Annihilation

Ball

Shelby was right about the busy schedule she kept in the days before the ball, filled with tasks that left me either bored out of my mind or standing outside a meeting room with Emmanuel in complete silence as we waited for her and Gideon. I kept my mind busy with memorizing the layout of the city, of the visible rooms in each building, and the identities of every person I met during the first week in Carolus.

On the morning of the ball we had our hair styled, sitting on barstools and leaving with the frizz atop my head tame into a partially pinned-up look, the rest loose at my shoulders. When we returned Shelby took time to be pampered by her staff and ate dinner under the premise that it would be unrefined for the queen to indulge in food during a ball.

I stayed in my room, dressing and trying to come to terms with my appearance in the mirror. I didn't look bad, quite the opposite actually, but I hadn't seen myself like this in so long that it felt alien. I picked the nail polish from the tips of my fingers, ruining the manicure Shelby insisted we get earlier that day and tugged at the petticoat under my dress until I had to accept that there was nothing that could make me comfortable in it.

My shoes clicked against the floor an hour before we were set to leave, my fingers tapping at Shelby's bedroom door to begin my assistant duties for the evening. Abigail opened the door, her usual smile faded as she carried an empty tray of food on one palm, nodding as she passed me on her way out.

Shelby stood in front of a full-length mirror, already dressed in a shift, corset, and petticoat that extended her hips significantly. Normally, we would have cackled over the sight of ourselves like this but we lived in a different world now, Shelby's eyes lit with joy as she turned to me.

"You look incredible! Emmanuel will love it." She cheered.

I paused my approach, the door shutting with a loud click behind me. "Emmanuel?"

She waved me forward with a rush, turning back to the mirror while I retrieved her dress from where it hung on the closet door, the heavy weight taking me off guard.

"Yes, he may have mentioned that he likes you." She grinned, obviously elated at the thought of Emmanuel and I connecting.

"The man hasn't even said two words to me." I scoffed, positioning myself at the top of the dress so that my body was practically inside the bust, reaching my arms out so that it stretched over her head without messing up her hair.

She chuckled, wiggling a little so that the dress fell into position. I was already hot from the task and my own gown, a thin layer of sweat starting to form on the bridge of my nose. I fanned myself with my hand as I moved to stand behind her, tugging at the laced back the way the shop owner showed me.

"He's just shy and maybe a little too serious. Plus, you're a bit more intimidating than before." She looked over her shoulder playfully, gasping when I pulled the strings a little too tight with a giggle.

"I'm intimidating?" I questioned, fixing the ribbons into a bow at the bottom of her back.

She waited to answer, brushing at the beaded design on her dress and admiring the gown in the mirror. "You feel more kick ass now. Gideon told me you came in with a machete, gun, and like eight knives." She smiled like she commended me. "I know things are different around here and that I'm a little different, but believe me as the person who's known you the longest, I'm not the only one of us who has changed."

I didn't doubt that she was right, my eyes widening when she turned from her jewelry chest, carrying the largest gem I'd ever seen on her palm. It dangled from the end of a necklace that didn't look strong enough to hold it, Shelby handing it to me and turning back to face the mirror while I clasped it around her neck.