Kai frowned. ‘That’s a good point. Li Ming’s cousin had said she’s much less public than most of her rank about her activities and relationships. There might be something that she doesn’t want people to know.’
‘Other than contacting Librarians on her own?’
‘Yes, normally one would have a servant do that,’ Kai agreed. ‘Still, she’s certainly competent. She passed all the other challenges the Queen set. If she is doing something behind the scenes, that doesn’t necessarily make her flawed.’
Irene nodded. ‘And Qing Song?’ Half of her attention was outside. Nobody had tried to approach their lodgings or do anything she could interpret as suspicious, but her instincts were still on the alert, from years of experience. She and Kai needed to stay out of sight.
‘Oh, he has the experience,’ Kai said. ‘Three times now he and his servants have stopped Fae infiltration of worlds under his control. Though, to be technically accurate, one of those worlds was under a cousin’s lordship. There was some criticism there. The cousin should have dealt with it himself, or should at least have asked for help before Qing Song stepped in.’ He thought about it. ‘A stern personality, Li Ming said, but not unjust. A firm hand in rulership and in punishment. Someone with strong expectations of the world around him, who might react badly if those expectations weren’t met. A lord who expects other dragons to respect his territory and property.’
Irene frowned. ‘Was that a warning from Li Ming? It sounds like one.’ If Ao Shun wanted a warning dropped unobtrusively in his nephew’s ear, Li Ming would be the logical conduit.
‘I didn’t think so at the time.’ Kai paused, considering. ‘But why should it be? Why would he even think I’d go anywhere near Qing Song? He knows I’m with you at the moment.’
‘And he knows I’m a Librarian,’ Irene said. ‘I wonder how many other people have heard that Qing Song might be employing a Librarian?’ Her stomach knotted in foreboding. If these rumours had already spread, then the situation might have passed the point where it could be disproved. And people were more than ready to believe gossip. There was no time to lose. She had to find out if this was true – and if it was, then she had to stop it. Or the Library was in grave danger.
‘All right. Let’s consider this,’ she finally said. ‘I’ve been approached by someone who was definitely a dragon, no doubt about that, and who claimed to be Jin Zhi, and who claimed that her rival – Qing Song, you say – was being helped by another Librarian to get this book. The approach was made at a time when you definitely wouldn’t be there.’
Kai nodded. ‘The timing’s too exact for it to be an accident.’
Irene considered the possible political fallout. ‘Now, this could all be an attempt to slander Qing Song. Or it could be a bid to get Jin Zhi in trouble, by having someone posing as her. Or it could be someone else wanting to drag the Library into this. Or a Librarian could really be colluding with a dragon. In which case, it might only be a matter of time till the word gets out that Librarians are running errands for dragons and assisting with high-stakes political manoeuvres. At which point other dragons and Fae both start hunting us down – as tools or enemies. And that is a point I don’t want to reach.’ Saying it made it all the more dreadfully plausible. She looked at Kai. ‘You know dragon court politics better than I do. Would you say any of these options are particularly likely? Or unlikely?’
‘I don’t know enough to say.’ Kai leaned forward, steepling his fingers in a gesture which Irene recognized as one that he’d borrowed from Vale. ‘Any of them are possible.’
‘And am I compromising you by discussing this with you?’ Irene wanted to be absolutely clear on this. Dragging Kai in might make things even worse.
‘No, I think it’s fine – for the moment,’ Kai said slowly. ‘I don’t have any personal ties to that court. I’m not telling you anything that isn’t reasonably common knowledge. And my own father doesn’t have a horse in the race himself.’
Irene nodded. ‘Then we come back to the question of whether this collusion is real, and whether Qing Song does in fact have a Librarian helping him.’
‘It could be a personal friendship,’ Kai said. ‘Like ours.’
‘If that was so, then the Librarian shouldn’t have let it go this far,’ Irene said quietly, ‘and they shouldn’t have let themselves be found out. You and I have managed to get by, Kai, because technically you’re helping me, and I’m not playing dragon politics. If Qing Song is in cahoots with this Librarian – call them X – and it becomes publicly known, that way danger lies. And if X gives Qing Song the book that lets him get Minister Zhao’s position, then Librarians become tools for hire. They become servants. And they become generally known as allies of the dragons, which means they’re automatically enemies of the Fae. Not to mention that if we support one dragon family or faction, then we make enemies of the others. The Library survives in the middle. We are not on anyone’s side. If X exists and has done what Jin Zhi says they have, then X has just put Librarians in danger across all the alternate worlds.’
And if I’m not careful, I might do the same. Because how long could she go on like this with Kai, before someone accused them – wrongly – of exactly the same thing?
Kai reached across to take her hand. ‘You worry too much about possible implications,’ he said.
She looked up to see understanding in his eyes. He was getting to know her far too well. ‘It’s part of my job to worry,’ she said, trying to make a joke of it. Trying to reassure herself as much as she was trying to reassure him. ‘I am supposed to be your mentor, after all. Management positions always come with ulcers attached. But this is serious. If it’s real, then it’s much more dangerous than just one Librarian doing a favour for one dragon.’
He gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Let’s not borrow trouble till it’s actually here. What do you think we should do next?’
Irene pulled herself together. She had a metaphorical hand grenade in her lap, and she needed to work out what to do with it. ‘Do we have a time limit?’ she asked. ‘You said earlier that the announcement of the new minister would be within five days. Does that mean they have five days left to find the book, or less than that?’
Kai pursed his lips, thinking. ‘Call it three days. Four at the maximum.’
‘And if neither of them brings the book to the Queen?’
Kai shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but the Queen will be displeased, even if she awards the position to the one she considers less incompetent. Both of them will have disgraced their families. This sort of post won’t be vacant again for centuries. Both the candidates have put their reputation and their families’ good names at stake in order to compete for this position. I think you can expect both of them to be willing to try anything to avoid losing.’ His eyes darkened at the thought of what that anything might involve.