As the day approached where she was scheduled to see her aunt - step mother? - Adrienne felt more and more unsure of the decision. It had been quite some time since she’d been at the receiving end of Ambrosia’s oh-so-careful-and-tactful conversation, and with the way Adrienne had been waking up in the mornings, she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready to be subjected to such a bracing afternoon. But cancelling on Ambrosia Selwyn was not something one did without facing a variety of consequences, so Adrienne had completed the ridiculously Herculean task of sitting up in bed (or rather, Olympe had faithfully done so) and had a small breakfast. She’d had the French paper delivered to the house, so was in the middle of nursing a piece of toast in small bites when Olympe came in with another tisane for her suddenly roiling stomach. It was only after one sip that she had to leap out of bed and empty the contents of her barely eaten breakfast into the obliging pot that Olympe had brought up.

Nausea, fatigue, feeling like an overstuffed Sunday roast…

Merde.

Leaning back in relief at the feeling of the cold compress Olympe had conjured, Adrienne avoided meeting the eyes of her maid as she left fetch bring a potion to help with her symptoms. She had no idea how much time had passed when Olympe was waking her up to give her the potion and letting her know Ambrosia was due within the next hour. She’d hauled Adrienne out of bed to dress her with a careful eye seeing as Adrienne had insisted on keeping the appointment instead of resting in bed. After taking another potion to help her stomach, she went downstairs in her partial-mourning day dress, and braced herself as she walked into the parlor where the servants were just finishing setting up tea.

A tight smile stretched across her features as she was met with a greeting that only Ambrosia Selwyn could give. “And a good day to you too, aunt.” She said with a sigh, settling down in the couch, accepting the shawl that Olympe had come in to drape across her shoulders. “I hope the journey here was satisfactory?”

---