Shall We Dance?

5. Second Dance

I quietly left the stairs. Dante came back and looked at me.
"Something wrong?" He said.

"N..no, I'm fine" I said and smiled.

He looked at me confused but then smiled.
"Let's get your mind off things" He said and grabbed my hand.

I looked at him.

"Dance with me my lady, you dance quite well." He said and bowed.

I blushed. "Well alright then" I said and took his hand.

He led me in the the dance floor and we began dancing.

"Dante, can I tell you something?" I said looking at him.

"Of course" He smiled and kept dancing with me.
He dances so well.

"Do you think what happened to.. her was a murder instead of an accident? " I asked.

He looked at me in shock. "What makes you ask that? Didn't the guards say she was sick? Oh poor lady Genevieve, she was so young." He said and looked where the body was.

"Well..." I started whispering. "I overheard the guards talking, they found a bottle of poison." I said.

"A bottle of poison?!" He looked at me in shock. "That's awful my lady, I'm so sorry you had to hear that. You've been through enough already." He said and held my hands tighter.

"I hate to see you so down. I'll keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. I'll protect you. If you are right, the murderer could be anywhere right now."

I smiled. "Thank you Dante, but may I ask." I said.

"Ask away" He said.

"Why? Why are you treating me like this?" He looked into my eyes.

"Because my lady. I enjoy your company." He said and leaned closer. Is he going to kiss me? Not knowing what to do I closed my eyes.

Then I heard someone clear their throat.

We both looked and saw Ethan standing next to us.

"Erm.. so my lady where were the guards?" Dante said and looked at me.

"Over there." I said and pointed at them

Ethan turned around and looked at the guards.

"Ah, I see. How did the flask look like my lady?" Dante asked.

"What happend?" Ethan looked at both of us.

I explained everything to him.

"The bottle was dark brown, almost black, it was big and it had a white skull with two bones marking an x on the front." I explained and Dante looked rather shocked.

"Dante? What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just.. That sounds a lot like his majesty's bottle." He said.

I gasped. "The King wouldn't be behind this, would he?" I asked, looking at Dante.

"Wait, how do you know the king has a poison bottle? And why would he even have one?" Ethan asked.

Dante lost in thought ignored him. "Excuse me" He said and turned to leave.

"Hey! I asked you a question!" Ethan said getting fustrated.

Dante stopped and looked back.
"Because I'm the butler" He said and left.

Ethan and I looked at each other.

The butler?

"Stay here, I wanna keep talking to this butler" Ethan said and started walking off.

"Ethan wait!" I said and ran after him.

"What are you gonna do? Leave Dante alone"

"I don't trust him" He said.

"Why?"

"He's too accepting of everything, too calm, I don't like it, also the way he treats you-"

"The way he treats me?" I interrupted him.

He stayed silent. "Nevermind, forget it. I won't bother him." He said, turned the other way and left.

Great, I'm alone again.

There were others on the dance floor. I decided to make the most of the night and keep dancing. A man saw me standing alone and offered me a dance, I gladly accepted it.

As I danced I looked around and I couldn't find Ethan or Dante again.

I grew worried. I hope those two didn't have a fight. Little did I know that that would be the last of my worries.

Katrina came over to me.

"Jessica, come with me!" She said smiling and pulled me by my arm.

"Ok ok, where are we going?" I said trying to keep up.

"To my room silly, I grew bored of this dress. I'm going to change it!" She said walking happily to her room.

"Oh you are way too happy. By any chance, did anything happen with ser Harry?" I said and she turned to look at me.

"Oh he is so handsome! You have no idea!" She said getting excited.

"Well, let's hurry to your room then, so you can tell me everything" I said and she walked even faster. I wish I could walk fast with these heels.

We eventually got to her room. She changed into a new dress and we sat down to talk

She told me everything that she loved about him, how he was funny, charming, a great listener.

"Oh my, It's been half an hour and all I did was talk about me and the guy I like. Now tell me, is there a special someone in your life? Did you and Ethan finally hook up?" She said and nudged my shoulder.

I chuckled. "No, we never became a couple. He never admitted that he had feelings towards me so I moved on." I said.

"That bum. I swear he can sometimes be a pain in the arse" she said. I couldn't help but laugh. She's so different when there's no guards around. "You two were perfect for each other." She sighed.

"Well, there's this guy.." I said.

She gasped. "Tell me all about him!"

I smiled. I missed talking like this with her. "Alright, he's -" I was interrupted by a scream.

"What was that?!" Katrina said.

"Let's check it out"

We both made our way to the ball and stayed in shock. There was a person at the bottom of the stairs. Blood was staining the carpet. Everyone was around the body.

"Clear the way! Move!" I heard a couple of guards yell.

When everyone moved I couldn't believe it. It was the guard that had the poison bottle.

He was dead.