The Poison Season(87)

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.”

“That’s enough!” Ketty shouted.

“And you saw the whole thing, didn’t you? You decided that this secret would destroy us if it got out, so you did the only thing you could think of, the thing you’d secretly been wanting to do for a very long time.”

Ketty began to tremble. “Stop. Please.”

Fiona’s face softened just a fraction. “I know you thought you were protecting this family, sister. I know you thought you were fixing it. But you destroyed us instead.”

“What is she saying, Mother?” Sage stared at Ketty as if she was seeing her for the first time. “Did you do something to Father?”

Ketty didn’t need to answer. Sage had already gleaned the truth, and now so had the rest of the island. Leelo felt as if the world was spinning out from underneath her. Her uncle had killed her father, and her aunt had killed her uncle. There was never an accident. It had been murder, and Fiona was right. It had destroyed them all.

The silence of all the listening Endlans erupted into shouts and cries, but Leelo couldn’t hear them. All she could see was her broken aunt, who had fallen to her knees; her shattered cousin, who didn’t seem to know where to look; and her mother, who clearly took no delight in what she’d done. How long had Fiona known it wasn’t an accident? Had her loyalty to Aunt Ketty ever been real, or was it simply to prevent Ketty from revealing Fiona’s secrets? So many lies, and all they had wrought were years of fear and resentment.

Leelo turned to her cousin. The anger had washed out of her, and she looked small and vulnerable without it. All this time, Sage had believed Leelo would be the one to shatter if she knew the truth. But Leelo was the one looking at a broken girl.

“Sage,” she began, but there was nothing more to say.

Sage’s face collapsed before she turned and ran.



Chapter Fifty-Four


“Leelo.”

She blinked and shook her head. Jaren was standing behind her.

“Do you want to go after her?” he asked.

The other Endlans present were caught up in their own arguments. The large men who had held Jaren captive were the loudest of all. Hugo’s brothers, Leelo realized, though she had never met them before. After her uncle died, Ketty had cut herself off from her husband’s family. And now it was clear why.

“Where’s Aunt Ketty?” Leelo asked her mother.

Fiona shook her head. “I imagine she slipped away amid the commotion.” She pressed her fingers to her temples. “Saints, what have I done?”

“What you had to do,” Leelo said. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

“No. We need to get Jaren out of here before it’s too late.”

A sudden wind had picked up, Leelo realized. Another storm was brewing, and Jaren would be caught in it if they didn’t move.

“Hurry,” Fiona said, urging them toward the boat. Above the canopy, the tips of the tall pines were swaying back and forth in the wind. Sharp raindrops began to pelt Leelo’s face.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s the Forest,” Fiona whispered. “I had hoped that it wouldn’t notice...”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just get in the boat. Quickly, before it’s too late.”

Realization washed over Leelo, as cold and unwelcome as the rain. “You’re not talking about the storm, are you?”

Fiona’s face was streaked with rain or tears or both. “It isn’t just the lake that keeps us here, Leelo. We can’t leave Endla. The Forest won’t let us. This may have been an ordinary Wandering Forest at some point, but it’s far stronger than the others now, grown fat and monstrous on Endlan blood. That’s why I couldn’t leave to be with Nigel, even if I took you with me. Especially if I took you with me. We raise you to believe that we need this Forest to protect us, but it’s the other way around.”

They say Endla grows roots around your feet so you can’t leave, even if you want to. How many times had Leelo heard that phrase, smiling at the nonsense of it because of course no one would want to leave? Now her stomach churned with growing horror. If they left, would the Forest retaliate and harm the other islanders? She couldn’t do that to them.