I'm really sorry I never finished this. I won't bother with excuses since it's really just a waste of words, I'll just let you get on with the story. Although I would like to mention that this chapter was actually supposed to be longer but since I spent so much time on it already, I just ended it here (hence the awkward ending) - that has also changed the number of chapters so I think 'The Dance' will probably end up being posted as 3/4 different parts instead of just the 2. But yeah, never mind that. I hope you all enjoy this as well as the last (for now) Vampirates book! Thank you so much for the support/encouragement/reviews too! I promise I will finish this eventually.

Grace stepped out of the carriage and (with the assistance of Finch - she'd learnt her lesson, now) onto the slippery cobbles and looked up at the building in front of her, a grey stone building ornamented in an ancient gothic style; it was impressive but rather bleak; made even more so by the drizzling rain and cloudy sky.

As she looked up she felt a wave of vertigo and was forced to close her eyes as the scene began to blur. The ground rocked beneath her feet, like a ship lurched thought the waves. She felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

"Grace?" Kyna asked softly.

She opened her eyes, and the rocking motion stopped. She turned to face Lorcan's mother, "We ought to be heading inside, now, we're getting soaked"

Grace nodded, but hesitated a few more seconds to watch Josephine and Clare get out of the carriage they'd ridden from Connemara, and a second carriage pull up which they'd rented for the occasion (Catalina's excuse had been she hadn't wanted her dress to be wrinkled), which Lorcan, Catalina, Anna and Davin rode in. She watched as Lorcan, dressed in all his finery, got out of the carriage first to help his pale angel, Catalina, down. The sight reminded her of a bride and groom dressed for their wedding day.

"Come on, Grace" Clare said, taking her hand and pulling her towards the building, "It's too wet to be standing around"

Grace let herself be propelled towards the building. She knew she needed to be thinking of a plan to save Lorcan, but she felt so lost at that moment, not helped by her current light-headedness. There wasn't anything she could do, he was going to die and it would be all her fault…

Snap out of it! She mentally commanded herself, Think of something! What would Connor do if he were here? He'd be memorising exits and looking for potential threats and things.

With great effort, she pulled her mind back into focus, and began to focus on what she knew: Lorcan had died in Dublin when he was 17 year old - this was defiantly the right place and time.
He then began a vampire - this also made sense considering his girlfriends was most likely a vampire, albeit who could walk in the light.

Grace paused in her musings as they entered the building, and she, Clare, Kyna and Josephina were directed into a large room where a number of other ladies stood around chatting, drinking coffee and freshening up. A servant offered to take Grace's wet cloak, and gratefully she accepted.

The dressing room was crowded - already she has lost sight of the Fureys among all the posh ladies in their lavish gowns - and more were arriving every minute; among the newcomers she spotted Anna and Catalina. Anna waved at her, she was beaming as she slipped between the throngs and made her way over to Grace.

"Isn't this fun?"

"Yeah…it's great" she said half-heatedly, Anna didn't seem to notice or mind her lack of enthusiasm.

"How many people do you think are here? Catalina said there's at least three-hundred, but I think there's going to be a million people! What do you think?"

"Um, I'm not sure, maybe-"

"Oh! Do you think they'll be any cake?" Anna exclaimed excitedly, cutting in. Grace couldn't help but smile at that, "What about sweetmeats? Or maybe pie? I hope there is, I'm going to ask mother!" with that she ran off towards a table covered in combs, pins, needles, thread and other frivolities; where, Kyna stood patiently pinning back a strand of hair that had come lose from Clare's bun.

As a rather large woman bumped into her and hastily apologised, Grace decided to wait for the others outside; she quickly followed a gaggle of young women through another doorway and into a waiting room. Three young men rose to greet the ladies and they left through another door, which, Grace guessed, lead to the main ballroom.

She spotted Josephine sitting in one of the seats and, glad to see a familiar face (even if they were still fighting), Grace sat beside her.

Josephine raised an eyebrow when she saw her, "Done already?"

"Yes," she said squirming inwardly at her scrutinizing gaze. Josephine, unlike her younger sister, seemed to recognise Grace's discomfort.

