Shall We Dance?

4. Sick

I stood in shock as everyone in the ball came to see what was wrong with me.
Some of them screamed in horror.

The guards told everyone to get back. I managed to get away from..the body.

"Jessica! Are you ok?" I heard Katrina say as she rushed to my side.

"I..I was just l..looking for E..Ethan and I..s..saw her.." I said to her, still shaking.

"You poor thing, you're shaking like a leaf. Come with me, let's get you away from here. The guards will deal with the matter now." She said and led me away from the crowd.

She sat me down at the staircase. I looked around for Dante and I couldn't see him as well.

"Stay here, I'll get you some water" Katrina said as she stood up and left.

I didn't know what to do, then I heard him.

"Jessica!"

That was Ethan.!

I looked at him.

"What happened?" He said.

"What happened? Where were you?! I spend and hour looking for you. And then I stumbled across a dead body!"
I yelled at him.

"Are you ok? You're shaking." He said.

He didn't seem interested at the fact that someone was dead. He didn't care much for the nobles but even I was in shock.

"I..I'm fine.." I said and looked down.

He looked at me. "I know you're not" He said and sat next to me. "Come here" He said and threw his arm around me. "Everything will be alright, you'll see." He said not looking at me.

"My lady! Are you all right?!" I heard Dante say as he ran towards me. "I heard what happened. I was so worried." He said and hugged me.

Ethan looked at him and stayed quiet.

Katrina came back with my water and handed it to me.
"The guards will announce something now" She said and went to the guard's side.

"Everyone please keep enjoying the ball. Lady Genevieve was sick and apparently died from that. No need to worry it was not contagious. Go back to dancing and having a good time." He said. And everyone did just that.

I held on to Dante. I was still shocked.

"Are you all right?" He said looking at me.

"Y..yes.. would you be a dear and bring me more water?" I said and handed him my cup.

"But of course." He said and left.

I sat at the stairs again. I could hear two guards talking. It appears they thought no one could hear.

"She apparently died of poisoning." One of them said.

"That's impossible! We have the best chefs there are!" The other one said.

"Not food poisoning you bum, with actual poison." He said and showed the bottle. "I found it" He added. "Whoever did it has a sick mind"

I couldn't believe it. I wanted to scream but I didn't want them to hear me. This is horrible! I wasn't scared of the body anymore. Now I had something else to be worried about.
There's a murderer among us, and who knows which one of us is going to be next.