Page 58 of The Poison Season

“What do you mean?”

Her tone was soft and coaxing when she said, “You met someone, didn’t you?”

For a moment, Leelo wondered if she was going to be sick again.

“It’s all right, Leelo. You can tell me. I promise I won’t expect you to marry them, just because you like them.”

Leelo knew she couldn’t continue lying to her mother, but she also couldn’t tell her about Jaren. It wasn’t that she thought her mother would be angry with her. But she would be worried. She would do whatever it took to keep Leelo safe, even if that meant killing Jaren. And Leelo couldn’t bear to think of that now.

“I do like someone,” she admitted finally. “But I’m not ready to talk about who it is yet.”

Fiona rested her head on Leelo’s shoulder. “That’s fine, my darling. You don’t have to tell me. I just hope you’ll be careful.”

“What do you mean?” Leelo didn’t think her mother could possibly know about Jaren, but she was intuitive. She observed more than Ketty gave her credit for.

“I don’t want you getting hurt. That’s all.”

Leelo relaxed a little. “I won’t, Mama.”

Fiona lifted her head, and Leelo shivered at the sudden absence. “Just remember, my girl. It’s not the falling that breaks you.”

Leelo didn’t ask her what she meant. After tonight, she thought she understood. They walked on for several moments before Fiona sighed.

“It’s not the falling,” she said in a soft voice that sent chills over Leelo’s bare arms. “It’s the landing.”

By the time Leelo had changed for bed, Sage was asleep. Leelo crawled under the covers, her head pounding with the latent effects of the wine and the news of Sage’s engagement. While she had never relished the idea of living with her cousin for the rest of her life, she wasn’t ready for Sage to move out. She wasn’t ready for Sage to move on.

Leelo rolled onto her side, away from her cousin. A few moments later, she felt Sage’s fingertips on her shoulder. They were ice-cold.

Leelo turned to find Sage’s eyes glimmering in the dark. “What’s wrong?”

Her voice was flat and detached. “Nothing.”

Leelo didn’t want to assume that Sage was unhappy about the engagement. She had seemed resigned to it before, and knowing Sage, she wasn’t going to talk about how she truly felt. When Leelo attempted to console her, it usually backfired. “Were you expecting it tonight?” she asked instead.

Sage sighed and rolled onto her back. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“What did he say? Does he love you?”

Sage snorted dryly. “What do you think, Leelo? That Hollis poured his heart out on bended knee?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“We were dancing, and somehow we ended up in the trees by ourselves. Out of nowhere he said, ‘You’re going to be my wife.’ And I asked him what he was talking about. That’s when he told me we were getting married in six months, that our house was already planned. He wants children. Soon.”

So that was it. Hollis had informed Sage he was marrying her with as much emotion as if he was telling her about the weather. No wonder Sage seemed so numb. “You don’t have to marry him. I know Aunt Ketty wants it, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a say.”

When Sage turned her head toward Leelo, for a moment she felt like she was looking at her aunt instead of her cousin. “Of course I don’t have a say. Maybe, if you were the one getting married, I could have put it off for a while. But your mother would never expect you to marry someone like Hollis. She’s as impractical as you are, only thinking about feelings.” She swallowed thickly. “I was never hoping for love. But respect, admiration. Even attraction. I had hoped...” She broke off, and for the first time Leelo could remember, Sage began to openly weep. Full, hiccuping sobs that wracked her entire body. The sight of her cousin coming undone was unbearable.

Leelo curled up next to Sage, holding her tight, trying to keep her from falling apart, as if Sage might actually crumble from sorrow. And a part of Leelo wished that itwasher getting married instead, that she could spare Sage from this fate somehow. That there really was some Endlan boy she had fallen for instead of an outsider.

Instead of the one boy she could never have.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Jaren waited the entire day after the festival—the evening that Leelo had kissed him, as he would always think of it, touching his fingers to his lips and wishing they were hers—for Leelo to come to him. She had mentioned having that day off from Watcher duty and, considering how clear she’d made her feelings for him, he had no reason to think she wouldn’t visit.

The hours in the cottage always passed slowly, but that day they dragged on interminably. No matter how hard he tried not to think of Leelo, tried not to think of her berry-sweet mouth and the feel of her body against his, he couldn’t seem to help himself. He’d hardly slept that night after she left, his mind spinning in a thousand directions, every nerve in his body aware and humming in a way he’d never experienced.

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