The Kalliakis Crown. Michelle Smart

put her violin away and sat herself in an armchair.

      He placed their cups on the table and sprawled onto the sofa. ‘I hear you’ve been going to the gym every day.’

      ‘I was under orders, remember?’

      He grinned. ‘Melina thinks it is a shame you can’t actually fight someone in a kickboxing match.’

      Likely Melina would volunteer herself for that honour. Whilst not unfriendly, there was a definite coolness in the instructor’s attitude towards her.

      ‘I enjoy it,’ she admitted.

      The atmosphere at Talos’s gym was different from anything she’d experienced before. There was a real collective feel about it, with everyone there prepared to help everyone else. Yes, there were some big egos, but it was a different kind of egotism from the sort she was used to in the classical music world—earthier, somehow. Considering she was one of the only women there, she never felt threatened, and she didn’t think it was because everyone knew she was Talos’s guest. The atmosphere of the gym itself engendered respect in all its patrons.

      ‘Good. And how are you getting on with the score?’

      ‘Well...I think.’

      He quirked his scarred brow. ‘You think?’

      ‘I have no way of knowing if I’m playing it as your grandmother intended.’

      ‘How do you mean?’

      ‘My interpretation of the tempo she played it at might be different from her interpretation.’

      He shrugged. ‘You played the “Méditation” from Thaïs at a slower tempo than she played it, but it sounded equally beautiful.’

      Talos noted the colour flush over her face, the flash of embarrassed pride that darted from her eyes.

      He sat forward and rested his arms on his thighs. ‘It is time for you to play for me.’

      Her colour faded as quickly as it had appeared. She seemed to cower in her seat.

      ‘I did say I would listen to you play today.’

      She brightened. ‘I’ve recorded myself playing it. You can listen to that.’

      He cocked his head and sighed theatrically. ‘I can see that working well at the gala—we’ll introduce our star soloist and wheel on a tape recorder with a wig.’

      She spluttered a sound of nervous laughter.

      He softened his voice, wanting to put her at ease. ‘It is only you and me. It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you make—all that matters is that today you play for me.’

      There were three weeks and one day until the gala.

      Judging by the terror vibrating off Amalie’s frame, he would need every one of them.

      He’d spent the four days in New York getting as much work done as he could, organising his staff and generally ensuring that he’d need to do minimal travelling until the gala was over. The business was being neglected by all three Kalliakis princes but what alternative did they have? All of them wanted to spend as much time with their grandfather as they could, to be there when he was having a good spell and craving their company. They were fortunate that their staff were the best of the best and could run much of the business with minimum input from them.

      This trip away had been different from any other. He was always impatient to spend as much time on Agon as he could, but during this trip he’d found himself thinking of home far more frequently than normal. Thinking of her in his little guest cottage. He’d arrived back early yesterday evening and the temptation to pay her an immediate visit had shocked him with its intensity.

      He’d resisted and headed to the palace. There, he’d shared a meal with his brothers, both of whom had been in foul tempers and had declined to answer any questions about their respective bad moods. Both had excused themselves the moment they’d finished eating. Shrugging his shoulders at their odd behaviour, Talos had sought out his grandfather, spending a pleasant couple of hours playing chess with him until a sudden bout of tiredness had forced his grandfather to call a halt.

      It unnerved him how quickly his grandfather could fall into exhaustion—one minute sitting upright, laughing, holding a conversation; the next his chin drooping, his eyes struggling to stay open, his speech slurring...

      Talos could feel the time ebbing away. He could see it too. He’d only been four days in New York and his grandfather had lost even more weight, the large, vital man now a shadow of his former self.

      The woman before him had the power to make his grandfather’s last days the sweetest they could be. She could bring his beloved Rhea’s final composition to life. She was the only person in the world who could do it justice.

      He watched Amalie struggle for composure, feeling a strange tugging in his chest when she visibly forced herself to her feet and over to the baby grand piano, where she’d left her violin.

      Not looking at him, she removed it from its case and fiddled with the strings, tuning them as his grandmother had always done before playing for him.

      Moving her music stand behind the piano, as if she were using the piano for protection, she arranged the sheets of music until she was satisfied with how they stood, then rested her violin under her chin.

      About to hit the first note, she halted, bow upright, and stared at him. ‘I’ve almost memorised it. I won’t need the sheet music when I do the gala.’

      It was the first time he’d heard her utter her intentions to actually perform at the gala. He wondered if she was aware of what she’d just given away—how in the nine days she had been on his island her mind-set had already altered.

      He raised his hands and pulled a face to indicate his nonchalance about such matters. What did he care if she played with the music in front of her or not? All he cared was that she played it.

      ‘I’ll play without the accompaniment.’

      ‘Stop stalling and play.’

      She swallowed and nodded, then closed her eyes.

      Her bow struck the first note.

      And bounced off the string.

      He watched her closely. The hand holding the violin—the hand with the short nails, which he suddenly realised were kept that length to stop them inadvertently hitting the strings when playing—was holding the instrument in a death grip. The hand holding the bow was shaking. It came to him in flash why her nails seemed so familiar. His grandmother had kept her nails in the same fashion.

      ‘Take some deep breaths,’ he instructed, hooking an ankle over his knee, making sure to keep his tone low and unthreatening.

      She gave a sharp nod and, eyes still closed, inhaled deeply through her nose.

      It made no difference. The bow bounced off the strings again.

      She breathed in again.

      The same thing happened.

      ‘What are you thinking of right now?’ he asked after a few minutes had passed, the only sound the intermittent bounce of her bow on the strings whenever she made another attempt to play. Her distress was palpable. ‘What’s in your head?’

      ‘That I feel naked.’

      Her eyes opened and blinked a couple of times before fixing on him. Even with Amalie at the other end of the room he could see the starkness in her stare.

      ‘Do you ever have that dream where you go somewhere and are surrounded by people doing ordinary things, and you look down and discover you have nothing on?’

      ‘I am aware of people having those dreams,’ he conceded, although it wasn’t one he’d personally experienced.

      No, his dreams—nightmares—were infinitely darker, his