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“Would you dance for a song with this sinner?” Eula asked with downcast eyes, an outstretched hand, and an ever-elusive smile teasing at the corners of her lips.
She knows I’ve been watching, Amber thought, heat suffusing her face. She knows! “H-huh?” Amber spluttered.
“Come, now,” Eula said as she stepped forward. “I’m sure you’re curious. I’ll lead you through it.” She was close enough that Amber had to tilt her head up to meet Eula’s gaze even as the taller Knight leaned down to meet hers.
What an overwhelming presence. Amber steepled her fingers in front of her face and quickly averted her eyes from Eula’s bare shoulders. Flakes of frost were rapidly melting on that patch of warm skin, and they still sparkled where they clung to Eula’s hair and clothes.
Eula seemed to take Amber’s flustered silence as rejection. “Consider it an open invitation should it ever strike your fancy,” Eula said cooly. She tossed her blue curls over her shoulder, sending a puff of glittering snowflakes into the air, and Amber was so transfixed by the sight that she didn’t register Eula leaving until she started walking away.
“W-wait!” Amber started forward, spurred by the flutter of Eula’s cape as she paused mid-step. Their roles were swapped—Amber stood with her hand outstretched, but she was too nervous to fully reach out and grab Eula’s shoulder. She hesitated for a second longer before her fingers curled into a fist, and Amber drew back to clasp her hands in front of her chest.
“I am. I mean, I am curious. About your dance,” Amber said in faltering sentences. Her eyes were glued to the open window at the back of Eula’s uniform. She nearly choked as Eula’s shoulder blades shifted in the fluid rise and fall of a deep sigh.
“You don’t have to force yourself to hang around someone like me,” Eula said. Her head turned toward the treeline; Amber could just barely make out the tightening of Eula’s brow and the solemn set of her mouth from her shadowed profile.
“Eula,” Amber tried again, voice soft, “You know that’s not how I feel about you.” She bit her lip to keep more from spilling out and had to clear her throat before continuing. “Will you show me?”
Eula sighed again—though noticeably lighter and more exaggerated if one was familiar with her nuances—and said, “Very well. I’ll humor this request as a favor to you, dear Outrider.”
The redness in Amber’s cheeks returned with a vengeance, and she couldn’t even hide it as Eula turned and glided toward her in long, easy strides. “I can’t say I have very much experience with dancing,” Amber started to ramble distractedly. “What if I step on your toes? Wait, I think- I’m sure I am going to step on your toes. What about the music? There’s no music; how do we-”
“You can put your hands here,” Eula cut in, ignoring Amber’s babbling as she tugged her closer with a firm grip on Amber’s wrist. “I will lead, and you will follow.”
Amber could feel the coolness of Eula’s hands even through the layers of both of their gloves. She finally shut her mouth and let Eula arrange her as she pleased—it was all she could do to stand, pink-cheeked and breathless, without trembling.
“The Dance of Sacrifice is a ritual passed down in the aristocratic families.” As she began her explanation, Eula’s exhale curled around Amber’s ear. The warmth from Eula’s breath and body coaxed a different type of heat to rise inside Amber that she tamped down as residual embarrassment. Amber had to resist the urge to duck her head because Eula’s closeness left no room for her to go.
“The third act of the dance represents the Lawrence Clan”—Eula led Amber backward, sideways, forward, sideways—“and it’s a solo dance that took me years to master.”
Amber’s fingers twitched where they rested high on Eula’s upper arm as she stumbled through a misstep. “Hang on.” Amber nearly tripped as her foot caught on her own ankle, but Eula’s hand tightened on her waist to keep her upright. “You said a solo dance?”
“Yes.” Eula didn’t elaborate further as they continued in their slow circle, the only sounds being the slow wash of waves hitting the lakeside shore, wind whistling through the forest behind them, and their breathing matched in tandem. If Amber closed her eyes, she could almost imagine hearing Eula’s heartbeat. Her own was aflutter in her ears, keeping the blush hot on her face.
Amber was silently grateful that Eula hadn’t commented on it. “So what dance is this, then, if not the one you were just doing?”
A huff of uncharacteristic laughter caused Amber to freeze up, the toe of her shoe scuffing the dirt, and her breath caught in her chest. “A beginner’s waltz,” Eula answered. Her fingers tightened briefly around Amber’s where they were laced together in a loose grip. “For beginners,” she emphasized.
“Oh.” Amber frowned, not bothering to disguise the disappointment in her voice. “I wanted to see the other one again, the one you were doing before I interrupted.”
Eula appeared to mull on her words, effortlessly gliding through the movements while Amber took advantage of the silence to start counting her steps.
One, two, three—“Are you asking”—four, five—“for a private show?”
Six?! Amber twitched so hard that she stomped on her own foot and lurched forward, missing Eula’s face by a margin as she flailed about to find her balance.
Strong arms wrapped around her, an open palm splayed against her lower back and the other between her shoulder blades, and Amber found herself pulled into a warm, sweet-smelling embrace. Her head slotted perfectly into the crook of Eula’s neck; Amber couldn’t resist a soft, sharp inhale at the press of Eula’s body against hers.
“You’re very tense,” Eula commented as Amber felt the pressure of fingertips running across her upper back. Her heart rate was out of control—Amber worried that Eula would be able to sense the wild thrum so she took a step back, and Eula released her without a word.
“S-sorry about that.” Amber dropped her gaze and rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand. At this rate, the redness would never die off, and she’d be constantly blushing everywhere in Mondstadt.
Eula gave a single, curt nod as she watched Amber with careful eyes. “I understand. Dancing isn’t for everyone. Unless . . .” Eula paused, “you’re nervous around me for a different reason?”
“It’s not what you think!” Amber blurted out, her instinctual reaction whenever Eula started badmouthing herself as a member of the Lawrence Clan. But the immediate shuttering of Eula’s expression, the practiced coolness that slid over the elegant lines of her face, made Amber regret her words for the first time.
“Or, um, maybe it is what you think?” Amber tried, wide-eyed as she attempted to glean any indication of what Eula was thinking, but the Knight was as unreadable as ever.
“What, exactly, am I thinking?” Eula asked with a slight, inquisitive tilt of her head.
Amber took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. “I think you may be thinking that I l-like you,” Amber said unsteadily, “and you would be right in thinking that.”
She bit her bottom lip to keep from rambling again and stared at her feet. The pit in Amber’s stomach grew the longer the silence stretched out between them, and Amber was seconds away from faking an emergency and booking it back to Mondstadt when Eula finally said, “The open invitation. And, I suppose, the private show.”
Huh? Amber braved a glance upward to see Eula staring out over the water with what looked suspiciously like a very faint, very light pink flush on her cheeks. “They’re yours if you want them,” Eula continued.
Huh?! “Wait, what does that mean?” Amber blinked as her mind rapidly processed something that her heart couldn’t handle.
“I’m sure the Acting Grand Master is tired of our dawdling. I’m heading back first.” And with that, Eula walked off, the sound of her boots crunching in the sandy dirt quickly fading as the transition to grass underfoot muted her steps.
What just happened? Amber shook herself from her stupor, hope flickering to life like a low flame in her chest that grew with every breath she took. Does this mean-
Amber spun on her heel to catch a glimpse of the tail from Eula’s blue cape disappearing into the woods. “Wait, Eula! Captain Eula!” Amber took after her, determined to wring less ambiguous answers from the aloof Knight.