The Burning Page

by Genevieve Cogman

  Vale leaned forward in his chair. ‘Has this something to do with the murder attempt on you and Kai, Winters?’

  And here it all came down to the wire. Who did Irene trust? Kai, of course, but did she trust everyone that he trusted? Li Ming worked for Kai’s uncle: it would be his duty to pass on anything he heard. And even if the dragons weren’t enemies of the Library, they weren’t the sort of neighbour who’d turn down a territorial advantage or ignore a weakness. Zayanna was Fae, and Alberich had worked with other Fae in the past. And just because Zayanna said she was Irene’s friend, that didn’t mean that she was a friend to the Library. Vale himself was currently suffering the effects of having helped Irene previously. Was it fair to put him in even more danger?

  Common sense popped that last bubble of guilt and made it vanish. Vale would walk barefoot over broken glass to investigate a case. His behaviour wasn’t Irene’s responsibility.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Irene said. She looked around the room, considering. ‘Zayanna, if you want to stay in here and hear what I have to say, I’m going to ask you for that promise.’

  Zayanna bowed her head and put her hand on her heart. ‘I swear, on my name and nature, that I won’t reveal anything you tell me to any other Fae, or anyone who may use it against you. And I won’t use it against you myself.’ Her voice throbbed with conviction.

  It was melodramatic, but it seemed sincere. And, to the best of Irene’s knowledge, the Fae couldn’t break their given word. They could be incredibly picky about how they interpreted promises, but they couldn’t break them. Zayanna was safe, to a limited degree.

  ‘Alberich has threatened the Library,’ Irene said. Neither Zayanna nor Li Ming showed any surprise at the name. Well, that answers that question: they both know about him. ‘I’ve been assigned an immediate retrieval mission, to fetch a book that should prove useful.’ She tapped the folder. ‘This has the details. And I’m sorry, Kai – everyone – but I need to leave as soon as possible.’

  ‘If I can be of any help in finding your book—’ Vale began.

  ‘It’s not that I don’t want to take you,’ Irene said quickly, then cursed herself for the sudden coldness in his eyes at her rejection. ‘But I can’t take you. Kai and I need to travel through the Library. I’m sorry, Vale, but you’re currently contaminated with chaos. I wouldn’t be able to bring you inside.’

  Vale’s expression closed in on itself. ‘I quite understand,’ he said curtly.

  Kai frowned. ‘Wait, Irene, are you telling me we can’t take Vale into the Library? I’d thought that if we could detoxify his system there, that might help.’

  ‘Chaos can’t enter the Library,’ Irene said with controlled patience. ‘That was why we were stuck outside it last time when I was contaminated. Remember?’ They’d got round that by forcing the chaos out of her. But she wasn’t sure if she could do that to Vale. She didn’t know if a human who wasn’t a Librarian could survive it, and Coppelia hadn’t given her any hope it might work.

  Li Ming spread his hands. ‘I have to admit this is beyond my competence, Miss Winters. No doubt if Mr Vale here were to spend time in a more orderly world, it would be good for his health. But I lack the strength to carry him there on my own.’

  ‘Just who precisely can travel between worlds, and who can’t?’ Vale asked. He tried to make it sound casual, but there was an edge to his voice. He was probably making a mental list of possible intruders and relevant counter-measures.

  ‘I’m not of the royal blood and don’t have the royal strength,’ Li Ming said. He indicated Kai. ‘The Prince here, however, can carry more than one person, and my lord the King could carry hundreds in his train, if he wished.’

  ‘Well, don’t look at me,’ Zayanna said. ‘Would any of you like some more brandy? No, please don’t look at me like that, Irene – it’s not my fault, I just can’t. It’s exactly like the charming dragon here was saying . . .’ Her gaze went pointedly towards Li Ming, rather than to Kai. ‘I don’t have the strength. It took all my power simply to find my way here, and I certainly couldn’t carry anything more than my luggage. Or perhaps one other person, instead of my luggage. But who’d travel without luggage?’

  Li Ming gave Zayanna a sidelong glance. Irene wondered whether the dragon had taken exception to the ‘charming’ comment or intended to cast doubt on Zayanna’s assertions. Probably the first.

