Page 85 of The Poison Season

A murmur of disbelief went up amongst the Endlans. “It can’t be,” someone said.

“We saw her drown,” another added.

“Haven’t you noticed that your songs didn’t work on him?” Leelo asked Sage. “He was trying to escape, wasn’t he? He didn’t come to you of his own will. If he was an outsider, he would have run toward you, not away.”

Sage’s vicious scowl started to give way to doubt. “You’re wrong. He can’t be Endlan.”

Leelo stared into Jaren’s gray eyes, letting the rest of the world, his bleeding neck, her cousin’s fury, fade away. She stepped toward him, and this time, no one stopped her. “He is.”

“Is it true?” he asked, taking her hands.

“It’s the only explanation. Does it make any sense, with what you know of your parents? Would they have taken in an abandoned child, even if they knew he was Endlan?”

Jaren’s eyes filled with tears. “Yes.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered against his chest. “I wish I could have told you some other way.” She leaned back, cupping his cheek in her palm. “Come on. Let’s take you home.”

Ketty, who had seemed speechless just a moment before, managed to find her voice then. “Home? You just said this boyishome. If he’s Endlan, then he is exactly where he belongs.”

“He has a family,” Fiona said. “He needs to return to them.”

“And let me guess. You intend to go with him. Your loyalty was always tothem, never to us.”

Fiona shot her sister a warning glance. Ifthemwas Nigel and Tate, as Leelo suspected, then she likely didn’t want the rest of the island to know. “My loyalty is to my family, yes. It always has been.”

“What are you implying, sister? That mine hasn’t been?”

Fiona lowered her voice. “Let’s discuss this at the house, Ketty.”

“No. I think it’s high time these people know the truth about what you did. That you’re no better than your traitor daughter.”

Again, the crowd buzzed with speculation. “What is she talking about, Fiona?” someone asked.

“We deserve the truth.”

Leelo took Jaren’s hand and started to push through the crowd. “Come on, Mama,” she said.

But Ketty and Fiona stood their ground.

“The truth,” Ketty said, “is that my sister had a bastard. An incantu bastard, with an outsider father.”

There was a collective gasp from the Endlans. “What outsider?” a woman shouted. “When?”

“Twelve years ago,” Sage said. “Isn’t it obvious?”

There were more demands for the truth, and Fiona finally turned to face the crowd. “My sister speaks true. There was an outsider who crossed the ice twelve winters ago. He was injured, and I helped him. And I fell in love with him. My boy, Tate, was the result of our relationship.” She turned to Ketty and leveled her with a gaze that could melt iron. “And Kellan knew.”

Ketty’s eyebrows rose in shock. Apparently she hadn’t expected Fiona to admit as much in public.

“Why don’t you tell them the rest of the story?” Fiona said. “Tell them about the accident.”

Leelo’s eyes darted between her aunt and mother. “What are you talking about?” she asked quietly.

Fiona continued when she realized her sister wasn’t going to stop her, seeming to gather strength as she spoke. “There was no accident, was there, Ketty? There was only you and your desire to always know the truth. And worse, to share it, no matter who you hurt in the process. And when you told Hugo the truth of Tate’s origin, he threatened to tell everyone on the island so that I would be turned out with my illegitimate offspring.”

Ketty stepped toward Fiona. “Be quiet,” she hissed. “Stop this.”

“And then,” Fiona went on, “when Hugo confronted my husband about it, threatening to tell the truth if he wouldn’t, they argued. Hugo shot Kellan, by accident, perhaps, but he watched while my husband bled to death.”

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