The Masked City (The Invisible Library #2)(62)
Lady Guantes looked a little embarrassed. ‘Well, “notorious” might be more accurate. But please don’t take it the wrong way. It’s a compliment.’
‘I’m flattered.’
‘And it does make me wonder why you’re doing this.’ She turned that serene, understanding gaze on Irene again. ‘Self-defence is one thing, but this spontaneous expedition deep into our territory isn’t what I would call sensible. And you do seem a sensible woman, Miss Winters.’
Irene shifted her weight a little. It didn’t draw any reaction from the levelled gun. Good, she isn’t going to shoot me for twitching. ‘So if we both appreciate common sense - what is your motivation in this?’
Lady Guantes didn’t hesitate. ‘A better world for everyone.’
‘Really? When you may be about to kick off a war?’
‘The whole point is starting a war,’ Lady Guantes said firmly. She didn’t even try to dress up her reasoning as glamorous or attempt to weave a seduction, as one might expect from a Fae, but simply presented her case as the only obvious solution. ‘Our side may not win outright. But by the time we reach a truce, many more spheres will be under our influence. This will be good for the humans. It’ll be good for us. We’re not going to interfere with you - you’re welcome to go on stealing books on the sidelines. And do you really care about the dragons? More than caring about this single dragon, that is?’
‘I thought we were both going to be sensible,’ Irene said. ‘You can’t say you’re going to start a war and then suggest that I’m only here because I care about a single dragon. Just how immature do you think I am?’
Lady Guantes shrugged. ‘True, that sort of narrow motivation is really the sort of thing I’d expect from the more highly focused of my own kind. Let’s consider a wider viewpoint.’ The gun didn’t waver. ‘You Librarians are interested in stealing books for your own purposes. Something to do with stabilizing worlds, I’ve heard. You’re not interested in allying with either us or the dragons, as all you want to do is collect stories. Stay out of our way and you won’t get hurt. You’ve got nothing to gain by meddling in this, Miss Winters.’
Is she genuinely trying to convince me? And, if she’s playing for time, what’s she waiting for? ‘I have yet to see how it would benefit humans to live in a world such as this Venice,’ Irene replied.
‘Ask the people out there,’ Lady Guantes said. ‘They’re happy.’
‘They’re …’ For a moment, Irene wondered if she really should be talking about ‘humans’ as if she was somehow different from them. ‘But they’ve just become part of this place’s story. The moment one of your kind interacts with them, the humans lose their volition, their freedom. Their life. In your world, the humans are just background characters.’
‘But such happy background characters,’ Lady Guantes objected. ‘Oh, I admit that not all stories have happy endings, but people prefer what they’re used to. If you were to actually ask them, nine out of ten would prefer a storybook existence to a mechanistic universe where happy endings never happen.’
‘Really?’
‘Would you believe I actually organized a survey?’ Lady Guantes looked smug. ‘Not in this world, but I think my point holds. People want stories. You should know that, more than anybody. They want their lives to have meaning. They want to be part of something greater than themselves. Even you, Miss Winters, want to be a heroic Librarian - don’t you? And if you’re going to say that people need to have the freedom to be unhappy, something that’s forced on them whether they like it or not, I would question your motivation.’ She paused for a single deadly second. ‘Most people don’t want a brave new world. They want the story that they know.’
‘Thank you for explaining that,’ Irene said politely. ‘It really does help to understand your perspective on the situation.’
‘My pleasure,’ Lady Guantes said. She shifted and glanced behind her, but too quickly for Irene to take advantage of the moment.
‘Basically, you’re utterly convinced of your own righteousness,’ Irene went on quickly. If Lady Guantes was waiting for reinforcements, then Irene was running out of time. ‘You’re a smug zealot who’s willing to destroy entire worlds in order to get what you want. And you want to control humanity, and have convinced yourself that they’d be happier that way. And what persuaded you to follow your foolhardy plan - was it Lord Guantes?’ She took a step forward.
‘Stay there!’ Lady Guantes ordered, her voice suddenly sharp for the first time. Her hands were rigid with tension through her gloves.
‘Why are you so nervous, madam?’ Irene gave her best smile of faint superiority, the one which conveyed - in spite of all evidence to the contrary - that she was totally in control. ‘Are you telling me that you and Lord Guantes aren’t equal partners? Where is he?’
‘Negotiating with the Council of Ten,’ Lady Guantes snapped. ‘Don’t come any closer!’
‘And you didn’t get invited too?’ Irene probed.
The flash of fury in Lady Guantes’ face said it all. The emotion only showed for a moment, but it was there, as corrosive as acid. ‘My presence was not required,’ she said.