Cirque Du Minuit (Cirque Masters 1)

You know what? I trust you, Theo.

That makes you a stupid girl. Stupid, stupid girl.

A dark shadow appeared, a blur to her left. A hand closed around her wrist with a clasp like iron. She felt a jarring pop in her shoulder and excruciating pain.

She heard Theo’s breath go out in a whoosh, or maybe it was his feet sliding down the silk that made the sound. She hit the stage before he did, but the landing was soft. Theo leaned over her, his hand still around her wrist, as red silk billowed down over both of them. She remembered another time, white silk and swaying trees, and Theo over her. Such intensity in his gaze.

She tried to move, but he held her down, his face a mirror for her disorientation. Faces and voices crowded around them. Above her, the rigging lurched back and forth, making her dizzy. She cringed and tried again to move, but when she reached out for Theo, she felt piercing pain. Silks don’t rip. Ever.

She closed her eyes and had the sensation of falling again as the edges of her world went black.

Chapter Fifteen: Truth

Kelsey woke feeling groggy. She tried to shift on her bed but her whole body felt stiff and sore. She heard a sound like a hiss. She opened her eyes to find herself in a hospital room.

A hospital room?

Events came rushing back to her. A feeling of vertigo, a helpless plummet. She’d fallen off the silks. But she hadn’t fallen. Theo had caught her and slid down to the stage with her. Always so graceful, that slide.

“Theo,” she cried softly.

A man appeared beside her bed, but it wasn’t Theo. She searched his face, finding no sign of the feared Le Maître. He was only Michel Lemaitre now, her boss. “Don’t try to move,” he ordered. “You’re okay, but don’t try to move yet.”

Oh, thank God. She was okay. If he said so, it was true. Kelsey wiggled her toes and moved her legs. She moved her arms and felt a dull soreness in her left shoulder. Lemaitre scowled at her. “I said not to move. You dislocated your shoulder. They have repaired it. Relocated it. But you must rest.”

“Where’s Theo?” she asked.

“How do you feel, aside from your shoulder?” There was concern, and some other hooded emotion in his striking light eyes.

“Where’s Theo?” she asked again.

“Theo is resting, as you should be. Just lie still. You’re coming off very strong painkillers.”

Something in his expression triggered groggy unease. “Is he okay?”

“Yes,” Lemaitre said gruffly. “Why would he not be okay?”

A nurse came in to take her vitals and cluck over her, fluffing her pillows and giving her some water. She had a short conversation with Lemaitre in French, and then another woman came in who was apparently a doctor. By the time she left, Kelsey was feeling much more alert--and worlds more anxious. “What happened?” Kelsey asked. “Why did the silks tear? Theo said they were strong.” Theo had told her so many things, and she believed all of them.

“They are strong,” Lemaitre said darkly. “Kelsey, I hate to tell you this, but… They were tampered with. Someone made cuts in the fabric so it would tear under pressure.”

Kelsey gawked. “Who would have done that?”

Lemaitre looked away with a frown. “At first, Theo accused your friend Wayne. Apparently he spread a good deal of rumors about Theo that weren’t true. Theo also said you and Wayne argued recently.”

“Yes, we did, but…” Kelsey couldn’t imagine Wayne taking such drastic measures, not over jealousy and wounded pride. “I don’t think-- I don’t know that he would have--”

Lemaitre shook his head. “It wasn’t Wayne. The police already discovered who it was. There are security cameras in the rigging area, and in the equipment storage facilities. Ever since…” Kelsey stared at the sober-faced man. Michel looked incredibly bleak. “After Minya died, there were questions.”

“Where’s Theo?” Kelsey asked, bursting into tears. “Just tell me!”

