"And remember, when you get to the platform, lift your arm into the air just as we rehearsed," Kioyo told Leanna, demonstrating the fluid, regal posture one last time. He lowered his arms and blew out a breath. "You'll do wonderful. We've done this countless times." He smiled lightly, meeting her eyes. "Remember, you are the Leanan Sidhe-beautiful, radiant, magnificent. All will adore you."

In spite of what had happened, excitement radiated from his painted skin, just like the lively chatter and laughter of the audience that seeped through the curtains and into the waiting area between the dressing tent and the Big Top.

Leanna exhaled, touring her gaze along the procession. Before her, smiling performers were lined up in glittering skirts and vests, balloon pants and ridiculous hats, all awaiting the opening introduction in the order they were to perform. Leanna was at the very end of the convoy, sitting upon a sparkling Kia, who Minerva had doused with glitter. Above them, Bertrand suspended a fiery dragon that ran the length of the line, like a link of magic holding everyone together, making them shine a little brighter.

Yes, the enthusiasm was palpable, but sadly not contagious. Though heat bloomed in Leanna's cheeks at Kioyo's compliment, worry over the coming night and over Krinard's words stole at her joy. What if one of those many voices outside was Machina's? Or of one of her goons pretending to be human when in fact they lay in wait to kill her, to kill them all? Were they all in danger?

Kioyo neared her, his voice lowering to a conspiratorial tone. "You mustn't let what Krinard said take this from you. We've worked hard for this night. Regardless of his threats, Machina would not strike today when we most expect her to. She'll wait until we're not so vigilant. Don't let this fear-"

"Rob me of my magic, I know..." Leanna forced her lips to curve, attempting a smile. It was painful, just like the leather reins that cut into her fingers as she wound them tightly to keep her hands from trembling. She lowered her head, her sad attempts at a smile withering.

Kioyo's hand came into her line of sight, reaching for hers. He stopped mid-approach and his fingers stiffened. He sighed and lowered them down onto Kia's mane, just beside Leanna's hands. He didn't touch hers.

Leanna curled the reins tighter, knowing why he denied her his affection. Still, she frowned, wishing it were her hand receiving the silent tenderness instead of Kia's mane.

Lifting her eyes, Leanna managed a sad smile, the action not nearly as painful as his refused affection. "I suppose my fear of losing Finvarra has robbed me of another kind of magic..."

Kioyo lowered thick lashes down to their fingers just a breath apart. His jaw tightened and he squeezed Kia's mane a moment before releasing it. Steeled brown eyes met hers. "It's for his best, right?"

Leanna swallowed, her own words haunting her. "Right."

Saying no more, Kioyo nodded slowly and walked away. Sighing, Leanna stroked Kia's mane where Kioyo had just held it, the ghost of his support better than nothing at all. Back with the other clowns, Kioyo gazed over his shoulder to her, his painted smile accentuated by a small one of his own. Though it never reached his eyes, Leanna appreciated the gesture.

"You look marvelous," Minerva said coming up beside her, adjusting one of the pins in Leanna's hair. Leanna blushed, pleased to agree. It had taken her a moment to recognize herself once Minerva was done transforming her. With her hair up in a rigid bun studded with diamonds and her face powdered pale, she looked like an angel upon the king of lions. Feathers adorned the sides of her head, in waved formation, matching the feathery skirt she wore.

Minerva stepped back and gave Leanna a once over. Her red lips twisted and she nodded approvingly. "Ellie was a dove. But you, my dear, are a swan." She cupped Leanna's cheek, black eyes keen with support. "Best of luck. You will make us all proud."

A hollow dong swallowed the rest of Minerva's words. Performers instantly straightened, smoothing out their dresses and vests, adjusting hats and props for the start of the show. A cool sweat sprouted along Leanna's brow, her heartbeat mimicking the sound, pounding fiercely against her ribs.

The gong tolled six times, and on the seventh, a glacial breeze devoured the light of the lamps. The audience inside the Big Top gasped as all went black. Their fears were tamed instantly when the curtains before the performers opened and a gentle fairy song began.

