Hu’s face was utterly blank. His freckles stood out like a scattering of copper across his cheekbones. It must be difficult, Irene thought drily, having to keep silent now, when you would so very much like to speak.
‘So you were spying on me,’ Qing Song sneered. ‘I should have expected no less from you.’
‘Fine words from a lord who breaks his oath the moment it becomes inconvenient,’ Jin Zhi snapped. ‘I’m sure you’d have had my movements watched, if you’d been capable of it.’
‘You are too harsh, madam,’ Irene cut in. As both of them turned to stare at her, she continued, ‘Neither of you would do such a thing in person, after all. You would leave that to your servants.’
And now the Queen’s attention was concentrated on Irene like the weight of a mountain. Qing Song and Jin Zhi were too focused on Irene – and each other – to pay attention, but the other dragon nobles around the walls of the room had caught Irene’s implication. None of them made so much as a whisper to break the Queen’s silence, but they exchanged quick glances again, remote from the emotional drama in front of them.
Qing Song jerked a brief nod. ‘You understand that much, at least.’
‘Unfortunately I do,’ Irene agreed. ‘And it also explains why Jin Zhi came to see me alone and unescorted, and then did the same to you. She’d had a prior example of betrayed loyalties to warn her.’
‘What do you mean?’ Qing Song demanded.
Irene turned to Jin Zhi. ‘It was Hu who told you, wasn’t it?’
The silence that filled the room was like liquid ice.
Qing Song was the first to break it. ‘You have offended me by insulting my sworn servant,’ he said. Each word was laced with threat. ‘Even though I will not touch you in this place and time, this will not go unpunished.’
‘That you would defend him is the best thing I’ve seen in you so far,’ Irene said tartly. ‘I respect that. But you’re putting your trust in the wrong person. Jin Zhi hasn’t answered me yet.’
‘I have nothing to say—’ Jin Zhi began.
Then Ya Yu raised her hand again. ‘You will speak,’ she said. This time her voice was like the tremors heralding an earthquake. ‘And truthfully.’
Jin Zhi lifted her chin like an aristocrat going to the guillotine. There was panic in her eyes, and she had to work to force the words out. ‘I have told you. My own spies—’
‘Your own spies couldn’t possibly be that good,’ Irene broke in. ‘Qing Song has just told us that only he and Hu knew who Evariste was and what he was doing.’
‘But what would his motivation be for betraying me?’ Qing Song said in a growl. Yet his defence of Hu was emotional rather than based on fact, and Irene could see that he was beginning to realize that.
Irene took a pace towards him. ‘There is a motivation. But you wouldn’t have seen it. It’s not the sort of motivation that a nobleman of rank would see. It’s the motivation of someone who has gained everything by being your loyal servant, your right-hand man, and who loses his status if you lose yours. It’s the motivation of someone considered weak by the standards of dragons, and who has to take power where he can get it. Your family aren’t the only ones at risk if you lose this challenge. So are your servants. If you fall, then Hu falls with you. It was Hu who suggested you employ a Librarian, wasn’t it?’ She saw the momentary shadow of guilt touch Qing Song’s expression. ‘I know that you’ll say it was your idea. It’s a nobleman’s right to take credit for his servant’s good advice, after all. And it must have seemed good advice, once you started getting desperate. Though it meant breaking the challenge’s rules. Did he convince you that it didn’t really count, if you let him organize it? And if you didn’t get caught?’
She turned to Jin Zhi. ‘And you, madam. I’m sure Hu told you a number of things. He could say whatever he wanted, as long as he made sure that you and Qing Song never discussed the matter.’ Because one of you would be exiled or dead. ‘If you’d found the book because of his information, would you have taken him into your own service? As a loyal servant who deserved a better master?’
‘Do you think you can avoid the blame by putting it on me?’ Hu said, speaking at last. He walked a couple of steps towards Irene, and she shifted her position so that she was facing him head-on. ‘You’re spinning fantasies out of thin air. You tell stories just as easily as you steal them.’
‘When Evariste ran for it, you saw the key to Qing Song’s success slipping away,’ Irene said. ‘After all the hard work you’d done to get him there. But Evariste had succeeded. He’d proven a Librarian could find the book. Then Qing Song sent you to Boston to destroy the library there. You took advantage of the situation – the fact that you were away from your master for a few days. You went to the lady Jin Zhi and suggested that she do something: hire a Librarian of her own, or expose Qing Song and win the challenge by forfeit. You were counting on her gratitude if she won the contest. And if that happened, Qing Song would be dead or out of power, so you could leave him and go to serve her. She’d owe you a debt of gratitude. Either way, you won.’
‘I was in Boston,’ Hu countered. ‘And I barely know the lady Jin Zhi—’
‘You know her well enough. When she walked into Qing Song’s hotel suite, you prepared a drink for her – without needing to ask what she’d like or how she’d take it,’ Irene said. ‘And you weren’t in Boston that whole time. When I arrived, the gangsters – your local hired servants – said you’d been out of town. You were only just back from visiting Jin Zhi.’
The Queen had curled her hand into a fist. The room was taut with the stillness and pressure that came before an earthquake. That she was angry was beyond doubt, but who was the true target of her anger? Hu, for this betrayal? Jin Zhi or Qing Song, for letting themselves be fooled? Or Irene herself, for exposing it in front of the Queen’s court?
Kai’s face held the faith of someone who had never doubted. Evariste was looking at her with disbelieving hope and the shock of a man caught and pulled back from the very edge of the abyss.
‘These are lies,’ Hu said again. The practice of years served him well, keeping the mask of control on his face, but his eyes glittered like verdigris. ‘You’re desperate. You want to save yourself and your friend, but you’re simply making yourself look foolish. Can’t you see that?’
‘What I see,’ Irene answered, ‘is that it’s very difficult to sustain a lie when you’ve been telling different lies to different people. And now you’re caught out in front of all of them together. Believe me, I’ve been there. I’ve done that.’ Her mouth curled as she thought of those moments in Qing Song’s hotel suite earlier that night. ‘And what I’m saying is that if Qing Song and Jin Zhi answer my questions truthfully – if they obey the Queen’s orders – then I would be very interested to see what version of events emerges.’
She paused for a moment. ‘Besides, I suspect there are two witnesses that we can call.’