Master of the Opera, Act 3: Phantom Serenade (6 page)

A
fter that, the day couldn’t have passed in a more ordinary way.

Christy and Matt worked through the inventory, making satisfying progress. The mindless task gave her time to practice her speech to Roman—far better than indulging prurient fantasies. At one point in the afternoon, Charlie poked his head into the storeroom they were sorting.

“Have you kids seen Carla?”

“Nope!” Matt answered, making a gagging face behind Charlie’s back.

“Not since first thing this morning,” Christy added.
When she acted like Crazy Bitch from Hell, but never mind that
.

“If you see her, would you point her my way? She missed our afternoon planning meeting.”

“Will do!”

Matt waved at the empty doorway, a manic smile plastered to his face. “Sure thing, boss! Right after I rip off my testicles and feed them to your wife on a platter!”

“Oh stop.”

“Hey! Maybe she’s gone forever. Maybe she met with a Terrible Accident.” Matt dropped his voice like a voice-over in a TV movie.

“You shouldn’t say such things.”

“But I
want
that wish to come true! It doesn’t count if I really mean it.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I am?” He looked pleased. “If I knew what that meant, I’d probably be all flattered.”

Three other people came by looking for Carla over the course of the afternoon. By the time they ascended from the depths up to the main level, organized teams were combing the different rooms, reminding Christy uncomfortably of the search for her. Surely she hadn’t been grabbed in a similar way.

Hairs rising on the back of her neck, she thought of the theater ghost singing while Carla verbally attacked her. Had the Master done something to her?

Surely not.

Watching Charlie run a fretful hand through his hair as he talked with a group of techs down the hall, Christy fumbled her keys into the lock of her office door. It gave more grudgingly than usual. She flipped on the light.

A scream of horror ripped from her lungs.

Naked, bruised, and bleeding, Carla’s unconscious body draped over Christy’s desk. Red lines crisscrossed her flesh, crusted with scabs here, oozing blood there. Black-and-blue marks bloomed like exotic flowers on her Scandinavian skin.

Perched between her breasts lay a redolent red rose.

And a note.

Did the Master leave Christy another present? Has she fallen too far under his spell to get out now, or can Roman save her?

 

Christy explores more of the Master’s intoxicating world, the Sanclaro history, and her own inner strength in
Master of the Opera Act 4: Dark Interlude
, available for download February 20, 2014. . . .

Jeffe Kennedy
is an award-winning author with a writing career that spans decades. Her fantasy BDSM romance,
Petals and Thorns
, originally published under the pen name Jennifer Paris, has won several reader awards.
Sapphire
, the first book in the
Facets of Passion
series, has placed first in multiple romance contests, and the follow-up,
Platinum
, is climbing the charts. Her most recent works include three fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of
A Covenant of Thorns
, the contemporary BDSM novellas of the
Facets of Passion
, and the postapocalyptic vampire erotica of
Blood Currency.
She is currently working on
Master of the Opera
and
The Twelve Kingdoms
, a fantasy trilogy. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, with two Maine coon cats, a border collie, plentiful free-range lizards, and a doctor of Oriental medicine. Jeffe can be found online at her website, JeffeKennedy.com, or every Sunday at the popular Word Whores blog.

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Copyright © 2014 by Jeffe Kennedy

 

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First Electronic Edition: February 2014

ISBN: 978-1-6018-3158-3