The pixies rushed out first, cutting the darkness with their glittering display of lights.

Another cool wind, and-

"Be enchanted," Finvarra's melodic voice carried in the ghostly currents of the breeze.

Leanna's heart strummed. Her gaze darted to all points, but much like the first time she'd heard him, she could not see him anywhere. She gripped the reins tighter, his voice winding itself fiercely around her heart.

To the echoing of Finvarra's words, the line of performers began filing into the Big Top under the crimson light of the dragon. Oo's and Aah's coalesced with the sleigh bell melody of the pixies and Vicente's song. Seeing Kioyo disappear into the tent with his troupe of clowns, Leanna's throat swelled. She'd done this with him at her side, but now-she looked beside her to see Minerva gone too-she was alone.

Another gust of wind stroked past. "Be mystified, be seduced. For this evening I dare you to unhinge your mind from reality..."

Kia trod forth and Leanna extended a blink, losing herself in the rocking motion beneath her, in the magic of the circus around her, of Finvarra's voice within her.

She opened her eyes just as Bertrand reached the threshold. He whirled his hands and upon clapping, the fire dragon abandoned the remaining performers and whisked on a tour around the Big Top. A choral gasp washed over the gentle music as the fiery dragon encircled the tent and under its light, all got their first glimpse at the infamous Ringmaster Finvarra.

At the threshold now, so did Leanna. Finvarra stood at a small platform beside the rings, his attention focused on the audience. In a crimson riding coat, white and black striped breeches and black top hat, he looked regal, his glow in no way dimmed by the flames. He swept that blue gaze along the crowds, no doubt piercing every willing heart. Though he did not look to her as she passed him, Leanna blinked back her tears as immense pride and longing warred for top place in her heart.

He said, "I dare you to let your spirits soar and your hearts yearn, for only then will you laugh, will you cry as our performers bear their souls to you. Only then will experience true, spectacular magic!"

At this, Leanna and Kia reached the middle of the ring where Kia bound up the ramp and to the platform. All the performers now joined together, side by side in a half ring, and at their center was Leanna.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Finvarra announced proudly, "I welcome you to Finvarra's Circus!"

On cue, Leanna threw her head back and spread her arms majestically into the air. Kia roared, and around them, Bertrand's fire dragon exploded into streamers and confetti. The masses bolted to their feet, their boisterous cheers a deafening magic that blighted out Leanna's fears. A small smile curved her mouth as she lowered her arms to take in their applause. Krinard's threats meant nothing in that instant. No, that second was hers. Fear would not steal its magic.

Under the rain of streamers, the performers waved to the crowd as Vicente played a livelier tune. Awaiting her turn, Leanna gazed out to the multitude, taking in the palpable excitement. Children jumped up to catch the small flecks of glittery paper, others watched the performers exit with gaped mouths, while some gazed up to the pixies lighting up the tent sky. Leanna's smile widened, the specs of confetti glittering behind the joy that brimmed in her eyes. Never could she have dreamt such a thing for herself. No, this was bigger than any fantasy. This was true, spectacular magic-

Leanna's breath caught. In the dark she hadn't seen them, but dizzy she looked to her sisters sitting in the front row. They leaned into one another as streamers descended upon their heads. Their hands gathered together, they both gazed up adoringly to the beauty that was Ringmaster Finvarra. Lydia looked radiant as ever, the pixie light accentuating her fair skin. She batted blue eyes slowly, each lash a hook seeking Finvarra's attention. Beside her, Sarah offered the same behind her gray stare and flushed cheeks. A small smirk twitched Leanna's mouth, though sadness reined her heart. Wish as they may, their attempts were futile. Finvarra favored brown eyes.

Dr. Luther sat next to Lydia, a rather unimpressed expression marking his stoic face. His frame deflated with a sigh and he lowered his hands from a bored applause, then reaching beside him. Kia's reins slipped from Leanna's fingers. In a pale pink dress-surely of Lydia's choosing-and her hair pinned back-identical to Sarah's-was her doppelganger sitting in Dr. Luther's dreaded metal contraption. Shadowed brown eyes stared up at Finvarra with a vacant expression... soulless. A cool chill curled down Leanna's spine. Though she saw herself... she didn't see herself at all.

