Chapter 5 · free to read
The physician did not hide like the others. He was waiting for me, the tea already warm.
For one breath I wanted it. A door. A living witness. A life that did not end at dawn or in the dark with him.
The steward forged the paper. Aunt Yao ground the powder. But someone had made sure my husband died without a sound.
He wanted me to drink. Exactly as my husband had drunk, ten years ago, in a room just like this.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.