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Back The Poison Season Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Dedication
  5. Map
  6. Prologue
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Chapter Forty-One
  48. Chapter Forty-Two
  49. Chapter Forty-Three
  50. Chapter Forty-Four
  51. Chapter Forty-Five
  52. Chapter Forty-Six
  53. Chapter Forty-Seven
  54. Chapter Forty-Eight
  55. Chapter Forty-Nine
  56. Chapter Fifty
  57. Chapter Fifty-One
  58. Chapter Fifty-Two
  59. Chapter Fifty-Three
  60. Chapter Fifty-Four
  61. Chapter Fifty-Five
  62. Chapter Fifty-Six
  63. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  64. Acknowledgments

Finally he was pulled up a walkway to a large cottage. The big man who had spoken first at the council meeting yanked him through the doorway. “You’ll stay here tonight,” he told Jaren, which was the first information he’d received all night, and he was strangely grateful for it. “The Hunt begins tomorrow night at sundown. You’ll be fed before then, though not much. And if you cause any trouble, I’ll slit your throat myself.”

Jaren nodded. He was pushed into a bedroom, brusquely untied and ungagged, and locked inside.

He collapsed on the bed and curled onto his side, too tired to even check his body for damage. What did it matter, when he was going to die tomorrow anyway? His stomach turned sour at the realization that he’d been so close to freedom, of escaping not just on his own but with Leelo, and now he was going to die. He didn’t even hate Sage and Ketty or the other Endlans. They were doing what they thought was necessary. He just wished he could prove to them that he would never hurt Endla, or any of the people on the island.

At some point he fell asleep, and he woke to sunlight streaming through the windows. For a moment, all he could think about was how nice it had been to sleep on a real bed. He stretched out and rolled onto his side, and that was when he remembered where he was and why. His mouth felt fuzzy, his wrists were raw where they’d tied him with rope, and his injured leg was acting up again. But he was still alive.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A man—not the same one from last night, but one similar in stature—brought in a tray of food and set it on the nightstand without looking at Jaren. As if he was afraid Jaren and his outsider ways might rub off on him somehow.

Jaren hadn’t had a hot meal since he came to Endla, and he quickly gobbled down the porridge, scalding his mouth in the process. For jailers, they were being awfully considerate. There had been cream and honey in the porridge, though Jaren had eaten it so fast he’d hardly tasted it. He wondered if it would be considered rude to ask for more, then decided it probably would be.