"Lord Foley has agreed to back our entire project," Aurora cut through his thoughts with his exact sentiment. The beaming grin across her face was so lovely, he couldn't look away. "I'm so glad, I was worried that we lost him when I started talking; but I was so excited that it just started spilling out."
Elmore squeezed her shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, his lips parted as he let out a small hum. "The point is that we did it;youdid it."
Her laughter was soft, muffled as people wandered past. She was so concerned with keeping herself in check, with looking right in front of the crowd of guests. It was a shame to see Aurora try so hard to fit in, because helikedthe real Aurora. The real Aurora wasn't afraid to speak her mind, and she loved botany with all her heart.
This new, restrained Aurora was so strange. Thankfully, Elmore knew how to fix that.
"Aurora," he asked, offering out his arm, "have you ever danced a pavilion quadrille?"
She just stared up at him blankly. "A...what?"
"It's a type of dance. Look, people are already gathering. Let me show you."
True enough, the dance floor was getting busy as he led her into the fray. Women in beautiful dresses flitted about, while the men urged them into position.
A quadrille, as the named suggested, required four pairs to dance in a diamond shape. Partners switched, so he and Aurora would not always be together; but they would return to each other by the end of the dance.
The music grew louder as everybody readied. It was an upbeat classical tune that echoed through the ballroom, friendly and inviting. Except, the strings were oddly out of tune and as the dance began, it was starting to grate on his ears.
The dancers bowed and curtseyed, and then Elmore was too busy stepping in time with the others to notice the poor quality music any longer.
They swished past the other dancers with expertise; and although he had to give Aurora guidance as a new dancer, she picked it up incredibly fast. Alarmingly so, even.
They turned then, and Elmore had to let go of Aurora's slender hand so that she could go to the next dancer. The woman that replaced her was tall and underweight, the dress too big for her tiny shoulders.
"Lord Winters," she said brightly, and her smile showed too many teeth, "how lovely to meet you."
"You too. Lady..?"
"Christopher."
He blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Christina. My name is Lady Christina."
He swore that wasn't what she said, but he must have misheard. Wasn't Christopher the name of the man who had hurt Aurora years ago?
His mind was distracted as they twirled, the ladies' skirts often coming close enough to bump together. Elmore found his mind drifting as he searched for Aurora. Yet he couldn't see her golden hair or her dress, both of which should have stood out brightly in the ballroom.
Her dancer was with someone else now, a woman in a red dress he didn't remember from before.
"I'm sorry," he said, stumbling, "have you seen the lady I was with? Miss Washam?"
The woman in red glanced over with a scowl. "If you don't mind, I'm trying to dance," she snapped; and then she was twirled away by her partner, and Elmore lost sight of them as the dance picked up.
He didn't remember the quadrille being so fast, but now Elmore was sweating. His dance partner sent him a disgusted look as he tried to discreetly wipe his hands on his suit jacket.
The entire time, Aurora was nowhere to be seen. He stumbled away from the woman to look, abandoning the dance mid-set. He hardly even noticed when the woman insulted him, or when the hash stares of the other dancers followed him as he strode away.
He took two steps before the music halted. Elmore should have been grateful for the peace, with the violin no longer screaming in his ear. Yet as the music stopped, so did the dancing; and everybody turned to stare at him.
"I'm only looking for Miss Washam," he stated to the crowd. "Has anybody seen her?"
Someone in the crowd sighed, the only sound in the otherwise eerie silence.
"Haven't you heard?" Somebody else piped up. "You've messed it up. The Baron doesn't want to back your project now, because it's led by alady."
He felt a jolt of indignation. How dare he say such a thing! Aurora was an essential part of this project and Lord Foley saw that.