“Of course, Me Lady. Follow me.”
Mary led her down the hall and up some stairs, the castle seeming endless to Jeane, and finally, they arrived at Lottie’s quarters.
“Right through there,” Mary pointed, and Jeane nodded.
“Thank ye for yer help,” Jeane said.
“Aye, Me Lady. I will be back with Lady Lottie’s breakfast.” Mary curtsied and headed back toward the great hall.
Jeane knocked softly on the door.
“Come in!” Lottie chirped, but then she began to cough.
Jeane, instantly concerned, pushed the door open.
Lottie was doubled over, coughing, and she spat mucus into a cloth.
Jeane took the cloth from her, checking the color—green. That usually meant the sickness was getting worse.
“What we want is clear phlegm,” Jeane explained, and Lottie made a face.
“I have to look at the color of me phlegm?”
“Aye,” Jeane said with a small smile. “It’s one way to tell if yer on the mend or getting worse.”
“Which is it?”
“Right now, it’s green which means it’s worse. But ye haven’t started yer medicine yet.”
“What kind of medicine?” Lottie made a face again. “Will it taste bad?”
Jeane chuckled. “It willnae taste very good.”
“I ken. Medicine never tastes good,” Lottie mourned.
Jeane could not help but keep smiling at the bright young girl. Jeane had brought her black bag full of medicine and supplies, and she set it down on Lottie’s bed, next to the girl’s thigh.
She opened it and took out a draught for lung fever which she suspected ailed Lottie. It could be a dangerous disease and had once taken three members of McKay Castle one bitter winter despite Jeane’s ministrations.
“Ye will need to take this one twice a day. Once at breakfast, once at supper. If ye daenae take it with food, it might make ye ill.”
Lottie nodded.
Jeane brought out a second draught. “This one ye can take when the cough gets bad, and ye need to rest. It will make ye drowsy, but it’ll help ye breathe.”
Lottie stared at her almost in wonder. “Old Morna had a few draughts, but she wasnae as adept as ye.”
Jeane rifled through her bag, looking for the third draught that she had brought.
“Liliana?”
Jeane kept searching through the bag, freezing only when her mind finally caught up with her.Liliana. That was what Fergus had introduced her to Lottie as.
“Oh! Aye?”
Lottie tilted her head curiously. “Are ye all right?”
Jeane swallowed hard and nodded. “Aye, aye, I’m fine.”
