Lost (The Secret World Of Atlantis)

Chapter 8 - Dancing The Night Away

“You may not. Aren't you afraid of the King's wrath?” I say, trying to keep my face serious. Unfortunately, he sees right through me as he chuckles and simply takes my hand. I can’t believe he actually has the nerve to do that.

“I'm not. But you are. Come now, we need to have a few words and I'm not doing that here,”he tells me, glancing at Flora and Zara, who are staring at us openly and listening, obviously. I let him take me dancing without a second thought, even if I don't really want to be around him right now. But I am still interested enough in what he has to tell me.

We wait out for the pause, then join the formation, his arm taking my waist and the other one my hand. His straight posture forces me to stand the same, meaning, that I have to look at him.

I feel sort of relieved as music finally starts to play and I find myself gliding across the floor with him. Dancing with him feels as simple as breathing. He is unbelievably good.

“Tell me now,” I say after he doesn't show any interest in talking to me. He raises his eyebrows.

“Tell you what exactly, Princess?” he asks very formally, almost making me regret my decision to dance with him.

“What you meant to talk to me about. And stop calling me that,” I frown, before letting him twirl me around.

“Ah, don't worry about that, we have more than enough time to talk. And why shouldn't I call you that? You are, indeed, a Princess,” he says before we separate, men and women forming their own lines. Urgh, why does he enjoy making me mad so much?

We begin our solo first and I pour all my fury into dancing. Our moves are elegant, but fierce, like we are trying to challenge the men to beat us. We end it with extending our right leg towards them, pushing our arms high above our heads.

Then it's the men's turn to dance. I know how their moves are meant to go, but seeing them with my own eyes, is a whole other thing. By that I mean looking at Eros move effortlessly, even if he drives me nuts. The men finish their solo with the same move as we have, their feet almost touching ours. 

After that, the most interesting part begins. The pairs go back together, circling around each other, but not touching. It is the perfect chance for us to talk already.

“Alright, spit it out. The music will almost end, we are running out of time,” I tell him as we take a step to opposite sides, kicking our right legs in the air.

“You see, this is where you're wrong. The musicians are playing a few songs in a row now,” he speaks up, grinning mischievously. I furrow my eyebrows. They wouldn't do that, would they? “I bought them off,” he admits proudly, before we both twirl around. Then it dawns on me.

“But that means the pairs won't change!” I say and take a shaky breath as we come into contact again.

“Exactly,” he smirks, leading me backwards. I just stare at him, speechless. “What's the matter? Can't be around me that long?” he jokes, but his eyes look quite serious.

“No … I just … I can't help, but wonder, why would you do that,” I mutter under my breath. He chuckles like I'm the funniest person in the world.

“I sort of thought we would be betrothed by the time it was time for dancing, but that didn't go as planned. As the musicians were still bribed, I thought there's no damage in us sharing a few dances,” he tells me, making my cheeks blow up with heat. Not this again.

“Eros, don't. Please,” I mumble, starting to feel uncomfortable. I glance around, the guests by the tables are watching us like we're monkeys in a zoo.

“I apologize. I didn't mean to upset you,” he says softly and I slowly look back up at him. I put my hands on his shoulders, while he grabs my waist and spins me around in the air. In that brief moment, it feels like we're all alone here.

“I'm sorry, but I'm just not okay with marrying you. I don't even know you,” I say as he puts me down and we place our right hands against each other, spinning around them slowly. He smiles at me.

“It's not like you would say yes and we would get married next month. We would need to finish the Academy first. In the earlier times they would arrange marriages when the children were born,” he explains, grabbing my waist again. I grunt softly as he pulls me a bit closer than I would like.

“That's horrifying!” I exclaim and he chuckles again.

“Don't worry, they're not doing this anymore. And believe it or not, most of the couples come to love each other after some years. Just look at your grandparents, they are so happy together,” he says, trying to cheer me up. My eyes bolt up at him.

“Eros … What are you trying to tell me?” I ask slowly. I don't like it when people beat around the bush. He watches me intently for a moment, then leans me down as the composition comes to an end. But the musicians move forward immediately, leaving all the other pairs confused. Lastly, they decide to follow our lead and continue dancing.

I wait for Eros's answer patiently, but he doesn't say anything. In fact, he doesn't speak a single word to me for two entire compositions. I'm about to give up and start talking about something entirely else, when I hear him clearing his throat. I keep quiet. I don't want to scare his thoughts away.

“Am I that bad?” he asks after a few moments. I look up at him in confusion.

“What do you mean?” I say, my heartbeat quickening. He offers me a half smile.

“Well, I don't think I've ever seen a girl faint when she was asked for her hand. And the boys usually look much worse than me, but I've never seen that happen to anyone before,” he starts saying and I can't help but start laughing.

“Really? That's what you're worried about?” He just stares at me, looking quite offended. I stop laughing and sigh. “Eros, all of those girls were raised here and know what they're up against, whilst I just came here. Everything is new to me, how would you feel in my place? I can't imagine what would happen if a complete stranger came proposing like that. I would probably run to the palace, crying and then faint, hitting my head somewhere and dying,” I tell him, fully exaggerating to make him feel better. He laughs, shaking his head.

“I think you need to stop drinking. All that wine got into your head,” he states and I'm just glad, that he stopped talking about me possibly marrying him. Even the thought of that makes me uneasy.

