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Happy to see Yelena tucking into a heaping portion in front of her, Valek joined the the conversation flow over hi at dawn if I knew this aiting forhimself 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 "To dried jerky, stale bread and hard cheese"

Janco groaned "Nasty, Leif"

"I’ht?" 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

"O"

Valek turned to Leif and asked hile 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 itsoht be crossbreeds" Leif tossed the silverware in disgust "Of course, that’s why I couldn’t identify theraft 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"How ed

"Two," Yelena said

Leif shot her a nasty look

"Do you know their names?" he asked

"Our cousin Nutty Palm Zaltana, and our Counciler 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 kno dangerous Curare is" And Leif wasn’t going to let anyone cast suspicion on theht, 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