  ‘And I have to go through a library, or another large collection of books,’ Irene said. ‘Which limits what I can do. Now please can we get back to the subject under discussion?’ She realized she was starting to get as emphatic as Zayanna, and moderated her tone. ‘Zayanna, Li Ming, you both clearly know who Alberich is. Do you know anything about his current activities? Or anything else odd – anything at all – that’s going on at the moment?’

  Zayanna frowned. ‘Well, there was one rumour I heard, but I was rather hoping it wasn’t true. I had been trying to keep track of Lady Guantes – casually, through the gossip networks – and I heard she’d been talking to Alberich. Then she’d dropped out of general circulation.’

  Irene’s throat went dry with something unpleasantly close to fear. ‘You might have mentioned that before,’ she said.

  Zayanna shrugged. ‘It’s a rumour, darling. I don’t panic over rumours. If I did, then I’d already be hiding in some backwater little London in a great detective’s sitting room – oh, so sorry.’ She didn’t look remotely apologetic. ‘But you asked. And I can’t verify it. That is what you say, isn’t it? When you’re talking about being a good spy and trying to confirm facts?’

  Irene touched Kai’s hand reassuringly. She didn’t look up at his face, but she could feel the tension in him. She couldn’t blame him: if she was honest, that touch had been as much to comfort herself as it had been him. She turned to Li Ming, hoping he’d have something encouraging to contribute.

  Li Ming was already shaking his head. ‘Nothing unusual,’ he said. ‘The only oddity at the moment is that some of the regular conflicts have quietened down. One might guess that forces have been withdrawn from known trouble spots, to be deployed elsewhere.’

  Vale opened his mouth, possibly to disapprove of guessing on general principles, then shut it thoughtfully. He finally said, ‘How recent is this? Would the timing fit?’

  ‘The attacks on the Library have only taken place in the last couple of days,’ Irene said. ‘But perhaps Alberich was drawing in his forces beforehand, if he’s using other agents . . . I don’t know.’ She marshalled her thoughts. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘We’ll leave it there for the moment. Thank you both for your comments. Immediate plans – Kai, I’ll need your help. Vale, if you would—’

  The door swung open, and everyone turned towards it. Irene couldn’t help noticing that both Vale and Zayanna slid a hand beneath their clothing, clearly demonstrating who was carrying weapons. Are we all feeling nervous? I think we’re all feeling very nervous.

  Inspector Singh stood in the doorway, looking a little bewildered to find everyone’s attention focused on him. He was in uniform, but the cuffs of his trousers were thick with yellow dust, and a few grains of it marred the whiteness of his turban. ‘I apologize if this is a consultation in progress, Vale,’ he started.

  Vale relaxed, eyeing Singh’s cuffs, his hand sliding back into view. ‘What have you been doing in Houndsditch, Singh?’

  ‘A matter of some corpses being stolen during a plague-pit excavation,’ Singh said. ‘I don’t like to take you away from anything urgent, but you did say to call by, if something intriguing came up. And there was a message from your sister that it might be connected to the Tapanuli fever investigations. Though those haven’t been made public yet—’

  His glance towards Irene and Kai wasn’t particularly friendly. Irene could sympathize to some extent. Her own guilt kept on reminding her how much Vale’s current situation was their fault.

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Vale said, rising to his feet. He took Singh by the arm, hustling him towa
rds his bedroom. ‘We don’t need to bother the others with this,’ Irene caught him saying, before the door closed behind them.

  ‘I didn’t know Vale had a sister,’ Kai said, in tones of mild shock. It wasn’t clear whether he was surprised that Vale had never told him about his sister, or by the fact that the sister existed at all.

  ‘You know he doesn’t talk about his family,’ Irene said. She was desperately curious herself, but her growing sense of urgency insisted that she leave the gossip till later. Besides, it would be bad manners. ‘Zayanna, we may be away for a few days. Will you be safe?’

  Zayanna put down her now-empty glass. ‘I think so, darling. I’ll be careful. Are you sure I can’t come with you and help? To your B-1165 world? And why is that folder of yours written in my own language, anyway?’ She saw the incomprehension on Irene’s face. ‘Nahuatl, you’d probably say. The Library isn’t secretly based under my home or something, is it?’

