In a room, Astrid was dressed in a beautiful sexy white dress that matched her beautiful red eyes and white hair. She walked towards the large mirror and began to look at herself. Suddenly Raphael appeared and hugged her from behind and began kissing her neck.
Astrid was extremely comfortable and felt loved by Raphael, and the two of them stayed hugging like that for a few seconds, until Raphael said:
"I heard about your past..."
"You don't have to worry about me, that's in the past."
"Okay... But how did he know about your past?"
"Good question... I feel something strange when I'm around him, it's as if he..."
"Was he from another world?" Raphael finished his sentence and Astrid nodded and said again:
"He is not like the humans on this planet, I can feel it in my soul."
"Hm, are you afraid of him?"
Astrid was thoughtful for a few moments and answered immediately afterwards:
"I am not afraid of him, I am afraid of what he might do. I can't even feel his presence, let alone his next moves."
Raphael didn't answer her, but to break that mood, they could hear knocking on the door, "knock knock knock" and Rose saying:
"I'm coming in."
Rose opened the door and when raphael saw her, he widened his eyes in surprise at the sight of her indescribable beauty. Wearing a sexy black dress that showed off her legs and wearing earrings that highlighted her beautiful blue eyes, Rose walked inside the room and spoke:
"Shall we get going? The feast will start in a few minutes."
"Cough-cough, yes, let's go." Raphael stopped hugging Astrid and they together started to leave the room and headed towards where the banquet would be held.
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Inside a huge hall, sindar was sitting on a throne next to his wife lagertha. The two of them together were watching ysabel and zed dancing in the middle of the hall to the sound of classical elven music.
A whole audience was standing around watching the two dancing, and further away, leaning against a wall next to a window, was jacob who was watching the two dancing while drinking alcohol.
"Sigh, when is this going to end?" Jacob was bored with that feast, honestly he didn't want to have come, but he knew he needed to keep an eye on raphael while he was about the sindar presence.
"Are you bored?"
Jacob looked away as he heard a girl's voice and found Grace wearing a beautiful short blue dress that highlighted her beauty and replied before taking his drink:
"It would be hard for me not to be bored."
"Haha, but is there something that is catching your attention today?"
"Nothing in specific..."
Grace walked towards Jacob and stopped beside him and whispered:
"My ability allows me to read other people's minds."
Jacob was shocked inside at that information, but he didn't let it show on his face and asked:
"Why are you revealing this to me?"
"I wanted you to know about it..."
Suddenly, Jacob threw Grace against the wall gently and brought his face closer to hers almost kissing her and spoke in a threatening tone:
"Tell the truth!"
She stared at jacob in the eyes for a few moments and then replied:
"I know you are not a spy from the demon realm."
"I want to know why you told me your ability! As far as I know, we're not allies or anything like that, so what do you want from me?"
"I want you to be my ally."
"Ally? Why would a hero want me as an ally?"
"Because Astrid is more afraid of you than the demon king himself."
Jacob was surprised by that information, but quickly regained his composure and asked:
"Then why would you ally yourself with someone as dangerous as me? Wouldn't that make you an enemy of the humans?" Jacob stared her in the eye as he waited for her answer, but just as she was about to reply, Jacob felt a touch of a hand on his shoulder and heard someone say:
"Hello mister voss, am I disturbing something here? I'm wanting to ask the heroine to dance."
Jacob turned away from grace so people wouldn't think something was going on between the two of them and answered the elf:
"It's not in the way of anything, you can take her dancing."
"Oh? Thank you sir voss..."
Suddenly, Grace interrupted him and said as she hugged Jacob's arm:
"I'm sorry, but we have arranged to dance together before."
"Oh, okay..." The elf excused himself and went back to where he was standing.
"What was that?" Jacob asked Grace, but her only response was to hold Jacob's hand and start walking towards the middle of the hall, where zed and ysabel were dancing.
Jacob, even though he already knew what she was planning, let himself be led by sheer curiosity to see what she was getting at.
The two of them stopped in the middle of the circle where the dance area was and drew the attention of everyone, including rodric who was isolated in a corner.
"So, do you want to dance with me?" Grace asked with an optimistic tone and Jacob answered with another question:
"You brought me to the middle so I couldn't refuse, right?"
"Uhum."
"Sigh... I've never danced before."
"It's not that hard, you just need to put your right hand on my hip and your left hand holding my right hand."
Jacob did exactly what she had said and after he had finished, he asked:
"Is that correct?"
"Exactly that! now you just need to get into the rhythm of the music."
"And how do I do that?"
"Hm... Have you ever played jump rope?"
"I played something like that when I was a kid..."
"Great! Remember when you had to get into rhythm with the rope to keep from falling? It's the same thing, just feel the music and connect with it."
Jacob sighed and closed his eyes, soon after, all his senses focused only on hearing and Jacob could only feel the music, it was as if there was only him and the music playing.
Soon after he opened his eyes and took the first step...
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Sindar and Lagertha looked in amazement at Jacob and Grace as they watched them dance, and even the elves, who were rigid with perfection, fell in love with their dancing.
Emma and some heroes who had arrived earlier, were surprised to see that their colleague was dancing with their biggest enemy today.
When Rodric saw Jacob dancing, he was extremely happy to see that his friend was enjoying the party. Ysabel and Zed, on the other hand, continued dancing as if they were competing against Jacob and Grace.
Suddenly the door to the ballroom opened and Raphael, Astrid and Rose entered, but to their surprise, no one even noticed them coming in, all because they were concentrating on the dancing that was going on in the middle of the ballroom.
"Him again..." Astrid whispered as she looked at jacob with a piercing gaze. She then looked at ysabel who was dancing with zed and reflected:
'I need to make ysabel fall in love with raphael.... But that task is not going to be very simple.'
She then looked at sindar and noticed a silver sword at his waist and whispered happily:
"Anna..." A memory began to take over her mind and a feeling of happiness and nostalgia was what remained.
"Anna?" Raphael asked confused.
"I didn't say anything, anyway, how about we go dancing?" Astrid was trying to change the subject quickly and Raphael replied surprised:
"Hm, I don't mind.... But rose is staying here alone?"
She didn't even make a point to answer raphael and just took his hand and led him towards ysabel....
Rose sighed tiredly and walked towards Emma.
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"Are you sure you can't dance?" Grace asked in surprise, after seeing all of Jacob's dancing skills.
"I've learned to dance now, but I'm confused about something... I thought you were shy, but you suddenly called me to dance while everyone was watching."
"I'm shy with people I'm not intimate with and I'm shy at specific times."
"Hm, And do we have any intimacy?"
"We do have intimacy, we are allies after all, aren't we?"
Jacob just stared into her blue eyes as they danced without answering, he really wasn't sure about that, but suddenly Grace started talking:
"I want to have freedom..."
"Freedom? You're not trapped, that is..."
"Yes, I want to escape the responsibilities of a hero."
"Oh?" Jacob began to get interested and asked:
"Why?"
"Because I never wanted that. If someone puts a sword in my hand and gives me armor, now I'm forced to fight a war I don't belong in? I never wanted to be a part of that! Never! But because I gained a power I didn't desire, now I am forced to fight demons and possibly face the demon king and die."
"Hm, that's a good dilemma... Having power doesn't mean I should have responsibilities."
"Yes, that's why I want to escape and you are the only person who can help me."
Jacob was thoughtful and was actually considering making grace his ally....