The rest of the journey to Skyhold took a few weeks and was more or less uneventful. Una and Cullen took to sharing a tent at night, more for the company and out of worry that Una would have another Anchor attack. Luckily, it didn't happen again.
Once they had reached Skyhold, they had barely had the time to rest before they had to ready themselves for the journey to Halamshiral for the ball at the Winter Palace. The invitation came from the Grand Duke Gaspard, a shrewd man who played The Game well while still holding true to his honor as a chevalier, but they had their way in. Una was to be fitted for a ball gown, but she had never worn anything fancy before. Josephine and Leliana took great pleasure in having her try on different dresses and gowns, suitable to the court. They finally settled on a lightweight off the shoulder dress with a teal gradient- darker at the top and fading to lighter at the bottom- and a silver trim.
"You look amazing, Inquisitor."
Una looked in the mirror, surprised with how pretty the dress looked on her. "I love it."
"You look fit for the court." Josephine said in approval.
A knock came at the door and Una turned to find Cullen standing there with wide eyes as he entered the room.
"Commander, is there something wrong?" she asked.
Cullen hadn't realized he was staring. He shook his head, blushing a bit. "You look marvellous."
Una smiled at that. "Thank you. You look rather dashing yourself."
Cullen smiled, then cleared his throat. "It's time to head to the palace. Are you ready?"
Una nodded, then handed her weapons to Leliana. "Make sure they don't damage the bow, please?"
She smiled. "I know. I'll punish them myself if they put even a scratch on this treasure."
Una smiled, then turned to Cullen. "Lead the way, Commander."
Una felt everyone's eyes on her and felt her anxiety surfacing a bit. She took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves again, holding the hem of her dress up a little higher until they reached the base of the stairs. Una looked around, amazed at the sight before her. The Winter Palace was magnificent- its walls, its drapery, the people dressed in their funny clothes and masks. It was all too surreal for her liking, but this was important and she had her part to play.
She spoke with the nobles in attendance, even met Josephine's younger sister, Yvette, and did her best to gain court approval before she began piecing together bits of information she had gather- all either pointing to Grand Duke Gaspard or Ambassador Briala.
After some time, Leliana pulled her aside and told her that the Empress had employed an apostate, someone that she knew, as an advisor on the occult. She suggested that she find the apostate and find out more about why she was actually in Orlais. Una found the apostate, who introduced herself as Morrigan, and discussed the matters at hand. Before parting ways, Morrigan gave her a key and directed her towards the servants' quarter in hopes that it would aid in her investigation.
The evidence was beginning to quickly pile up against both Briala and Gaspard, however, Una suspected that neither of them was the assassin despite the damning evidence. Eventually, Una returned to the ballroom and was greeted by the Grand Duchess Florianne- Gaspard's sister. They went to the dance floor and join the other party goers in a dance. Florianne told Una a great deal of things, implicating her brother as the traitor, which struck Una as oddly convenient. Una had to be careful with her words, so she simply said that she wished to help Orlais because the civil wars didn't just affect them, but also all of Thedas, and that without the empire, Tevinter would overrun the south of Thedas. Once the dance was over, Una took the information to her advisors and gave her orders before taking Varric, Dorian, and Blackwall to find the mercenary captain that Florianne had mentioned.
Upon finding the man, however, Una was not too pleased to find that it was indeed a trap and her suspicions were correct. Florianne was working with the Venatori and served Corypheus who had promised to make her the queen of the "new world" once he succeeded. Florianna ordered the Venatori to slay Una and bring her the marked hand as proof before she returned to the ball. Una and her companions made quick work of the Venatori, then spoke with the mercenary captain and were informed that Gaspard had thrown him to the demons- or so he thought. Una knew then that the captain and the elven servant they had saved in Florianne's old chambers were sent there by Florianne herself as she implicated her brother and Briala as the culprits. The captain told her a great many additional things and swore to stand in trial against Gaspard. Una offered him and his men a position within the Inquisition, to which he agreed- seeing it the better option, especially after Una had gone through great lengths to save him.
Returning to the grand hall, Cullen hurried over to Una and informed her that the empress was about to begin her speech.
"What do you want to do?"
"Wait here, Cullen. I'm going to have a word with the grand duchess."
Cullen looked at her, confused. "What? There's no time! The Empress will begin her speech any moment!"
Una stepped forward, taking Cullen's hands in hers. "We can't afford there to be any more bloodshed. Please, trust me?"
Cullen sighed and nodded. "Alright. But we will stand at the ready just in case."
Una leaned forward to kiss his cheek before she turned away and made her way towards the Grand Duchess. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the traitorous woman. "We owe the court one more show, Your Grace."
Florianne turned to face her, feigning innocence as she stood next to Briala and Gaspard. "Inquisitor."
"The eyes of every noble in the empire are upon, Your Grace. Do remember to smile." Una smirked and started to ascend the stairs towards her. "This is your party. You wouldn't want them to think you had lost control."
Florianne began backing away as Una drew closer. "Who would not be delighted to speak with you, Inquisitor?"
Una tapped her cheek thoughtfully. "I seem to recall you saying, 'All I needed was to keep you out of the ballroom long enough to strike.'" She could see Florianne was growing nervous and started pacing around her as she continued. "When your archers failed to kill me in the garden, I feared you wouldn't save me this last dance."
Murmurs were growing and spreading rapidly through the grand hall.
"It's so easy to lose your good graces." Una said, continuing. "You even framed your brother for the murder of a council emissary. It was an ambitious plan. Celene, Gaspard, the entire Council of Heralds... all your enemies under one roof."
Florianne was beginning to falter and started to back away once more. "This is very entertaining, but you do not imagine anyone believes your wild stories?"
"That would be a matter for a judge to decide, cousin." Celene said, looking down at her cousin with disdain.
Florianne tried to turn towards her brother. "Gaspard? You cannot believe this! You know I would never..."
Gaspard and Briala both turned their backs towards the Grand Duchess, returning to stand with the empress as the guards approached Florianne.
"Gaspard?" The desperation in the Grand Duchess' voice was clear as she frantically searched for a way out.
"You lost this fight ages ago, Your Grace." Una said. "You're just the last one to find out." She watched as Florianne fell to her knees, sobbing in defeat before being dragged away by the guards, then looked to Celene and added, "Your Imperial Majesty, I think we should speak in private. Elsewhere."