  Irene glanced down at the folder. Coppelia had helpfully labelled it with the world’s designation, and since it was in the Language, anyone who wasn’t a Librarian would read it as their own native tongue. ‘Ah. Trade secret,’ she said. ‘It’s the Language. You’re just seeing it as Nahuatl.’

  ‘That would explain why I’ve been seeing it as Chinese,’ Li Ming noted.

  Irene resisted the urge to run her fingers through her hair and scream at the way everyone kept on wandering off-topic. ‘I can’t take you through the Library, Zayanna,’ she said. ‘And I don’t have any other way of getting there. But you can do one thing for me.’

  ‘Anything, darling,’ Zayanna promised, her eyes huge and dark with emphasis.

  ‘Tell me how to help a human being who’s been exposed to a world with too much chaos,’ Irene said.

  Zayanna frowned. ‘That’s not something people actually need helping with, darling.’ She looked around at Irene, then at Kai and Li Ming, neither of whom looked amused by the way she’d put it. ‘Oh, well, I suppose if someone like me had a favourite whose nature had been really unbalanced and was getting much too pliable, they could take them to the more rigid spheres. But you’d already suggested that. And if you didn’t want your friend Vale to have this problem, then you shouldn’t have taken him along with you to Venice in the first place.’

  ‘Pardon me,’ Kai said to Irene. He stepped across to where Zayanna was lounging and backhanded her across the face, slamming her into the sofa.

  ‘Kai!’ Irene snapped. ‘Control yourself!’ God knows she’d wanted to hit Zayanna for that little bit of spite, but this couldn’t possibly help.

  ‘My friend has helped you, and for that you return an undeserved insult,’ he said, standing above Zayanna. Faint scale-patterns showed like frost marks on the surface of his skin, on his hands and face. ‘You will not do so again, or I will throw you out on the street, and your patron may have you back – living or dead – to serve his whim.’

  Zayanna pushed herself up on her elbow, her hair falling around her face in dark tangles. The imprint on Kai’s hand showed scarlet on her cheek. She took a hissing breath, and for a moment Irene saw fangs rather than teeth in her mouth. The expression on Zayanna’s face wasn’t one of Fae pleasure at having found a new enemy to plot against: it was one of outright dislike, and a wish to see Kai dead – or worse. ‘Oh, so now you’re being judgemental because you couldn’t take care of your pets? Everyone knows how far beneath them the dragons think humans are! At least we get involved with them.’

  Irene caught Kai’s wrist before he could hit Zayanna again. She had to strain to hold him back. ‘I told you, stop!’

  ‘You creatures are users and destroyers of human souls,’ Kai snarled at Zayanna. ‘When you interact with them, it’s never to their benefit. You get your perverse amusement out of playing your games with them—’

  ‘We love them!’ Zayanna shrieked. ‘You’re the ones who are soulless: you don’t understand them, you just keep them as pets, you’re only spending time with Irene because you want her as a concubine. I care about her—’

  Irene stepped between them, putting her free hand on Zayanna’s shoulder to hold her back. ‘Shut up,’ she said, her voice as cold and hard as if she had been using the Language. ‘Shut up, both of you, or I’ll make you.’

  For a moment she felt Kai’s wrist tense in her grasp. Then he broke free with a twist of his arm and stepped back, folding his arms. His eyes had shifted to true draconic red in anger, and burned in a face that looked cut from marble.

  Zayanna panted where she lay on the sofa, her shoulder soft and warm under Irene’s hand. ‘He hit me,’ she murmured.

  ‘Don’t push me,’ Irene said. ‘I nearly hit you myself.’

  She glanced across to Li Ming, but he was still in place, still very much unconcerned, and he shrugged in response. ‘Is this any of my business?’

  Well, scratch the idea of leaving Zayanna with Li Ming while we’re out of London, Irene decided. She’d probably accidentally fall down a well, or step in front of an oncoming train, the moment I was out of sight.

  She deliberately ignored certain words that Zayanna had said: because you want her as a concubine . . . There was more to her friendship with Kai than that. Just because Zayanna might be jealous, that didn’t make her right. ‘I’m in a hurry,’ she said. ‘If you can’t help me, Zayanna, then fair enough. But I don’t have any time to waste.’

  Zayanna looked up at Irene through lowered eyelashes. ‘Can’t I help?’

