After a few contortions, she was able to bare enough of her back for Evariste to see it. She was conscious of Kai’s eyes on her as well, and for a moment she wished Evariste wasn’t there. She forced herself back to the task in hand. ‘Satisfied?’
‘I’m satisfied that you’re a Librarian and that you’re called Irene.’ Evariste’s voice was stiff with disbelief and stubbornness, as if he was building his barricades before the rest of the world had the chance to betray him. ‘I still don’t know why you’re associating with a dragon or why you kidnapped me.’
‘That’s exactly the same tactic which I was using earlier today,’ Irene said approvingly, covering herself up again. ‘Challenge the other person to explain what they’re up to, in order to hide the weaknesses in your own position. I’ll give you a good mark for that when we get back to the Library. But I need to know what’s going on first.’
Evariste jerked his head in Kai’s direction. ‘I want to know what’s going on with him, before I tell you anything.’
‘For the moment I am studying under Irene here,’ Kai said coldly. ‘I am her apprentice. My father and uncle are aware of the situation. I don’t yet know if I will take permanent vows to the Library. But my presence doesn’t imply that the Library and the dragons are allied.’ He paused. ‘Even if maybe they should be.’
‘You aren’t helping, Kai,’ Irene muttered. ‘You aren’t helping at all.’
‘I concede that the Library shouldn’t be dragged into disputes like this one,’ Kai said, ‘but you and I have far more in common than the Library does with the Fae.’
Irene passed him the empty glass. ‘More water, please. Look, Evariste, getting back to my questions—’
‘Is this where the threats come in?’ Evariste asked. ‘Are you going to offer to go out of the room while he works me over?’
Irene took a deep breath. ‘We are not here to play good cop, bad cop. Or even bad cop, worse cop. Evariste – we’re on your side.’
Evariste just looked towards Kai.
‘I’m on Irene’s side,’ Kai said. ‘Don’t give me an excuse to be otherwise.’ His voice was neutral, even mild, but it still managed to have an undertone like the edge of a razor.
Irene strongly considered running her hands through her hair. ‘Evariste . . .’ Perhaps he’d be more helpful if she could convince him that she was speaking the truth. She switched to the Language. ‘I have been sent here by the Library to find you and to establish what’s going on. Rumours that a Librarian is meddling in dragon court politics are a great danger to the Library and to Librarians. The Library is not allied with the dragons, and I am not working for either Qing Song or Jin Zhi, and nor is Kai. I can’t promise that you won’t be in trouble from the Library . . .’ And she couldn’t promise that she was here to save him, either. Not if he’d betrayed the Library. She chose her words very carefully. ‘But I will do my best to help you escape from Qing Song, if you will explain the current state of affairs.’ The words seemed to hang in the air as Irene spoke them, like distant organ notes in a far larger space: a guarantee of truth, and a promise that would bind her.
Evariste still hesitated. ‘You swear you’ll help me?’
‘I won’t help you get away from the Library,’ Irene said, ‘but I can and will help you get away from Qing Song. Evariste, you need to understand how bad this is. We have two major dragon factions competing for power, and one of them’s claiming that the Library’s been helping the other. Do you realize how much danger that puts Librarians in, if the Fae hear about this? Or if other dragon factions get involved and take sides against us?’
She saw Evariste’s face twitch, and with a sick feeling she recognized guilt in his eyes. He has done something, and he knows it . . .
She put every ounce of sincerity she could muster into her voice. ‘I’ve been sent by Library Security to make sure that the Library doesn’t get dragged any further into this. And let’s be honest, I’m here to bury the evidence if it has. We are neutral: we cannot afford to be otherwise. We’re past the point of covering up minor breaches of regulations. I need to know what you’ve done and what’s going on here. I’m not trying to railroad you or blame you, but I have to know.’
Evariste shut his eyes for a moment. ‘All right,’ he finally said. He swallowed. ‘I’m not stupid. I understand what you’re saying. I know this looks bad – no, I know this is bad – but I had my reasons. And I didn’t realize how serious it was until I was too deep to get out. I’ll tell you. But will you untie me first? Please?’
Irene started to unknot the torn sheets that leashed his wrists to the bedposts. ‘Where would you like to start?’ she asked.
‘It started with Julian.’ Evariste watched the ceiling as Irene untied him. ‘He was my mentor, you know. He recruited me into the Library.’
‘Was he your mentor while you were training, too?’ Irene freed his right wrist and walked round the bed to undo his left wrist.
‘No, that was Neith.’ Evariste flexed the fingers of his right hand, working out the stiffness. ‘Julian was Librarian-in-Residence on the world I came from. I knew him when I was growing up. He helped me get a scholarship to the local university, you know? Got me trained and everything. I hadn’t found out about the Library then, and sometimes I thought there was something a bit weird about him – about the people who came to see him. But it wasn’t that important. He was an okay guy.’
‘Where did he live?’
‘Chicago. On G-14. There were a lot of wizards round there, it was a high-magic world. That let him hide in plain sight. People just assumed he was one of the crowd.’ Evariste’s words came spilling out as if he’d been waiting for the chance to tell someone about it. ‘Things went wrong for me – I couldn’t get a job, I didn’t have the credentials for big-time research, I’d broken up with my girl. Then Julian recruited me for the Library. It was my big chance. My way to something better.’
Irene nodded, trying to assess his age. He was younger than she was, but it was difficult to judge by how much. He looked as if he was in his mid-twenties, but he wouldn’t have aged during his years of study in the Library. ‘You had the standard apprenticeship?’
‘Yeah. He sent me letters from time to time. I was apprentice, then journeyman, and I got my brand. And so finally I thought I’d go and see him. I’d been holding off, you know.’ His voice slowed. ‘I guess I wanted to show him all of it at once – to show how far I’d come, what I’d become, to tell him I was grateful . . .’
‘To go back as an adult,’ Irene suggested quietly. ‘As an equal colleague, rather than just his student.’
‘Yeah, that was it. I’d sent him a letter, he knew I was coming . . .’ Evariste took a deep breath. ‘Can I have some more water?’
Irene handed him the glass and waited while he drank.
‘Thanks,’ Evariste said, putting the glass down on the bedside table. ‘That gag. It does dry your mouth out.’ He glared at Kai.