Chapter 116: Ten minutes.
"Don’t worry, give me a week.
Once I am strong enough to defeat you, once you are no longer useful to me.
I’ll discard you."
Lucian’s grin widened and Alaric—
His mouth twitched in annoyance.
Their strange bond continued to grow, and with that, the rest of Lucian’s routine continued as well, in the mornings, he had firearms training with the guards, at this point, he was already at their level, so he had started missing a few days, focusing on rest instead.
During the day, he stayed near Evelyn, walking beside her wherever they went and at night, he trained again.
Days passed by like that, Lucian left the residence three more times, at this point, he had started getting used to the mission.
The rest of his team was starting to get used to him as well.
Sarah had already opened up to him, even though she would never admit it, they were definitely closer, Alaric never acknowledged him in front of others, but he did continue to spar with him, Clara and Elise remained cold, Lila did try to talk but she never got the chance.
As for Evelyn, as they spent more time, their bond was growing as well.
Today was supposed to be just like any other day as well. The final thing in Evelyn’s schedule wasn’t an official appearance.
It was a private rehearsal at the Meridian Grand Theatre.
It was one of the older performance halls in the city, renovated so many times that the outside still looked classical while the inside was filled with screens, projectors, moving light rigs, flame systems, smoke vents, and enough hidden machinery to turn a single song into a spectacle.
Evelyn stood alone on the wide stage.
There was no audience.
Only the production crew, the lighting team, a few stage technicians, and the security teams watching from different positions.
She wasn’t even singing at this rehearsal, honestly, it wasn’t even a proper rehearsal.
A recording of one of her songs played through the speakers while she moved through the stage positions. She walked to the center mark, raised her left hand, turned toward the upper balcony, stepped back three counts, then lifted her mic.
The light above her shifted from gold to blue.
A row of small flames burst behind her.
The projection screen changed to a night sky.
Yes, that was basically it.
This was all about the crew learning Evelyn’s gestures, a specific turn, a specific pause, a specific hand movement—
It was all a signal for something.
Lights.
Flames.
Smoke.
Camera sweeps.
Projected stars.
Both the crew and Evelyn needed to learn that, it was... basically coordination practice rather than a proper rehearsal.
Evelyn moved through different songs that she was supposed to perform during the concert, learning all the gestures, the crew learned with her, every mistake was repeated until it was perfect and Evelyn was very patient about it.
In fact, she was the one who constantly vied for perfection.
Lucian smiled at that.
She truly was a perfectionist.
’The crew must hate her.’
He chuckled.
Finally, after six torturous hours—
"Yes, that was good."
Evelyn nodded with a satisfied look on her face. The crew members sighed in relief, some directly dropped to the ground, exhausted.
Lucian laughed at that, he on the other hand, walked towards Evelyn and passed her a bottle of water.
"How was it?"
Evelyn questioned.
"Absolute delight. I didn’t know a two-hour concert needed this much preparation."
Lucian answered honestly.
There were still two weeks left and Evelyn had booked the stage five more times, for the same practice.
Evelyn smiled at those words, then she looked at him and—
"I am... putting more effort than normal."
She spoke with a meaningful smile.
Lucian looked at her and smiled back.
"Mhm, this will be your first concert after your return, you need to make it count."
Evelyn only stared at him with a deadpan look on her face, Lucian noticed that, but he didn’t comment on it.
And before Evelyn could say anything about it—
"Miss Starling."
Clara walked up.
"We should leave, it is time you eat something."
Evelyn looked at her with an exhausted look on her face and—
"Can I have ten minutes for myself?"
She asked politely.
Clara checked her tablet.
"Ten minutes. No more."
"Yes, that’s enough. I only need to sit for a while."
"Green room two.
Cross stays outside."
Clara ordered, Lucian nodded but then—
"No."
Evelyn shook her head as she pointed at Lucian.
"He stays with me."
Clara looked up with a frown, she was about to say no, but just then—
Her earpiece crackled and her expression changed.
"What happened?"
Alaric asked from near the stage stairs.
Clara pressed a finger to her earpiece and turned slightly away, the light mood vanished instantly. Lucian’s expression changed as well, his ears had already told him what happened.
"When?"
Clara questioned in a cold voice.
"How many?"
She asked after a pause and the answer made her frown deepen. She then looked at Alaric and—
"The rehearsal location leaked."
Evelyn’s face tightened at those words.
Alaric, however, was much calmer.
"How bad?"
He asked.
Clara took a short pause and then—
"Bad."
Lucian extended his ears and he heard it.
Thousands of people standing outside, chanting Evelyn’s name, waiting for her to appear and the number was growing at an impossible speed, he even heard some people trying to push past theatre security.
It was bad indeed.
"Front entrance is completely unusable, east exit is already crowded, west route is partially blocked by media vans. I am checking service access and underground loading."
"I’ll check crowd movement."
Sarah looked toward the outer corridor.
"I’ll look for supernatural residue near the exits."
Elise did the same.
"Go."
Alaric nodded.
The two women walked out.
Lila stayed near Evelyn, the ordinary guards moved towards the visible security line, helping the theatre security if required.
Evelyn stood still in the middle of all that sudden movement, Lucian watched her hand tighten around the mic and he walked closer.
"Miss Starling."
He called with a light grin.
She looked at him.
"Ten minutes?"
Those words made her smile a little.
"Ten minutes."
