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nodded. ‘He said everyone was bidding for them, and that levels of spying on this new technology had gone through the roof.’
    ‘Much like the airships?’ Irene sighed when that didn’t get a laugh. ‘Now remember,’ she murmured. ‘Polite. Noncommittal. Don’t give him any excuses for dramatics.’
    ‘Of course,’ Kai said. He drew himself up to his full height, stepped behind Irene’s shoulder and let her lead the way in.
    All the ladies of leisure had congregated in one corner and were holding their coffee cups under their noses, whispering amongst themselves in a semi-panicked, semi-fascinated hissing. Their attention was undeniably on Silver, lounging at a vacant table on the other side of the room. Not surprising, given Silver’s reputation as one of London’s biggest libertines. A thin, pale-faced servant in grey stood behind him, holding Silver’s cane.
    Silver himself was looking casually rakish, with his cravat knotted at his throat, his silver hair loose and his tanned skin golden against his white cuffs and collar. ‘Ah,’ he said on noticing Irene’s entrance. ‘Please join me.’ Another burst of whispering from the women on the other side of the cafe followed his words.
    They seated themselves as Kai and Silver exchanged guarded glares.
    ‘Coffee?’ Silver suggested. ‘I would recommend a demitasse of the Bourbon blend.’
    Kai looked ready to refuse on the spot, on principle, until he glanced at the menu. ‘Of course,’ he said with a thin smile.
    Irene looked at the menu card surreptitiously. It was the most expensive brand of coffee listed.
    ‘My treat, of course,’ Silver began.
    ‘Please, Lord Silver,’ Irene said, before Kai could be undiplomatic. ‘We wouldn’t wish to put ourselves under an obligation towards you.’ Such things carried weight with the Fae.
    Silver shrugged. ‘Can’t blame me for trying,’ he said, ‘although I give you my word there will be no obligation incurred for your coffee. Still, I believe this meeting will serve.’
    ‘Serve?’ Kai said. ‘You haven’t even said what this is about yet.’
    ‘Nor can I.’ Silver leaned forward, and his attitude of casual melodrama seemed to shift and fall away from him, leaving him quite serious. ‘If anyone asks, you can tell them it was about something to do with Vale. I have no objection to you linking his name with mine. But I’m here to discuss your future well-being.’
    ‘Threats?’ Kai sneered.
    ‘Oh, do leave that be,’ Silver sighed. ‘I had to get your attention somehow. It wasn’t as if I was actually trying to break into your house.’
    Irene frowned. ‘Lord Silver, if this isn’t a threat, then what is it? Are you here to warn us about something?’
    Silver glanced over his shoulder. ‘Johnson, fetch the coffee.’ He turned back to Irene. ‘No, no, of course not, we are just having a pleasant little conversation. Because if I were here to warn you about something, I would be breaking an oath that I have sworn,
not
to warn you about something. I trust we are all perfectly clear on this point?’
    Irene and Kai exchanged glances. ‘Of course,’ Irene said smoothly. ‘We’re just drinking coffee together.’ She had been told the Fae were obliged to keep their oaths, but she’d never been in a position where it was really tested. If Silver was actually being truthful here, then they had even more to worry about than they’d thought.
    ‘Precisely.’ Silver looked relieved. ‘And please don’t think that this little coffee-drinking session is due to any actual affection for you, little mouse. You crashed my ball a few months back, you snatched a book out of my fingers, and you quite failed to mention that you were a representative of your Library. Any good guide to etiquette would mark you down on all three points.’
    Irene raised her eyebrows. ‘As I remember it, you invited me to the ball, and the book was disputed property in any case.’
    ‘Finders keepers, I believe