy. “Well done, fair mortals,” I told the girls.
“Oh, Elyse, we are sure to lose you from the company after that performance. Did you see who was in the crowd?” Lizzie asked.
“The foreign gentleman in the blue coat? The fair one?”
“Who? No. I didn’t see any fair gentleman, did you?” Lizzie asked Amy.
“Only Elyse’s friend, Doctor Murray,” Amy replied with a laugh, referring to Kai.
They both giggled.
I shook my head. “Who was here?”
“The stage manager from the Theatre-Royal in Covent Garden,” Lizzie exclaimed excitedly.
I gasped. “I missed a line in act four!”
Lizzie shook her head. “Surely no one noticed. They were too busy watching you be Titania, not just act her. Elyse, I dare say, you’ll be on the stage at the Theatre-Royal in no time.”
“Come now, girls. We all have our gifts. The two of you did an excellent job tonight. Your argument became so heated I thought you might truly scratch each other’s eyes out.”
Lizzie laughed. “Elyse,” she said then shook her head.
Amy patted my arm.
“Miss Elyse, a gentleman is waiting at the front for you. He sent these,” said Skippy, one of the stagehands, pressing a bouquet of flowers toward me. They were roses, but they were the oddest blue color. Their tips were covered in crystalline frost.
“Frost Fair roses,” Amy exclaimed. “A Spanish ship frozen in the river is selling its cargo. They were lavender, or so someone at The Frozen Mermaid said, but the cold turned them blue. Look at the tips. They’re so beautiful.”
John. Sweet John. Thank you.
I pulled two roses from the bouquet and handed them to each of the girls.
“Oh no, we couldn’t,” Lizzie objected, but she and Amy took the roses all the same, smiling at them in admiration.
“Couldn’t what?” Marion, who’d played Hippolyta, asked, coming up from behind them.
I forced myself not to frown. Marion was one of the senior actresses in our company. She was very talented, and she knew it. But she was also very grim and had no love for anyone else in our troupe. She was already redressed in her regular clothes. Had she even come on stage for curtain call?
“Someone sent Elyse Frost Fair roses,” Amy explained.
Marion scrunched up her nose. “Frozen roses. They’ll wilt the moment you take them inside.”
“Don’t be rude, Marion,” Lizzie said, glaring at her.
I tried not to let her rough manner unnerve me. “For Hippolyta,” I said, handing one of the blossoms to her. “For your excellent performance.”
She rolled her eyes and took the blossom absently. Without another word, she left.
“Cankerblosson,” Amy snarled playfully in Marion’s wake. “Now, who are they from?”
“Lord Waldegrave, of course,” Lizzie replied.
The girls giggled.
“Perhaps I should go find out,” I said, arching my eyebrows playfully.
They nodded in agreement.
We all headed into the tent to change out of our costumes. I went to my section of the tent which had been partitioned off. Inside, straw had been laid on the floor. My trunk of full of costumes waited. A mirror sat on a barrel, a box with my makeup inside. Shivering in the cold air, I changed quickly.
I must have overlooked John in the crowd. There were so many people, so many faces there. A fleeting thought passed through my mind that perhaps the roses had come from the manager of the Theatre-Royal. For a brief moment, I closed my eyes and envisioned myself on such an elaborate stage. Certainly, Struthers Theatre was a fine enough venue, and I’d been there since my grandmother had introduced me to Marve almost five years ago, but it wasn’t the Theatre-Royal. I envisioned the well-dressed lords and ladies in their boxes. Everywhere, and everything, in that theatre glimmered under the massive crystal chandelier. I envisioned myself center stage in a proper ballet costume with my pink slippers shimmering under the theatre lights. No, that dream was too big. Winning a lord with my pretty face was far more likely.
Sighing, I slipped on my coat then headed out.
“Goodnight, Elyse,” Marve said. He was standing between the dressing tent and the stage lighting a pipe. “Very well done.”
“Thank you. Are you spending the night on the ice?”
He nodded. “Hobbs, Robert, me, and my pistol.”
The Frost Fair was certainly festive, but also highly unregulated. By now the city would have assigned some officials to keep watch over the festivities, but still, it didn’t pay to take chances with the Struthers Theatre’s goods.
“Can I go get you some dinner, something to drink?” I offered.
Marve shook his head. “I sent Skippy along. It was a good show. You played very well tonight.”
“Like an angel?”
“Exactly like an angel.”
I laughed. “Goodnight, Marve.”
“Night. See you bright and early tomorrow, right?”
“Of course.”
I waved then headed toward the front of the theatre. The moon was high in the sky, but the Thames was anything but dark. Torches and braziers illuminated the ice with orange light. As I turned the corner, I eyed the small crowd gathered there. Where was John?
