Disclaimer: I don't own what came from Tamora Piece's head.
A/N: If you haven't gone back and reread chapter 15, please do, I replaced it with a new version.
Chapter 16 The Ball
The next day had passed without much incident for the guests. However, the palace was bustling with activity. Every servant was doing something that had to do with the ball that night that would introduce the future Empress Josephine to the foreigners.
The people in the palace weren't the only ones that were rushing around in preparation for the ball. Out at the cottage, Messa and Daine were also rushing. There wasn't the same air of around them, though. The atmosphere around them was one more of dread. They knew that Ozorne was planning something; they just didn't know what. All they knew was that he had dropped by that morning saying that he wanted her to look her best. It wasn't what he had said; it was how he had said it. The girls had been around him long enough to realize when he was planning something. Daine sighed while Messa helped to her into the gown and thought, 'Isn't it bad enough that I have to marry the monster? Does he have to do something to make my life even worse?'
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be alright," Messa tried to assure the fidgeting girl.
"Yeah, because everything with that man is sunshine and rainbows. He's up to something, Messa, I can feel it."
"Well, it does you no good to worry about something like that. You can't stop the unknown. You can only prepare for the worst and move on. He can't do much, anyway, too close to the wedding. You disappear and he looks suspicious."
"That won't stop him from trying," Daine mumbled.
"Would you quit being a downer. We all tnow he is evil, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have some fun at that ball. Now, you're going to look gorgeous, and you are going to dance the night away, preferably not with Ozorne. You are going to have one last blast before you marry evil personified and worry about what that evil is planning tomorrow."
Numair was also getting forced to the ball. "I will not go. I don't feel like going to any ball."
"You have no choice," Alanna replied, "If I have to get all dressed up and go so do you."
Numair saw the glare that she was giving and wisely chose to just get ready without another word. When they arrived, most of the guests were already seated. They were close to the emperor as a show of his sorrow for the loss that they had suffered in his country. The moment of the grand unveiling was coming fast.
The emperor stood, "Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for coming this evening. The woman I'm about to bring out, many among you have already had the pleasure of meeting. However, some of you have not," he looked with a grin towards the Tortallans. "S, I'm am proud to introduce my future wife, Lady Josephine."
Josephine came out from behind the curtain that was behind Ozorne to a standing ovation. The Tortallans, however, were completely silent. So this had been it. This was what Ozorne had been up to. He was showing them what he had taken right from under their noses. Everyone couldn't believe it. How could Daine do something like that to them? How could she leave them mourning the death of a friend so that she could live the life of a queen?
They were so caught up in their thoughts about being betrayed that they didn't see how she had paled when she looked at them. They didn't notice the look off pure hatred she sent toward him. Josephine turned to run away, but Ozorne's hand was firmly on her arm. "Let go of me," she whispered.
"No, you will stay. You will eat. You will look like you are enjoying yourself. Now sit down," Ozorne replied dangerously.
"Is this what you had planned all along? To make my friends hate me?"
"What better way to torture all of you than to make them watch us get making all the while thinking that you had betrayed them in order to do so? Now sit down."
Josephine managed to wench her arm away from him, "I may have no choice but to marry you, but I don't have to sit here, through this." She walked…ran away.
With all eyes on him, Ozorne smiled a tight smile and announced, "I am afraid that the Lady is feeling ill and won't be staying to dine with us this evening. However, let's let the feast begin."
The others, having been too wrapped up in their own thought, missed the whole scene between the "couple" and therefore believed this.