“Kiki will take care of the horses,” Ari said with conviction.
“What about Onora?” I asked.
“Let her ride Kiki; she’ll protect Onora.”
I glanced at my horse. She bobbed her head in agreement. Outsmarted, I conceded defeat, and we filled our water skins before mounting and heading south into the plains. It didn’t take long to reach the border. The fields with their squat growth ended, and a blanket of long grasses spread over the rolling landscape. The mounds weren’t big enough to call hills, but there was nothing flat about the ground under Horse’s hooves.
Pulling up beside Kiki, I asked her, “Can you find one of those glass hothouses?” I imagined the structure in my mind, recalling the sweet smell of the white coal.
Unable to use her gust-of-wind gait because of the other horses, Kiki broke into a gallop instead. She set the pace, making wide, curving sweeps over the plains, each one dipping deeper into the interior. After two days of this, she stopped on the crest of a small hillock. In the distance, a glass structure reflected the sunlight.
Janco slid off The Madam’s saddle. “Allow me.”
“I’ll go, too,” Onora said.
He crinkled his nose but kept quiet. They melted into the tall grass. I stayed on Horse, straining to track their progress toward the hothouse. The grasses dipped and swayed with the breeze. Time slowed while my impatience increased.
A faint rustle alerted me to Janco’s reappearance.
“Well?” I demanded.
“It’s full of plants like the ones I’ve seen in the Greenblade compound. And someone is taking care of them,” he said.
Esau leaned forward. “Did you see who?”
“Yes.”
“And?” I asked.
“You’re not going to like it,” he said.
“Tell me.”
“It’s your cousin, Nutty.”
14
VALEK
Yelena’s scent lingered on his clothes. Remaining in the middle of the road, Valek watched until she disappeared around a bend. An emptiness ached inside him. Each time they parted, it was harder for him. Instead of giving in to the temptation to chase her, Valek swung up onto Onyx’s back. Clicking his tongue, he urged his horse southeast to Fulgor to find Leif.
Four days later, he arrived in the capital of the Moon Clan’s lands. Unfortunately, he hadn’t encountered Leif, or any sign of him or his horse, during the journey. The afternoon sun warmed his back, reminding him that the heating season would begin in eleven more days.
Valek avoided the busy downtown district. Instead, he rented a small room in a dumpy little inn called Sweet’s. After settling Onyx in the dilapidated shed that aspired to be a stable, Valek changed into nondescript clothing and used putty and a bit of makeup to alter his appearance.
His agents stationed in Fulgor had been discovered and sent back to Ixia last season, so Valek spent the rest of the day visiting the places Leif would most likely stay. As the sun crossed the sky, Valek’s hopes for quickly finding his brother-in-law faded. Fear stirred in his chest when he spotted guards watching Opal’s building. He easily bypassed them and entered. The place was cold and quiet—something he’d never thought he’d equate with the hot glass factory. It was also empty of people. A bad sign.
When he finished checking the obvious locations, he tried to think like Leif. The man was smart and had to know the Fulgor security forces would be keeping an eye out for him. But what about Leif’s horse? Valek visited every stable in town, seeking Rusalka. Hours after the sun set, he’d exhausted all his ideas and was starving. Valek entered the Pig Pen for a meal—and to see if Leif was stupid enough to be having supper at his favorite eatery in Fulgor.
The Pig Pen was crowded like usual; however, an undercurrent of tension buzzed through the place. Valek spotted the source of the apprehension. Four soldiers sat at the bar. The stools of Opal’s soldier friends, Nic and Eve, were empty, just like their apartments had been. Valek found a table away from the bar and ordered the beef stew and an ale from a server. Despite the name, the tavern was clean. The regulars kept giving Valek the once-over, but he ignored them.
When the server returned with his order, she slipped a note into his hand. Valek glanced up and met Ian’s gaze for a brief moment before Nic’s twin brother returned to tending the bar.
With a sick tightness ruining his appetite, Valek unfolded the parchment. The note informed him that Leif, Devlen and Reema had been captured and were in the garrison’s stockade. And that Nic, Eve and Opal were away on a mission.
Ah, hell.