The Poison Season(46)
“I couldn’t imagine a place like Bricklebury, before I got there. I went for a walk with a girl, and the entire town was talking about it.”
Leelo blushed, her eyes still downcast. “Imagine if they saw us in this cottage.”
He smiled. “I think their heads would explode. Too much gossip for them to handle.”
“Are you going to marry her?” Leelo asked, still not meeting his eyes.
Jaren laughed, which made her blush harder.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That’s probably too personal.”
“It’s not that. I hardly know her. She sells honey at the market. She’s from Endla, actually. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of that before. You must have known her. Her name is Lupin.”
Leelo cocked her head. “The only Lupin I know is elderly. Are you sure she’s from Endla?”
“I’m sure. But I suppose she could have changed her name. She has long blond hair. Darker than yours. And green eyes.”
She shook her head. “There are lots of girls on Endla that look like that. When did she leave?”
“She’s my age. Eighteen. So six or seven years ago, I suppose.”
Leelo thought for a moment. “I didn’t pay as much attention to who was leaving when I was younger. I’d already been singing for years by that point. But my mother would probably remember.”
“It’s not important. As I said, I hardly know her.”
Leelo brightened suddenly. “So this girl. She found a home in Bricklebury? Who does she live with? Is she healthy?”
Jaren told her everything he knew about Lupin, and there was something about the way Leelo hung on every word that made him think she knew one of these incantu, quite well, perhaps.
When he was finished, Leelo looked happy, relieved. He wanted to ask her about it, but he was afraid he’d inadvertently misstep again, and he liked seeing her smile.
They sat in silence for a while, until it began to feel awkward. Jaren shifted, and Leelo blinked, like she’d been far away in her mind.
“I should go,” she said, all business once again. “As I said, I have the day after tomorrow free, so I’ll be able to look for the boat. I’ll come when I can. Will you be all right until then?”
He nodded. “I think so. I just don’t like not helping. I’m the one who shouldn’t be here. I should be doing something to make it right.”
“I understand not wanting to sit still. But believe me, that’s the most helpful thing you can do right now.”
“All right, then. I’ll be here.”
She moved toward the door, then paused and reached into her satchel. She pulled out the songbook and stared at it for a moment before handing it to Jaren.
“Are you sure?” he asked, taking it gently.
“No,” she said with a crooked smile. Her eyes met his for longer than they ever had before. They were such a particular shade of blue, crystalline against her fair skin. Finally, she looked away. “I’m not sure about anything anymore,” she said, before closing the door behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The next morning, Sage and Leelo sat on the shore, Watching near the spot where Pieter had died. Sage seemed to have forgiven Leelo, and they passed the time by talking about the solstice, what they would wear and who they thought would get engaged. It was a beautiful morning, the surface of the lake as smooth as glass, but Leelo kept thinking about her brother. It was possible that Tate really had found a nice family in a nearby village to live with, that he was safe and sound. She had wanted to believe Jaren so much it made her chest ache with hope.
But it was also possible he was telling her these things so she wouldn’t kill him. If he humanized outsiders, maybe she would come to believe they weren’t as bad as she’d always thought. Jaren didn’t seem like a bad person, but he could be acting. Saints knew she wasn’t really a battle-scarred Watcher who could slit his throat in his sleep if she chose to.
She needed to be more like Sage, she thought, watching her cousin from the corner of her eye. She was whittling something, her hazel eyes flicking up every thirty seconds to scan the horizon.
“What are you making?”
“This? It’s a fox. Can’t you tell?” She held up the wood and grinned. So far, it was just a shapeless lump.
Leelo smiled. Here she was thinking she should be more like Sage, and Sage was whittling the craftiest creature on the island. Endlan foxes were the bane of families like Isola’s, who raised chickens. Dirty, disease-ridden scavengers, to most.
“Why a fox?” Leelo asked.
Sage dropped her hands to her lap and turned her attention on Leelo. “Foxes,” she said, “are brilliant. Do you realize that in all our years of hunting, we’ve never once caught a fox in our snares? We’ve never even found a carcass. When they raid Rosalie’s henhouse, they leave nothing behind but feathers. They’re like shadows, silent and stealthy.”
“And you admire that?”
“Sure I do. When you didn’t show up for duty, I was almost looking forward to doing our shift alone. To really test myself, you know? A fox doesn’t need a pack to hunt. They don’t need anything but their own wit.” She frowned and picked up the wood again. “It was my mother’s idea to ask Hollis.”