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‘I believe that is something we can discover when Madame Bradamant is here to be questioned,’ Vale said briskly. ‘She agreed to come and see you tomorrow, I think? And if Singh does not release her, then we can go and question her in prison.’
Irene nodded. She was about to continue, when Vale held up his hand. ‘One thing more. When you made that reference to “significant connections” and “books specific to an alternate” – would you mind expanding on that?’
Damn him. Irene had been hoping to skate past that without going into further detail. Belatedly, she decided that she should never have mentioned that bit in the first place. Stupid of her. ‘Some books have a significant connection to the alternate that they come from,’ she said reluctantly. ‘They help anchor the Library to that alternate. It’s not a bad thing in itself. The Library’s a stabilizing force, so it even helps ward off chaos influences like Fae.’
That was half of it. The other half of it – the possibility that books with a significant connection to the alternate world could affect that world itself, could somehow even change it – was only a theory at her level in the Library. It was a theory that she was increasingly wanting to research in more detail, but there wasn’t time for that at the moment. It was also something that she definitely wasn’t going to tell Vale. Call her a cynic, but Irene suspected that if she were to tell him that, then there would be no way in hell that he’d cooperate in getting the book for her. He’d be far too concerned at what it might mean for his own world. After all, he’d made it clear that he didn’t necessarily trust the Library’s intentions.
‘And my world?’ Vale pounced on her words. ‘Which books are “significant” here?’
‘I don’t know, sir.’ She saw Vale was about to object, and she shook her head. ‘No, please. Believe me, Mr Vale. We don’t get told. They don’t tell us. It’s dangerous knowledge.’
He leaned back in his chair, his expression hungry and unsatisfied. ‘And aren’t you ever curious, Miss Winters? Don’t you want to know?’
‘You’re suggesting that I have some sort of academic curiosity about the fact,’ Irene said curtly. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kai leaning forward. ‘I’ve already told you that our interest is in books. Not . . .’ She looked for words that would convey her meaning with sufficient strength. ‘Not in overarching world-changing forces.’
‘Yes, Miss Winters,’ Vale said drily. ‘That is indeed what you have told me.’
The unspoken accusation of lying, or at the very least prevarication, hit her like a slap across the face. It didn’t help matters that it was in some respects true. She lowered her eyes and couldn’t answer him. Worst of all, for the first time in years, we’re just doing this to save the books sounded petty, and choosing not to know more seemed childish.
‘And yet there might be good reasons for not knowing,’ Vale went on, talking over her bowed head. ‘Perhaps for fear this Alberich fellow might find out. Perhaps simply the senior members of this library would refuse to tell you, if they knew themselves. And perhaps you would simply refuse to tell me, for your own safety, or for mine.’ His voice was dispassionately kind. She didn’t deserve it. ‘It must be very frustrating, Miss Winters. Wondering.’
She still couldn’t bring herself to look up. ‘If it was important,’ she said, ‘then they’d tell me.’
‘Or possibly it is too important to tell you,’ Vale answered. ‘Just as with the suggestion that the book contains classified information, which we discussed earlier. We lack sufficient information to know for certain which is true. But one thing is sure. We cannot allow this book to fall into Alberich’s hands.’ ‘You’ll accept that?’ Kai demanded, his face brightening.
‘I may be suspicious,’ Vale said, ‘but I hope that I am not stupid. He has already made his position towards me extremely clear, after all.’
Irene took a deep breath. ‘If you have no objection, there is one more thing I would like to do before we sleep.’
‘What is that?’
Irene smiled a little. It was good to know that this was within her power again, now that the chaos contamination was out of her system, and that Vale trusted her enough to consider it. It helped her feel less ashamed of herself. ‘It’s possible to link a suitably similar space to the Library.’ She surveyed Vale’s office again. ‘In practice, that means there has to be a reasonable number of books present, or some other sort of storage media. It won’t enable passage, but it will . . . well, it can make that area a sort of annex of the Library, and that would prohibit creatures of chaos from entering. Or, more specifically, it will prevent Alberich from being able to get in. If he does realize that we survived . . .’
‘Ah. A good thought. Will this involve any sort of “magic”?’
‘Only the innate force of the Library itself,’ Irene said, she hoped reassuringly. She didn’t want to go into the whole question of the Language. She’d already said more than enough for one night, to an outsider. ‘You probably won’t notice anything at all.’
‘Why did your colleague who was murdered not do this?’ Vale asked. ‘Or did he?’
‘It wouldn’t have lasted,’ Irene answered. She’d been through this in basic training. ‘The problem with declaring an area in sympathy with the Library is that it only works as long as nobody takes any books away from it. Your lodgings will be safe because nobody will be removing any books from here this evening. Mr Aubrey couldn’t have done the same to the British Library. The protection would have come down the moment someone took a book out of it.’
‘Ah.’ Vale sat back in his chair. ‘Very well. You may proceed, Miss Winters.’
It didn’t take long. She simply invoked the Library, in the Language, in the shortest possible way that it could conveniently be done without damage to the speaker or the surroundings. The more precise the definition, the more harm it might do to everything around it by linguistically shaking its surroundings into conformity. Declaring the Library’s unabbreviated name, a single word, would remove everything that was not Library.
Irene therefore used half a dozen sentences. She felt the snap of coherence as the synchronization took place, and with it a greater sense of comfort. She felt in control again.
‘Odd,’ Vale said. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, frowning. ‘I thought that I would feel something more than that.’
‘What did you feel?’ Irene asked curiously.
‘Something of a headache, like the high pressure before a storm.’ Vale shrugged. ‘I have no talent for such sorceries. Another reason for my differences with my family.’
Irene was about to say, It’s hardly sorcery, but decided that it wasn’t worth the argument. She was also wildly curious about Vale’s break with his family, but this was hardly the moment to pry. ‘It should keep Alberich out, which is the important thing,’ she reiterated.
‘Excellent.’ Vale brushed his hands together and rose to his feet, all business once more. ‘Then, for the moment, I suggest we all get some sleep. Madame Bradamant’s information is necessary for any further hypotheses. Unless it is possible for you to reach her via some arcane method?’ he added hopefully.
‘I’m sorry,’ Irene said. ‘I have no specific link that I can use to reach her.’
