The Masked City (The Invisible Library #2)(69)

She was painfully conscious of the minutes until midnight ticking away, but she’d take any opportunity to gather information. ‘As I understood it from Lady Guantes, you intend to start a war.’

Lord Guantes waved a hand casually. ‘Either we start a war, in which case we benefit. Or the dragon’s family sacrifices him, and then I am owed a favour by whoever purchases him, in which case we benefit again. I have nothing to lose.’

‘I’m surprised you’re so certain of victory,’ Irene said.

‘Of course.’ Lord Guantes’ tone practically patted her on the head. The word patronizing could have been invented to describe its nuances. ‘However, Miss Winters, I have access to substantially more information than you do.’

‘More than the Library?’ Irene tried.

‘More than a very junior member of the Library.’

She had to admit that he might have a point there. ‘So why did you target Kai in particular?’

‘Because my information showed he was of sufficient rank to serve as a cause for war, and he was in a vulnerable location. I wouldn’t have tried to kidnap him from his own father’s sphere. Dear me, no. Should he survive this, and one day be returned to his father’s care, I don’t think he will be allowed to wander so freely again.’ He reached over to a small table and picked up a glass of brandy, taking a sip from it in a way that closed the question.

On the stage Scarpia was confronting Tosca. But it was only the first act - onstage and in the box. And she had to make Lord Guantes think she was weakening. ‘Why do you dislike Lord Silver?’ she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I hadn’t thought you liked him.’

‘I don’t. I’m quite happy to blackmail him. But I was wondering what your reasons were.’

He chuckled, deep in his throat. Again there was that note of patronization to it, as though she’d said something charming in its innocence. ‘My dear Miss Winters, I was born to rank, myself.’ Again that airy gesture of his gloved hand. ‘And, as befits my status, I have a purpose, Miss Winters. A duty. An obligation …’

‘To start a war?’ Irene suggested, before she could stop herself.

‘Quite.’ He favoured her with a thin-lipped smile. ‘As opposed to Lord Silver, who is a simple dilettante, placed in a position quite outside his capabilities and ignoring it, once there. He offends my sense of the proper use of power.’

Scarpia’s voice rang through the opera house in a grand crescendo, and Lord Guantes’ eyes glinted like flint as the light caught them.

‘And now, Miss Winters,’ he said, ‘we come to the question of you.’





CHAPTER NINETEEN



‘But I believe it’s about to be the interval,’ Lord Guantes said, glancing at the stage and releasing her from the weight of his gaze. ‘Can I trust you to sit quietly and refrain from making a disturbance, Miss Winters?’

Irene considered the possible chain of events. I scream and claim assault. He calls in the guard. My identity is revealed. I get arrested and marched away to prison. ‘Yes, of course,’ she said. She tried to make it sound casual, as if she was in control.

It didn’t work. She could tell from the way Lord Guantes relaxed, as the chorus onstage went into a dramatic Te Deum. He knows he’s got nothing to fear from me. And he seemed genuinely interested in recruiting her. But why? Kai was far more important than she was.

She looked out over the audience as the curtains closed. The lights around the auditorium flared brighter as the gas was turned full on, and people broke into a low roar of conversation. A flood of those in the lower seats drifted outside, but most of the men and women who could afford boxes stayed where they were.

‘Perhaps you would like to go and fetch a drink?’ she suggested politely.

‘I couldn’t possibly leave you here on your own, Miss Winters,’ Lord Guantes answered. ‘Who knows what trouble you might get into?’

Irene folded her hands in her lap, feeling the gun through the folds of her skirt. Her motor control was back: she could use the gun if she had to. But with his power beating down upon her, she’d rather play the waiting game as he tried to recruit her, and look for an advantage. Any advantage at all.

Lord Guantes smiled slightly, as if he’d sensed a lack of resistance. ‘Quite,’ he said. ‘I knew that you’d be reasonable. Now I imagine you’re wondering what your options are.’

He would probably have enjoyed delivering that line even more if she’d been tied down, Irene decided. It was all about the power. ‘I had wondered,’ she murmured.

‘Well, you must understand that you are a slightly notorious young woman.’

Irene wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or annoyed at the slightly. She settled for, ‘It’s so difficult to know when one has overstepped. I didn’t think I’d caused Lord Silver any real inconvenience.’

‘Oh, it’s not Silver that I’m talking about.’ Lord Guantes picked up his glass of brandy and sipped again, drawing out the moment. ‘That would be Alberich.’

The name Irene least wanted to hear. She had never asked to be a person of interest to one of the Library’s worst nightmares. She didn’t want to be connected with someone who skinned people alive. And she’d barely escaped with her life herself, during their last encounter. ‘Ah,’ she said, keeping her voice even, and grateful again for her mask. Perhaps making an outcry and getting arrested would be the better option. She could make a break for it in the confusion.