Temptation

Summary

Renee Dupree, velvet-voiced diva of the gas-lit stage, watches her beloved Julian—a threadbare composer whose symphonies throb with unborn thunder—collapse into fevered delirium. Penniless apothecaries leer; cures demand gold. In desperation she glides into the gilded parlour of Mueller, the city’s omnipotent impresario, a man who buys souls by the ounce and weighs bosoms like merchandise. Their bargain: her body for his purse. Yet before the ledger seals her fate, a dagger flashes—Mueller’s discarded mistress, eyes acid-green with betrayal, plants steel between his ribs. Blood spatters the damask; Renee’s virtue remains mathematically intact, though her spirit fractures like overheated crystal. She returns to Julian, purse in hand, voice cracked, love intact but forever echoing against the marble memory of a night when music, money and mortality performed a cruel trio.

Synopsis

Opera singer Renee Dupree is in love with struggling composer Julian who falls very seriously ill. She goes to impresario Mueller for the money Julian needs but is saved from sacrificing her virtue when a jealous lover kills Mueller.