Shaking now, Leanna lowered her eyes and took up the reins as Kia began their exit. She would have to walk past them. Each of Kia's steps hammered this fear into her heart, a cold sweat sprouting goosebumps along her skin. But the closer she drew to them, the more her panic bowed to heartbreak. Leanna gazed at her double. Would that have been her fate? A mannequin of her sisters, rolled around like a porcelain doll by her betrothed, a man she did not love and could never love? She shivered. It was worse than death.

Clowns burst out from in between the rows, tumbling and flipping toward the center ring. The audience roared with cheers and laughter. Lydia and Sarah looked away from Finvarra, following the clown's antics. Dr. Luther could not be bothered to look away. But in slipping back behind the curtains, Leanna knew he didn't see her... neither did her doppelganger. Leanna gazed back one last time to the poor shadow of a girl who looked out to nothing at all... an empty vessel.

Lowering her eyes, Leanna let the curtain close between her and the shell of who she once was.

Surrounded by the other performers who had waited in unusual calm for their turn, Leanna too had felt some semblance of peace-as much as could be found over the hammering of her heart and knocking of her knees. During the acts, she remained hidden behind one of the curtain folds watching many in the audience cry along with Kioyo's performance; stop breathing at Yelena's dance upon a thin pole. There had been hoop dancers, and jugglers, clowns and strongmen. It was Bertrand who now ignited the tent with his dragons and the other animals he fashioned of flames.

Her performance next, Leanna stood alone on the platform leagues in the air. Her knees knocked a quiet song, her meddlesome conscience finding fuel in this last minute fear. Would she make across the rope without falling? Would she fall? Leanna gulped, trailing the light of the pixies. If she did fall, would the remaining pixies be enough to catch her?

She peered down at the bewitched audience who were but faceless outlines from so high. They could be anyone... anything. Her stomach folded and churned simultaneously in realizing that there were worst things than falling. Would Machina appear as Krinard had warned? Was she one of those faceless bodies watching her... waiting? Leanna pressed a hand to her cheek, hoping her cold hands would cool the heat of her cheeks. Surely Kioyo was right and Krinard only meant to rattle her nerves.

Anxiety had little time to settle as Bertrand's last dragon roared upward to the peak of the tent. Curling into itself, it exploded into an array of fireworks, all different colors illuminating the tent like northern lights as the drumming song came to a thunderous end. The crowd roiled back to life, the tent rumbling under their applause.

Streams of red, blue, and green rained down, and as they faded, the tent lights dimmed.

Leanna gripped the veranda tightly and closed her eyes.

It was time.

Like a dream, Finvarra's melodic voice echoed from below. "And now, from her slumber in the depths of the fairy world awakens the one yearning for a soul to inspire, a body to love and a heart to steal. Gentlemen, I suggest that for our next and final act, you clasp a hand over your hearts for you will surely lose it... She's already stolen mine and rumor has it, she is on the hunt for another."

Leanna opened her eyes. Though she could not see him, her heart panged hearing the secret disdain in his words. She dug her fingers deeper into the railing; certain she would sprout wings and fly to him to explain everything if she didn't.

"I present to you the radiant, the otherworldly beauty, the magnificent Leanan Sidhe!"

Lights shone up toward Leanna, and she lifted her arm in the air to the heaven above her. As if already enslaved to her magic, the applause and cheers intensified. A second and Vicente's gentle tune began. Leanna lowered her hand slowly and the cheers quieted, leaving her alone to the plucks of the harp and cascading keys of the piano; to the rope and her dance to be performed.

The pixies were in position. The ones along the rope were not ignited, but present. The others floated in the dark, streaking the air with wisps of color. Though there were much less than before, they would have to be enough.

On the edge of the stand, Leanna pinned her gaze on the light at the opposite platform-her North Star in the darkness, just as the Big Top had been during her trek through the forest that first day.

