Ha I'm back! Again, my updating his been slack, so I apologize . This chapter is also shorter than the rest which doesn't help out either. I just have so many ideas building up but I have to get farther for them to happen! You know? Anyway, here's the next chapter.
Come what may,
Come what may,
I will love you
Until my dying day
"Come What May" from Moulin Rouge!
Chapter 4
After their rather intimate encounter the previous day, Elizabeta was nervous about returning to Mr. Edelstein's house. If she didn't know any better she would've guessed that he'd been courting her! But that was absurd seeing as how she was his servant. He was just being… friendly.
Still, she couldn't just run away because she was timid. She owed it to Mr. Edelstein to come back to work, even if he'd possibly fire her after what happened yesterday. A knot formed in her stomach at that thought.
He wouldn't fire me over something like that… would he?
She gave the door a gentle knock, wringing her hands together to keep them warm in the bitter winter air.
To her surprise, the door opened much quicker than she thought, little Feliciano standing there and smiling up at her with that typical goofy grin.
"Good morning, Miss Hungary," he greeted cheerfully.
Like with Roderich, the boy had a difficult time saying her name, so he resorted to calling her by the name of the country she came from. It was eerie how close it sounded to "hungry," which happened to be one of the boy's favorite words.
"Good morning, Feliciano," she replied, "Has Mr. Edelstein gotten up yet?"
"Oh, yes! He had his breakfast and is in his office now. I believe he wanted to see you about something."
Elizabeta blinked in surprise. Usually she made her master's breakfast – this was rather unusual. Perhaps he'd just woken up earlier than normal. Besides, it was typical for him to call on her for her daily chores.
She went off to find her instructions, giving Feliciano a gentle pat on his head before doing so.
"I'll be in the kitchen!" he called before scurrying off.
No surprise there, she thought. The boy was so tiny for eating so much food. She wished she could eat that much and not gain any weight.
Upon entering the room, Elizabeta noticed that Mr. Edelstein was standing with his back to her from across the room, looking out the window. Odd. He was usually either at his desk or his piano – sometimes she forgot which was which until music started to flow in the air.
"Good morning, Mr. Edelstein," she greeted with a curtsy, despite the fact he couldn't see her.
He turned around at the sound of her voice, nodding in recognition.
"Good morning, Ms. Héderváry," he replied.
As he turned, Elizabeta noticed that he looked almost flustered; his eyes avoiding hers and his face the lightest shade of pink.
She had no idea why, but she couldn't help but think it was slightly adorable.
"What can I do for you today?" she asked politely, hoping not to worsen his condition somehow.
He continued to look at her for a moment, as if he hadn't heard her, until he finally blinked and shook his head, coming out of his frozen state.
"You reminded me of something yesterday," he said in the most stable voice he could manage, "You reminded me that I'm not the best dancer. Would you mind practicing with me?"
"Me?"
Elizabeta was rather surprised. She'd thought that dance had been a onetime thing. And yet, less than twenty-four hours later, he wanted to dance with her again.
"It's you or Feliciano," he explained, "And I think it'd be a tad more natural to dance with a young lady than with a little boy."
"I suppose that makes sense. But I'm not very good myself, Mr. Edelstein."
"That is of no importance. As long as I have a partner, I think I'll be able to handle it."
It seemed as if she didn't really have a choice in the matter. She was technically his servant, so she was to do what he asked of her.
She stepped towards him and placed her hand on his shoulder, straightening her back in an attempt to look him in the eyes. Unfortunately for her, he was taller so that she wound up looking at his throat.
His hand placed itself gently on her waist, his fingers drumming against it as he gathered her other hand with his.
"We don't have any music," Elizabeta said quickly as she felt his fingers against her waist.
"I tend to have music constantly running through my head," he explained, "Though that doesn't help you… I suppose I can just count."
There was no way of getting out of it now. Elizabeta simply sighed and nodded, beginning to move with him as he started counting. It only took ten seconds for her to step on his foot, causing her to gasp and ramble out apologies.
Surprisingly, Roderich had only flinched slightly and carried on with dancing, shaking his head at her apologies and never breaking up his counting.
She managed to step on his feet six more times before she felt like she was used to the movement, her partner never complaining. Still, his relief was apparent when she managed to not step on his feet for several counts.
"You're getting better, two, three," he commented, still unwilling to stop his counting.
"At least I'm not stepping on you anymore," she sighed, "Hopefully your feet aren't too injured."
"I think I'll survive, three, four," he replied teasingly.
Elizabeta blushed and looked away for a moment, hoping he wouldn't notice.
However, when she looked back, she was startled to see that he was looking slightly down to make eye contact with her, his lips no longer moving. She was afraid to look back, but even more afraid to look away.
His eyes held hers and for the first time she noticed that he had the most unusual shade of violet for irises. Framed by his spectacles, they looked quite elegant. Her typical green eyes were nothing in comparison.
They spoke to each other with their eyes, as if it was something people did on a daily basis. The dance carried on, but now there was nothing guiding her except his eyes, those eyes that could see straight through her soul.
He was pulling her closer, close enough so that their chests were almost touching, his face gazing down at hers in a way that could only be described as a picture straight out of a fairytale.
Slowly, their feet stopped moving, though they continued to stay in that dancing position with their arms, looking at each other as if they'd known each other their whole lives.
It was slow, but sudden, something neither of them really saw coming. His lips fell to hers, grazing them ever so softly. She gasped in surprise, causing him to jerk away.
He released her and began brushing himself off as if he'd fallen, his face positively bright with the blood rushing to it.
"I-I-I'm terribly sorry," he managed to spit out, "That w-was completely inappropriate. I d-do hope you forgive me."
Elizabeta was frozen.
He kissed me… this aristocratic, noble kissed me, a peasant…
"N-No need to apologize," she stammered, "I… I actually didn't mind…"
Needless to say, he was caught off guard. Even so, he had no idea what the horrible repercussions would be for something that seemed so harmless.
WOO Finally we are progressing in the romance department! Not smut or hardcore or anything, but it's AusxHun so it has to be cute. They just are so adorable!
Well I really don't have much tos ay except thank you for all the reviews and favorites and alerts! It means so much! Keep it up and so will I with this whole writing thing!
