Chapter 113
The Medicine Worked
On the first morning, the coughing behind Lilith's door sounded different. It was still rough, still ugly but no longer weak. The sounds were deeper now, as if her body had finally decided to fight back. Each coughing fit was hard and painful, but when it ended, there was space afterward. Real silence. The kind that lets you believe breathing is possible again.
I didn't go in.
I stayed on the edges of things. I measured, boiled, and mixed. I handed the cup to Mother and stepped back. I became useful without being present.
So the days settled into a pattern.
At night, the poultice that was warm and sharp was placed over her chest, wrapped carefully so it wouldn't burn her skin. In the mornings and afternoons, steam followed. Kettles filled with water and eucalyptus leaves, carried upstairs, the door closing behind them.
The syrup came next. Dark, honey-thick. To soothe what the coughing had scraped raw.