Suddenly, a boy ran up to me. “Miss McKenna?” he asked, tugging on my arm.
“Yes?”
“A message,” he said, handing me a slip of paper.
Confused, I opened the paper to find a note. The message was from John. He’d been called away on urgent business. He had to miss the show but promised to return tomorrow afternoon.
“Elyse?” Kai’s voice pulled me away as I read the hastily-written lines for the fourth time. “Elyse?” he asked again, his voice softening. He set his hand on my arm. “Ah, good. You got the roses.”
I looked up at my old friend. In light of the nearby torch fire, his hazel-colored eyes shimmered green.
“The…the roses?”
Kai studied my face then frowned. “What’s wrong?”
I suddenly felt embarrassed. “Nothing. I’m fine. The roses are from you?”
“Did you like them?”
I smiled down at the bundle in my arms. “They’re beautiful. But they’re so very expensive. You shouldn’t have wasted your money on me.”
Kai looked perplexed. He shrugged. “I’m glad you liked them. Your performance was…Elyse, you were wonderful. This was your best show yet.”
“Better than my Ophelia?”
“By far. Ophelia is too sad for you. A half-fey thing yourself, Titania fits you better. Now, come on. I’ll buy you dinner. Or, at least, I’ll try. I think half of the men at the Frost Fair are in love with you.”
I laughed. “Then let’s go to The Frozen Mermaid and see how many pints my pretty face can win us.”
Kai smiled then looped his arm in mine. “You really were wonderful.”
“Flatterer.”
“When have you known me to flatter anyone?”
“Never.”
�
��Then that should tell you something,” he said, then led us toward the pub.
I smiled at him. As we stepped away from the theatre, I noticed something lying on the ground. I looked down to see a single Frost Fair rose lying there, the pale blue petals crushed and scattered on the snow-covered ice.
“Pity,” Kai said, following my glance.
I frowned but said nothing even though I knew where the discarded blossom had come from: Marion.
I cast a glance back at the theatre. John had missed my best performance. Well, there would be others. I hoped he was all right. Something important must have pulled him away. Otherwise, why would he leave like that? A pang of doubt wracked my heart, but I pushed it away. There was no room for doubt in love. I turned my attention back to the moment and smiled up at Kai who was beaming down at me.
“Truly, a wonderful performance,” he said, patting my hand. Then we turned and headed toward the festivities.
ORDER ON AMAZON
Other Regency Rendezvous Books
The Devil of Montlaine
The Blue Drawing Room
The Archaeologist’s Daughter
The Enigma of a Widow
The Elusive Lady Winston
Wreck and Ruin
The Earl’s Encounter
Ice and Embers
The Stablemaster’s Daughter
A Rake Like No Other
Other Books by Lana Williams
Victorian Romances
The Seven Curses of London Series:
Trusting the Wolfe, a Novella, Book .5
Loving the Hawke, Book I
Charming the Scholar, Book II
Rescuing the Earl, Book III
Dancing Under the Mistletoe, a Novella, Book IV
Tempting the Scoundrel, a Novella, Book V
The Secret Trilogy:
Unraveling Secrets, Book I
Passionate Secrets, Book II
Shattered Secrets, Book III
Medieval Romances:
Falling for A Knight Series:
A Knight’s Christmas Wish, Novella, Book .5
A Knight’s Quest, Falling for A Knight, Book 1
The Vengeance Trilogy:
A Vow To Keep, Book I
A Knight’s Kiss, Novella, Book 1.5
Trust In Me, Book II
Believe In Me, Book III of The Vengeance Trilogy
The Vengeance Trilogy – Boxed Set
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About the Author
Lana Williams is a bestselling and Amazon All-Star author who writes historical romance filled with mystery, adventure, and a pinch of paranormal to stir things up. Filled with a love of books from an early age, Lana put pen to paper and decided happy endings were a must in any story she created.
Her latest series is The Seven Curses of London, set in Victorian times, and shares stories of men and women who attempt to battle the ills of London, and the love they find along the way that truly gives them something worth fighting for.
Her first medieval trilogy is set in England and follows heroes seeking vengeance only to find love when they least expect it. The second trilogy begins on the Scottish border and follows the second generation of the de Bremont family.
The Secret Trilogy, which shares stories set in Victorian London, follows three lords injured in an electromagnetic experiment that went terribly wrong and the women who help heal them through the power of love.
She writes in the Rocky Mountains with her husband, two growing sons, and two labs, and loves hearing from readers.
Lana loves hearing from readers! Stop by her website at www.lanawilliams.net and say hello! You can also connect with her on Facebook:
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Romancing the Rogue (Regency Rendezvous Book 9) Page 21