Amelia awoke to a cool, wet cloth being placed on her forehead. Her body ached and her limbs were heavy as if weighed down by stones. Her skin was drenched in sweat, yet she couldn't stop shivering.
She slowly opened her eyes to the familiar ceiling of her chamber and blinked repeatedly in an attempt to adjust her vision to the light of day, but this only brought about a shooting pain behind her eyesockets. Confused, she forced her weak body up to rest on her elbows, her ears ringing from the strain. A small hand softly pushed on her shoulder to encourage her to lie back down.
"You need to rest" Olivias voice rang out.
"Although the fever has gone down slightly you are still burning up."
Amelia followed the maid's words. She thumped back down and allowed her eyelids to once again close.
"How did I get back? I was just at the office..."
Her voice was hoarse.
"We carried you back to your chambers. You were very ill when I came to wake you."
The maid sofly dabbed Amelias chest and neck with another cold cloth.
"The butler called for a doctor while you still slept. They said the fever is due to intense stress. It is imperative that you rest, and not just your body."
"Olivia..." Amelia croaked, but the maid stopped her.
"I won't pry. Right now we just need to bring down your temperature."
Amelia shortly fell back asleep, only waking up briefly thoughout the day to drink water and eat what little was given to her. She welcomed sleep as it allowed to escape not only the malaise and aches in her body but also her wandering thoughts.
The doctor was called on multible times on the first day, then on the second. She didn't remember much of his visits. Only concerned voices, the freezing cold from an opened window and the foul taste of the medicine that was fed to her.
Thankfully the fever subsided sometime during her third day in bed. Now she could sit up without too much effort and she managed to finish whatever proper meals Olivia brought her. But she wasn't allowed to work or even leave her room.
Without the one thing that had proven to keep her anxious thoughts away her mind kept drifting in unpleasant directions. Thoughts of what the marquis had said on the night of the banquet and his implications about Dario's background. Resentment towards herself for indulging in fantazies of one day being worthy of standing by his side. Most of all though, she thought about him. She worried about how he was doing and why she'd yet to hear news of when he'd return.
And she missad him immensely. Somehow Amelia felt like those other things she worried of wouldn't mean as much if he was there with her. She longed for his company, his calm voice, the warmth of his embrace, even the scent of his skin.
Thankfully Amelia wasn't left alone much, since Olivia kept her company by her bedside whenever she could. Be it telling stories, narrating novels or simply talking to her while cleaning, the maid somehow found a way to make time pass and keep her from drowning in her worry.
But although the maid was as kind as ever Amelia could tell that she was upset. She was quiter than usual and there was an unspoken tension in the air between them. She knew the reason without having to ask.
"Olivia..." Amelia said.
The maid had just returned from doing laundry and was now flipping through a book trying to find the chapter that they ended on last time. She didn't look up when Amelia said her name.
"Liv, I am sorry. You must have been surprised to see me like that after the banquet."
"I was" she answered. Though her face was soft there was something sharp in her tone.
"I should have told you that I wasn't doing well, I simply... did not think it would become that bad."
"Of course."
She still did not meet her eyes.
"I can tell that you are crossed with me. You have every right to be. If it were you I know I'd be worried sick."
Olivia shut the book in her hands, harder than she probably intended to.
"So you were aware?"
"Of course I was. We are friends, I can tell."
"Friends" Olivia repeated.
She bit her lip and averted her eyes as if she was contemplating her next words carefully.
"It is difficult to be someone's friend when they don't let you" she then said hesitantly.
"As a maid of the duchy I have no right to demand anything of you. But as a friend I'd at least like to be let in on what it is that worries you to the point of sickness. Even if I cannot help you, I'd at least like to be someone you can lean on to get through it. It... hurt me that you trust me so little that you have to put on an act."
At these words Amelias stomach dropped with nausiating guilt. Of course Olivia was hurt. Despite knowing of what she'd gone through with the death of her sister Amelia had shut her out and put her in that same position of helplesness.
"You must have been scared. I am sorry."
"You were so sick" Olivia said, her voice now shaky.
"And I was furious with you for doing that to yourself. I still am furious with you."
Amelia wanted to tell her everything in this moment. Aplogize to her properly and explain all that had happened in the past with the marquis. Objectively Olivia had never given her a reason not to trust her. Rather, it was the opposite. Olivia had done more for her than she could ever pay back.
Even so, she somehow couldn't bring herself to tell her. Not when she knew that there was a spy in the estate.
Yes, she trusted this girl, probably more than anyone. But there was a time that she had once trusted Radford wholeheartedly as well.
No matter how she thought of it, one thing remained true. The one who would be harmed if she put her faith in the wrong person wouldn't be her this time, but Dario.
"I... have been worried about his Grace. And I was nervous about going to a banquet alone. There really isn't much to it, so I felt silly. I am sorry I hurt you by not telling you this."
Olivia held her gaze as if she was waiting for Amelia to say more. When she didn't, the maid quietly scoffed.
"I apologize, but I must go. I just remembered there's something else I must do."
Olivia calmly placed the book on the nightstand next to Amelia and retrieved the laundryhamper she'd left by the foot of the bed. Though she seemed composed it was obvious by her expression that she was disappointed; angry.
She didn't spend any more time by Amelias bedside after that.