Chapter One

Alice

ANDREW KING wasn't the only one to bring his assistants to the kick-off meeting for Sing, season XI. Lauren DeSalle had both of hers, Ryann Ford and TC had only one each. Alice recognized Mark, the Waves' lead guitar sitting next to him TC.

Robinson Dean went over the rules, and Alice split her attention between him and the others. After watching Sing for ten years, and reading all the material the network had given Vy before she entered the House last season, she probably knew more details than anyone in that room.

TC's gaze passed over her without as much as a flicker of recognition. She must have made little impression on him when Vy introduced them a few months earlier. Better that way. Last thing she needed was him getting paranoid about what she and his protégé talked about behind his back. She wondered if TC's second assistant would be Vy after all.

Although she was looking at Dean, she studied TC from the corner of her eye. Much like King himself, he seemed to have aged a decade in a short time. He was thinner, his cheeks were hollow and he looked more gaunt than she had ever seen him over the years. Torturing Vy probably took its toll on him as well. She refused to speculate on other, less professional reasons. Whatever TC did in his own time was not her business.

When the meeting ended, King waved over one of the guys from the team. The young man came immediately with a bright smile on his face that got wider when they shook hands.

The expression on his face was familiar. All her friends had it whenever Andrew King was around. King's earnestness had a strong effect on people. He inspired loyalty in anyone he worked with. Even someone as cynical as her was not immune to his charisma or she would have found a way to refuse his offer to work on Sing XI.

"Good to see you, Mike," King said shaking his hand. "This is Alice. She will be my assistant this year. Can you give her a tour of the House?"

She shook hands with the guy, who was still beaming at King. The man inspired man crushes wherever he went.

"Sure thing, Andrew."

"Thanks, man. Alice, give me a call when you finish, and we'll come pick you up."

She pretended to listen to Mike as he talked about the Bracciano Mansion which for the next few months was going to be the Sing House.

Alice knew the real history of the Bracciano family and their whole estate. They were one of the old families who had been unlucky to lose their fortune. After the monarchy had ended, and the great wars had put their mark on Illyria, the Braccianos had faded into the pages of history books. Unlike some other old and cunning families which had survived and flourished after the wars. The Cesaras, the Orsays, and the Montrachets were just the few she was personally connected with. The Sinclairs and even the Lewises were considered young families by comparison.

When the mansion came into view, her first thought was that Vy's assessment from the year before was correct. The old place was built very much like the Montrachet mansion, Leonie's house. The Cesaras' ancestral home had been destroyed during the last War, and they had never bothered to rebuilt it when they rose back into prominence. From period photos, the Cesara castle was a hulking monstrosity. No wonder the more refined new generations had chosen not to revive it.

Her grandparents' castle was a relatively new building, not even two hundred years old. Compared to the extravagance of the Pellerin castle, the Bracciano mansion seemed plain on the outside.

Mostly rectangular, it was symmetrically split into an east and west wing. IBC kept the exterior a bland shade of beige that made sure to remove any traces of personality it might have had.

The large entrance hallway didn't resemble the Montrachet mansion with its revoltingly modern interior design. That place had Leonie's personality stamped on it and Alice felt guilty to adore it despite the jarring discrepancy with architecture. 

The Sing House kept much of the original furnishings inside, starting with the huge chandelier in the foyer at the entrance, and continuing with the marble balustrade of the staircases that led to the upper floors.

"Ask me anything you want to know," Mike said. 

Since King mentioned that he'd be in America a lot for the next few months, she needed to know if she could work with the team in his absence. She gave credit to Andrew for what she knew from reading the IBC's rules and regulations.

"Andrew said that the Captains can go in and out of the House every time they want. Is this the same for the assistants?"

"Not exactly. They can only go into the House outside scheduled practices with the team Captain."

"But during scheduled practice we can be here without our Captains?"

He nodded.

Well, that was something. Scheduled practices could be any time from 9am to 9pm. She'd have to make sure they scheduled plenty of practices for her and David so they can prepare the contestants even when King was gone. 

"Can I see the music rooms?" Alice asked.

She followed Mike up the stairs.

"Your team will have number two. The Captains get the room number according to their rank the previous season. Do you want to go there first?"

"Yes, please. Ours first, then the all the others."

They went into the west wing of the house. The hallway opened into an antechamber with three doors. As she knew from Vy, Room One was in the East Wing and it had an antechamber all to its own.

"Your Music Room," Mike said, opening the door.

He held it open, but he let her go inside alone. She was grateful for this unexpected courtesy. She needed to be alone to get the feel of the place.

In the middle of the floor, a beautiful large piano reigned supreme. Sixteen chairs were lined by the wall, one chair upturned on top of another in eight neat pairs. Across from the door there was a large window.

Alice opened the piano's cover and played the opening notes of the Illyrian national anthem. She nodded approvingly to find it well tuned, and closed the lid. She walked to the window and tried to orientate herself. Outside she could see a section of the parking lot, so they were facing the front of the house. South facing windows meant they would have natural light longest during the winter.

When she came back out in the large antechamber, Mike jumped from the vintage sofa upholstered in dark red velvet.

"Room Four," he said, opening another door for her.

Ryann Ford's room that year. It looked a lot like theirs except the window faced west. Their piano was equally well tuned. Eight pairs of chairs were stacked the same way along the wall.

When Mike opened the door to Music Room Three, Alice expected it to be empty like the others. Her heartbeat raced and her shoulders tightened at the sight of TC on the stool in front of the piano. When it came to him, the flight or fight instinct urged Alice to run.

He jerked his head up from the sheet music.

"What do you want?"

"That's an awfully personal question," she answered without thinking.

Spending much of her life with Vy and Sebastian Cesara was excellent training for spouting snarky replies when surprised.

"Why are you in here? You're not allowed in this room."

"The season hasn't started yet. I don't think the rules apply already."

She didn't simply think the rules didn't apply. She knew they didn't.

"Let me be clear," he said menacingly. "I don't want you in this room. Not now, not when the season starts."

Her hair fell into her eyes when she bowed her head to acknowledge his request. She had to schedule an appointment with Didier to get her hair cut.