Page 83 of The Poison Season

“Because she threatened to tell you what I’d done. She threatened to tell everyone. And I suppose it was because some part of me believed I deserved it. I thought it was the punishment I had earned by betraying my family, and Endla.”

Hot tears pricked at the corners of Leelo’s eyes. “That’s nonsense. Not helping Nigel would have been the true betrayal, because you would have been betraying yourself.” There had never been a choice, for either of them, because when it came down to it, they were good people. They wouldn’t willingly allow anyone to suffer. Unlike Ketty, who for years had been killing her only sister.

“I know that now,” Fiona said softly. “I’m sorry. I should have fought harder, for your sake.”

Leelo shook her head and rose. “I forgive you, Mama. But I have a choice. I have to fight for Jaren.”

Her mother tried to grab her arm as she walked to the door. “You can’t! Sage is out there!”

But Leelo was already standing in the open doorway, and there was no sign of her cousin. “She must have gone to join the Hunt,” she murmured, feeling more betrayed than ever. Like her mother, Sage was loyal to the island even more than her own family. Like Ketty, Sage probably thought she was doing Leelo a favor.

“Maybe he’s safe,” she said. “If the singing didn’t work before, perhaps it won’t now, either.”

“What did you say?” Fiona asked.

Leelo glanced at her mother over her shoulder. “I said maybe the magic won’t work on him.”

Fiona took a step forward and stumbled, clutching her head in her hands. “Saints,” she breathed as Leelo rushed to her side.

“Mama? Are you all right?”

Fiona shook her head, trying to clear it. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”

“See what? What’s wrong?”

“I knew he looked familiar, but I couldn’t believe... I should have known.”

Leelo gripped her mother’s shoulders, forcing her to look up. “What are you talking about?”

“Nadia. She was a Watcher the same year I was. We weren’t close, but she didn’t make it a secret how she felt about Endla’s rules. She scowled through the entire ceremony and came to none of the festivals after. None of us were truly surprised the winter she tried to escape across the lake with her newborn son.”

“What?”

Fiona’s eyes had glazed over. “A little sooner, and she might have made it. But the ice gave way beneath her, drowning both of them. Unless...”

Leelo had stopped breathing. “What are you saying, Mama?”

Finally, Fiona stopped rambling, her hazel eyes focusing on Leelo’s. “I’m saying, what if the baby survived?”

Chapter Fifty-Two

Jaren and Sage stared at each other for a long while, trying to gauge who would be the first to move. Unsurprisingly, it was Sage. She ran toward him with her knife outstretched and missed him by mere inches when he dodged at the last second, sprinting for the lake.

But Sage, with her righteous fury and full belly, was faster than Jaren. She leaped onto him from behind, tackling him to the ground. He barely managed to get a hold of her knife-wielding hand, pinning it by her side. But whereas Jaren had spent most of his days daydreaming, Sage had clearly been preparing for a moment like this. She kneed him in the crotch, waiting until he curled up in pain before rolling on top of him and pressing the knife to his throat.

“You had to know it would end this way,” she said, her eyes glinting in the darkness.

“It doesn’t,” he choked out.

“I don’t know why you came here, and I don’t particularly care. You should have died in the crossing, but you didn’t. And my cousin wouldn’t let a fly suffer, let alone a human. But she was never yours to have, and I was never going to let you take her from me.”

For the first time, Jaren realized how much Leelo meant to Sage, and he couldn’t blame her for that. “I know she isn’t mine,” he said. “But she isn’t yours, either. She should be free to make her own decisions.”

“And you’re so sure she would have chosen you over me? She may have fallen prey to your outsider tricks, but Leelo loves this island and her family. She would never have abandoned us.”

He could understand how much it must hurt to feel cast aside for a near stranger, though of course, it hadn’t been that way at all. “I know. Not unless she felt like she had to,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed. “Is this what you do? Agree with everything Leelo says? No wonder she liked having you around.” She ground her knee farther into his stomach. The singing, which had been a distant hum up until now, seemed to be growing closer. “You’re my kill,” she said, and with that, she slowly drew the knife across his throat. Just deep enough to draw blood. Just deep enough to let him know that next time, she would cut to kill.

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