"I think she wants you to ask her to dance."
Jacin tore his eyes away from Winter, who was shaking hands with some diplomats across the room. Though to the strangers, she seemed the very model of grace and charm, he could tell she was growing restless. Her other hand was fiddling with the gauze on her dress, and underneath the long skirt she was discreetly shifting her weight from foot to foot, mimicking the movement of the dancers gliding across the floor.
Despite all dances, balls, and festivals she had attended as a child, Jacin knew she wasn't used to this. Even on her good days, she was flighty, inappropriate, and rude, as disgusted with the families as they were with her, and it wasn't uncommon for a hallucination- real or faked- to have her quickly escorted from the ballroom. But whatever world leaders Emperor Kaito had invited to his ball seemed to find her delightful, and Winter had been mixing and mingling for hours. Jacin had kept a constant eye on her from a spot on the wall, preferring to blend in with the other security, rather than the guests. But Cinder had slid beside him and now demanded his attention.
"Sorry, what did you say?" He turned and saw Scarlet was with Cinder, and both were giving him critical looks.
"She said: Winter wants you to ask her to dance," Scarlet repeated. "And if that's not as painfully obvious to you as it is the rest of us, I'm not sure you deserve to dance with the prettiest girl here. I might ask her for myself."
Jacin feigned nonchalance. "Go right ahead. I don't have a monopoly on her." He pushed down his anger and embarrassment. Why did they think this was any of their business anyway?
Scarlet squared her shoulders, "I will." And with that, she turned sharply and began marching across the hall.
Jacin tried to return to his neutral stance, but Cinder was still looking at him.
"Are you really not going to dance with her?"
She leaned back against the wall beside him and stuffed her hands in the pockets hidden in the folds of her ballgown. In the few months that he had known the queen, this was only the third time he had seen her in a dress. Although she looked more put together than she had the last time she was in this room, the Eastern Commonwealth's so-called Peace Ball, she still was dressed more simply than anything he had seen Levana wear. The Artemisian seamstresses had quickly learned that she preferred practicality and comfort, and saved their elaborate designs for her android friend.
"I don't think it's appropriate for a princess to be dancing with her guard." He glared across the hall as Scarlet approached Winter. Winter smiled and took her hand. Scarlet drug her toward the middle of the hall.
"You know this ball is in your honor too. I'm not sure that it was ever your intention, but the revolution would have failed several times over without your help."
Winter and Scarlet began twirling around whimsically, paying little attention to the song that was playing. Winter caught his eye for a moment, and he smiled back before Scarlet spun her around again. She winked at him. His glare returned.
Cinder was still studying him. "You know when I first met Kai, I didn't know I was 'the Lost Queen,' didn't even know I was Lunar. I couldn't imagine any of this," Cinder gestured her hand around.
" I never imagined that Kai and I could ever be something." She paused, as if she were thinking about him. Jacin didn't know much, but he knew Cinder and Kai were something now. Did she think Winter and he were something? And what was that something?
"I mean, I was a cyborg and a mechanic- the best mechanic in New Beijing, mind you, but still- not exactly a politically advantageous relationship." She shrugged. "Things change."
"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Jacin asked flatly.
"It's supposed to motivate you to go cut in and sweep Winter off her feet."
Jacin wasn't sure what to make of Cinder giving him romantic advice. She seemed to have forgiven him for betraying her to Sybil after he helped her in Artemisia, but did that make them friends? Jacin wasn't sure he would know if they were. Other than Winter, he hadn't really had friends since he was a kid. Maybe new friends weren't such a bad thing.
"Who would've known I had so much in common with the queen?"
"Well, I hear you've got this young, progressive queen." Cinder smiled at him. "I bet she'd be pretty cool about it if one of her guards wanted to date a princess."
Jacin rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the wall. He squared his shoulders and began walking across the floor.
"Try not to trip," Cinder called out behind him.
