Don't Disturb Stella and Her Mates novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: The Pear Tart
Joren found her at the stream an hour after sunrise, alone, filling the tin cup.
He stood on the bank above her with his stitched side held straight and his face shut.
"Say it to me," he said.
"Say what?"
"Why you did it. The pear tart."
Thora set the cup down.
"What pear tart?"
"Don't play stupid. Stella's birthday, three winters ago. Your tart. She ate one bite and nearly died."
"I didn't bake a tart," Thora said.
"The doctor found it in the glass. A drop of nightroot."
His voice did not rise.
It was worse than if it had.
"I stood in the hospital and watched her fight for breath for two days. She never said your name, not once. I had to hear it from the staff. You were the only one who had touched her plate."
Thora looked at him for a long while.
The old Thora had done a great many stupid, spiteful things.
She was not at all sure she had done this.
"Who put the nightroot in the doctor's hands?" she said.
"What?"
"The glass. You said the doctor found it. Who gave him the glass?"
"Stella did. She was frightened, she wanted to know."
"So the only proof that I poisoned the tart came from the person who ate it."
His mouth opened, and closed.
"She wouldn't lie about that," he said.
"She wouldn't?"
"Why would she?"
"I don't know yet," Thora said. "Ask yourself why you're so sure."
For an instant something moved behind his eyes.
It was the same flicker she had seen in the tent, a man pressing against a locked door.
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