Lord Zhang Yi pulled himself together, his eyes refocusing. ‘In the meantime, yes, we must take advantage. Nothing that would make us as vulnerable as exchanging students or sharing private research papers, of course, but we should certainly be negotiating with any Fae experts in the field who are willing to talk. Data on the latest technical advances in high-chaos worlds would be useful intelligence. As would anything on new developments, Fae open-source systems, their protocols, whether or not their worlds are using blockchain technology or bitcoin . . . Don’t look so surprised, boy.’

Kai hadn’t thought he’d looked surprised, but apparently he was an open book to his elders. ‘But are they going to want to hand over that sort of information, sir?’

‘Of course not. However, they’re certainly going to want us to hand it over. So they’ll have to approach us somehow. I imagine there will be some complicated dancing around in the middle before anyone on either side admits it.’

‘So should I expect the Fae treaty representative to be approaching me?’ This was actually sounding very intriguing. The Fae would have to make some concessions, after all, and the prospect of seeing how advanced some of the high-chaos worlds were . . . His lord father would be making the decisions, of course, but Kai would still be on the front lines for any bargaining. This would be fun.

‘Yes. And you can pass all their queries directly to Shan Yuan here.’

Kai’s heart sank at the thought of being cut out of the deals. Hand over everything interesting to Shan Yuan, of all people? There has to be some way round this . . . ‘I’m sure my lord father will be sending you the information himself, sir.’

Lord Zhang Yi twitched one arthritic hand in disdain. ‘His majesty Ao Guang has a great deal to oversee, and I am his technology adviser. You will be doing us all a favour by allowing us to triage any Fae advances directly. We’ll then pass on just the relevant details for his majesty’s attention. Naturally, closing any subsequent negotiations will remain with you.’

‘Of course, sir,’ Kai said, reassured. ‘It will be my honour.’

Lord Zhang Yi stroked his beard. ‘Good. Excellent. Your brother tells me that you’ve worked in our field yourself. You may be worth considering as a future student.’

Kai wasn’t going to delude himself that this possibility was due to his talent alone. Apparently Lord Zhang Yi played politics and exchanged favours just as much as any other powerful figure. Still, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a genuine offer, and it was something he’d very much wanted . . . at one point. Right at this precise moment, with Irene as a lover, Vale as a friend, and his current position to enjoy, it was a choice that he’d rather postpone. He ducked his head and mumbled thanks.

‘Do you underrate yourself? Remember that talent can set its own terms.’ Lord Zhang Yi gestured at the room around them. ‘I may not be of royal blood, but I have the respect of my students. This world is my home, and if I feel like moving my establishment to the Alps, or Tibet, or Egypt, or Vietnam, then I simply give orders and it is done. In some respects I’m as well-informed as royalty, with their spymasters.’

He paused. ‘There’s actually something else I meant to discuss with you too. You must forgive an old man his lapses in memory, boy. It happens to all of us.’

Kai would believe that one of dragon-kind’s most renowned geniuses had memory lapses when he believed his father was having an affair with a Fae. Or that Irene had gone to sleep without a book next to her bed. He made the appropriate polite noises and waited with interest.

‘There’s something going on out there.’ Lord Zhang Yi delivered the statement as though it was earth-shattering news, then sat back, looking pleased with himself.

Kai bit back at least three variants of There’s always something going on out there, and settled for, ‘Would you please explain, sir?’

He stroked his beard again. ‘Unfortunately I don’t see the specifics. I only see indications. I am aware of equipment being sourced on various different worlds – superconductor technology, servers capable of handling yottabyte-level information – and then simply dropping off the radar. I hear about experts in artificial intelligence vanishing from those worlds. I am becoming aware of something perceptible only by its absence. It worries me.’

‘How do you know all this, sir?’ Kai asked.

‘I know people,’ Lord Zhang Yi said dismissively. ‘High-level people. I read their emails.’

Kai wondered whether that meant I read emails from them or I have access to their email accounts and they are blissfully ignorant of that fact. The statement’s ambiguity was rather frightening. ‘I thought that worlds with a high technology level were more likely to be high-order, sir. Just as worlds with a high magic level are more likely to be high-chaos. There are anomalies, of course . . . but surely the Fae can’t be ahead of us.’

‘The only reason they could be is because they cheat,’ Shan Yuan said flatly. ‘Or sometimes, their environment does the cheating for them.’

Lord Zhang Yi gave Shan Yuan an approving look. ‘Well put. A high-chaos environment favours impossible “rags-to-riches” success stories, as well as incredible failures. The bigger the rise or fall, the better the story. So it favours impossible computing – leaps of logic which no sane person would make, fortunate discoveries that go against all sensible principles of programming and engineering, and convenient . . . guesses.’ He spoke the word guesses with a contempt worthy of Vale on such matters. ‘The laws of science remain the same. But, given equal research opportunities in a high-chaos world versus a high-order world, Fae research may reach their goal sooner. This is simply because it’s appropriate to the story. The hero makes their discovery at a crucial moment in time.’

‘Of course they have twice as many destructive failures as we do, for the same reason but in reverse: the story demanded a tragic ending.’ Shan Yuan clearly felt these were thoroughly well deserved. ‘You see the problem, Kai? A Fae in a high-chaos world may hit upon a new one-chance-in-a-million discovery, because their personal fiction gives them that crucial stroke of luck or invention. But that one success story could be very dangerous for us.’

‘I’d never thought of it that way,’ Kai said soberly. He made a small bow to Lord Zhang Yi. ‘Thank you for alerting me to the danger. How can we guard against this?’

‘One of our advantages is that they do not cooperate as we do. All dragons work as one, under the guidance and leadership of our monarchs.’ Was there just a shade of cynicism to Lord Zhang Yi’s voice? ‘If the Fae have found a project to unite them, to share discoveries . . . well, then I am concerned. If these disappearances, this new technology, these advances in artificial intelligence are all somehow tied together, then we need to know more. Some Fae may believe in this truce, but others would break it without hesitation if they thought they had a superior weapon – and the opportunity to take us by surprise.’

‘This may touch on the reason I’m here,’ Kai said slowly. ‘My lord—’

‘You may address me as uncle,’ Lord Zhang Yi said genially.

‘Uncle, there have been several attempts to kidnap or assassinate me – and the Librarian treaty representative. The most recent one was just yesterday.’