He reached Winter and Scarlet before he could second guess what he was doing.
He tapped Scarlet on the shoulder.
"May I cut it?"
Scarlet raised her eyebrows at him but obliged, granting Winter one last flirtatious smile before she disappeared off to another part of the party.
Jancin bowed, and Winter curtseyed back. She was beaming.
He took her right hand in his left and wrapped his other arm around her waist. Her hands were unbelievably soft.
"I think it's only fair to warn you, my dancing hasn't improved much in the past few years." Jacin knew she would remember when she had tried to teach him the Eclipse Waltz three years ago. They had snuck away from the main party so a deserted hall. The dance involved a series of complicated twists and plenty of close, physical contact. All in all, the scenario was too much for his nervous, hormonal, teenage self to handle. He had replayed that night countless times in his head, imagining a dozen different endings. Instead of tripping over her skirt he would pull her into a dip and ravish her. He wanted to wince remembering it now.
Winter smirked at him, "Maybe I should lead."
A new song started. Thankfully, it was a slow song, with a steady beat to follow. He started dancing with her to the simple steps he did know. 1-2-3. 1-2-3.
A part of his brain thought she deserved better than this. A Prince Charming that could dance so masterfully she felt like she was lighter than air, rather than his clunky box steps.
But that thought was eclipsed by all the other sensations rushing through his head: her eyes bright with joy, the feel of her back stretching beneath her thin dress, her voice softly humming along to the song, their bodies moving in sync.
He spun her around the room once and then slowly began moving toward the East Wing.
It didn't do unnoticed by Winter. "Pray, Sir Clay, are you trying to whisk me away from the ball?"
"I wanted to show you something to you outside." He had checked the newsfeed earlier that day, to confirm what he had suspected yesterday. Winter raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but didn't stop smiling.
When they reached the edge of the room, Jacin rearranged their bodies so that instead of dancing, she was walking on his arm. As they wanted down the hall to the gardens, he could hear it, pounding against the windows and running down the drainpipes.
Jacin held the door open and watched as Winter's eyes widened in wonder as she realized what she was seeing. Moments later she was running out into the rain. Without regard for her expensive dress, she twirled under the downpour and splashed in the mud.
"It's raining," she said unnecessarily but gleefully. She ran forward and took Jacin by the hands and dragged him out in the rain with her. In seconds, he was completely drenched, but he didn't even consider pulling away. Instead he wrapped his arms around Winter and pulled her closer.
She was staring up at him through her long, thick lashes. He ran a hand through her hair, the curls weighed down by the rain, and rested it behind her neck. He watched as a bead of water ran from her forehead, down her cheek, to her jaw. Before he could think about it, he leaned forward to close the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers. Like the first gasp of air after holding your breath, like rain after months of drought, Jacin didn't realize how much he had needed this until it was happening. Winter sighed into the kiss and tangled her hands in his hair pulling him closer.
Their first kiss had been intense, heated, passionate. They were trying to cram years of longing into a moment that they believed would be their last. He moved more slowly now, more gently, taking his time to explore, to absorb the feel and taste of her. He tried to put into the kiss all of the things he struggled to say: He loved her. He loved her like the flowers loved the rain that fell from the sky; he needed her. He wanted her, always, would be with her always.
In that moment, in the garden, in the rain, nothing else mattered. Not the ball they were missing, and would miss the end of. Not revolutions or goodwill tours or trade relations. Not social class or royal duties or political marriages. And Jacin believed, for the first time, that none of that would matter anymore. They weren't the princess and the guard or the ambassador and the guard. They were just Winter and Jacin. Just the boy and the girl that had grown up together and survived so much together, and their love for each other. That was more than enough.
AN: This story was inspired when I reread the part in Cinder when Kai comes to the market to give Cinder the gloves and she thinks it's the last time she'll see him. I realized her and Jacin have something in common and wanted to see them (beginning to) become friends, so I decided to make it the end of this story.