"I only mentioned it because you're not wearing any gloves"

"Gloves?" Grace repeated, looking down at her bare hands and then at Josephine's white gloved ones, before stealing a quick glance at the rest of the rooms occupants; all of which also wore white gloves, "I don't have any gloves"

Josephine's other eyebrow rose to join the first one, "You don't have any gloves?" she confirmed, "Why on earth would you go to a ball without gloves. You can't even dance without gloves on"

Was it really that big of a deal? "Well, that's okay, I wasn't planning on dancing"

Josephine looked at her incredulously, "Are you being serious?"

"I don't do dancing. I don't even know how to dance" She couldn't understand what all the fuss was about, and anyway she had more important things to be worrying about right now.

Josephine opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it, as Lorcan appeared.

"Good Evening, " he said, looking at Josephine, then Grace and then back at Josephine. When neither answered, he rolled his eyes, "Are you two still fighting?"

"No, of course not" Josephine answered quickly.

"No," Grace said at the same time. She didn't want to talk about it with him, of all people. Plus, she wasn't exactly sure they were still fighting; Josephine was speaking to her now, after all.

His gaze flicked between them again, "Really, you two are both so puerile."

Josephine snorted, "I suppose puerile is a word Catalina taught you, because goodness knows you've never read anything with a words as erudite as that"

Her insult only made Lorcan laugh. Grace wondered why he baited her like that, but then she noticed the familiar spark of playfulness in both their eyes, clearly this was only a squabble between siblings, nothing more.

"That is exactly what I mean," said Lorcan, "you're acting like a juvenile, little sister"

She glared at him, "Little sister? I am only a year younger than you, dear brother, and from what I recall it is I who ends up putting the estates in order, when mother can't, and it was I who had to plan this trip after you begged me for help and-"

"Excuse me, but what is going on here?" a melodic voice interrupted. Grace turned her head and saw Catalina standing with her folded, glaring at the siblings, "We are in a public place, and I will not have my fiancée making a scene for all of Ireland to see" she said angrily.

Lorcan, at least, had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. Josephine merely frowned, "I'm going to go see if the others are ready" she turned towards Grace and dropped a spare pair of while gloves on her lap, "Trust me, you'll need these" she said before disappearing back into the dressing room and passing Kyna on the way, leaving Grace to ponder her words.

As Kyna joined them, she noticed, for the first time that she was not wearing black. Instead, she was wearing a deep purple albeit trimmed with black lace. But perhaps the biggest change was Kyna's expression as she laughed wholeheartedly at a joke a big-boned woman walking next to her had just told. She wiped away a few tears of laughter and then smiled as she caught sight of the trio, "Ah, here they are!"

"Lorcan, I'd like you to meet Lady Lifford, a very old and very dear friend of mine"

He bowed formally, "A pleasure to meet you"

The woman - Lady Lifford - laughed good naturedly and Grace immediately decided she liked Kyna's friend, "He looks just like you, Kyna. The hair, those eyes…very handsome. I'm surprised he's not married, with those looks"

To Grace's surprise Lorcan blushed.

Kyna laughed again, "He might as well be; this is his fiancée Lady Catalina de Bánffy" Catalina curtsied.

"Ah, I see. And what a beautiful bride you'll be, Lady Catalina. I wish you every happiness for the future"

Catalina smiled, "Thank you"

Kyna nodded towards Grace, "This here is Miss Grace Tempest, her brother's a Captain and she's been staying with us, while he is away"

Grace stood up and attempted to curtsey as Catalina had, it was harder than it looked and she wobbled unsteadily for a moment before catching her balance.

Lady Lifford's eyes widened, "Ooh, a Captain? How exciting. I knew a captain once…" she turned towards Kyna, her eyes sparkling, "Surly you remember Captain Callaghan from Clare-Isle"

Kyna's eyes were sparkling too, "Oh aye, I remember him. A fine fellow, very handsome. And I do seem to remember having to distract your chaperone and your parents while you two got acquainted in the garden"

Both women laughed. Lorcan was blushing again, "Mother! You can't say things like that, it's too scandalous"

"Oh, hush and wipe that stunned look off you're face. I did have a life before I was married, you know. And anyway, it's alright, Lady Lifford is family; we're second cousins, three times removed."

Lady Lifford's brow furrowed, "Humph, I always thought it was third cousins, twice removed"

Grace sat back down as the two women began to argued good naturedly. She could definitely see where Lorcan and Josephine got at least some of their personality from.

