Don't Disturb Stella and Her Mates novel · Chapter 10 of 24
Chapter 10: A Vial of Water
Ansel Corvin came up the ridge after dark with no lamp and no rifle.
Thora heard him a long way off.
He climbed, all long legs and bad footing, and swore twice when he lost the path.
She did not move from the tree.
He found her by the smell of her fire, and he stood at the edge of the glow with his hands loose and empty.
"I'm not supposed to be here," he said.
"No."
"I don't know why I came."
"Sit down."
He sat on the far side of the small fire, with his knees drawn up and his curly hair full of leaves.
He looked younger than twenty-seven.
"Can I ask you something?" he said.
"Go on."
"Do you ever feel like you've forgotten something? Not a thing, a feeling. Like there's a name on the tip of your tongue, and every morning you're about to say it, and then you drink your tonic and it's gone."
Thora said nothing.
"I can't eat in front of her," he said, in a rush. "Stella. It's stupid. She's the kindest person I know. But when she watches me eat, my stomach turns over. I've told Joren and he says it's nerves."
"How long?"
"Years."
He wiped his face with the heel of his hand.
"Then I saw you in that hollow with Dax, and I thought, I know her. I know the way she holds a cup. That's a crazy thing to think. You and I haven't spoken ten words in five years."
"Ansel."
"What?"
She reached into her sleeve and set the full glass vial on the dirt between them.
He looked at it.
"That's mine," he said. "Where did you get it?"
"From the case. I took two."
"Why?"
"Because I tasted it."
She told him, plainly, with no more weight than she would have given a weather report.
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