A Rafael Interlude

It had been a while since Rafael had been to a party.

Sure, there was the housewarming party for Maria's estate, but that didn't count. He lived there. It was home. And while he had been invited to it, he hadn't really been able to participate much in the twin princes' graduation party.

In previous parties that he had attended as 'Sirius Dieke', he mostly remembered the feeling of being surrounded by enemies. As the 'son' of that woman, who was a Marchioness and therefore untrustworthy, people had been wary about him, putting up smiles that were as fake as his own. In fact, he'd learned his smile from such people, nobles he meant to bring down and destroy—after that woman of course, priorities.

This was the first party he'd actually attended as 'Rafael Walt', and had been invited to under that name. He was addressed as 'Vice-Director Walt', sometimes 'Master Walt' if people happened to miss his title, but never after being corrected. Though he could have done without all the glares directed his way. Well, it was inevitable. After all, he was accompanying the most beautiful, most perfect woman in the room. Of course people would be jealous. Was it strange that he felt more comfortable and in less danger around Maria's wards, women who often always had knives on their persons and were in varying states of unrequited love and devotion for his fiancée?

They had parted from the others after Keith, Mary, Sophia, and Katarina's cousins all started muttering darkly about the Third Prince. Nicol had excused himself to go get his sister a drink and therefore politely excise himself from the group of people speaking ill of his best friend, and Maria and he had done the same to 'not get dragged into the nonsense'. So Rafael finally had the opportunity to do something that he'd been trying to do for what felt like years.

"Lady Maria," he said, peeling away from her side and holding out his hand in invitation as he faced her, "would you do me the honor of dancing with me?"

Ah, her stunned look as he asked was so cute. Though her face quickly smoothed, her blush was intense as she took his hand. "I would be delighted, my dear Rafael."

They hadn't gotten a chance to dance during what should have been his graduation, because he hadn't officially been there. They hadn't been able to dance during the school festival or the post-graduation party the princes had thrown because Dark Magic wielders, who always seemed to get in the way and cause trouble at such things. They hadn't managed to dance during their own housewarming because they'd been… uh… well, all right, but still, it was the principle of the thing!

But here and now, they had been invited to a party, there was music, there was dancing, so he was going to dance with the most beautiful woman in the room and there was nothing anyone could do about it!

They faced each other, holding hands as he put his other hand to her waist and she put hers on his shoulder. They stood face to face and Rafael marveled that for all that Maria could be very intimidating, she was actually a head shorter than he was. Her boots had flat heels, adding no height. Yet when she walked, she did so with assurance and confidence, making her seem far, far taller…

Rafael took a deep breath and began to lead.

The first few steps were awkward. Learning to dance had simply been something he'd had forced on him by that woman and tutors. And he hadn't danced or practiced and years and why hadn't he thought to practice?-!-?-!-? Still, he persevered. It was all about moving to the beat of the music. Place your feet, and turn with your partner. It was only after that was accomplished should one worry about the flourishes and sways. Still, he was glad to manage not stepping on her feet or on her hem. The fact Maria wasn't wearing a skirt helped. Rafael resisted the urge to look down, staring fixedly at the top of Maria's head. He'd had it drilled into him that never helped, it slowed the dance, and it never looked good.

Eventually, his steps smoothed as muscle memory arose from where it had been buried deep. Rafael sighed in relief as he slowly relaxed, moving with the general flow of the other dancers—there were always dancers, it was a party—as they moved to the music. With an internal wince, he realized that while he had been dancing, he'd also been ignoring his partner. Chagrined, he looked down to meet Maria's eyes, opening his mouth to apologize—

He blinked as she saw her eyes flicking around them, her head perfectly still as she observed their surroundings. Rafael watched for several seconds, following her gaze as it flicked from one pair to another, never ceasing. Huh? Why was she so intent? The other dancers weren't so near them that they needed to keep watch in case they might run into each other, so why—?

…

Oh.

OH.

Rafael felt like an idiot.

"Uh, Maria," he said, and watched as her eyes snapped towards him. Her steps never faltered. "I should probably have asked before but… do you know how to dance?"

Yes, definitely something he should have asked her before asking her to dance.

Again, Maria blushed, even as they both moved together. "Ah, that is… I watched Lady Mary teaching Shana," she said. "And I… well, the people around me have been very instructive…"

Maria blushed again, looking away.