"I'm going to ask one of the servants to see if they can find any of my sisters, so we can go into the main hall" Grace heard Lorcan say to Catalina, "I'll be back in a minute"

"Well for goodness sakes don't start arguing with them again once you do find them, and don't cause a scene"

He chuckled, "We were only joking around you know"

Catalina frowned, "That is what I don't like about it"

He tenderly caressed the side of her face for a few seconds, "Don't worry, I'll behave," She smiled briefly, but the smile faded as he let go of her, turned his back and disappeared to find a servant.

For a moment Grace was struck at what dashing figure Lorcan cut in his dark hat, boots and buttoned coat; the only time she'd seen him so dressed up before was at the feast.

That struck a cord in Grace's memory. Of course! She though, I need to be keeping an eye on him, not day dreaming! And I need a plan.

She thought back to what she had been thinking before; of the facts she already knew that surrounded Lorcan's death.

She'd gotten the time and place right. She'd also established that Catalina was a vampire. This left two very big questions in Grace's mind. The first being: What had happened to Catalina? If Catalina was a vampire, she was immortal right? So where was she in the year 2512? Grace was pretty sure she would have known by now if the girl was living on the Nocturne, there was just some things even Lorcan would never be able to hide.

Her second question was: How exactly had Lorcan died? Had Catalina killed him so they could have a happily ever after? Had someone else killed him and she saved him? Had Catalina told him what she was, had he begged her to change him? The last one was seeming more and more likely to Grace as time went on.

The questions circled her mind, but no matter how hard she thought, she struggled to answer either of them.

"Grace," a voice said her concentration, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, yes," She answered realising it was Catalina who spoke. She now noticed that Lorcan had managed to find all his siblings and they were waiting for her. She stood up and followed across the room and towards a large set of double doors, slipping on her gloves as she did so.

There was a small line forming at the door, so Grace and the others were forced to stop for a moment, as a servant announced the names of the two families in front of them to the rest of the assembly.

Regardless all the dangers she had been though, Grace felt nervous, she had never been to a ball before and wasn't quite sure what to expect.

All too soon, they reached the front of the line. And the announcer began to call out their names, "Presenting The Right Honourable Lord and Lady Furey, Baron and Baroness of Connemara-"

Both Lorcan and Kyna smiled and disappeared into the ball room. Despite everything Grace felt a twinge of amusement: The Right Honourable? She'd have to mention that one to the 26th century Lorcan.

However, she realised, now was not the time to dwell over it, as the servant continued speaking " and their kindred The Honourable Miss Furey," at that Josephine stepped forward. Followed by Clare, " The Honourable Miss Clare Furey. The Honourable Miss. Anne-Elizabeth Furey and The Honourable Master Davin Furey"

It took her a moment to realise that Anne-Elizabeth was really Anna. Then there was a pause as Anna tried to lead a squirming Davin into the room. Grace was tempted to help but decided it would probably be one of those things, like getting out of a carriage on her own, that she could get away with at home but not right now.

After a moment, when Anna has disappeared with the rest of her family, the announcer continued "and presenting their esteemed guests: The Most Honourable Catalina, Marchioness of Mureş and Miss Tempest"

Grace could help but blush as she entered the ballroom with Catalina; it was crowded, but less than half of them seemed to actually be paying attention to the new arrivals. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lorcan beckoning them, relived she stepped out of the limelight and towards him.

Grace watched the crowd uneasily. For the most part they ignored her, although she did get a few curious stares back. It wasn't like any party Grace had ever seen, there was no food or music and she had yet to see anyone dancing. Everyone just talked.

Catalina and Lorcan had disappeared, much to Grace's ever increasing nervousness. But they had been replaced by Lady Lifford who joined them again, introducing her husband, son and daughter.

"Grace," Clare called. She turned and looked at Lorcan's sister who approached her carrying a small stack of papers. She took one of the top of the pile and handed it to her. However it was not - as Grace first thought - a single sheet of paper, but a small booklet with a pencil attached by a braided rope. The cover of the book depicted a scene of children running around a maypole with flowers and ribbons. She flicked to the first page, it read: Welcome to the May Day Ball, hosted by Lord Talbot.

She turned to the next page was made up of blank lines (clearly meant to be filled in with the pencil) with writing underneath them.

"What is it?" Grace asked.

Clare looked at her curiously, "It's a dance card. Haven't you ever seen one before?"

"No. What do you do with it?"

"You give it to the people who ask you to dance, so they can write their names down, that way you won't forget if you've already promised to dance with someone else." Clare answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm going to go give these to everybody else"

"Right, okay"

"You can attach the card to your dress, if you want, the rope bit comes undone" she added helpfully.

