Page 55 of The Poison Season

He couldn’t stand to see her look so ashamed, not when she’d done nothing wrong. He leaned forward and held out his hand. This time, she took it without hesitating. “I don’t know what makes a good Endlan, Leelo. But I do know you’re a good person.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

He wouldn’t contradict her. Maybe he didn’t understand, but he knew without a doubt that she was good. “Leelo.”

She slowly dragged her eyes up to his.

“I like you, too.” One side of his mouth tugged up in a grin. “A lot.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

“You girls both look beautiful.”

Leelo smiled at her mother, who watched as she and Sage fluttered around the house in preparation for the solstice festival. Despite her concerns for Jaren, Leelo had somehow gotten caught up in the excitement once it was time to get ready. Even Sage seemed eager, to Leelo’s surprise.

“Is my hair all right?” Leelo asked, twisting to get a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

“It’s perfect.” Her mother tugged on one of the long blond waves that she’d woven through with daisies from the Forest. She’d presented Leelo with her new dress that morning, made of fine white cotton embroidered with bright flowers and trimmed in the most delicate handmade lace. Sage was wearing a similar dress in her namesake color.

“You’ve matured over the last few months, you know. Both of you.”

Sage wrapped her arm around Leelo’s waist and squeezed. “Imagine what we’ll be like when the year is over.”

Fiona sighed. “I wish I could freeze time and keep you as you are now.”

Sage laughed and released Leelo. “You know that’s impossible, Aunt Fiona.” She skipped out of the room, but Leelo stayed with her mother.

“And how are we now, Mama?” she asked.

Her mother looked wistful when she spoke. “A little harder around the edges, perhaps, but still soft enough to be hopeful.”

“Hopeful about what?”

Her mother sighed. “Everything, my darling.”

Something about Mama’s tone worried Leelo. “You’re coming, aren’t you? Are you feeling well enough?”

“Of course I’m coming. I’ll change, and we can go.” She kissed Leelo’s forehead, now nearly even with hers.

Together, they left the cottage, falling silent as they passed by Isola’s house. Her family wasn’t allowed to attend such a celebratory occasion. Still, by the time they’d reached the meadow where the festival was held, they were nearly twenty people in all, the majority of the families Aunt Ketty oversaw as council member. Despite how small Endla was, it wasn’t often that everyone gathered on the island. It was a time to catch up with people they rarely saw, for the adults to comment on how big the children had grown, for friends to share gossip and elderberry wine, and for the young people to dance until their feet ached.

Leelo’s thoughts turned to Jaren once again when she saw the sheer number of people who had gathered, but she knew the songs they sang tonight would be harmless, mostly. Even her mother seemed pleased to be there, and she avoided most of Endla’s ceremonies. She said they took too much out of her, which Leelo had always chalked up to her mother’s introverted, quiet manner.

But as the sun went down, Fiona seemed quite satisfied with the elderberry wine and various dishes Aunt Ketty continued to bring to her, where she sat in the shade of an oak tree. Content that her mother was being well looked after, Leelo chatted with some of the people she hadn’t seen since the ceremony. Vance admired Leelo’s dress, just as she had last time. Sage stood with Hollis, talking animatedly about saints knew what, but certainly not looking for Leelo. She passed a table full of perfect miniature cupcakes dusted with icing sugar and topped with fresh strawberries. She only meant to take one for herself, but then she took a second.

She knew Jaren would love it.

She knew she would love watching him eat it.

It had taken a lot for her to admit to Jaren that she liked him, though she assumed he already knew. Partly she had wanted to get this secret off her chest, and partly she had wanted—had hoped, desperately—to hear him say he liked her, too. When he did, she felt both relieved and alive in a way she’d never felt before. She didn’t know if this was what would be considered courting; she’d never spent enough time with a boy to learn much beyond their peculiar habits and, as they got older, their even more peculiar smells. All she knew was that she went to the cottage feeling nervous or tired or guilty, and she left feeling... She wasn’t sure she could describe it.

But she wanted that feeling now.

Perhaps it was the two small cups of elderberry wine that were making her feel so reckless. She noted that her head seemed pleasantly disconnected from her body and her lips were a little numb. She had made Jaren promise to stay as far away from the festival as possible. Going to him now could compromise his safety—not to mention her own—all for the sake of watching him eat a strawberry. And, if she was being honest, so he could see her in this dress. It almost seemed a wastenotto go to him.

If anyone noticed she was gone, they would attribute it to the wine, or the darkness, or how all the children looked the same in the firelight. And by then, it would be too late to stop her.

Leelo might have changed her mind at any point on her way to the cottage, but before she knew it, she had arrived. She stood among the trees for a moment, straightening her hair with her free hand, then slapping her cheeks lightly to clear her head.

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