  ‘Right now, I don’t see how,’ Irene said curtly. ‘Kai?’

  ‘Yes?’ He was looking more normal and human again now, but his face was set in lines of resentment. And the way that he was eyeing Zayanna suggested that he was visualizing dropping her – from several thousand feet up.

  ‘If you must argue, do it in your own time, please. We haven’t the luxury for that now.’

  The door opened. Vale stood there, frowning. ‘I thought I heard shouting.’

  ‘You did,’ Irene said. ‘I think everybody’s about to leave. No, wait: I have a favour to ask you, if you would. Two favours.’

  ‘Within reason,’ Vale said, but he looked intrigued. Which was much better than weary and self-destructive.

  She offered him the small pouch holding the needle that had been used on her. ‘Please analyse this. It’s the poison that was used to drug me. If you can trace it, I might be able to find out who hired the werewolves who kidnapped me.’

  ‘Excellent,’ Vale said, sounding genuinely pleased this time. ‘And beyond that?’

  ‘Silver owes us after the Venice business, since we took down Lord Guantes. After all, Guantes was his arch-rival. I need to know if Silver’s heard anything lately about Alberich, or the attempt on our lives, and I don’t have time to ask. Gates to the Library are being destroyed. I need to go and do my job. So, Vale, please, if you would, meet up with Silver and ask him if he knows anything.’

  ‘And how am I to tell you what I find out, assuming that Lord Silver is actually aware of anything beyond his immediate surroundings?’ Vale demanded.

  Irene was about to snap back, but then she heard the same tone in his voice that had been there earlier, when he’d been complaining about her absence. Expressing worry about anyone else was outside his emotional lexicon. ‘My mission is urgent, so naturally I won’t be wasting any time,’ she said. ‘I hope to be back in a few days. I’ll leave a message with Bradamant in the Library if I expect to be longer than that, so she can drop by to see you, if necessary. She knows you, and where to find you.’

  ‘Adequate,’ Vale said begrudgingly.

  ‘Have you any instructions for me, Miss Winters?’ Li Ming enquired. ‘My lord Ao Shun takes an interest in your welfare, after your actions in guarding the Prince here.’ It wasn’t quite clear whether he was being serious, or simply ironic. Then Irene caught the side-glance he threw Kai. He was being serious.

  ‘No, thank you,’ she answered politely. ‘Though if you do hear of anything strange going
on outside this world, I’d be grateful if you could pass it on to Vale here.’

  ‘I shall do that,’ Li Ming agreed.

  Kai had moved into place next to Irene and was buttoning up his coat, the folder safely under one arm. ‘We should be on our way,’ he said quietly. Then he glanced at Zayanna and there was a glint of fire in his eyes again. ‘Before there are any more hindrances.’

  ‘Good luck, Miss Winters,’ Singh said, standing at Vale’s shoulder. ‘Though I must say that if you are going to be borrowing books again, I’m glad to hear you’ll be doing it outside my jurisdiction.’

  ‘I’d rather avoid complications like that,’ Irene agreed and escaped from Vale’s rooms onto the street, with Kai one step behind her.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When they stepped into the Library, it was dark. The receiving room was full of shadows, with a wan emergency light bulb as the only source of illumination, and the titles of the books on the walls were illegible in the dimness.

  Irene tensed in shock, and her hand tightened on Kai’s arm as the door to Vale’s world thudded shut behind them. ‘This is . . . unusual,’ she said carefully.

  ‘Where are we?’ Kai’s eyes dilated and glinted in the remnants of light as he scanned the room. ‘Is this an outlying area?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Irene admitted. They’d come in through the first library she could reach on Vale’s world, rather than by the regular Traverse. As a result, they might be anywhere at all in the Library. ‘That’s the problem with opening a random entrance. But we were in a hurry.’ The room unnerved her. She’d never before been in a part of the Library that felt so deserted and abandoned. ‘Come on, we need to find a room with a computer.’

  The corridor outside was lit only by a thin strip of emergency lighting that ran along the ceiling. The floor creaked under their feet, as if another pair of steps was echoing theirs. There were windows to their left, but they faced out onto a barren courtyard under a lowering sky, so full of clouds that there was no light to spare.