Welcome back to my post-post-apocalyptic novel, Ada’s Children, and thanks for reading! If you’re new to the story, please don’t be surprised that it’s paywalled. The Prologue and first three chapters are free, and you can start reading them here. The previous chapter, “The Border,” is here.
In this chapter, Sila at last feels the full consequences of her wandering eye and wayward heart. Why has she been so indecisive? By the end of this night, she’ll know the answer.
SILA took another gulp of the berry wine, hoping it would drown her humiliation. It was what, her fifth cup of the night? The first being the ceremonial cup the courting dancers passed to each other before the Dance of the Full Moon. Drinking from it, Sila had seen her future with Brina shining before her, as bright as the light of the rising moon, full of delight and possibility. Now the moon rode high in the sky above her, just past its zenith, mocking her and all her folly, revealing in its harsh light the wreckage of her hopes and dreams.
She gave a bitter laugh. Hadn’t she grown maudlin! Maybe it was the wine. Brina was only one girl, after all. There were others. Hadn’t she told Jun she had the pick of them?
She looked at the other hunters gathered around her, those who had been rejected and those who had never tried. Between them sat a pot of wine they’d carried up to this hillside overlooking the meeting grounds. What did they have to feel upset about? They might not have found a mate this year, but at least they hadn’t caused a scandal.
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