Rafael's heart writhed in a bizarre mix of mortification and admiration. "If you didn't know… you could have just told me," he said.

Maria shook her head sharply. "I wanted to dance with you," she said, her eyes coming up to meet his again.

!-!-!-!-!-!

Rafael had to remind himself that as romantic as kissing your partner while dancing was in stories, it was considered course and vulgar and scandalous, no matter how much he wanted to, because his fiancée was beautiful and wonderful and… and…

Nope, no, she might think he was ravishing her… actually, no matter what her response was to 'he was ravishing her', it probably wasn't something he'd like other people to see, if for different reasons.

"I love you," he said instead, feeling his own face start to grow warm.

Maria smile looked like a tangled thing, but happiness and affection shone through. "I love you too, dear Rafael," she said quietly.

They danced.

A Sophia 'Most-Definitely-NOT-The-Paledrake-That-Would-Be-Wrong-And-Very-Silly' Interlude

"Ugh, those two…" Mary said, glaring at the two dancing figures. To be fair, she wasn't the only one doing so, but Sophia was reasonably sure she was one of the few people whose reason was strictly platonic. "Do they have to flaunt the fact they're so deliriously happy with each other in front of us single people?"

Dame Matthew blinked. "Aren't you engaged to his highness Prince Alan, Lady Mary?"

Mary slapped on her 'most definitely not an evil Marchioness' mask so fast it was almost dizzying to watch. "Y-yes, exactly, Lady Matthew!" Mary made a show of sniffing in disapproval. "You'd think they'd have the delicacy to be mindful of the fact that my dear fiancé isn't around to escort me to her grace's wonderful party. Still, I suppose it's perfectly understandable they only have eyes for each other."

"They dance so beautifully together," Katarina's cousin Lady Marie gushed. "It makes me want to dance as well! Olga, will you dance with me?"

Sophia almost rolled her eyes at the barely-concealed deviance, but restrained herself. Really, who did Lady Marie think she was fooling? Sophia should really do the right thing and warn her new friend of their twin's unnatural inclinations.

Lady Olga flushed. "M-Marie! What will people think?"

"They'll think two sisters are dancing," Keith said. "Go on Olga, you know how Marie likes to dance. And if anyone casts any aspersions, Cousin Matthew and I will sort them out."

Dame Matthew nodded sharply, and Sophia almost imagined her eye glowing. "Yes, sisters, just go have fun."

Olga sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll dance. Though don't you want to dance with Keith instead? You know, so it doesn't look we—?"

She was cut off as her sister happily grabbed her hand and pulled her to the dance floor,

Handholding! So lewd! Sophia shook her head and turned to her brother. "Big brother, I want to dance too!" she said.

Nicol smiled at her fondly and nodded, teasing her about still being such a child who wanted to dance on the big floor with all the grownups.

"I'm not a child, I'm an adult and proud business owner," Sophia huffed smugly as she held out her hand to her brother. "I make more souls than you do, remember?"

Nicol's smile became proud, acknowledging her point, and lauding her for how much she'd been able to accomplish since she graduated from the Academy as he mournfully commented that she probably did less paperwork than he did.

"Are you kidding?" she said as she put a hand on Nicol's elbow. Their height difference, even after all the milk Sophia had drank over the years, still made trying to dance with her hand on his shoulder impractical. "Maria's the other co-owner, remember? What could possibly make you think I don't have to do paperwork?"

Nicol gave a small chuckle as he acknowledged her point, causing every dancer in a fifteen-foot radius around them to suddenly faint, swaying and falling all over each other, save for a confused Marie and Olga.

"Big brother," Sophia chided.

Her brother gave a slightly exasperated shrug as he guiltlessly asserted he would never feel guilty for the joy she gave him, no matter what happened to the horny idiots around him because of it.

Sophia rolled her eyes and shook her head, leaning against her brother as they danced to the most excellent music being played while Claes servants hurriedly extracted and roused fallen guests from the dance floor.

