Silver sat down hard in his chair and lowered his head to his hands. ‘He will destroy me,’ he said, his voice muffled. ‘We have crossed swords before, many times. And our own lords have forbidden us to war against each other again. The damage to the others of our kind was too great. But if his power should grow to far outmatch my own, then they will not object to him destroying me. I can imagine the favour he will gain through holding a dragon captive, the power - and even if I escape this world, he will hunt me down. He doesn’t even want me as a rival. He wants to end me.’

‘But why?’ Irene demanded. ‘Why are you two fighting like this?’

‘Oh, there was some reason,’ Silver said vaguely. ‘I dishonoured his sister, or he attacked my mother, or something of that sort. I can’t say that I remember, it was all so long ago. But you must understand that vengeance was necessary. He’s a plotter, a devious manipulator, and his wife is worse. The two of them have no sense of art, no interest in living. They care about power, nothing but power, but their use of it contains no style. We simply cannot understand each other - and I, for one, have no wish to,’ he added petulantly.

‘And thus your wish to send Miss Winters on a possibly suicidal mission, so she can sort out this mess, after you’ve done nothing to prevent it.’ Vale snorted. ‘Pitiful behaviour, even for one of your kind.’

Silver lowered his hands and looked up at Vale. ‘Think what you like,’ he said slowly. ‘Insult me as you will. But unless Miss Winters does as I suggest, you, I and your friend the dragon will all face irretrievable ruin. I give you both my sworn word that I am not doing this out of any intent to trap or destroy Miss Winters. My own interests are paramount, and I need her alive and capable to help me carry them out.’

Irene was becoming impatient with Silver’s dramatics. Kai was in real and serious danger. She would gladly stand around and trade insults with Silver later, but not now. At least if he was willing to give his sworn word, then he was sincere. Fae might stretch their formally given oaths, but they wouldn’t break them. ‘Explain your plan, Lord Silver. How else are we to judge it?’

Silver sighed. ‘Here it is, then. Lord Guantes has the power to cross between spheres while taking with him one of your friend’s nature. My own power is less than his - I could only carry humans at best, or others of my kind - and Lady Guantes is weaker still. Lord Guantes has made bargains to ensure that anyone who wants to witness his triumph can travel to this alternate Venice. He has summoned the Horse and the Rider, who are among the great ones of my kind, so they can carry as many passengers as they wish. They will appear as a train in this world. Yes, that form should provoke the least comment.’ He paused to consider. ‘I will be travelling on that train with several servants, and shall take the lady along in disguise. She will then pretend to have boarded at a different transit point, posing as another of my kind. When we reach Venice, she may rescue the dragon and escape in whatever way best pleases her.’

‘You consider that to be a plan?’ Vale demanded.

‘I am not aware of the Librarian’s full capabilities,’ Silver said loftily. ‘No doubt she has many strange powers that are unknown to me.’

‘So I am to go alone,’ Irene said, checking to make sure she had this absolutely correct, ‘to a world at your end of reality, surrounded by your kind, and will have to rescue Kai with no assistance - I take it you won’t be able to assist me?’

Silver shrugged. ‘Only if I can do so without being observed, my little mouse. And of course Johnson will be able to provide you with the usual services: coffee, tea, your boots blacked, your mask polished, your revolver loaded, and so on.’

Irene nodded. There was a sort of relief in knowing the worst. She very nearly felt light-headed with it. After all, the plan was utterly ludicrous. And if this was Silver’s idea of developing a story-form, she didn’t like his taste in adventure fiction. But it was still a chance to get Kai back. She smiled. ‘And then I will have to escape that place, possibly with Kai in less than perfect condition.’

‘I’d keep him drugged, if it were me keeping him hostage there,’ Silver commented helpfully, ‘though of course the atmosphere of that sphere will be highly uncongenial to his nature, so he might be unconscious anyhow.’

Definitely the worst. There was really nothing Irene could do but try not to laugh. When the course of events became quite so impossibly dangerous, the best thing to do was to ride with it. ‘And then finally I must restore Kai to his family. Or at least to a safe place.’

‘I would have said that this world is safe enough,’ Vale said. He looked around him, his face weary. He already seemed to have given up. ‘But events suggest otherwise.’

‘Well.’ Irene took a deep breath. ‘When does the train go?’

‘Winters,’ Vale began, ‘you cannot be serious about going alone—’

‘Vale,’ Irene cut in. He hadn’t believed her when she’d tried to explain the danger to his world. It had taken Silver to convince him. But she had to be the one to convince Vale now, to stop him from getting himself killed. He didn’t know, couldn’t accept, just how dangerous a high-chaos world actually was. People who had no protection would be swept along in any current narrative that a Fae was managing, their personalities rewritten to suit the needs of the Fae. And they didn’t have time for debates. ‘You can see yourself that Lord Silver is desperate.’ That drew an angry twitch from Silver. ‘But even despite that, he’s said it would be too dangerous for you. He has every motivation to send you along with me, if there’s the slightest chance of preserving his own existence.’