The Life of Anna, Part 4: Ensnared (23 page)

The room came slowly into view, but it
was empty. She looked around the tiny room, willing for him to
appear, but it remained empty. The bed was made, the window was
open and morning light streamed through the opening. Dust danced in
the sunlight, making it look almost solid.

She walked to the window and looked out
onto a huge grassy yard. The window was very high from the ground,
five stories maybe, and the wall below was smooth. The room seemed
to be in a tower at one end of a large, castle-like structure. A
high stone wall stood out at a fair distance from where she stood,
and seemed to surround the building. At least as far as she could
see. In the far distance were high mountains. She wished she could
smell the air; it looked so clean and crisp.

A door opened behind her and she turned
to see Alex’s large frame filling a door. His hair was pulled back
in the customary ponytail but his beard was a little shaggier than
she’d seen in a long time.

“Anna,” he said softly with a smile. He
closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed. “You haven’t
been here in a long time.”

Anna nodded. “I don’t know why. I don’t
even know why I keep dreaming of you.”

Alex smiled, his eyes crinkling at the
corners. Anna realized that if he were still alive, he would be
thirty-two years old. “I like that you do. I look forward to seeing
you. I’ve missed you.”

“I always miss you, Alex.” She smiled.
“Devin gave me your ring back. I keep it on the nightstand next to
my bed. My wedding rings, too.”

Alex nodded. “I’m glad.” He studied her.
“You look sad.”

“Aaron’s moving to New York.”

“Why?” He frowned.

“He said that he couldn’t deal with being
near me and not being able to be with me.”

Alex’s frown deepened, but he said
nothing.

“I told him he was breaking his promise
to you by leaving, but he said he had to go.”

“He wouldn’t go without a reason,
Schatzi,” he said softly, seeming to contemplate his own words.
“Trust him.”

Anna winced as her head began to hurt and
the room spun.

Alex stood and came to kneel next to her.
“You need to go, Schatzi.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to,”
she whispered, holding her head. “I just got here.”

“Please, Anna. I don’t want you to hurt.
You’ll come again.” He reached out to caress her face and she felt
the faintest touch before the room dissolved from her vision and
she awoke.

Anna sat up in bed. The room was still
dark.

“Anna, are you okay?” Peter asked, sitting up
and putting his hand on her back.

“I dreamed of Alex,” she whispered. She
stared into the darkness. “I told him Aaron was leaving.”

“How did he respond?”

“He said that I should trust Aaron. That he
wouldn’t leave without a good reason.” Anna shook her head, tears
filling her eyes.

Peter didn’t say anything, but pulled Anna to
him. He lay back down in bed and wrapped his arms around her. “Your
dreams are wise, Anna,” he said softly. “I’m sorry I was angry at
you. I shouldn’t have begrudged you saying goodbye to Aaron.”

Anna snuggled closer to Peter. “I should have
asked. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I was jealous. I’m sorry.”
He kissed her forehead and she closed her eyes, asleep in minutes
in his warm embrace.

Peter left the next morning to go to St.
Petersburg. Anna drove him to the airport, after they’d made up
that morning.

“I will see you Saturday,” he said, kissing
her goodbye. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said softly and waved
as he walked into the airport. She waited until he was out of sight
and then drove back to the city and to Devin’s house.

When she arrived, she parked Alex’s car out
front and went to ring the doorbell. Devin wouldn’t be home until
evening, but he wanted her there during the day. She was surprised
when Tyler answered the door.

“Tyler?” she asked, surprised. He had a condo
downtown where he and his wife lived. “What are you doing
here?”

He grinned. “April’s job hunting today. Dad
suggested I come over and make sure you settled in all right.” He
stepped aside to let her in, then slid his hands around her waist,
biting her neck. He pressed his hips against her ass. “God, I need
a woman who knows what she’s doing.” He reached under her shirt and
tweaked her nipples hard.

Anna gasped, followed by a sigh that had
nothing to do with pleasure. It would be a long day.

