The Invisible Library (10 page)

Paranoia gibbered at the back of her mind. Some Fae did know about the Library. The powerful ones. Was this particular Fae that powerful?

The door slammed behind him.

She had nearly given way. He’d been more than she expected, in every sense. If it hadn’t been for her bindings to the Library, she might not have been able to resist in time. And
what then? The thought literally made her shiver. There had been other cases of Librarians who had been lost to chaos. The stories weren’t reassuring. The undocumented cases even more so. And
there was the one horror story that every Librarian knew, about the man who’d turned traitor to the Library and sold it out. He had never been caught and was
still out there
–

Her nails dug into her palms as she forced herself into proper posture and composure. She walked across to look at the document on the desk. It was a basic note of admission to the Liechtenstein
Embassy, for tomorrow night, for a Grand Ball.

It was signed,
Silver
.

‘I’ve found out all about it,’ Kai said as he sliced a bread roll into halves. ‘Hey, this is real butter. Cool.’

‘We’re lucky that it isn’t flash-frozen with chemical additional supplements,’ Irene said. They’d had trouble finding a restaurant that wasn’t billing itself
as all new and all special, equipped with the latest scientific devices to preserve, enhance and cook the food that was served inside. Post-meal condition of the diners was not mentioned.

‘It makes a nice change,’ Kai said. He laid the knife down between the two pieces of buttered roll. ‘So, do you want to go first, or me?’

Kai was clearly bubbling with enthusiasm to tell her all about his investigation. Irene couldn’t help but wonder just how discreet a criminal he’d been in his own alternate, before
joining the Library. She made him keep quiet until the waiter had brought their wine and retreated into the curtained shadows of the restaurant, and tried not to be too amused by it all. Five years
of enforced study had clearly left him with enough spare energy to run the lights for most of London.

‘You first,’ Irene said. ‘Give me a full breakdown.’

‘All right. Now, first of all, Liechtenstein is a major power in this world. They do the
best
zeppelins. And everyone knows it. That newspaper-seller was right. And they do sell
information, but not their big secrets.’

‘No industrial espionage?’ Irene asked. ‘No reverse engineering of technology or attempts to invade other countries?’

‘Ah, there’s a reason for that.’ Kai took a sip of his wine. ‘Hey, this isn’t bad. For a cheap little hole-in-the-wall place like this.’

Irene nodded. ‘So, what’s the reason?’

‘The Fae keep them out. They keep the entire country well protected to shield their own goings-on, and it keeps out the industrial and national spies as well. Remember the bit about the
Ambassador being one of the Fair Folk?’ Kai pressed his lips together for a moment, in a gesture of pure disgust. ‘It’s not just him. There’s a lot of them in Liechtenstein.
They spawn there, or breed, or something. It’s a nexus for their filth. The local populace tolerates them. They’ve been bought off with trinkets and flashy glamour.’

Irene frowned. It didn’t sound as if Kai was going to be thrilled that they were going to the Embassy Ball tomorrow night. ‘Ah,’ she said neutrally, and sipped her wine.
‘So it’s quite normal for Fair Folk to be amongst the Liechtenstein Embassy staff?’

Kai nodded. ‘They’re known for it, even. Newspaper reporters were trying to get interviews at the Embassy gates. One said that other nations dealing with the country carried cold
iron talismans now – it was that bad.’

‘Good to know that works,’ Irene said. ‘Assuming it does?’

‘Well, they wouldn’t carry them unless it did,’ Kai said. ‘Unless . . .’ He paused. ‘Unless the Fair Folk are just faking the whole thing in order to lure
their victims into a false sense of security.’

‘Well, that’s possible too,’ Irene agreed regretfully. She held up her hand to pause him as the waiter arrived with their soup, and they were quiet until the man had left.
‘All right,’ she said, picking up her spoon. ‘Go on.’

‘The current Ambassador has held the post for the last eighty years,’ Kai said, picking up his own spoon. ‘His name is Silver. Or rather, people call him Silver. It seems
nobody knows his real name outside Liechtenstein, if anyone does. Though the fact that it’s apparently a reportable fact about him that nobody knows his real name . . .’ He sighed.
‘Fae. The reporter that I was talking to said that he hadn’t changed at all in the last eighty years, except to update his wardrobe. He’s got a fairly typical reputation for a
Fair Folk. Seductive, arrogant, party-going, patronizes artists.’

Irene thought about that. ‘Does he patronize engineers?’ she asked.

‘The reporter didn’t mention that,’ Kai said. ‘Why?’

Irene shrugged. ‘It just seemed relevant, given we’re told this alternate favours technology, and if Liechtenstein’s economy is based on airships. By the way, you know a lot
about the Fair Folk.’

Kai looked as though he was considering spitting on the ground. ‘Those
creatures
– we had something like them in the alternate that I came from. Pervasive thieves, wasters,
destroyers – they make their way into society and tear it apart. They destabilize reality. They’re tools of chaos. They
are
chaos. You can’t expect me to approve of things
like that.’

‘Look, calm down,’ Irene said. ‘Have some soup. I agree that they’re malign. But we’re not here on some sort of campaign to root them out. Remember the
mission.’ She was surprised by his vehemence; it was more than she’d expect from a trainee. But personal experience was probably behind it. She wondered how personal the experience
might be. An involvement with one of them? The loss of a friend or lover? ‘Our job is to get the text and then we can get the hell out of here.’

Kai stared at her for a moment, then lowered his eyes. ‘I apologize for my improper behaviour,’ he said, suddenly formal. ‘You are the head of this mission, of course. I just
wish to convey my feelings on the subject. My extremely strong feelings on the subject.’