We spend the rest of the dances he paid for, talking, and having a good time. I almost forget about the fact, that he asked for my hand and my father almost tore me out of his arms. Almost. I get a little numb as I remember that he won't be happy about this at all.

“Are you okay?” Eros asks as he feels me stiffening. I look around to see if father is anywhere close, but I can't see him.

“Yes … I've just realized my father probably won't be too happy about us dancing for so long,” I tell him and he grins widely.

“I knew you were more afraid of him than I am,” he teases me. I would gladly smack him if it was considered ladylike. But it isn’t, so I just glare at him instead. He smirks at me and snakes his arm further across my back, then presses me tightly against him and lifts me up. We are twirling around as my body is leaning on his. Our faces are in the same height now and they're awfully close. Even as he puts me back down, we don't move away from each other.

Only when someone clears their throat, do I realize the music stopped playing. I look at the person, who brought me back to reality. Time for the pairs to change.

The blonde-haired boy, standing in front of us is looking at me with a smile on his face. I think he is part of the Elara family. “I believe it's my turn now,” he says, glancing at Eros from the side of his eye. I can hear Eros take a sharp breath and I look up at him to see him glaring at the boy. Oh, dear. Is there bad blood between them? “If you would step aside, Callisto,” the boy says to Eros, who ignores him and turns his face to me.

“Thank you for the dance, Princess. It was lovely,” he tells me, squeezing my bare shoulder before looking at the boy again. I'm too caught up in the feeling of his touch lingering on my skin, to notice that he's already leaving.

I turn to face the boy and offer him a polite smile. “Hello there, I didn't catch your name,” I say in a friendly matter.

“Oh, I'm Daniel. Daniel Elara,” he tells me as we join the formation of the other pairs.

Before the music begins, I tell him, that it's nice to meet him. He smiles like he's just received the biggest compliment in his life.

After that we don't talk much. I try to be polite, but I simply can't get over the exchange between him and Eros. What was that all about?

Even as the evening comes and the party begins to tone down, I still have an uneasy feeling about that. I don't dare to go to Eros and ask him what is up with him and Daniel directly, because father wasn't pleased, that I danced with that boy, as he calls him. Also, my head is all fuzzy from the wine I've drunk.

Elena finds me after I stop dancing and keeps me company for quite a while. We have a lot to talk about, but luckily, she doesn't mention the proposal. Not even when she yawns discreetly and decides to go to bed. This is how I'm left alone at the table, and I decide to look around a bit.

The remaining guests, the ones that haven't retired to the Palace yet, aren't looking so well either. I can barely contain my laughter as I see one of the lower ranked nobles laying his head on the edge of the table with his mouth hanging open. Father and Uncle Kaspar are talking to another pair of nobles nearby. I think it's their cousins in the third knee or something like that.

I decide to get up and call it a night. But before I retreat to my chambers, I must wish my father and uncle good night. I don't see the Queen nor my sister anywhere. They've probably already gone to bed.

As I walk towards my father, I try to avoid some drunken nobles, who are desperately seeking my attention. I really want to be polite, but as someone clasps my wrist, I have quite enough of them. I turn around with a murderous expression only to see a surprised Eros. He lets go of me immediately.

“Wrong time?” he asks cautiously, and I let my expression soften a little.

“Sorry, I thought you were just another drunk,” I explain, and he furrows his eyebrows.

“Well, I might be. I just have a ton of self-control, so I don't go around molesting Princesses,” he chuckles. “By the way, do you need help with that?” he continues, already looking around to see if anyone dares to bother me.

“Don't worry about it, I'm going to bed anyway,” I reject him.

“I'm heading to bed myself, actually. Let me at least escort you to the Palace.” I watch his pleading icy blue eyes and sigh. How can he defeat me so quickly, by just looking at me?

“Alright, I'm just saying good night to my father and then we can go,” I give in, moving forward before I change my mind.

As I reach my father and uncle, I tell them I'm done for the night. They've had a little too much wine too, because they try to convince me to stay, but I don't give in. Before anyone can sit me down, I wish them good night and leave.

Eros is waiting for me exactly where I left him, with the usual smirk on his face. As we begin walking to the castle, I look around to see if anyone could be listening. But the only thing, that bothers me, is the murderous look Uncle Kaspar is shooting at Eros's back. I sigh quietly.

“What is up with you and Daniel?” I blurt out suddenly. Smooth, Arya, smooth. We are going up the staircase and luckily, I didn't surprise him enough, that he would fall and break his leg. But even if I did, he probably isn’t as clumsy as I am, so there wouldn’t be any injuries.

“I thought you were going to ask me that,” he mutters under his breath. “Let's just say … We have some unresolved issues.”

“Would I be considered too nosy if I asked what those issues were?” I wonder sheepishly. He chuckles.

“Yes, you would be. I might tell you once. But this isn't the time or place to do that. It isn't a fun bedtime story,” he states quite seriously and stops as we step into the palace. He turns to me, a smile covering his face again. “This is where I leave you, my room is in the East wing.”

“Alright then. Good night,” I tell him, already turning around to leave. But his hand catches my wrist, forcing me to stop. I look at him nervously. What is he doing?

“Good night, love,” he says in a low tone, staring into my eyes for a moment, before letting me go. As I blink, he already turns around and leaves me standing in the corridor all by myself. I retreat to my chambers with an odd feeling in my stomach.