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There was no answer.
She clung to one of the shelves on her right and her fingers bit into the wood hard enough to hurt. I’m trapped here, she thought. This wasn’t a fear that she’d even considered before. It was new and horrifying, an abyss suddenly opening right in front of her feet.
Someone coughed from behind her. ‘This is an astonishing place,’ a woman’s voice said, ‘but I do think that you’re neglecting the more interesting parts.’
Irene’s fingers dug even harder into the shelf as she turned to see who had spoken.
Lady Guantes was standing there, serene in a deep-green gown, her hands gloved in white. She had Irene covered with a pistol. Like most guns that had been pointed at her, it looked far too large. It was turning out to be one of those days, after all. Lady Guantes was holding it in what looked unpromisingly like a professional grip, with both hands on the stock.
Should I pretend to be an innocent local? It might be worth a try.
‘I should point out that I said that in English,’ Lady Guantes said. ‘Any attempt to convince me that you’re an innocent local should take that into account, Miss Winters.’
Irene had always felt that one of the most important strategic virtues was knowing when to concede a loss. ‘I just can’t stay away from a good library,’ she said, keeping to English. ‘It’s an addiction with me. Do you have the same problem?’
‘Please don’t try to be funny. It was only logical that you’d come to the biggest local library to look for help.’ The gun didn’t waver. ‘And if you try to say anything that sounds peculiar, rest assured that I will shoot.’
Which meant that using the word ‘gun’ in any context would probably result in immediate injury. A pity. Saying something along the lines of May your gun explode in your hand sorted out so many of life’s little problems.
There was a pause.
‘It’s difficult for me to speak freely when you might shoot me at any moment,’ Irene pointed out. ‘But I assume you don’t want to shoot me, or you would have done so already.’
‘You’re very casual about your safety,’ Lady Guantes said. She still had that gracious air of approachability and common sense that Irene remembered from the railway station, but there was something new. Nervousness? Could she be nervous? Of me?
‘There are degrees of danger,’ Irene said. If she kept talking, perhaps she could figure a way out. Silver had described Lady Guantes as weaker than Lord Guantes. How did that stack up against a Librarian? ‘There’s immediate peril of death, which is one thing, and then there’s immediate peril of a fate worse than death, which is something else again. And then there’s the less immediate fear of potential death. And all scenarios should be handled on a case-by-case basis. I’d rather talk than do something irretrievable. Do you feel the same way?’
‘You’re a Librarian.’ Lady Guantes put the same delicate disgust into the word that someone else might have used for mercenaries, colonoscopy or mad dogs and Englishmen. ‘Letting you do so much as talk is dangerous.’ ‘You might at least explain what you want, then,’ Irene suggested. If the other woman was talking, then she wasn’t shooting.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Well, I’m sure you have a motive for being here.’ Was Lady Guantes keeping Irene covered until backup arrived to take her into custody? Or was she simply opportunistic, with a pistol in one hand and an enemy in front of her, and no idea what to do next? ‘In my place, wouldn’t you be curious?’
Lady Guantes raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you suggesting you’re open to an alliance?’
Irene shrugged. ‘I want to know what the stakes are, and what’s in play. You’ve heard of us, you know we’re usually neutrals and only interested in books. Why did you set your thugs on me?’
‘On which occasion?’
Irene blinked. ‘There was more than one?’
‘Two, actually. The first time was after the book auction you attended. I wanted to see how you and the dragon would handle an assault. It convinced me that I needed to separate you, before kidnapping him. The second time was a bit more off-the-cuff, I admit.’
At least that explained why those hired thugs had been so inefficient. ‘More casual? It felt quite serious at the time.’
Lady Guantes sighed. ‘That was your own fault. You and the detective moved too quickly. If things had worked out as I’d planned, you and Mr Vale would still have been trying to find out where the dragon was by the time the auction had taken place here. His family would have arrived to investigate the world from which he was kidnapped, and you, as his superior, would have ended up taking the immediate blame for his disappearance. That would have embarrassed the Library, and kept them off-balance and on the defensive when the war started. Of course the dragons would have known we were ultimately responsible, but my husband and I would have been well out of their reach by then - and they’d have welcomed a scapegoat or two. As it was, I had to hire some muscle in quite a hurry. It isn’t the way I like to operate. If I’d known I was going to have to kill you eventually, I could have hired a sniper well in advance. It would have been so much tidier.’
‘If the dragon’s family had come to investigate, that world being his last known location, it would have had very serious consequences for that world - not just for Vale and me,’ Irene pointed out.
‘I wasn’t planning to visit it again.’
A little trickle of cold fear worked its way down Irene’s spine. But it mingled with a growing anger at the implications of the woman’s words. Ao Shun had made it clear that they would destroy Vale’s world, if they held it to blame for Kai’s disappearance. And Lady Guantes clearly knew it. Irene could almost admire the woman’s thoroughness in covering her trail, but at the same time was revolted by her sheer cold-bloodedness.
And now she had absolute confirmation from the woman’s own mouth that she was involved in Kai’s kidnapping. I’m not here for vengeance, Irene considered. But I certainly wouldn’t mind making sure she never tries such a thing again. ‘So you don’t want to kill me now,’ she said, keeping her voice even and biting back her fury.
‘Well, obviously not, now that I’ve got you here,’ Lady Guantes said. ‘You’re much more valuable alive.’
‘As an ally?’ Irene said hopefully.