Irene tried to think of a way to respond which wouldn’t seem dismissive. And he was shifting speech patterns again – from slang to formal and back again. She wondered if he’d
noticed it himself. Possibly the influence of the Library, compared to his previous edgy lifestyle?

She set those thoughts aside for later consideration, and did her best to smile. ‘It’s all right. Really. You aren’t the only one who’s had problems with chaos. But we
can’t assess how to handle the situation until we have a full picture of it. Please tell me more about Liechtenstein and the Embassy.’

Kai returned a thin smile, but it was clearly a duty rather than a pleasure. ‘Well, as I was going to say, the Fae infestation in Liechtenstein seems to help keep out neighbouring
countries. Maybe because they’re not sure what the Fae could do, or maybe they’re worried about the Fae expanding into their countries. And Liechtenstein’s a peach that a lot of
people would otherwise want to pluck from the branch and sink their teeth into.’

Irene raised her eyebrows.

‘Okay,’ Kai said, waving his spoon, ‘a dramatic simile, but have you noticed how very balanced and counterbalanced this whole world is? If you take Liechtenstein, there are mad
scientists everywhere. The people I questioned implied some kind of mad scientist race. I know I’m just a trainee, but surely the influence of science there could only be to balance the
amount of chaos the Fae bring to the table – especially in Liechtenstein itself?’

‘Or maybe the Fae are telling stories about science,’ Irene hypothesized. ‘Or being involved in stories about science. Or maybe Liechtenstein is taking on the role of Belgium
in this alternate. My father once did a check on it in as many alternates as he could find. Belgium always seems to get invaded, fall prey to meteorites or get infested by alien fungus or something
. . . and don’t look now, but someone’s just come in and is staring at us.’

‘It must be you he’s looking at,’ Kai said hopefully, tilting his spoon in a vain attempt to catch a reflection of the room behind him. ‘Do something odd and see if he
reacts.’

‘He’s coming this way,’ Irene said briefly. He appeared every inch the wealthy aristocrat. From the top hat to the silk-lined cape to the silver-headed cane (a sword cane, she
suspected). His eyes were fixed on Kai. ‘Quickly,’ she murmured, ‘did you do anything that you should have told me about?’

‘Definitely not.’ Kai turned to follow Irene’s gaze. ‘Hm. Wait. I saw him at the Embassy.’

‘As I saw you, sir,’ the man said, doffing his top hat in a small bow to Kai, then a subsidiary one to Irene. ‘May I join you at this table?’

Kai flicked a glance to Irene. She nodded slightly. He turned back to the man. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Though I don’t think we’ve been introduced?’

A waiter had come dashing up with an extra chair, and withdrew with the man’s hat and cloak.

The man seated himself and leaned forward, steepling his fingers. ‘I trust I may speak freely before your associate?’ He nodded towards Irene. ‘Some of what I have to say may
not be fit for the ears of one of the gentler sex.’

Kai looked at Irene for a moment. Irene hesitated, then looked down at her plate in a docile manner. She’d had to play this sort of role before, though admittedly not when coaching a
junior at the same time. ‘Please let me stay, sir,’ she said to Kai. ‘I will simply take notes as normal.’

Kai nodded to her in a lordly manner, then turned back to their guest. ‘I assure you that Miss – ’ he barely faltered – ‘Winters here is entirely trustworthy, and
is a valued associate of mine. You may speak freely in front of her. Though I would be interested to know what you propose to discuss.’

Part of Irene’s mind was surprised at Kai’s sudden elegance of speech. He’d shifted again into that extreme formality which she’d noted earlier. And while she could
manage such linguistic shifts easily enough from experience in various alternates, she hadn’t thought that he’d be so capable. Stranger and stranger from a boy who claimed to be from a
cybered-up alternate, where he was a petty criminal. She very much wanted to talk to Coppelia about this. The other part of her mind wondered why he’d dubbed her ‘Winters’ and
what the cultural reference might be.

She watched their guest from under her eyelashes. He had relaxed a little now, and was leaning back in his chair. He was a very aquiline physical type, with a well-defined nose, deep-set shadowy
eyes, high cheekbones and long delicate fingers. The perfect example of a lead protagonist in certain types of detective fiction. In fact, she wondered if . . .

‘Very well,’ the stranger said. ‘Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Peregrine Vale, fifteenth Earl of Leeds.’

Kai gave a little nod. ‘Kay Strongrock, at your service. Might I ask the nature of your business?’

The waiter cleared away the soup course and brought the main meal for Irene and Kai. He also brought a spare glass for the visitor, filling it unbidden, before retreating again. The intrusion
allowed Irene to bite her lip and refrain from kicking Kai under the table, as she’d just managed to work out where he was getting his pseudonyms from.
Strongrock – Rochefort.
Winters – De Winter.
She would have to explain to him why it was a bad idea to pull pseudonyms from literary sources. If the other person had read the book, it gave them far too much
information. They’d start looking around for three possible Musketeers or mysterious Richelieu-like manipulators behind the scenes.

Even though she had to admit that being compared to Milady de Winter had its flattering side.

‘I observed you this afternoon, Mr Strongrock,’ the Earl of Leeds stated. ‘You were outside the Liechtenstein Embassy. You arrived while they were unloading their zeppelins.
You watched the newspaper reporters and then questioned them afterwards.’

‘Your Lordship seems to have paid a great deal of attention to my movements,’ Kai said. There was an undertone of threat to his voice.