The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman Page A

there—’
    ‘Unless he’s behind Kai’s kidnapping,’ Irene suggested.
    ‘If he
were
,’ Coppelia stressed the word, ‘then he would probably have kidnapped you as well. Eight out of ten for raising the hypothesis, but four out of ten for failing Occam’s Razor and multiplying the possibilities too far. Now as I was saying, Alberich has no reason to assume you’ll be there. It’s also a high-law, low-chaos world, so it’s anathema to the likes of Alberich, who’s tied in with the Fae. Though that is probably why the order-loving dragons frequent it. Nowhere except the Library is entirely safe, but it’s probably on the safer side of things.’
    Irene nodded, but a shadow of dread remained. ‘That makes sense,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’ However, she knew Alberich would haunt her dreams for a long time to come.
    ‘For the moment I think that’s one trouble you can leave out of things,’ Coppelia said briskly. A clock chimed the hour from a hidden shelf, and both she and Irene glanced towards it. Time was moving on. Coppelia turned back to Irene. ‘What do you propose to do after contacting Kai’s family?’
    ‘Whatever the situation demands,’ Irene said firmly. She took a deep breath. ‘I’ll contact you, if it seems appropriate.’
    ‘And your desire to make your own decisions wouldn’t be relevant here?’ Coppelia grinned coldly. It showed her age. Her normally serene face, an example of growing old gracefully, was for a moment a mocking, judgemental skull.
    ‘Kai’s safety comes first. And my wish to do things “my own way” will never get in the way of that,’ Irene said. She took a step forward. ‘You put him in my care, so I’m responsible for him. Just let me go and do my job.’
    The study seemed very quiet after her outburst. Coppelia sat back in her chair, still grinning. ‘So you’re going to fetch him back out of duty,’ she said. ‘Rather than for any other reason.’
    ‘Is this really
necessary
?’ Irene snapped. ‘I need to get to G-51.’
    ‘What would you say if I told you to answer in the Language?’ Coppelia asked. Darkness pooled around both of them as the lights flickered, and the night sky outside was covered in clouds.
    ‘That in this time and this place, it makes no difference why I am going to fetch him back, or leave him with his family,’ Irene said. Because it didn’t. ‘Now what would you say if I asked you why you are so determined to test me?’
    The question hung in the air between them, unanswered. Then Coppelia leaned forward again, and tapped a quick command into her monitor. ‘Use the shift-transfer cupboard again,’ she said. ‘It’ll take you to the G-51 Traverse door. The transfer word is
Responsibility
. And one last thing.’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘You have reminded me that you’re responsible for Kai, and everything that goes with it. I would remind you that I’m responsible for you. We both know that you’re putting yourself in danger. Please be careful.’

FIRST INTERLUDE - KAI IMPRISONED

    Kai came back to consciousness slowly and painfully, his whole body aching in a way that felt actively wrong. It wasn’t the pain of stretched muscles and joints, or the throb of an injury. It felt more as if the very air was toxic to him, and this was his body’s response.
    His position didn’t help matters. He was lying face down over the back of a horse, his hands still shackled behind his back, breathing fresh horse-sweat with every nauseating gulp of air. The collar around his throat bound his power, restricting him to this human shape. He also had no idea where he was, or what was happening. But he could tell that he was in a high-chaos world, one far more repellent to one of his kind than any he had visited before.
    His head swam dizzily, and he fought the urge to shut his eyes. He wondered how Irene would handle the situation if
she
was the prisoner. She would feign unconsciousness, he decided, till she had learned everything that she