The Poison Season(77)

“I’m just tired, I think.”

“Mother and I are going to visit the Hardings tomorrow. Why don’t you come with us? You love their garden.”

Leelo toweled off the bowl she was holding and handed it to Sage to put in the cupboard. “I would, but I promised Mama I’d help her with the sewing.” This was a lie. She had promised Jaren she would visit him, and she had no desire to see Hollis. But it seemed like a good sign that Sage wasn’t complaining about the visit. “Are you feeling better about your engagement?”

“How would you feel about it, if you were me?” Sage asked, her voice curiously devoid of venom.

“What?”

“I mean it. If you were me and you had to marry Hollis Harding, how would you feel about it?”

“I don’t know. I suppose I never really considered it before. I liked Hollis, when we were younger. But he’s a bit...”

“Dense?” Sage asked.

“I was going to say imposing, but no, he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

Sage snorted. “No, he’s not.”

“So don’t marry him, Sage. You can wait for something better. You can wait until you fall in love.”

Sage crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the sink. “Like you, you mean?”

Leelo wasn’t sure if Ketty had told Sage about the night she snuck out. She had no idea how much her cousin knew, and her stomach sank as she realized all the possible pitfalls ahead. The more she said, the more likely she was to plummet. “I didn’t say I was in love.”

She arched a brow. “So you’re not, then?”

“I’m just saying you can marry someone else, Sage. That’s all.”

She went back to washing, hoping Sage would drop the subject, but her cousin was still watching her. “What were you and Aunt Fiona talking about earlier? It looked like she was crying.”

Of course she wouldn’t drop it. This was Sage, the most stubborn person she’d ever known. “She was talking about Tate.” Not a lie, but definitely not the whole truth.

“What about him?”

“How much she misses him. We both do.”

Sage watched her for a minute from under her furrowed brows. “I heard her say something about Nigel.”

Leelo set the dish she was washing in the sink and turned toward Sage. She didn’t want to play these games anymore. “You know who Tate’s birth father is, don’t you?”

Sage pretended to inspect her fingernails.

“I assume your mother knows, too. And she’s probably held it over Mama ever since. But it doesn’t change anything. He’s still my brother.”

Sage scoffed and grabbed Leelo’s arm, dragging her toward the door.

“Where are we going?”

“Outside, where your mother can’t hear.”

Leelo followed reluctantly. Sage sat on the porch step that looked out over their garden, waiting for Leelo to join her.

“What?” she asked when she sat down.

“I don’t understand you. How can you say it doesn’t change anything? Tate wasn’t just incantu.” She spat it out like a curse. “He was outsider spawn.”

Leelo started to rise. “I’m not going to listen to—”

“I’m not finished,” Sage said, grabbing Leelo’s arm and dragging her back down. She hadn’t realized how much stronger Sage was until that moment. “Your mother was a traitor. Your father was a fool. And Tate—”

“Tate is my brother,” Leelo growled.

“He was an outsider,” she finished. “He belonged with other outsiders.”

Leelo shook her arm free of Sage’s grip. “You’re so entrenched in your own prejudice you don’t realize how vile you sound. At least, I hope you don’t. Because the alternative is that you truly are that vile.”

“And you’re so ignorant you don’t even realize how dangerous your ignorance is.”

It took all of Leelo’s resolve not to walk away then. But she needed to know how much Sage was hiding from her. “You’re so convinced you know more than me. That if I knew what you know, I’d break. Well, try me. Let’s see how fragile I really am.”

Sage snickered, but she looked away.

“Go on. Tell me what I’m so ignorant about,” Leelo demanded. The truth might be painful, but the lies were as corrosive as rust, and now that she could see the damage they’d wrought, it was a wonder that any of them remained standing.

Sage shrugged, but she watched Leelo from beneath hooded lids, refusing to give anything away.

“How long have you known about Tate’s father?”

“A year.”

Leelo raised her eyebrows. “A year?”

“I overheard our mothers fighting. Mama was angry with Tate for failing to do some chore, and Aunt Fiona was defending him. I heard my mother say, ‘You know that boy is incantu, and you know he has to go. He’s not even Endlan!’ Your mother started crying.” She paused. “You know how I feel about crying.”

Leelo snorted in disgust. Of course. Other people’s tears made Sage uncomfortable. She would have left immediately.

“I asked my mother about it later that night. That’s when she told me about Nigel Thorn.”