Chapter 250: Not an illness
The color did drain from her face, and with it, it took the words along too.
Arabella hadn’t much to say aside from a few stutter-riddled excuses. Silas did not necessarily press her with questions, but she still had to reassure him that it was natural for her to look and feel that way during that period of the month.
Their already short exchange was cut when they reached the door to her room.
"I’ll send Ada your way, then," his diamonds did not meet her when he spoke.
"Thank you," she made no complaints and simply aided her weight downwards in order to sit on the bed.
Despite all of her attempts at comforting him, watching her struggle to get seated bugged him quite a lot.
But with that, he let her be and as promised, sent Ada to her room.
"Oh dear...," the maid kept calm, only a grimace on her transpiring, "You look like a ghost," she bit on her bottom lip.
"Please don’t worry," Arabella put effort into the chuckle she let out, "This is perfectly natural for me. I just feel tired and the pain is mild for now,"
"Right then, in this regard, you are like Cassandra," said Ada while walking around the bed to tower over Arabella, "You’ll need to lie down. Straining yourself is the worst thing you can do,"
The young woman drew a deep and long breath just so she could speak, "I don’t want to spend the day in bed,"
"You have no other choice," eyebrows furrowed, Ada placed her hands over her hips, "This is for your own good,"
Arabella was slow in her motions but allowed Ada to tuck her in without any further objections.
"Right, I will put water near you and every four hours, I will get you hot tea to drink," the maid nodded to her own words.
"Aren’t you going a little over the top? Do you do this to Cassandra too? I mean is she allowed to spend her day in bed for the same reason?" her mouth pouted but her eyes were soft as though pleading.
"Yes! Of course she spends the day in bed! You are not getting special treatment here," Ada shook her head, "Not with this, at least,"
That had the merit of stopping the protests.
Ada sat with a book at the table after replenishing the water pitcher on the nightstand. Arabella sulked for a good few minutes until her eyelids grew too heavy to withstand their own weight.
Her breathing had grown shallower too, chest heaving and dropping at a much faster pace.
As promised, Ada only awoke her from sleep in order to hand her tea or some curated food to keep her body running.
Arabella fought her efforts every step of the way, too nauseous to swallow with the ease she usually did.
When the fourth time to bring her tea came, Ada walked in not on Arabella alone but on Silas sitting right behind her.
He’d lifted her upper body and brought it against himself to support her instead of the pillows.
His arms went around her, with one holding her jaws and the other bringing a cup to her lips, trying to get her to drink its content.
"What are you doing?" Ada had dropped all formalities, eyes wide open and tray in hand.
"You may take your leave," was all that he said without ever looking at the maid.
His eyes did snap up towards her when she refused to leave, however, "No!" she put the tea on the table before walking over to them, "What are you trying to feed her?"
"Didn’t you hear what I just said?"
Normally, the cold glare on him would’ve sent shivers down her spine, but not at that instant.
"I heard you loud and clear. I still can’t leave, Master," she said, stopping right next to them. Before he could open his mouth, Ada quickly added, "She’s already had some of your blood this morning. It’s still in her system. If it were to act it would have already done so. This is a natural, biological function in her body. She isn’t in pain due to an illness that should be cured. This here tells us that her body is just healthy and works the way it’s supposed to,"
Silas took a moment to consider the maid’s words then still tried to push the tip of the cup to her mouth again, "Still, it might bring her some relief,"
"No," Ada whispered at that point, bringing both hands around his.
It was the first time ever she dared touch him in any way shape or form, "Please, stop. This might hurt her more than help," she took a deep breath, "You can save her life but you can’t save her from life. Trying to do that might yield harsher consequences for her in the long run. Just let her body cleanse itself the way it should,"
To his own surprise, the vampire did not yank his hand and waited until she pulled away on her own time.
Her hands weren’t as soft as Arabella’s but just as warm.
It turned out, physical contact with more than one person didn’t burn him to the ground or cause his skin to melt.
Not that he expected that to happen... Still, he placed the cup back on the nightstand but kept holding the sleeping figure of Arabella.
She seemed to breathe both from her nose and mouth, a bit as though her brain was confused on whether to draw from one tube instead of the other.
"You may help her drink this tea, then. It doesn’t contain any blood," Ada smiled and spoke with the tamest of tones, "I’ll be taking my leave now,"
She left him with those words and quietly shut the door behind herself.
While Silas wiped the sweat off the young woman’s face, he wished she’d open her eyes and give him that upside down look he so loved to see.
But her slumber was deep, encouraging him to wait on waking her up for a while longer.