The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family - Book One: Pandora

Chapter 20: When Asked to Dance

She stared at the offered hand, blinking slowly as her mind tried to come up with possible meanings for his behavior.

"Of course you don't have to," he eventually said. It felt as if everything had fallen silent as he didn't know what to do about his idiotic posture.

She looked around at the square, which had not slowed down at all, and finally smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"But I won't be at fault if I step on your feet." She took his hand, which had already dropped as he waited, ready to withdraw.

There was a sense of nostalgia in the air as Alan moved toward the center, dragging his sister with him.

"There's always one who leads, you merely need to follow," he said sternly, "I'll show you the motions so you can get used to it."

"But that would only be with you," she mumbled, remembering something, "then I would have to go to the banquet with you, right?"

He looked at her a little confused. "With me?"

"Yes, since you are the one teaching me." It was flawed logic, she knew.

Though he chuckled, ignoring the glaring hole in her rationale. "Sure. I will accompany you."

It wasn't exactly the kind of music that was needed for this type of dance, but no one cared how they moved, and it was appropriate enough. Rowena was already happy to be able to be there without having to disguise herself, since there wouldn't be much to associate with her trademark hair and eye color here.

She looked down at her brother's legs, trying to predict his movements so she could follow more closely. A misstep occurred and her white shoe stepped on his shiny black boots.

She flinched, but he didn't even react, as if he hadn't noticed. Trying to read his muscle movement wasn't so easy when she could barely see it beyond his clothes.

Another misstep. Then another. She was frustrated and soon stopped her feet to rethink her tactics.

"Do you want to stop for the evening?" He couldn't blame her, he was sure she was embarrassed.

She might have been different when she was little, but as she grew into a teenager, she had shown a pattern of throwing fits whenever she fell behind others' expectations for her. He was proud of her for enduring the frustration she must have felt during their dance.

Unbeknownst to him, that wasn't her problem at all. 'I just need to get the movement down. It's not that hard, is it?' If only there was a way for her to safely memorize the rhythm and movement of her feet without crushing the toes of her family's next heir.

"Ah," a light bulb went off in her head as she inched closer, crawling into his space with gleaming eyes, "can I stand on your shoes?" There was a difference between standing on them and stepping on them.

He couldn't understand her words at first, but her sparkling eyes made him wonder if she really liked stepping on his toes. "What do you mean?"

"So I can learn more efficiently. Can I?"

Sighing, he reached out and grabbed her hands to pull her up. Her comparatively tiny form was easily lifted onto the front of his formerly clean shoes.

"Like this?" he asked, far too serious for such an occasion. "I never thought I would do this again."

She didn't know what he was talking about, but she smiled brightly anyway. A smile he hadn't seen on her face in years, which made it all worthwhile already.

In fact, it was a miracle that she talked to him at all. She usually ignored him, but at least she hadn't said she didn't have a brother for a few years now.