She dragged in a deep breath.

Back straight, chin up and...

Leanna eased forward onto the rope and exhaled. On the rush of breath, the smoky images of her dance materialized in the expanse before her. Taking one step forward into the open, Leanna fluidly shadowed their steps. Though she'd danced the routine many times before, each movement took on a new meaning. Pirouettes sprouted the nightmarish vortex of Machina's eyes, but tricking sways forward chased them away. She was free from her fear of this metallic demon. But curling into herself, Leanna found she was not free of her shame.

Her hands trembling, she pressed her feathered arms out, pushing away the black memories of hands that never should have touched her. Retracting a hand toward her core in forbidden, horrible pleasure, she arched back with a long inhale, drawing in Finvarra's phantom scent. Straightening, she exhaled and thrust her hand forward, stabbing this black ghost of her attacker with the magic of her love. She took a step forward, free of Krinard's spell. Threat and hurt as he wished, he had no power over her. Not anymore.

Mid-step, Leanna paused sharply, her concentration jolted by the crippling coolness that stabbed at her chest. As if meaning to burrow a hole to her heart, the crystal's tip dug and twisted into her skin. Leanna cringed, the rims of her sight growing hazy and her knees weak.

The rope wobbled.

The crowd gasped.

Frantic, Leanna shot her hands out into the open air. Quiet whirrs and gentle pressure along her arms replied, the Pixies there with their support. Stabilized but pained, Leanna closed her eyes tightly, wishing to ignore the sharp iciness that hitched her movements. It felt to carve out her very heart.

In the black of her closed eyes, Leanna was met with the echoing sound of Finvarra's violent coughs ricocheting in the darkness like a kaleidoscopic chamber of torturous sound. All she saw were smears of blood-of his blood, spilled because of their love.

Now his heart looked to abandon him again and there could only be one reason...

Leanna opened her eyes slowly, awareness curling cold down her spine. Whereas before it had been her kiss to spark the beginning to the end of his life, it was now her dance that would lure Finvarra to his demise.

The music withered into discord that soon faded to the steady hum of murmurs. Luna buzzed a squeaking question, but Leanna looked past her flickering hue and out to the light at the opposite platform. A mix of blame and anger filled her. Clearly she could see the agony in Finvarra's eyes as his hands pressed down on Krinard's wound, his magic fading. And the coughing. Leanna shook her head-that terrible, terrible sound.

Vicente queued the band once more, the beginning chords of Leanna's song resounding. Leanna could not will herself to move. Another step could mean Finvarra losing his life. Not moving could cost the life of his circus.

It was her duty to cross the rope, to end his life.

It was her choice not to.

Could she-should she meddle with fate?

A sad smile tipped her lips. In spite of the dangers, in spite of Krinard's threat, in spite of a lesson learned time and time again, Leanna slid her foot back.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered into the open air, to the canvas and the rings, to the circus... to Finvarra. "I'm so very sorry."

As if her words were fire, the ghostly remnants of her dance curled and frayed at the edges until dissolving into nothing. Leanna moved back steadily toward the platform, back into her cage, back to a willing slumber.

The crystal's coolness lessened with each step, Finvarra's anger no doubt superseding his love. He'd been upset at finding her with Kioyo, but Leanna knew he hated her for not dancing, for risking the life of his circus. He wouldn't ever forgive her.

Yet in reaching solid ground, Leanna accepted this. Her knees weakened and she lowered to the cool wood not yet ready to awaken, not yet ready to be free of him. Numb, she looked to her empty hands now gathered at her lap. The clean skin was illuminated by the crimson light of Bertrand's fireworks now exploding, used to cover her blunder.

But it was no mistake. And alone, Leanna embraced herself, holding tightly to Finvarra's rage rather than his death.

* * *

Thank you for reading. This scene of Leanna deciding whether to dance or not was one of the first scenes that came to me when I first started writing this story. I hope you enjoyed it and I can't wait to hear your thoughts :)

All votes and comments are greatly appreciated!