After a few minutes, the dance ended, and Althea stepped back, her chest rising faintly as she struggled to catch her breath.
Zaroth in turn looked at her with a warm smile.
"Thank you for the opportunity," he spoke.
Althea nodded a bit as she took a few steps back,
"Are we not going to continue?" Zaroth asked with a hint of sadness.
Althea's words seemed to catch at her throat for a moment, "I… would love to but I am too tired so will have to retreat to my room to take a breather."
It wasn't going to be a lie to say that Zaroth was a little disappointed, but he didn't object.
"Well, one more time, thank you."
"No, thank you," Althea spoke between her ragged breaths as she took hurried steps out of the ball.
Seeing her gone just like that, Zaroth took a deep breather. By this point there weren't that many eyes on him, so he could just slip past easily if he didn't want to be seen.
"I hope this worked, now for the last step," he muttered under his breath.
*****
