Smoke and Iron (The Great Library #4)(77)

He was in the mood for murder.

Neksa was at her desk in the outer office, and she looked nervous and disturbed. She fiddled with the Library band on her wrist in a way that he was sure he’d never seen before. She avoided looking at him directly, and that was when he was sure that something had gone very wrong.

In the Archivist’s office, there were two people standing and one on his knees. Guards as well, of course, lurking in the shadows along with the waiting automaton gods. Jess’s mind reeled, and for a long moment he was sure he had gone insane. This could not be right. Could not be happening.

But then his brother Brendan shook his head and said, “Sorry, Brother.” It was the brisk tone that made Jess take a step back and realize he wasn’t imagining things. His brother really was here.

And then the man kneeling on the carpet looked up. His hair was a matted, graying mess, and he looked paler and more wild than Jess had ever seen him, but it was Scholar Wolfe. Bruised, and from the look in his eyes half-mad, but alive.

“Scholar?” Jess moved toward him, but before he could get more than a step, his brother grabbed his elbow and pulled him to a stop. “Let me go. What’s been done to him?”

The third man in the tableau was the Archivist, of course. He was standing behind his desk, but with no sense of calm about him. His hands were clenched behind his back, and his color had an unhealthy reddish tone to it. “Nothing has been done to him. Not yet. In fact, Christopher has done me a great favor. I don’t suppose he meant to do so, but that doesn’t change the fact that you have been lying to me all this time. And we’re going to find out exactly how you managed that.”

“I already told him that you drugged me and took my place,” Brendan said. “And that Father had no choice but to play along if he wanted to get his bargain. Once he realized the game was up, he sent me as a sign of good faith to finish the deal. And I will. I’m sorry, Brother. It was never going to work for long.”

“You think he really intends to give Father any bargain?” Jess almost laughed. Besides the awful taste of chemicals and death, he tasted something even worse: defeat. “Don’t be stupid. He has both Callum Brightwell’s sons. He can get what he wants without paying a geneih. Unless you think that Father is even more heartless than I ever thought he was. Why did you come here? He’ll kill us both.”

“My fault,” Wolfe said. His voice sounded rusty and hollow and haunted. “Why didn’t you tell me what you planned? Because you knew I’d never let you take this risk? Jess . . .”

“Too clever by half,” the Archivist agreed. “It’s the clever ones that get caught in their own traps. If you’d only told the Scholar what you intended, he wouldn’t have come to me and told me a lie that turned out to be true. He told me you’d taken your brother’s place. And of course it was what I suspected from the beginning, but you did an excellent job of putting my suspicions to rest. I intend to spend some time with you to find out exactly what you’ve been up to. You didn’t do this alone. You had help, and I intend to pull every name out of you and send every one of your allies screaming into the afterlife. I admit you were bold. We’ll see how bold you are at the Feast of Greater Burning.” He suddenly opened the Codex on his desk and scribbled a note.

“No need for that,” Jess’s brother said in a deliberately calm and careless tone. He was the master of making it seem he didn’t care. “Just send the boy home. My father will still hold to the bargain, as long as Jess is safe.”

“Your father will do exactly what I tell him. He’s going to lose a son. Take care he doesn’t lose two. Your brother’s written his own fate, and his own very unhappy ending. If you’re as smart as I believe you to be, you’ll stand aside and save your family and your fortune. No point in losing everything, is there?”

“Don’t believe him,” Jess said. “He’ll kill all of us. Some of us will just die later.”

Brendan shrugged. “I don’t see that I have much choice,” he said. “And I don’t see that you do, either. You started this, Jess. And you know the consequences. The Library always wins in the end.” He turned toward the Archivist and bowed slightly. “You understand that I had to try to save him. He’s my brother. But one thing about our family: we put business first. My da will understand what had to be done. I brought you the plans. And that makes us square for our end of the deal.”

The double doors opened, and Neksa stepped inside. She shot an involuntary look at Jess, then Brendan, before she settled her gaze on the Archivist. “Sir,” she said, and bowed.

“Come in, my dear,” he said, and smiled. Jess didn’t like the look of it, even though the Archivist took a seat and tried to seem welcoming. “Do you recognize these young men?”

“Of course,” she said, and she sounded baffled. “The two Brightwell brothers. But I thought only one was here.”

“Did you?”

Jess caught the tone, and he knew his brother did as well, but neither of them moved. The guards, responding to some signal he hadn’t seen, had drawn weapons and moved closer. Whatever was about to happen, there was no way to stop it.

“You rented a house to one of them, I believe,” the Archivist said. “Or have I been misinformed?”