The Burning Page

‘Yes,’ she finally said. ‘Yes, I think taking him to another world could do the trick.’

Kai nodded. ‘In that case, I’ll—’

He was cut off by a hammering on the front door. It was shockingly loud in the quiet house. Singh put down his glass and crossed to the window, standing to one side as he twitched back the curtain to peer out. ‘It’s Lord Silver,’ he reported, in a voice so very neutral that he must be battling to control his feelings. ‘If we let him stand out there, he’s going to wake the whole neighbourhood.’

‘Can’t you arrest him?’ Kai said hopefully.

‘For that I’d need a charge or two, Mr Strongrock. I don’t suppose either of you knows of anything illegal that the gentleman’s done lately?’

‘Well, not personally,’ Kai said. ‘But doesn’t this come under making a public disturbance?’

‘That’s one of those difficult lines to draw,’ Singh said. ‘Crash-landing a stolen zeppelin on the roof – now that might be creating a public disturbance, and a few other things beside.’

Irene knew he was referring to her own past escapades, where only Vale’s involvement had allowed them to escape charges. It was a nicely subtle way to make a point. She’d have applauded, if the point hadn’t been aimed at her. ‘It might be simplest if I just went down and asked him to go away,’ she said wearily. ‘I don’t think he’ll stop until he’s got someone’s attention.’

‘Leave that to me, Miss Winters,’ Singh said. He was out of the room and heading downstairs before she could agree.

‘He was pleased you didn’t want to bring Silver in,’ Kai said. He leaned back in his chair. ‘So am I. But I don’t like leaving you alone in this world while you’re looking for Zayanna.’

‘I’m not that thrilled by it, either, but I don’t see any other option if we’re to help Vale.’ Irene realized that she’d come to a decision. ‘I can ask Singh to help me find Zayanna; I won’t be alone. And you can’t simply take everyone with you. From what you were saying earlier, you’d have problems carrying two people.’

‘Problems,’ Kai said, ‘well, yes, problems, but it might still be possible. And then we’d all be in one place, when it came to finding Zayanna afterwards.’

He was treating this as if it was something that could be handled on a schedule. Irene took a deep breath, controlling her temper. ‘Kai, which bit of emergency do you not understand? If Zayanna’s our target, she’s already shown that she’s a good enough operative to try to kill us several times – and get away with it. We can’t afford to give her any time to hide. We don’t have any time to waste . . .’ She realized she was talking herself back into her earlier moral dilemma, and hesitated.

There were voices on the stairs. Kai frowned. ‘That doesn’t sound like anyone’s told anyone to go away. Surely Silver couldn’t have—’

‘Couldn’t have what?’ Silver enquired, entering the room. He was in full evening dress, a gardenia in his buttonhole, and looked as if he’d just come from some disreputable party. (Well, perhaps the disreputability wasn’t immediately obvious, but it was Silver. Irene assumed immorality on principle.) Singh was a couple of steps behind him, looking disgruntled.

Kai didn’t bother to get up. ‘I was going to say that I couldn’t think of any reason for Inspector Singh to admit you.’

‘I couldn’t think of any reason myself,’ Irene admitted. ‘Unless it’s about our current investigation?’

‘Tangentially.’ Silver tossed his hat and gloves onto the crowded table, where they landed next to a bloodstained pile of legal documents with a knife through them. He looked around the room as if it was a wild animal’s habitat at the zoo. ‘Fascinating. I’ve always had trouble penetrating Mr Vale’s privacy.’

‘I’ve allowed you in solely because you said you had important information for us, Lord Silver,’ Singh said. His voice was still impeccably polite and his manners could be held up in a court of law, but there was a growl behind it. ‘I must ask you to tell us what brought you here in such a hurry.’

‘I came to stop you making a terrible mistake,’ Silver said. He strolled further into the room and leaned on the back of Kai’s chair. Kai stiffened and shifted forward, twisting to look up at the Fae, distrust written all over his face.

On the one hand, Irene mused, this was no doubt filtered through Silver’s self-interest. On the other hand, he might have something genuinely important to say. And time was ticking away: she had to know now, she couldn’t afford to wait. ‘Please go on,’ she said cautiously.

‘You’re considering taking away the very thing that makes Mr Vale great.’ Silver held up a hand, even though nobody had tried to stop him. ‘Oh, don’t interrupt. You’re talking about taking him to a high-order sphere, the sort of place that’s most uncongenial to someone like me, to drain away his nature. I’m right, aren’t I?’

‘You’re absolutely right,’ Irene agreed. ‘It would be most uncongenial to someone like you.’

Silver sighed. ‘Consider this, all three of you. Has it ever occurred to you that your friend Mr Vale has more than a streak of Fae in him already? The fact that he continually meets the people whom he should meet? His abilities? His behaviour? The way he makes deductions that seem beyond the scope of human ability? I’ve always thought I should investigate his family more closely.’