“Calme-toi, petite. It is not what you imagine,” he said, handing her a tissue. “But you must know the whole story. I should have told you before.” He paused, his regard a tacit order to collect herself. Somehow, Kelsey did. She wiped her eyes and clutched the tissue in her lap as he continued. “When Minya fell, when they investigated, Theo explained to them it was an accident. But Minya’s family did not believe. There were very hard feelings. Continued accusations. Not just against him, but against you, when you took her place so quickly as Theo’s partner.”

Kelsey was shocked. “He never told me. No one ever told me.”

“Theo wanted to protect you from what was being said. But you see, Minya’s family believed…” Michel paused and took her hand. “They believed either you or Theo wanted to get rid of Minya, or perhaps conspired together to make her death look like an accident.”

Kelsey shook her head. “No. That’s not true. I didn’t even know Theo back then.”

“Of course it’s not true,” said Lemaitre. “When people grieve, they do not always see the truth, only their own pain and suffering. The man on the video--the man who tampered with the silks--was a good friend of Minya’s family. He was to have married Minya. It was arranged before she became involved with Theo, but once she met Theo...” Michel’s voice trailed off, his hands opening at his sides. “Well, he believed Theo was guilty. He damaged the silks, perhaps hoping one or the other of you might fall in some kind of poetic justice. I’m afraid it was a very misguided attempt at revenge.”

“Misguided.” Kelsey seized on the word. “It was misguided, wasn’t it? Theo had nothing to do with Minya’s death, did he?”

Michel’s pale blue eyes held hers, astute, piercing depths.

“You already know the answer to that, Kelsey, don’t you?” He sighed, long and slow. “The official party line is that the safety cable broke in a freak accident. But the truth is, the line was cut. If you consider a moment, you will understand by whom. There was only one person who would have disabled that safety line.”

Kelsey’s mind worked, staring into Lemaitre’s gaze. She replayed the scene in her head, Minya swinging wide, Theo grasping for her, catching her. Catching her hand. Kelsey knew the power of Theo’s hand now, and she knew...she knew... He never would have dropped her. Minya, who weighed even less than her.

“She let go,” Kelsey whispered in a daze. “Minya let go. He didn’t

drop her.”

“He didn’t drop her,” Michel agreed.

Kelsey went hot and cold in shock. “And Theo knew. All along he knew he didn’t-- That she--”

Michel frowned. “Minya’s family is very traditional. Old circus people. They would have seen her actions as very weak. Very dishonorable. Theo felt it was the least he could do, to take the blame. To pretend it was an accident.”

Kelsey hated Minya in that moment. “It wasn’t fair to him! Everyone said he had bad hands, that he dropped her. Someone almost tried to kill him, when none of it was his fault!”

“Ah, but Kelsey,” Michel said mournfully, “Theo thought it was his fault. He still thinks so. He and Minya had been in a very intense relationship for a long while, but it was one-sided. In the days before the accident, he was distancing himself from her. He’d even thought about leaving Paris to do a new act elsewhere. She wasn’t dealing with it in a healthy way. Perhaps he also was not.” He fell silent for a moment, pinching his lip. “You see, it is very personal and complicated. And hopelessly sad.”

Kelsey felt numb. She was angry with Theo for keeping the truth from her, angry with Minya for taking her life in such a cruel and cowardly way. Angry at herself for doubting a man she loved so much.

“Why are you keeping this secret?” she asked him. “It’s not fair. It makes Theo look guilty. And he’s not guilty, no matter what he believes.”

“Of course he’s not guilty. But it is not for me to say.” Lemaitre fell silent for a moment, staring past her shoulder. “He worries for you now, Kelsey, that he will hurt you too. This latest accident has shaken him badly. He has gone to Paris and he says he will not come back.”

Kelsey bolted up, only to be pushed back again with a tsk. She ignored Lemaitre’s insistent handling, shaking her head.

“No. No! He can’t just leave!”

“He tells me he is through with circus. He quit. He resigned.”

Kelsey sputtered in anger. “Just like that? He quit, and you let him? He can’t do that! Call him. Make him come back.”