"Thanks,"

Clare turned and trotted off to give Anna her card.

Grace turned back to watching the crowd, people were beginning to move away from the centre of the room and towards the edges. Probably to make room for the dancers, she realised. Once the middle of the room had cleared a man in his mid-fifties, who she assumed to be Lord Talbot, stepped forward and raised his hands, at once the room fell silent.

"Welcome, one and all" He said loudly enough for everyone to hear, she was rather surprised to note he had a strong English accent, which sounded strange to her after being surrounded by Irish brogues and Catalina's ironic Transylvanian accent, "I am glad to see so many of you here tonight, and look forward to dancing and merrymaking with you all, this May day." He paused and there was a round of applause from the guests, "I do not wish to delay our celebrations a minute longer, so without further ado, I give you, The Grand March" There was another burst of applause and music began to play. Grace glanced round for the source of it, but could not see anyone playing, reminding her of the haunting music of the Nocturne, until she thought to look up and spotted a band playing on a balcony above the dance hall.

The double doors at the far side of the room opened, and out streamed a multitude of couples in two straight lines. They walked the length of the room, curtsied or bowed, then walked around the edges of the room, and then joined a second couple and did the same thing as a four and then an eight. It was like no dance se had ever seen before, if anything it was more like a military march than anything else.

The dancers then began to split off back into fours and then again into couples, and then began to weave a more complex pattern, which Grace could not follow. It made her dizzy just watching and her eyes begun to blur as the music became lower and more tribal to the familiar music abroad the Nocturne. Now the line of couples, became two separate lines in her mind: one of donors and the other of vampires, sitting down to their weekly feast. And once again Grace could feel the gentle sway of the ocean as she lay down.

Snap out of it! Grace commanded herself, you're not done here yet! The ballroom quickly came back into focus.

Only now did she spot Lorcan and Catalina, among the couples. Both were smiling as they danced with the others. A bright flare of jealousy and anger welled up in Grace, how dare Lorcan not tell her this himself! How could he lead her to believe he cared for her and never once mention Catalina? Grace felt a small pain in her hands, as her fingernails dug through the gloves and into the palms of her hand. She unclenched them, unaware 'til now exactly how angry she was. She took a deep breathe, reminding herself that this was not this Lorcan's fault, nor was it Catalina's. Besides, she was rather pleased to realise, the dance wasn't nearly as romantic or sensuous as the dance's of Grace's era, the couples were only holding hands and even then both members wore gloves. She could live with that. Just.

The audience clapped as the dance finished at long last and the dancers began to mingle in with the audience

Someone announced the name of another dance, and the band struck of a new faster tune, and a new dance begun.

After a few moments, Grace spotted Lorcan making their way towards them. He was ruddy cheeked and slightly breathless, but still alive. Catalina was no where to be seen.

As he approached, so did another man, the one Grace had seen make the speech before the dance - Lord Talbot, flanked by five boys and a girl.

When he reached the group, he stopped before Kyna and bowed deeply, who curtsied in return, then he took her hand and kissed it, "Ah, the Baroness Of Connemara, as lovely as ever"

Kyna blushed and Grace couldn't help but smile as she watched Lady Lafford nudge Kyna conspicuously, it reminded her of Darcy.

"Good evening to you, Lord Talbot. On behalf of my family, I thank you for inviting us here tonight"

"You're most welcome, most welcome…How are you? How is the manor and the children? How is Lord Furey, I didn't see him arrive?"

At the last question Kyna visibly flinched, "He died, two years ago"

Lord Talbot glanced at her attire which, although not pitch black as it usually was, still seemed out of place among all the light pastels and whites of the other dresses, "I'm sorry for your loss, I didn't realise"

She nodded, "And I'm sorry for yours, Lady Talbot will be sorely missed" Grace noticed that the Lord was also dressed in dark clothing.

"Aye, that she will. But tell me, who did you travel with if not your husband?"

Kyna nodded at Lorcan, who had just reached them, "My son, the new Baron" she turned towards him, "Lorcan, this is Lord Talbot". The two men shook hands, "A pleasure to meet you"

"And you," Lord Talbot replied, he nodded at the boys who had come with them, four of whom shared similar features, "These are my four oldest sons: Charles, Henry, Arthur and John"

- The oldest boy looked about Lorcan's age and the youngest around Grace's.

