In the morning, Angelina woke later than she should have. She hardly ever woke up late, even if she was tremendously sleep deprived.
She swallowed and felt a terrible pain in her throat. No no no no no, she couldn't be sick. She sat up immediately and snapped out of her slumber, ready to test all her symptoms. Her mind slipped around at the sudden movement and her vision blurred slightly. Nose - dripping and irritated. Head - more painful than her throat. Eyes - watery. Then she coughed and collapsed back on her pillows.
She heard a knock at the door and simply groaned in response. Her mother entered.
"Angelina, why are you not up yet? It's almost midday! Oh, my, you don't look well..."
She hustled over to her daughter and felt her forehead.
"Goodness, you're burning up! You must restl! I'll call the doctor in to administer some medication. Oh dear, this is inconvenient. You must stay home for a week, no going out. You're quite dreadfully ill," said the Duchess.
Angelina was left in peace for a bit. It seemed like merely twenty minutes until the doctor was examining her, but she must have dozed off again in between, because the sun had moved. Had it gone higher? She thought so. That meant later, yes? Oh, the light was so bright. She had to close her eyes again.
When she reopened them, the sun had ascended above her window and was no longer in her line of sight. The doctor was gone. A maid sat by her bedside.
"The doctor said to take some of this medicine," said the maid gently. She poured some brownish liquid from a bottle into a small cup and raised it to Angelina's lips. It would have tasted awful if Angelina's taste buds hadn't decided to halt their usual functioning.
The day passed in a blur. As evening fell, some supper was brought up to her. She had little appetite, but forced herself to eat something.
She felt a bit more awake after that. Only last night, she had been getting ready for a ball. Now she was sick in bed.
The princesses! If she was forbidden to leave the house for a week, then she wouldn't be able to find anything out. She had to tell them. She waited until her plate was taken back and until the clock chimed ten o'clock. Then she ignored her body's desperate pleas to rest and stumbled out of bed, her hurting head immediately making her disoriented. She held onto one of the posts of her bed before going slowly to her cupboard and pulling on a thick coat. Still she shivered and she wasn't even outside yet.
She slipped out of the back door and hurried through the woods, cold creeping through her bones despite the unbearable feeling of far too much heat in her cheeks. Her head felt like a block of sharp ice. She felt fuzzy and stupid and muddled and so, so cold.
She found the princesses in the sitting room where she had first met them.
"Oh, Angelina!" exclaimed Vivienne. "You look terrible!"
"I've fallen ill. I came to tell you all that I've been forbidden from leaving the house for a week so I can't get any information. I might be able to still sneak out at night and see you."
"You'll do no such thing," ordered a fiery looking princess clad in deep red (which looked beautiful under the silvery overtone all the princesses possessed). Dina, if Angelina remembered correctly (a questionable suggestion in that moment).
"Dina is right," said Neferu, standing up. Angelina vaguely registered that she had actually remembered something right. "You're very ill, Angelina. You need to recover. Please rest for that week and more if you need to. You'll get much worse if you sneak out at night all the time. We can wait."
"Alright. I suppose I'll just go and rest," said Angelina. Her usual clear voice had been stripped of its beauty, clogged with croakiness and a stifled cadence courtesy of her blocked nose.
"One of us can escort you back, if you'd like. We don't want you collapsing in the forest," offered Neferu.
"I think I'll be fine," declined Angelina with a small smile. She bade them all farewell and exited the room, swaying a bit at the top of the stairs before realising it would not do to break her neck.
When Angelina collapsed into bed that night it was with the utmost relief.
She felt marginally better the next morning. Her appetite was inching back to normal, which was something. Her mind strayed to the princesses again as she ate. It felt almost like a fever dream when she recollected going to that first meeting. She could hardly believe she had agreed to help them. Especially as the reason for their existence seemed a bit vague. Then again, she thought, as she puzzled over the particulars, powerful men were always hungry for more. More of everything: power, riches, shiny collectibles – like what would be found in conventional treasure – that signified all of the above. And it would be a pity if beautiful things were lost forever, with not a single soul, living or dead, aware of their existence. So really, a group of dead girls that couldn't interact with anyone, but could have another turn at life, seemed like a reasonable contract. Except that powerful men, yet again, had ruined everything by making what was meant to be a blessing into a prison instead.
A knock sounded on her door. Leonard walked in and sat beside her bed.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked.
"A tiny bit. But it might take a few more days to get back to normal," replied Angelina morbidly. "What's going on in the rest of the house?"
"Well, mother is going seasonal shopping."
"Without me! I'll miss out on all the best clothes!" complained Angelina. Vanity was apparently a curse. But beauty and pretty things? She would sell her soul for them in a heartbeat.
"She said to tell you she'll take you when you're better, probably next Monday," reassured Leonard. "And Theodore is expected next Wednesday."
"What is it today? Tuesday?"
"Yep. You're missing a party tomorrow night at Lord Blanche's. Emilie and Chloe will have to do the piano."
"The poor audience," said Angelina. She was very superior on piano to either of them, though Emilie wasn't unpleasant to listen to.
"And I asked father... about your whole marriage..." Leonard trailed off.
"Really, it's okay Leonard. Thank you for trying but I didn't expect anything else," smiled Angelina. She concealed her disappointment.
"He said you'd brainwashed me into believing nonsense," mumbled Leonard glumly.
"Of course he did."
They sat in silence for a bit. Then Angelina remembered a promise she had made a couple of nights ago.
"Leonard, could you possibly get me a book on the ancient Greek language from the library?" she requested. "I'm sure we must have one somewhere."
"Greek? You must be really bored. Alright, I'll go see if I can find one."
Half an hour later he was back, with no book, but a bunch of flowers. "Sorry, couldn't find any Greek. I got you a novel though. In English, so you should be able to read it."
Angelina nodded. Her English certainly wasn't perfect, but she could usually get the general idea of what was happening.
"What are those?" Angelina questioned, gesturing towards the flowers.
"Oh, these are from the Allard estate. Oh no, not from Edward," he corrected, his eyes wide. "From Emilie, I think. Shall I put them in this vase here?"
Angelina nodded and Leonard put the flowers in an empty vase on a table a few steps away from her bed. It had been quite a while since any flowers had been in it.
He left after that, leaving the book with her. She looked at the flowers.
Lilies and roses.
YOU ARE READING
The Dead Princess Society
General Fiction"Perhaps someone had seen her. Watched her wander through the hallowed place. Then purposefully, audibly walked away, to let her know that she was not, in fact, alone the whole time as she had thought." Angelina Valliant is burdened with a controlli...
