Easily pleased, Micah enjoys a career in non-profit work and gets through his days one lame joke at a time. Then his friend Lou introduces him to her musical family and the Knights pull Micah into their world of resilience and sorrow. Soon, Micah understands that in the face of grief, optimism isn't always enough.<br><br>Lei was once revered for his tremendous talent. But one day the music died, and the scars under his leather bracelets are a reminder of what he lost. These days, he's nothing but a phantom. Shut away from the world, Lei tunes instruments in the Knights' music store.<br><br>Then charismatic Micah enters his life, charming his family and slowly coaxing his way into Lei's heart with steadfast devotion. With Micah at his side, it may yet be possible for Lei to reclaim the spotlight he'd thought permanently abandoned.

Music of the Knight

Lei walked back to his keyboard and turned it off. “That I’m a failure. Washed out.”


I tensed, those words feeling like ice down my back. “A failure?”


He nodded. This was his truth. What he’d be struggling with in the last weeks. “But that’s all I have left in me. I won’t sing those complex arias anymore, Micah. I just won’t. And you know I tried. I fucking tried, working eight hours a day with Douglas or alone, and I did everything he asked, but that wellI used to reach deep inside of me, that pool of strength and bravado, full of feelings—celestial, almost godlike feelings—has dried up, or turned shallow—I don’t know.” He glanced down at his music sheets. “I can sing as well as I used to. But only technically.” He locked eyes with me. “Artistically, I’m no good anymore.”


Chapter 60