Then he nodded to the girl who stood next to the other boy not names, "This is my daughter Frances and her fiancé Lord Legge" The girl curtsied and the boy bowed. Grace noticed, just in time, that the others curtsied in return and copied their example, nearly falling over again in the process.

Kyna then went onto introduce the rest of her children and Grace. When she introduced Davin, Lord Talbot laughed out load, "You're sending him into society a little young, don't you think?"

Kyna laughed too, "Perhaps, but I had no one to care for him back home, and he hasn't caused too much fuss yet"

"That may be true, but why don't I have one of our nursery maids look after him and your other two youngest. My other children are running around the house like mad rabbits, since they won't do to sleep with all this racket on downstairs, I'm sure they'll enjoy the company. My Cecil's about the same age as your Clare and I'm sure she'll be grateful for some feminine company with nine brothers"

Kyna, hesitated a moment before agreeing, "Alright then. I suppose they can go"

"Good. John, will you go introduce the Furey's to you're siblings" Lord Talbot asked the youngest boy, who nodded

"But mother" Clare began turning towards Kyna, "I haven't even gotten a chance to dance yet!"

Kyna seemed torn for a moment, before Lorcan came to the rescue. He bowed to Clare, "Lady Clare, will you give me the honour of dancing with you?"

She grinned and handed him her dance card.

Anna, crossed her arms across her chest and pouted at him, "Aren't you going to ask me to dance? If Finch were here he'd ask me" Grace tired to stifle a giggle, she saw Josephine do likewise. Lord Talbot also looked amused.

Lorcan turned towards his youngest sister and in his most formal voice he could muster without laughing said, "I do apologise Lady Anna but I wasn't aware you liked dancing"

"I don't."

"Then why would you want to dance?"

"Because than I can say someone asked me to dance. Mrs. Dubh said she'd bet a years wages no one would because I'm to unruly and then I asked her if she'd bet a two cakes instead if someone asked me to dance, and then she said 'alright' and-"

By now everyone was grinning at Anna's story - Grace had to bite her lip from laughing out load now. It was too cute - especially since the seven year old hadn't even paused for breath yet.

She could see Lorcan was struggling not grin, "How about I take you back to the market tomorrow instead," he interrupted, "I'll let you buy whatever desert you want"

Anna's eyes widened slightly, "Really? You promise?"

"I promise"

She grinned, a grin resembling Lorcan's, and hugged him, "Thank you! You're the best brother ever!" She let go of him.

"Lorcan," Clare began, taking hold of his hand and pulling him away from the rest of the group, "The next dance is about to start! We don't want to miss it!"

"Alright, I'm coming" He glanced back as Clare pulled him away, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Lords Talbot"

Grace watched him go, mindfully keeping an eye out for any possible danger, until they disappeared into the crowd and she could see him no more. Then, tearing her eyes away from the scene, she turned back to her companions.

By now, Josephine and Kyna wore matching expressions of mortification and exasperation. "I must apologise for my children's behaviour tonight" Kyna said addressing Lord Talbot, "It seems the excitement of the ball has gotten to them"

Lord Talbot laughed, "There's no need to apologise. I know exactly what it's like. I actually find your's quite charming; not like my terrible bunch!" he glanced at his own children affectionately.

"Father!" The youngest boy, John, exclaimed blushing.

He smiled, "Why don't you go show Anna and Davin, where you're siblings are. You can come fetch Clare after she's had her dance"

John nodded and left with the two youngest Furey's in tow.

"Now Lady Furey, why don't I introduce you to a few of my other friends…"

They too disappeared, along with the oldest son, Charles.

Grace turned her attention back to crowds, the third dance of the night had started. She caught sight of Lorcan and Clare, right away. Clare was a surprisingly good dancer, she must have been practicing for years, Grace mused, and for that matter, Lorcan must have also since he seemed to already know all the strange patterns and complicated steps of the dance. It was almost comic watching, simply because she could never imagined her Lorcan being able to dance. Well, it was comic because of that and the fact that his partner, Clare, was only about two-thirds the height of the other dancers.

Next to her, Arthur coughed politely to get her attention, "So where is it you're from?" he asked as she turned towards him.

"Australia"

"Oh, really? I heard it's very beautiful this time of year"

She raised an eyebrow, "You've heard of it?"

