Lethal Assumed

Chapter 1 Body Tuned

Her delicately sinuous leg stretched fully up to the barre. Second nature to her, chest was flattened to leg, ankle and knee supported by the elongated oak rail; she held that position for a count of thirty. In her novice days, Amanda’s calf muscles-her gastrocnemii to be specific- quivered almost painfully at completion of this most basic of warm-up poses. Very gracefully and with careful composure in order to not strain herself, Amanda switched to the identical pose with her other leg.

She had just hurried inside. Then she doffed her hooded windbreaker, which protected her from the distraught wind and whipsawed Seattle rain storming in the dark outside, and flung it into a quick studio corner. He was present and she did not desire erring on her pre rehearsal exercises any more than she had already erred with her unfortunate tardiness. Though he leaned casually backwards in a slightly tipped and roughed up director’s chair with hands clasped at neck base, his focused glance bestowed upon Amanda brooked no further transgressions on her part. So, though her initial routine came automatically, she was very careful to exert caution and intelligence as she rolled totally through her drills.

Feeling a bit of insouciance, she smiled casually, intersecting his glance perfectly. She occasionally enjoyed plucking him from his stern rigor and rigid expectations.

She loved Marius well though. Wise or no, they had plied their attraction together to a level that carried far beyond the professional. She was young yet and so had found that her impulses overcame her better judgment. Now that they were irrevocably intertwined, she prayed that he and she would maintain a consummate integrity in regards to all aspects of their company’s performance of the beloved Giselle.

Amanda was proud to have won Marius over and had been chosen to play the heroine.

Amanda was also so enthralled with her character Giselle that she had even contemplated changing her first name to the very same as the wondrous female in this ballet. The heart of Giselle was enormous to Amanda despite its fundamental fragility.

The old Germanic tale that supported the ballets structure mesmerized Amanda. She was unable to imagine a soul braver, more romantic than or as forgiving as her storied young twin, Giselle. Amanda’s largest muscle, her brain, was pouring over the plot all the while that her other muscles were being softly prepared for a bout of soon to be tense exertion.

Grape harvest in the Rhineland was a sweeping and hugely anticipated event. Frail, lovely Giselle was held back from joining the joyous laboring throngs methodically separating the finest clusters from the rest and then transporting them in the sturdy woven baskets to be destemmed and crushed underfoot.

Amanda fantasized the free running juices exploding from beneath the stomping soles. She discerned the pleasure that Giselle must have experienced as wine barrels were filled and the celebrations began.

Sadly, the spirited Giselle was closely managed by her mother; a mother who agonized over her daughter’s infirmities and congenitally weakened heart.

As Giselle ran from the cottage with her mother, Berthe, upon her heels, she would become mindful and would stop abruptly, only to watch the grape picking hoard select the best and finest of clusters.

Amanda, sensitive being that she was, felt Giselle’s pain at those physical limitations imposed upon her. Amanda had no such physical limitations but that did not interfere with her empathetic ability to place herself in another’s skin.

En pointe now, toe tips blocked and barely contacting the floor, Amanda preened and spun for her mentor though this was not her customary progression through her limbering maneuvers. She adored exhibiting her lush skills and lithe beauty for Marius to absorb.

Now back to her further plies and whimsical concoctions of Giselle and her cherished adventures.

She immediately fixated on her image of Duke Albrect, a nobleman of princely look but, unfortunately, less than princely behavior. Damn him and his loutish ways, Amanda ruminated; typically he was a self-centered and voraciously insensitive male. She pictured him though as robust, magnificently handsome and devastatingly charming either as a lord or as a peasant; lord he was, peasant he only pretended.

His particulars began simply enough. He craved to sew some wild oats before he became married to Bathilde, daughter of the neighboring Prince of Courland. He loved and cherished his Bathilde yet cherished his freedom equally. Well aware of that shrinking liberty, he felt the need to spread his seed one last time. And he did not hesitate to put his plan into play regardless of risk.

As she felt her body nearly warmed and tuned, Amanda deliberated further on how Giselle innocently tumbled into the Duke’s connivances. He intended to quickly woo a gorgeous naïve peasant girl as a peasant himself, Loys.

Amanda deemed his actions to be absolutely pathetic. She understood that Giselle would become his dupe and fall hopelessly in love with this master of machinations and deceit. And, as well, his bride to be, Bathilde, deserved a partner who was true and honest. Amanda, as a romantic to her depths, was angered at males who consciously victimized females emotionally, stole their hearts and love, and then cruelly departed once their uncaring needs were satisfied. It had happened to her once already in her fledgling life.

As she finished off the last of a front tendu, she whipped a harsh sudden stare in the direction of Marius. He noticed and jerked up from his chair in a concerned approach towards Amanda. She needed a few reassuring words from him and was pleased that she was about to receive comfort from him.

“Amanda, you startled me. I felt a distinct shadow in your glimpse of me just now. “

He touched her waist with one large long-fingered hand at each side and guided her body as if instructing her. As she peered down at his hands, he whispered in her ear, “I love you my sweet and most gorgeous Amanda. That is sincere and genuine, never false. Thank you for returning that to me.”

Amanda was pacified. His and her instincts supported one another automatically.