Page 51 of The Poison Season

“What is it?” he asked.

“I was wondering if you’d teach me that song. The one you sang before.”

Jaren laughed in surprise. “The lullaby? Are you sure? It’s only a silly nursery rhyme.”

“Right. Of course. I just—”

Why was he arguing with her when what he wanted was for her to stay as long as possible? Before he could overthink it, he held out his hand.

She only hesitated a moment before taking it, and he led her over to the stump he’d used as a seat before. She sat down next to him, placing the basket near her feet but not letting go of his hand. He wondered if she knew how beautiful she was, or if she was truly as unaware as she seemed.

He sang the song for her three times, and on the last time, she joined him. He didn’t think she meant to do it. Her eyes were closed, and she sang so softly that the words drifted over his skin like snowflakes, chilling him.

When she’d finished, she opened her eyes and looked over at him, her face lit up with wonder, like that silly little nursery rhyme was the most brilliant thing she’d ever heard. And he had done that. He wanted to do it again.

“Did I get it right?” she asked.

He wasn’t sure anything he said would be coherent, so he nodded instead.

Leelo looked around, as if she was waiting for something to happen, but the Forest was as it always was, full of distant birdsong and rustling in the undergrowth. There were no roots snaking up out of the soil toward them. No storm clouds loomed overhead. “I keep expecting the Forest to respond,” she said, so quietly it was little more than a whisper.

“They must not like my song choice,” Jaren said with a smile, but all he could think about was the fact that her hand was still cradled in his. Any second now, she would realize and pull away. But even when he ran his thumb along the ridges of her knuckles, she didn’t move. When he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, it looked like she was holding her breath.

Her berry-stained lower lip was caught between her front teeth again. Before he knew what he was doing, his hand came up, and he gently tugged her lip free with his thumb.

“Your lips are stained,” he said softly.

“So are yours.” She released his hand, but it was only so she could run her fingers over his mouth, as delicate as butterfly wings. “I should go.”

His mouth quirked in a crooked grin. “I don’t want you to.”

She rose anyway. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

He stood up next to her. He wanted to kiss her. He knew it was a terrible idea.

She picked up her basket once again. “Good night, Jaren.”

“Good night, Leelo.”

He watched her go, wiping the stain from his mouth with the back of his hand and wishing she had kissed it away instead.

Chapter Thirty-One

That night, Leelo lay awake for hours, trying to come to some sort of solution to her predicament and failing.

One thing was certain: she had to get Jaren off the island. Eventually, he would be caught like Pieter, and it would end the same horrific way. She hardly knew Jaren, but the thought of any harm coming to him was almost unbearable. It didn’t make sense, to care so much about the fate of a stranger.

But he wasn’t a stranger anymore, she reminded herself. She knew about his father and his three sisters, who Leelo thought she would like very much. She knew the song his late mother sang to him when he was a baby. She knew that whatever other outsiders might be like, this one, at least, had no intention of harming Endla. And if that was the case, wasn’t it also possible that other outsiders didn’t want to harm it, either?

Unconsciously, she remembered the way the muscles of Jaren’s torso had rippled when he lifted his hand to brush the hair from his face, how she’d caught him watching her, and how for a split second she had considered letting him watch, had wanted him to see her. She tugged at her lower lip, but it didn’t elicit the same curling warmth in her stomach as his touch had. She wasn’t sure what to make of any of these feelings, but at the same time, she thought she knew exactly what they meant.

Sage would tell her to get ahold of herself and stop acting so ridiculous and moony. But Leelo couldn’t help it. As wrong as she knew it was to get close to Jaren, she also didn’t want to stop.

The next morning, Sage was quiet as they patrolled their stretch of beach, close to the spot where the boat had come ashore with Jaren. The blood trail had washed away in the summer storms so common at this time of year, but keeping a secret was almost as difficult as keeping a song in her throat. Leelo wanted to tell her cousin about everything that had happened the past few days. She wanted to whisper how Jaren’s trousers had been slung so low on his hips it was a wonder they hadn’t fallen off, to giggle and cover her face in embarrassment until Sage told her she knew exactly how she felt.

But there was no possibility of her telling Sage about Jaren. Leelo knew Sage would tell Ketty immediately, and Ketty would tell the council, if she didn’t kill him herself.

“What’s gotten into you?” Sage said instead, a suspicious glimmer in her eye.

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