‘So,’ she said, leaning back in her chair. ‘What do we know so far?’

‘Don’t treat me like your pupil,’ Kai snapped, proving he was more distressed than angry. Anger would never make him rude; it’d be more likely to provoke icy courtesy. ‘We’re past that.’

‘All right,’ Irene said equably. Better that he snarl at her than Catherine or the nuns. ‘I apologize. I didn’t want to prejudice your conclusions by giving my perspective first. What do you think of the whole affair?’

‘Assuming you weren’t somehow deceived, something very strange is going on.’

‘That’s not much of a conclusion.’

‘We’re lacking evidence. We can’t be sure Lord Guantes – and Lady Guantes – are behind all the recent attacks on us. What if he was some kind of . . . illusion? Someone could have used his likeness to send us on the wrong track. Many others know about the Venice business.’ Which was shorthand for when I was kidnapped by Lord and Lady Guantes to start a war. You destroyed their power base while rescuing me, and killed him in the process. She could see him shying away from the memory. He paused, thinking. ‘It’s undeniable someone was trying to kill us on Guernsey, though. Whether this is linked to the previous attempts is still up for debate.’

‘True,’ Irene agreed. ‘But consider how it played out. It was . . . careless. It doesn’t match his reputation as a master schemer. Why set up a complicated death trap in the submarine base, and then leave a back door open to his hideout?’ She paused. ‘I suppose the answer to that one is that he didn’t expect me to be there and Vale couldn’t have passed through that door. If Vale had been alone . . .’ He would probably have died. And she’d never have known how or why. With an effort she continued her theorizing. ‘Why get Julie Robilliard to give you a slow-acting poison, when he could have used his powers to persuade her to outright murder you? And then have people with guns waiting outside as well? It’s all over the place. It’s not like him.’

‘He did almost get us killed, though,’ Kai pointed out.

‘You’re not wrong,’ she admitted. ‘Let’s go back to square one. We need to pool what we all know, what we can investigate, and what we should all do next for immediate self-preservation. Which means that Catherine needs to be awake – or rather, needs to admit she’s awake.’

Catherine opened her eyes without bothering to argue. ‘I find out a lot more by listening without you knowing I’m listening.’

Irene closed her eyes briefly. ‘Aren’t we supposed to be on the same side?’ she asked.

‘I don’t care.’ Catherine struggled to pull herself upright, bashing the pillows into submission. ‘You’re supposed to be making me a Librarian. So why don’t you do it? Get me into the Library and you won’t have to worry about anyone killing me anyway. You won’t have to worry about me any longer.’ The bitter undertone to her voice would have corroded crystal.

‘Catherine . . .’ Irene didn’t count to ten, but she sorely wanted to. She could sense Kai vibrating like an offended high-voltage cable on her other side. ‘I ask you as a rational adult: is this really the time for angst and venting your feelings?’

Catherine fumbled for her glasses on the bedside table and stared at Irene with malignant focus. ‘I object to being a pawn in your games. I’m sure you already know the Guantes and my uncle had a thing, but that’s over and done with.’

‘When you say that they had a “thing” . . .’ Kai said carefully.

Catherine winced. ‘I didn’t mean that sort of “thing”. Though you know what he’s like. I wouldn’t be surprised.’

‘If I might wrench this conversation back to its original topic,’ Irene suggested firmly. ‘Someone has tried to kidnap or kill me, Kai and Vale. Catherine may have been deliberately included, or she might be collateral damage – “a pawn”, to use her words. And the attempts on Guernsey involved in-depth knowledge of our schedule and penetration of the British Secret Service. Which is where Vale is now, incidentally. He’s trying to find out where the leak came from, as well as pursuing his mysterious crime lord case.’

‘Does this mean we can sue the British Secret Service?’ Catherine asked.

‘No,’ Irene said. ‘They get very unhappy about people trying to sue them. The last person who tried was jailed for indecency with public transport—’

‘With or on?’

‘With. It was complicated . . . Look, Catherine, please stop distracting me or we’re never going to get anywhere. It seems that Lord Guantes was behind the attempts to kill us, but he was acting in a highly unusual manner and crumbled into dust afterwards. That’s certainly unusual. And there’s been no sign of Lady Guantes.’

‘Is that a fact?’ Kai asked. ‘In the sense of a data item, that is.’

‘It absolutely is. Absence of someone who should be there is a definite fact. Now, moving on to avenues of investigation. Catherine, I assume your uncle didn’t mention anything about Lord Guantes returning from the dead to seek vengeance?’

‘Not a word,’ Catherine said. ‘He did mention Lady Guantes might try and kill you at some point. But he didn’t think she’d try to kill me, so he wasn’t too worried about it.’

‘Yes, that sounds like him,’ Irene said with resignation. ‘But if Lord Guantes is back, we should talk to Lord Silver. Maybe he’ll remember something useful, if he’s likely to be a target as well.’

‘The problem I see is how we’re going to split up to investigate,’ Kai said. ‘Or maybe we shouldn’t split up at all. Separated, we’re more vulnerable as targets. I’m not happy that Vale’s gone off on his own.’

For a moment the light caught his eyes and made them flicker red. Dragons might not hoard gold, whatever legend said, but they could be remarkably possessive of things – or people – they considered they owned.

Irene shrugged. ‘I’m not happy about it either. But if anyone’s safe on his own in London, it’s Vale.’

‘Well, true,’ Kai admitted. ‘I suggest we bring in additional staff. My father would be happy to assign us some servants. Technically they’d be assigned to me, but in practice we can use them for all us treaty representatives.’

‘That’s actually a good idea,’ Catherine agreed. ‘Uncle has plenty of dangerous people on his private register too. Should we go primarily for bodyguards, poison-tasters or getaway specialists?’

Irene was loath to disrupt this positive interaction between the two of them. However, she was conjuring up a mental image of two separate groups of protective servants who – knowing dragons and Fae – would suspect the worst of each other. It could be almost as dangerous as having an active assassin on their trail. Possibly worse. ‘Let’s consider leads so far first,’ she suggested, ticking them off on her fingers. ‘Lord Silver, in case he knows something about Lord and Lady Guantes. The laptop I took. Whatever Vale finds out regarding the leak. And Sterrington, in case we need Fae intel. There may be relevant conspiracies in Fae circles which we haven’t heard about.’