We ate a quick breakfast before heading to the cluster of buildings in the center of the fields. Weeds and a few small corn plants grew among the leftover brown stubble of last year’s harvest. Sunlight glinted off the drops of dew on the leaves. As the air warmed, the earth emitted a fresh scent of grass and dandelions. The heating season started in less than ten days, which meant the baby was about sixteen weeks old. I pressed my hand to the small bulge underneath my tunic. Soon I would start to show, and I’d no longer be able to hide my condition. Not that it mattered at this point. The Cartel found out about the baby when I’d been Bruns’s prisoner. And it certainly wouldn’t stop them from killing me.
A large porch wrapped around the two-story stone farmhouse. A wooden stable, a barn and two sheds huddled behind it. They all needed repair and a fresh coat of paint.
We split into three teams to search for any information on the glass panels and the location of a glass hothouse. Onora and I tackled the farmhouse. Like Janco had said, it was unoccupied. No squatters had taken up residence while Bavol was gone.
I started in the office while Onora checked the rest of the house. Reading through the files that had been tucked away in the desk’s drawers, I only found an invoice for services rendered, made out to Bavol Zaltana. It confirmed Bavol had used this address to send the glass panels. I’d been hoping for more information, but perhaps there would be some when we found the glass hothouse.
Onora shook her head when I asked if she’d discovered anything. Outside, we conferred with the others. Nothing.
“The soil is generative,” Esau said when I asked him. “Lots of worms.”
“Does this mean we’re at a dead end?” Mara asked.
“No. We’ll travel into the Avibian Plains and let Kiki sniff out the glass hothouse,” I said.
“Why didn’t we just do that instead of stopping?”
“There could have been valuable clues or information here. We still don’t know who the Master Gardener is or what else the Cartel’s been growing.” I peered at the horses. None of them except Kiki were Sandseed horses. Would they have trouble with the protective magic in the plains? What about the riders?
“I think I should go into the plains while you wait—”
“No,” Ari said. “We stay together.”
Janco tapped his chest. “And aren’t we immune? Ari and I have null shields, and Mara and Esau are distantly related to the Sandseeds.”
“I’m not sure that covers the horses,” I said.
“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.