Irene’s speculation was keeping the Fae’s attention on her; she hoped Vale would take full advantage of that. Perhaps Lady Guantes might even drop a few hints about Alberich’s goal in all this – something that still wasn’t entirely clear to Irene.

Lady Guantes’ eyes narrowed as she considered Irene. ‘We haven’t hidden our motivations, so it’s unsurprising that some of your conclusions are correct. Alberich and I both benefit if the treaty is destroyed. With two representatives dead, and the third one changed . . . Well, I’m sure you can imagine just how much damage Alberich could do, while wearing your face and your body. He isn’t just seeking petty vengeance against you, you know. Once you’ve been “compromised” by him, he can have you betray everyone. Dragons, Fae and the Library alike.’

‘You said earlier that Alberich could use any Librarian for his plans – so I could betray a colleague to save myself.’

Lady Guantes shrugged. ‘I lied.’

‘And you trust Alberich?’

‘I’m not so foolish as to rely on trust—’

But Irene had done her part and Vale’s wrist had finally slipped free. He locked his hand around the Fae’s, gripping until his knuckles showed white, and tilted her gun away from his temple. Her finger tightened reflexively, and the gun fired: the bullet ricocheted off one of the pillars.

‘Gun, heat up!’ Irene ordered, running forward to grab Lady Guantes’ other hand as she struggled in Vale’s clasp. Kai and Shan Yuan were also rushing forward to seize and immobilize the Fae.

Lady Guantes screamed as the gun in her hand burned red hot, still locked in position by Vale’s grip. Pain gave her the strength to drag herself free from Vale, but she couldn’t keep hold of the gun. It clattered to the floor with a clang, leaving scorch marks on her glove.

Kai grabbed her left arm and twisted it behind her in a half-nelson. ‘Don’t try anything,’ he advised her, voice cold. ‘There are limits to what I can pardon for the sake of love.’

‘The dragon’s the one who has pity on me?’ Hysteria cracked the polished tones of her voice for a moment before she suppressed it again. ‘Very good, Miss Winters. Have your little triumph.’

‘Table restraints, open,’ Irene commanded, and watched with relief as the bindings holding Vale to the table snapped open. Vale swung himself off the table with a nod of thanks.

She glanced at the Language-decorated door. Now that she was close enough, she could read some of the words. One was Alberich, positioned right in the centre, in the same shade of dried blood as the circle upstairs. Running out from the centre to the edges were dense patterns of words speaking of openings, portals and secure passages. Perhaps it would slow Alberich down if she tried to destroy it – or perhaps it would just set off another trap. She couldn’t risk it.

Shan Yuan, meanwhile, was poking at one of the tablets. ‘As I thought,’ he said, watching lines of code and diagrams flash across the screen. ‘When a body used for the programme is present in this world, its personality matrix is supported and maintained by this AI infrastructure.’

‘Can you sabotage it?’

He hesitated. ‘We shouldn’t be too quick to destroy this. It may have been put to evil uses, but this project has led to huge scientific advances; it would be a terrible waste to lose such significant discoveries—’

One of the cathedral bells began to ring, a single deep note which hummed in the throat and chest, counting out strokes that pulsed like dying breaths.

‘It’s not midnight yet!’ Catherine shouted, as though her complaint could stop the tolling bell.

Lady Guantes began to laugh. ‘Do you think I’m the only one who’s been monitoring this cathedral? Alberich’s been with us all this time. He’s just . . . next door.’

Irene opened her mouth to tell the others to run, but the room blurred around her. It was as though she was standing in two places at once, where one location was real and the other was a watercolour overlay. But impressions from the second place were growing stronger with every moment. She suddenly found it impossible to coordinate her steps, and her brain was telling her opposing truths: that she was standing on smooth paving stones and upon a rough, fire-ravaged floor. She was breathing cool, book-scented air and air dirty with ash and foul with decay. She was in a low-ceilinged room and also in a vast chamber, surrounded by scorched ranks of bookshelves that reared up to impossible heights. And she couldn’t move. Her brain wouldn’t let her.

With the slowness of terror, as the bell counted out another stroke, she realized not everyone was with her. There was Catherine. Vale. Lady Guantes. The latter had staggered forward as she wrenched herself free from Kai. But Kai and Shan Yuan were fading, the two of them becoming shadows in this new post-holocaust landscape. Shadows that were growing fainter with every second.

The air is thick with chaos and they are dragons. Maybe they can’t survive in this place, Irene thought, her mind racing. Alberich has brought us here without needing a door, his link to this place is so strong. Is he overlaying his own world onto this one? This wasn’t like any story she’d ever read, any myth she’d ever been told. She couldn’t even deduce; she could only guess.

Irene deliberately bit her tongue and tasted blood, wrenching her mind from the whirlpool of panic that was trying to claim it. The bell rang out one final shuddering time, and the second world came into full focus around them.

They were in a burned-out ruined library, with teetering shelves that loomed high above their heads. The ceiling was barely visible, so far above that it seemed to somehow blend with the sky. It was an impossible place – even more so now than the last time she’d invaded Alberich’s realm. It appeared to be on the edge of collapse and final destruction, but somehow it still held itself together through sheer determination and spite.

The only figure in the whole blasted landscape, besides themselves, sat at a fire-scorched desk in a comfortable chair. He was wrapped in a monk’s robe, his face lean and near-skeletal. And he was watching them. Irene was reminded of a judge waiting to give a group of convicts his final ruling – and their death sentence.

‘Welcome to my kingdom,’ Alberich said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

‘Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate,’ Irene quoted from Dante’s Inferno. All hope abandon, ye who enter here . . . She had to say something to stem her horror, as her guts were knotting with fear. This was her very worst-case scenario – coming face to face with Alberich, on ground of his choosing and with her friends as hostages.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Vale looking around speculatively, Catherine inching away from Alberich, and Lady Guantes distancing herself from her ‘hostages’. But ninety per cent of her attention was on Alberich. ‘Where are we?’ she asked.

‘Why, my kingdom, my library. You’ve been here before, Ray. You do remember that, don’t you?’ His tone was teasing. He knew perfectly well she’d never forget it as long as she lived.

But the question Irene was most curious about was, If you’re going to steal my body, why haven’t you done it already? Any information on that would be useful.