By the time Devin arrived home, Anna was
hurting from Tyler’s abuse. She was bruised from his slaps and
punches, and her ass was stretched to the limit from his fist.
Before he left, he tied her to Devin’s bed. Devin wasn’t especially
sympathetic to her situation. They ate dinner and then he used her
until she passed out.

She slept the entire next day until Devin
came home in the evening and did much the same as the day before.
The entire week passed in a similar fashion and when Anna went to
get Peter on Saturday afternoon after leaving the Manor, she was
exhausted.

“Anna!” Peter exclaimed with concern in his
eyes. He held her for a long time when they got home.

She wanted to stay awake and enjoy Peter’s
return, but she fell asleep far too soon, and slept all day Sunday,
too.

Before Anna knew it, August had arrived and
she was flying to Washington DC with Devin and Tyler. She had
asked, humbly, if Devin would allow her to skip it this year
because of the opening of Giselle, and was rewarded with a Saturday
full of pain from the nerve juice.

“Whatever happens, I will have Kaveh heal
you so you are able to dance properly next week,” Devin said as he
stood over where she lay, nearly unconscious on the floor of her
room at the Manor. “I won’t let you embarrass me.”

“Yes, Master.” she had mumbled through
bleeding lips, before crawling into the bathroom to get ready to go
home.

When they arrived at the hotel, Tom and Tommy
were waiting in the lobby. Tommy walked up quickly to embrace her.
She gazed up at him in awe. He had matured into one of the most
handsome men she’d ever met. He had the kindest eyes. He reminded
her of Alex. Pain clenched her heart as she acknowledged that she
would never be with Alex again, and Tommy was now married. Very
happily as far as she could tell. Kim was a lucky woman.

Anna entertained a fleeting wish that Devin
would give her to Tommy when he died, instead of Tyler.

Tommy greeted Tyler stiffly with his arm
around Anna’s waist. Ever since their fight the previous year,
their relationship had been strained.

The Elders met that Thursday evening to
discuss the events of the weekend and issues in the country. They
spoke a lot about the upcoming election, but Devin assured them
that the president would be reelected.

Devin brought girls for the Elders to partake
of that evening, so he said that Anna could go spend the evening
with Tommy. She hurried down the hallway to Tommy’s room fearful
Devin would change his mind before she got there. He was not
sharing a room with Tyler this time, instead he was with his
father.

“Anna!” he exclaimed when he opened the door
and looked around. “What are you doing here?”

“Devin said I could stay with you. They
have...other girls for the evening.”

Tommy pulled her inside and kissed her
soundly. She ran her hands down his sculpted arms as she kissed him
back, then up to his shoulders and down his muscular chest. A
thrill shot through her body as he held her close.

“These last weeks have gone by so slowly,” he
murmured. “I couldn’t wait to see you.”

Anna smiled shyly. “How’s married life?” she
asked as he led her to the bedroom.

He grinned. “I like it.”

“Kim seems very nice,” Anna said softly, a
twinge of jealousy running through her body.

“She is.” He turned to look at her. “She’s
not you, but she’s a good wife,” he said softly. He caressed her
cheek. “I wish....” He sighed. “I wish I could have married you and
taken you away from Devin.”

Anna’s eyes filled with tears and she nodded,
but didn’t dare speak the words.

He opened his mouth as if he were going to
say something else, but closed it and shook his head. He leaned
forward to kiss her again and led her to the bed.

“At least we have tonight,” she said
softly.

Tommy nodded and laid her down on the
bed.

Anna needed healing before she left on Sunday
evening to fly home. She wasn’t in any shape to travel. Devin had
allowed the men to do anything they wanted to her, and her body
simply couldn’t heal quickly enough.

Peter picked her up at the airport and took
her home. He was surprised that she was in such good shape. She
told him it was because of Kaveh’s healing. The weekend had been
tough. Very tough. She was very glad to be back home in Peter’s
loving embrace.