He blushed and looked down at the floor, embarrassed, "We'll no actually, but I thought you might have wanted to talk to me if we had something in common"

Grace couldn't but smile at that and he smiled back, "So where about is this Australia?"

"It's between the pacific and Indian oceans, south of Indonesia"

"That's not exactly local then is it?"

"No I'm just visiting," she said, then tired of talking about herself added, "So what about you? You live here right?" she gestured to the room in general.

"Sometimes. We've got a couple of homes in Staffordshire, London and Pendoylan, which isn't quite as exotic as where you're from, but it has it's charms"

Grace smiled politely, and let her attention wander. Josephine was talking to the other brother, Henry. She let her gaze slide back to the dancers; she couldn't see Lorcan or Clare now, but she spotted Catalina right away, who, much to her surprise, was dancing with a much older man.

"Would you like to dance?" Arthur asked.

She looked back at him, and blushed, he must have thought she wasn't paying attention to him because she wanted to dance. Oops.

"Erm, not really, I don't really…"

At that moment, it seemed Josephine was overcome with a coughing fit. The boys turned to her, to make sure she was alright. Between coughs Josephine glared at her, and at once she realised she was faking.

Grace gave her a questioning look, it was clear Josephine was trying to tell her something but she had no idea what. Grace couldn't help but look over her shoulder, in case something had happened behind her. There was nothing.

Jospehine must have realised she was clueless because she stopped coughing and tried a new tact.

"I'm sorry, I must apologise for that-" she coughed again, for effect, "I'm sorry, Grace, I interrupted you; you were just about to say you wouldn't dance without a proper invitation." She turned towards Arthur, "I do hope you realise that Miss Tempest comes from a very proper family and would not be able to dance unless asked in a formal manner" she said in an almost scolding voice. He blushed, his checks flaming red, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so familiar" He apologised to Grace before bowing, "Miss. Tempest will you give me the honour of dancing the next set with you?"

Grace glanced hesitantly at Josephine, who was shaking her head 'yes'. She said something, but it was to quite for her to hear.

'What?' Grace mouthed.

Josephine made clamped her hands together and made a silent pleading movement as she nodded desperately. Grace was even more confused now, Arthur was still bowing, although he looked even more uncomfortable than ever, clearly they all wanted her to say yes.

"Yes?"

He stood up. Josephine looked slightly relieved. Only Henry seemed unbothered, he chuckled at his brother's embarrassment, "Don't worry, ladies are always this particular about frivolities. Watch and learn" He winked and made a sweeping bow to Jospehine, "Will you give me the pleasure of dancing with you?"

She smiled sweetly, "With pleasure, sir"

As soon as Arthur's attention was distracted elsewhere, Grace grabbed Josephine's arm and pulled her away from everybody else, so they could talk in private. They both glared at each other for a second.

"What were you thinking?" Josephine hissed.

"What was I thinking? What we're you thinking? I said I wasn't going to dance! Why did you want me to say yes?"

Josephine's eyes bulged, "Are you really that clueless?" She took a calming breath, "Okay…I know you're not from around here, so let me explain. When a man asks you to dance at a ball, you cannot refuse unless you've already promised to dance with someone else"

"What? But that's ridiculous!" Grace said, nearly at shouting level. Attracting the attention of a few bystanders.

"Regardless, that's the way things work" Josephine answered, much more calmly.

"But I don't want to dance. I don't even know how!"

"So? You can't refuse, you'd be insulting whoever asked you as well as whoever invited them, it's ill mannered, not to mention social suicide."

"But-"

"Just dance, please"

She was taken aback before Josephine had sounded angry and now she just sounded desperate. Grace felt slightly bad now they had been fighting, "Okay, I'll try"

"Good, I'll help you as much as I can" She opened her dance card and glanced down at it, "It shouldn't be to bad, the next dance is a quadrille"

"A quad-what?"

"A quadrille, just make sure you're not leading the first set"

"Right…okay" Grace was left feeling even more confused than ever.

She sighed, something which was becoming a bit of a habit around Grace and explained, "A quadrille is a dance with four couples, one couple dances a set and then the others copy them, it's quite simple. "

"Sure, simple" she muttered, try her best to quell the feeling of dread rising up in her chest, not all of which could be attributed to the up-and-coming dance.

Well I hope you liked it. I tried to make it as historically accurate as possible but I know there are some mistakes. If you have any questions just let me know.

(PS. Vampirates belongs to the wonderful and auspicious Justin Somper, as if you didn't already know that)