Page 79 of The Poison Season

Her cousin’s face was twisted in a triumphant grin as she glanced between Ketty and Leelo. “I’m saving you,” she said.

Something that was half sob, half laugh burst out of Leelo. “From what?”

Ketty pointed at Jaren as though he were some disease-ridden creature. “Fromthat. Sage told me he was trying to seduce you and lure you away from Endla.” She turned to where Isola and Fiona stood, holding each other and crying. “It all made sense, finally. I just had no idea my own sister was trying to help him.”

“Leave them alone,” Fiona said, but Ketty had already taken a step toward Leelo.

“I should have known. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Leelo pressed her back to Jaren’s chest, as if she could somehow save him with her body. “Let him go. He hasn’t done anything. This was all a misunderstanding.” She looked at Sage imploringly. “Please, you have to know he didn’t mean any harm. He just wants to go home to his family.”

“I might have believed that,” Sage said. “If I hadn’t heard what you said to him in that pathetic hovel.”

Leelo’s stomach sank at the thought of her cousin watching them, of her listening to their private conversation. “You were spying on us?”

“Someone had to! I heard how uncertain you were when he tried to coerce you into leaving. I knew there was still a chance you would fall under his spell.Someonehad to be strong. You’re too soft, Leelo. You always have been.”

Leelo wanted to scream at the way Sage repeated everything her mother said, like a starling. Instead, she made a final, desperate appeal to whatever loyalty she still felt for Leelo. “I told him no, Sage. I wasn’t leaving with him.”

“We couldn’t take that chance,” Ketty said. “Not with Endla at stake.”

Through the trees, Leelo could see the glow of torchlight moving toward them. Ketty must have alerted the council. “Just don’t hurt him,” she pleaded. “He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s leaving now. He doesn’t know anything. Just let him go.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Ketty said. “Give him to me. The council will decide his fate.”

“No!” Leelo pulled her knife out of her waistband. The tiny blade glinted in the moonlight, and as Leelo bared her teeth, one arm still held out protectively toward Jaren, Sage actually took a step back.

But Ketty was not easily cowed. She strode forward and knocked the knife from Leelo’s hand, shoving her aside as she reached for Jaren.

He backed up toward the lake, his heels only feet from where the water lapped against the shore. Isola was crying great, heaving sobs, clearly traumatized from what she’d gone through with Pieter.

Fiona was trying to console her, but she, too, was crying. “Let the boy go, Ketty. He hasn’t done anything.”

“How could you be so foolish, sister?”

“I only just learned of his existence.”

“And then what?” Ketty spat. “Decided to let him take your only daughter?”

Jaren shook his head. “I would never do that. It was always Leelo’s choice. And she chose you!”

Ketty ignored him. “You already let one outsider tear our family apart,” she said to Fiona. “Do you really want to do it again?”

“Youtore our family apart,” Fiona growled, the anger in her voice startling Leelo. “You could have let things be. You could have let me have one thing of my own.”

“You had responsibilities,” Ketty spat. “And you abandoned them for some stranger!”

“I didn’t abandon anyone. Kellan knew. He knew, and he forgave me. If it hadn’t been for your involvement, if Hugo had never found out...”

Leelo was more confused than ever. She was torn between pushing Jaren into the boat to save him before it was too late and trying to find some way out of this nightmare they hadn’t considered yet.

“Mother,” Sage warned. The other council members were nearly upon them.

Ketty turned away from Fiona toward Jaren, who had inched closer to the boat. If he jumped in, the movement might be enough to push the boat those last couple feet into the water. Leelo rushed to his side.

But it was too late. The other council members arrived, all nine of them, including several large men. They would kill Jaren, and they would make Leelo watch.

Suddenly, Isola broke into a sprint. She picked up the knife Leelo had dropped and dove for the rope.

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