The next day began dress rehearsals for
Giselle and before she knew it, she was warming up for opening
night.

She paced
en pointe
backstage as she
waited for her cue, and worried that she wouldn’t do a good job.
That she would lose focus and all sorts of horrible things. But
when she stepped into the stage lights, she forgot everything
except the dance. She didn’t even think about the steps. She was
just...Giselle. Happily dancing around the stage in love and then
tragically dying because of Duke Albrecht’s betrayal.

In the second act, she felt ethereal as she
moved across stage in the fog and danced with Duke Albrecht until
dawn. When she backed back into the wings and the curtain closed,
the round of applause that exploded from the audience was
deafening. Isaak beamed at her and Peter picked her up and swung
her around in circles. When she and Peter went out for their bows,
the audience leapt to their feet and Anna’s heart nearly exploded
for joy.

If only Alex were here...
came the
sobering thought. Or Wilhelm or Kurt or even Aaron. But there was
no one here only for her. There was only Devin.

She hoped her tears would be mistaken for
tears of joy as loneliness attacked her at the height of the
applause. There were multiple curtain calls and Anna smiled bravely
and curtsied humbly, but inside her heart was broken. Alex wasn’t
here to see her dance. He was the reason she had made it here, and
he would never know.

When she was finally able to escape, she
managed to avoid the well-wishers and ran to her dressing room. She
fell to the floor and wept.

The tears fell in steady streams to form dark
spots on the rug beneath her face. “Oh, Alex,” she sobbed. “Why did
you leave me here alone?”

The sadness and despair wrung her heart and
tears dry until she could cry no more. Then she stood, dried her
face with a tissue and began to get ready for the party. She was
glad she’d chosen a simple, blue satin dress for the occasion. A
more embellished dress would have made her feel over-the-top
celebratory, and as much as she knew she should be ecstatic, her
demeanor remained sober. She felt so unbelievably lonely she could
hardly stand it.

When Peter knocked on her door, she had
managed to get rid of her red eyes and appear calm. That didn’t
stop Peter from worrying about her.

He stroked her cheek and gave her a loving
look. “Why did you run away?” he asked softly.

She didn’t answer right away. “Lonely,” she
finally choked out.

Peter murmured something in Russian and
pulled her close, holding her tight.

She felt warm and comfortable in his arms.
They had been together about a year now, and she couldn’t imagine
being without him, even though she knew she would be sooner or
later.

Just enjoy the time together now,
she told herself.

Together, they walked out to the party and
into a swarm of well-wishers, including Peter’s family. For a
while, she was distracted enough to forget about her loneliness. At
least a little. Even Devin seemed pleased, which was more relieving
than a cause joy.

Later, as she lay in Peter’s arms after
lovemaking, she stared into the darkness and the loneliness
consumed her again.

Anna felt relieved that Alex was in the
room when it came into view. He came and sat down on the bed next
to where she was standing.

“Hello,
Schatzi
,” he said in a
gentle voice that brought tears to her eyes.

Now, more than ever, she wished this was
more than a dream. She gazed into Alex’s loving blue eyes, longing
for him to be alive again. She desperately wanted his arms around
her. To hold her and tell her that everything would be all right.
But it was just a dream. She was alone, no matter how real the
dreams felt.

“
Schatzi
, what’s
wrong?”

She smiled weakly as tears began to fall.
“I danced Giselle tonight,” she squeaked. She took a deep breath.
“And I was so lonely. There was no one there for me. Even Aaron
left.”

Tears filled Alex’s eyes as he looked at
her, his face filled with such sorrow that Anna could almost
imagine him really there with her.

“
Mein armer Schatzi
,” he
murmured. “I’m so sorry. But it won’t be like this forever, Anna. I
promise.”

Anna looked at him and swallowed.
“Promises of dead men...,” she said softly and shook her head.
“Promises that can’t be kept.”

The hurt and sorrow in Alex’s face pained
her heart. She could almost imagine that she had hurt him, but it
was only her imagination.