Owen to put it all together.
“Any trouble?” Valek asked.
Janco rubbed the scar where the bottom half of his right ear should be. “Just thinking.”
“That could be dangerous.”
“Ha, ha. Not funny. What I’m wondering is, if all those plants inside came from the Illiais Jungle, then who brought them here?”
“Owen has been working on this for over three years.”
“Yeah, I get that. But wouldn’t the Zaltana Clan know strangers were digging around their jungle? Doesn’t the Curare vine only grow in a certain section? And isn’t Yelena’s father the only producer of the stuff?” Janco tapped on the glass. “These are far from seedlings. And then I’m thinking, how many people have enough knowledge of all these plants? Can’t be many outside the jungle.”
All excellent points. Valek considered. “Tyen Cowan might have the knowledge, depending on where he grew up.” The jungle bordered the southeastern and southern sections of the Cowan Clan’s lands.
“Or a Zaltana was working with Owen.”
Deceit and betrayal were all part of his job; however, Valek had a difficult time believing that one of Yelena’s clan members would cooperate with Owen or be involved in illegal activities. Unless they’d been tricked. “Before we leave, we’ll ask Leif to look into it. If Leif finds the expert, he or she could lead him to where the other hothouses are located.”
Janco flashed him a bright smile. “See? I have good ideas, too.”
“I never said you didn’t.”
“But you never said I did.”
“I don’t have to. You’re very good at self-congratulation,” Valek said.
“I am?”
“Yes.”
Janco preened.
“Go get some sleep,” Valek said. “It’ll be dawn in a couple hours.”
At the mention of dawn, Janco’s shoulders drooped. “You know, midafternoon is a perfectly respectable time to leave,” he grumbled as he headed back to the house.
Valek looped around the complex, testing locks and seeking signs of a disturbance. Satisfied that all appeared secured, he stopped at the stables. Both Kiki and Rusalka, Leif’s horse, snoozed in their stalls unperturbed. He’d learned to trust the Sandseed horses. If a strange scent tainted the air, they’d be agitated.
When the sky lightened, he returned to the house. The smell of sizzling bacon reached him. He followed the wonderful scent to the kitchen. Leif filled plates with sweet cakes, bacon, eggs and toast. Everyone was awake and sitting at the table.
Happy to see Yelena tucking into a heaping portion in front of her, Valek joined them, letting the conversation flow over him.
“I’d wake up every morning at dawn if I knew this was waiting for me,” Janco said, helping himself to another stack of sweet cakes. His salt-and-pepper-colored goatee was sticky with syrup.
“You’re going to make yourself sick,” Yelena teased.
“Not possible.”
“Enjoy it,” Leif said. “Tomorrow you’re all going to be eating dried jerky, stale bread and hard cheese.”
Janco groaned. “Nasty, Leif.”
“I’m sure we’ll be stopping at a few inns. Right?” Yelena asked Valek.
“We’ll see.”
“That’s Valek speak for ‘no way in hell.’” Janco stole a slice of bacon from her plate.
She stabbed him with her fork.
“Owww.”
Valek turned to Leif and asked him about other jungle experts.
Leif chewed his food while he thought. “I’ll ask my father. Compared to the rest of Sitia, most of the Zaltanas are experts. However, in order to transport plants, you need a higher level of knowledge.” He tapped a fork on the table. “And, thinking about it...some of those unfamiliar plants might be crossbreeds.” Leif tossed the silverware in disgust. “Of course, that’s why I couldn’t identify them!”
“Crossbreeds?”
“When you graft one plant onto the other and create a new type of plant. And that’s an even rarer specialty.” Leif sobered.
“How rare?”
The mulish set to Leif’s jaw meant he wouldn’t answer without more prompting. “How many people can do it?” Valek asked.
“A few,” Leif hedged.
“Two,” Yelena said.
Leif shot her a nasty look.
“Do you know their names?” he asked.
“Our cousin Nutty Palm Zaltana, and our Councilman, Bavol Cacao Zaltana.”
LEIF
Anger boiled. Leif shot from his chair. “There’s no way either of them is involved with Owen!”
“Probably not directly,” Yelena, his traitor of a sister, said.
“Not at all. They both know how dangerous Curare is.” And Leif wasn’t going to let anyone cast suspicion on them.
“All right, then prove it,” Valek said. “Rule them out of the equation and we’ll look elsewhere.”
Except all the experts were fellow Zaltanas. His appetite gone, Leif pushed his plate away.
Janco chimed in between spoonfuls of eggs. “It should be easy to do with your lie-detecting mojo.”
A queasy expression pinched Yelena’s face. “He can’t use it unless he has reason to believe they’ve committed a crime. It violates the Magician’s Ethical Code.”
“They follow a code of ethics?” Janco asked in surprise.
“You should know about it,” Yelena said.
“Oh, I know about it. I just figured they all ignored it.”
“Because, according to you, they’re all evil and corrupt?”
“Not all. There are a couple exceptions.” Janco inclined his head, indicating her and Leif. “I assumed they ignored it because it’s what I’d do if I had magic.”
“How do you know you don’t have magic?” Onora asked, speaking for the first time that morning.
“I
