The Poison Season(64)

“Well, almost everything,” he whispered. “I figured out pretty quickly that she was the girl you told me about, the one who kept an incantu here.”

She turned back to Isola. “I’m so sorry. I know how this must look—”

“He didn’t rat you out, if it’s any consolation,” Isola said. “I put two and two together on my own. Come on. Let’s go inside and talk. It will be dark soon, and our mothers—and your cousin—will wonder where we’ve gone to.”

Leelo tried to control her breathing. Things could be worse. Sage could have been the one to find Jaren.

They ducked into the little cabin and sat on the floor, pressed so tightly together that their knees touched. Leelo’s eyes darted shyly to Jaren, and it did nothing to slow her rapid heartbeat. His hair was damp, recently washed, by the look of things, with a wave sweeping over his forehead that practically begged Leelo to push it back. He smelled like the lavender soap she’d given him. She wanted to bury her face in his chest and tell him everything she’d been feeling since the night of the festival.

Instead, she clenched her fists in her lap and willed herself to calm down. She could feel his eyes on her, though, and she wished desperately that she’d gotten here first, that she’d had him to herself for just a little longer. Because reality was sinking in. This was no longer their secret. They couldn’t pretend there weren’t consequences to their relationship anymore.

Not when one of those consequences was sitting right here, watching them.

Isola pushed her hair behind her ears. “Jaren explained to me how he ended up in the boat and washed up on shore. He said you found him in the woods, injured, and told him he could hide here.”

Leelo felt one of the hundred knots in her stomach slowly loosen. He hadn’t told Isola that she’d helped pull the boat in, at least. “It was meant to be temporary, Isola. Just until we could find a way to get him safely off the island.”

Isola nodded, but Leelo could tell she didn’t fully believe her. “When did you realize he would be stuck here till winter?”

Leelo’s eyes darted to Jaren’s. “What? He isn’t—”

“You can’t possibly think you’ll get him across the lake otherwise,” Isola said. “Even if you could find the boat, how would you get it to the water without someone seeing?”

“We hadn’t exactly worked out all the details yet. But we have to try. The longer he stays here, the higher the odds of him being discovered.” She gestured to Isola. “Case in point.”

“And what makes you think he shouldn’t be discovered?” Isola asked, but her voice wasn’t cruel, like Sage’s could be. She was conflicted, and Leelo couldn’t blame her for that. Saints knew she had been. “This is not the same as Pieter. He’s an outsider, Leelo.”

“Believe me, I know.”

Jaren raised his hand hesitantly. “If I may. Isola, I mean no harm to you or anyone else on Endla. Or to Endla itself. As I said, it was an accident that I ended up here in the first place, and I would do anything to get home.” He paused, and though Leelo avoided his eyes, she could feel his on her. “If this stays between the three of us, then no one else ever needs to know I was here.”

Isola sighed. “I won’t tell. Not yet, anyway. But if you give me any reason to doubt you...”

“I won’t,” Jaren said. “I promise.”

Isola nodded and rose. “I should get home. Mother will be worried about me. Come find me tomorrow, Leelo. We have more to discuss.”

Leelo glanced at Jaren, then rose and followed Isola outside. “Thank you, for not telling. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you. I didn’t know what to do.”

Isola’s demeanor changed once they were out of Jaren’s hearing. “This was why you asked me about the cottage and the boat, wasn’t it? I can’t believe you, especially after seeing what happened to Pieter. Not to mention my family. Why would you ever endanger your mother over a stranger?”

Leelo sighed, dragging her hands down her face. “I know how irrational it all must seem. But I didn’t plan any of it. When it came down to it, I couldn’t kill a person, even if he was an outsider.”

Isola softened a bit. “I can see that. You don’t even like killing rabbits.”

“Exactly.”

Isola shook her head, and in that moment she seemed so much older, like she’d lived a decade in the past few months. “This is dangerous, Leelo. More than you can possibly understand. You could have spared yourself a lot of trouble if you’d just killed him to begin with.” She glanced over at the cottage. “I hope he’s worth it.”

Leelo swallowed the lump of apprehension in her throat. “Was Pieter?”

Isola inhaled sharply, then released her breath with deliberate slowness. “Ask me that in another six months, Leelo.”

“Why did you come here today?”

Isola had large brown eyes, and they seemed even larger when they were filled with tears. “I just wanted to feel close to him again. The blanket smells like him.” She narrowed her eyes a little, but she didn’t seem angry. “Well, it used to.”

“I’m sorry. I know it was your place. I just didn’t know where else to take him.”