She'd fallen a bit behind in her plans to NTR the stupidly-smart black-hearted prince, but it couldn't be helped! After all, for all the renown and respect her father's position as Prime Minister afforded their family, the fact of the matter was they were of relatively modest means for nobility, capable of only a bare fraction of the resources richer nobles like Mary could call upon. Sophia didn't have spies and informants to help her keep track of the others and keep her best friend Katarina safe. Her family just didn't have the income for her to operate at that scale, and while she knew her parents would give the souls to her if she asked for it, with no explanations needed, Sophia knew that if word got out the Prime Minister's daughter, his scaleless possibly-Paledrake daughter, was spending that sort of money, it would be a political weapon to use against her father.

Oh, he'd weather through it, but it would be months, possibly even years of politically forced audits and having his good name not exactly besmirched, but certainly lightly dusted. And he would never, ever blame her for it, simply smile and tell her he loved her and that this sort of thing was politically inevitable, and that if her actions hadn't caused it, something else would have…

Only Nicol's gentle touched kept her from clenching her hands into fists at the thought. No, as the daughter of Prime Minister Ascart, she couldn't fight on the same level as her frenemy rivallies. Not without bringing hardship to her father.

But as one of the owners and most public face of the Nightflower Workshop? The one nearly every noble encountered, the one whose favor they courted to have nightflower displays be part of their soirees, galas, and events? The one they were already hastily renaming the Twinkling Titanite Beauty, whose skin and hair shown like that rarest of godly metals, most definitely not a freak with hair like an old woman and totally not the paledrake that would be wrong and very silly?

Sophia fought the urge to cackle.

Soon… SOON… Soon, she would have spies and informants and pawns everywhere, just like the others! And with this huge boost to her fighting power, she would have her dear big brother FINALLY notice his feelings for her—er, for LADY KATARINA, and then he could NTR her from that sadist black-hearted prince, and then Lady Katarina would be Sophia's sister-in-law in addition to being her best friend, and they could spend all day reading novels together as Nicol worked long hours at the castle, so Sophia and Katarina would spend a lot of time with only each other for company, and eventually Katarina would be so sexually frustrated that she would confess how much she missed big brother, and Sophia like a good sister-in-law not related by blood would ask Katarina if there was any way she could help, and Katarina would be so frustrated she'd… she'd… and then they'd be so occupied that they'd lose track of time, so that big brother would catch them together when he got home, and Sophia would beg for his forgiveness, and Nicol, would… would… would…

Nicol sighed as blood began to drip down Sophia's nose, subtly taking a handkerchief and blotting out the sudden nosebleed, sternly telling his distracted little sister that she had to go and see one of their friends the Light Magic wielders, her having one of her random noesbleeds was very concerning.

…Deleted Scene…

A/N: A little bit of cut content, of the sort Zullie The Witch might find by looking through the code. Almost complete but unused in the final build.

Speaking of said fiancée, she seemed to have allowed herself to be argued against declaring that Keith had gone insane, something that Mary, Sophia and Nicol all seemed to find amusing for some reason. "Am I missing something?" he asked.

"I'll explain later," Mary chortled.

Nicol, bless him, was much more helpful, explaining how Maria had once accused the Third Prince of being insane because he hadn't shown up to visit Katarina when the latter had had a free week after a storm. Not in so many words, of course, but Rafael understood what he meant. For Rafael, that storm had been memorable for his fiancée collapsing in shock upon learning that her mother and Anne had been getting intimate, so it made sense that he hadn't heard about this. "Ah, thank you Nicol," he said. Really, was all that too much to say? Nicol had managed it.

Off to the side, Dame Matthew and her sisters looked equally confused, so Rafael decided to enlighten them. "You see, a few weeks ago Maria also accused Lady Katarina's fiancée of being insane because he hadn't been to visit her."

As one, the three women frowned, looking… disgusted. "Oh, him," Lady Olga said, putting such loathing in the pronoun that Rafael almost expected it to spontaneously curse them out of proximity.

Keith smiled fondly. "Now cousins, don't be like that. That look is completely unnatural on your lovely faces," he said. "Why let him ruin the occasion when he's not even here? Let's talk about something else. Olga, Marie, you've already met Lady Maria and her fiancée. Did you know she used to be the Student Council President at the Academy during our second year?"

Lady Olga blinked. "What, really?" She turned to look at Rafael's fiancée with interest.

Keith nodded. "Oh yes. And she technically ran it too for most of our first year, after that unfortunate circumstance with the Student Council President."

"Lord Keith, I thought you cared for your cousin. Why do you seem to be encouraging her to join the Student Council if that is the case?" Maria said blandly.