Page 103 of The Study of Poisons
Staring at the reports without really seeing them, Valek gave up and hurried back to their suite. He hoped Yelena might be still awake. When he arrived, her bed was empty, and she was nowhere to be found.
* * *
After questioning the guards,he learned she’d left their suite soon after Janco. Valek considered searching for her. She knew the risks of being out this late on her own. Or did she? She left when General Brazell’s men still roamed the castle. Did she not have any sense of self-preservation? But then again, she’d neutralized Nix on her own.
Valek settled on the couch to wait for her. He’d have to trust that she could protect herself, but he couldn’t help being tired and grumpy when she finally returned just before dawn.
“Back so soon?” he asked her. “Too bad. I was just about to organize a search for your dead body. What happened when you knocked on the southern magician’s door to sacrifice yourself? Did they kick you out, thinking you too half-witted to waste their time on?”
She plopped on the chair and listened to the rest of his sarcastic rant without interrupting him. A part of him understood he was being unreasonable and harsh, but he had only a few hours of sleep last night and had none tonight, and he was due to taste the Commander’s breakfast in an hour. Eventually, he’d run out of energy.
“Are you done?” she asked.
“What? No rebuttal?”
She shook her head.
That was a nice surprise. “Then I’m finished.”
“Good,” she said. “Since you’re already in a bad mood, I might as well tell you what happened while I was in the kitchen. Actually, two things: one bad, one good. Which would you like to hear first?”
“The bad,” Valek answered immediately. “That allows me the hope that the good will balance things out.”
She explained that she had inadvertently told Rand about Valek’s undercover surveillance of Star’s operation. It was the last thing he needed to hear.
“It’s your fault,” she said, correctly reading his expression. “I was defending you!”
He didn’t quite know how to respond. Nothing like this had ever happened before. “In protecting my honor, you exposed months of work. I should be flattered?”
“You should,” she said with full conviction.
Having Yelena defend him was a good sign that she no longer saw him as the enemy, but he’d hoped to learn more from Star. Suddenly exhausted, he relaxed back on the couch and kneaded his now throbbing temples. “I hadn’t planned on making arrests till later this month. Better implement my cleanup plan before Rand has a chance to alert Star.”
Trying to look on the bright side, Valek rubbed his eyes. “Still, this might be a benefit. I think Star’s becoming suspicious. She hasn’t been conducting any illicit business in her office. If I bring her in now, I might discover who hired her to poison the Sitian’s bottle.”
“Star? How?” Yelena asked in surprise.
“She has a southern assassin in her employ. He would be the only one with the skill and the opportunity. I’m sure the poisoning wasn’t a result of Star’s personal political views. Her organization would do anything for anybody for the right price. I must find out who would risk so much to compromise the delegation.”
More work, but her slip wasn’t as terrible as he first thought. He stood. “What’s the good news?”
“The mystery beans are an ingredient in making Criollo.”
Well, that explained…not as much as he’d hoped. “Then why did Brazell lie on his permit application? There’s no law against manufacturing a dessert,” Valek said. Even a dessert that could influence other people, but who would ever believe a ridiculous thing like that?
“Perhaps because the beans are imported from Sitia,” she said. “That would be illegal; at least until the trade treaty is finalized. Maybe Brazell’s been using other southern ingredients or equipment as well.”
“Possible. Which is why he was so eager to have a treaty. You’ll have to take a good look around when you visit the factory.”
“What?”
“The Commander has scheduled a trip to MD–5 when the southerners leave. And where the Commander goes, you go.”
“What about you? You’re going too, aren’t you?” Her voice squeaked with panic.
“No. I’ve beenorderedto stay here.”
She stared at him in horror, but there was nothing he could say to reassure her. He told her to get some rest and that he would taste the Commander’s food while the Sitian delegation remained in Ixia.
