Arkady has dedicated his life to the world of ballet. He is known as the bad boy of the dance world, and is an ever rising star. Then he gets injured in what is at first thought to be a tragic accident but turns out to be so much worse. He's lost ballet, and his life feels unbalanced. A friendship with his no-nonsense physical therapist starts him on a new path. He has her friendship, a more honest relationship with his parents, his beloved dog Lou and, for the first time, maybe love in the form of an artist with a disability of his own. But the past isn't done with him yet.

Rise Again

Arkady had been worried his parents were having marital difficulties, and that they might divorce, but there seems to be no sign of that. They seem closer than ever.


“He makes me happy. Being with him doesn’t fix everything. I’m still in pain. I still can’t dance, but he understands how that makes me feel. He knows I have bad days. He knows I get low, and he isn’t scared away by any of that. He doesn’t seem to want me to be perfect. He seems to like me as I am. It’s nice,” Arkady says.


“I have never seen you like this about another person before. When you were a teen and living under our roof, you let us know who you were dating, but since you left, you’ve kept your romantic life a secret. I often worried it was because you thought your mother and I disapproved,” Vsevolod says softly.


“You’ve always been great about me being gay. It wasn’t that. There was just no one serious, no reason to talk about them.” Arkady shrugs.


Chapter 32