May I Have This Dance?

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 12th May 2009

Characters: Corowal, Erassa, Corolia
Description: Corowal asks Erassa to dance during the wedding.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 2, day 7 of Turn 5

Corowal managed to get rid off the fat Lady. How that milkbeast had managed to become a Lady Holder? Not by her dancing skills, that was sure, his toes hurt. He spotted Erassa at the side of the room, with the older children. The younger ones were probably sleeping by now. He approached them with a mischievous grin. "May I have this dance, beautiful lady?" he asked and bowed to Erassa.

Erassa gave a soft, embarrassed chuckle as she gently smoothed down Corolia's hair. "I'm hardly the kind of company you should be keeping tonight, Lord Corowal. I have a reputation, you know."

"No one is going to pay any attention to it. My wife is currently dancing with her father. Tell her that she must dance with me," Corowal said and appealed to the children.

"Dance with him. I danced too," Corolia piped in.

She smiled down at the children, but turned her eyes up to him almost pleadingly. "My Lord, there are already enough rumors..." What if his new bride disapproved? She could have Erassa thrown out of their quarters. She could lose her position, her relationship with the children. And of her son?

"Pfft, with the rumours," Corowal said with breezy tone.

Well, now all her arguments were gone, and with the children edging her forward, there was nothing more she could really say. "All right, sir. Thank you, I will dance with you."

Corowal offered her his arm and escorted her to the dance floor. The harpers stringed up a lively tune.

Erassa took a deep breath as she turned to face him, trying very hard to ignore the stares and whispered that she wasn't sure were real or imagined as his hand slipped around her waist. She certainly couldn't look him in the eye as she placed her other hand in his, careful to keep a respectable distance between them. "The ceremony was lovely, sir. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Erassa. I hope you and the children have had a good time," Corowal replied as he led her into the dance. "I haven't got much time to see the children," he said ruefully.

"Well, I think they are very interested in the goings on at the very least." They did not say so outright to her, but she could tell not all of them were pleased at their father remarrying, which was to be expected.

"This is a big change for them," Corowal said. "At least to the older ones. Wallia is too young to understand."

"Yes. They are trying to understand too, though." Erassa doubted he had an answer for her yet, but she had to ask. "Just how much will things be changing, sir?"

"I can't really tell that yet," Corowal said. He leaned bit closer and whispered: "But there won't be any drudges coming out of my bedroom any longer."

"Well, I would hope not, sir," she replied back just as softly. "Where would your wife sleep?"

Corowal looked rather naughty for a moment: "With us," he suggested rather leerily and then laughed. "She probably won't want to share me."

She dropped her eyes to look at the feet of the couples dancing around them. Did he just get her out on the dance floor to prove to her once again what a sharing ass he really was? "No wife ever does, m'lord."
**Nor should they have to.**

"Shards, Erassa, that was a _joke_! I'm not quite that bad. Now that I have wife, I plan to settle down and be a good boy." And he would, at first. How long it would last, only future could tell.

Something told her that the Holder had not been faithful even to his late wife. His illegitimate daughter proved nothing, but certainly raised questions in her mind. "I'm sure your new wife will be very happy to have a faithful and loving husband."

"Yes, I'm sure she is," Corowal said. He was too happy today to pay attention if she was being sarcastic or not.

He had better behave himself or Erassa was through. If his wife suspected he was sleeping around, the very first woman her glance would fall upon would be her. She was Corowal's most convenient target, though perhaps that was to her advantage. If he were to get the inkling to stray, she would be his easiest companion. Perhaps she should make sure of that. Should Corowal be unfaithful to his wife with any woman, and if she were to suspect, Erassa would need his loyalty as more than just a milkmother, she was sure of it. "Sir, perhaps I am speaking too boldly, but I would like to stress that, if you were to... find comfort in another woman's arms, you know your wife's wrath would come down hardest on _me_, don't you?"

Corowal hadn't even thought of such, so it took him awhile to answer. "Then we must make sure it never comes to that," he said softly. "I like you, Erassa, and you're doing wonderfully with my children. I would protect you."

"I love the children, sir, and I only want their happiness," she murmured softly. It was the truth. But she needed to assure her son's happiness as well. "But her suspicion would fall directly on me if she had any reason to doubt you. There are already rumors that swirl around us. I live in the same rooms, I can spend time alone with you without anyone seeing you coming and going. We will spend time alone together almost daily. If you were to be unfaithful, I would be the most convenient and obvious choice. It wouldn't matter if it were true or not. She would have to wonder if you and I had been carrying on an affair the whole time and she just didn't know. How _would_ she know?" Erassa paused a moment, letting that information sink into his mind. If he were to be unfaithful, she wanted his first thought to be of her. Her eyes finally raised to his. "She could make you and the children unhappy, and I couldn't stay if I were the cause of such pain for them."

"I would hate to see you leave and the children would be miserable," Corowal just said, his voice absent, thoughtful. It would be so easy, so..tempting. The music ended before he could continue on that strain of thought. He bowed to her and escorted her back to her table. "Aww, look at that, Corolia is fallen asleep." The little girl was slumped against the table, her face filled with angelic peacefulness of a sleeping child and lot's cake frosting.

"Perhaps I should take them all to bed now. It's been a long day." She gently smoothed the girl's hair back before reaching for nearby cloth and glass of water. That frosting was going to have to come off before they made their exit. "And I should take the babies to their own beds as well. I'm sure the nurses have their hands full tonight."

"Yes. Thanks for the dance and good night. Kiss the children for me," Corowal said. "I still have long nigh ahead of me."

Last updated on the May 20th 2009

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May I Have This Dance?