‘What?’I hadn’t expected the question.Raleigh began to repeat himself, but I cut him off.‘No, I heard you.Why would you assume I can read in other languages?’
‘Oh.’He looked embarrassed.‘Your father … There’s a Hungarian count I correspond with sometimes.I met him in Vienna.I have to go every few years to hypnotise the Emperor into forgetting I’m three hundred years old.He thinks I’m my own great-great-grandnephew or some nonsense.’He paused.‘What was I talking about?’
‘Languages.’
‘Right.He sent me a copy of the letter your father sent to every eligible bachelor in Europe.Nearlyevery eligible bachelor.He really emphasised your languages in it, more than any of your other talents.’
I tried not to dwell on the reminder that nobility all across the continent were so blatantly laughing at my family.‘I don’t have any other talents.’
‘Don’t sell yourself short.You showed a natural aptitude for woodwork the other night.’
Was that a joke?Was Raleigh von Rostenburg really trying to make me laugh?I must have stared at him a moment too long, because he dropped his eyes and began straightening the stacks with deliberate care.The silence drew on until it was too late for me to react in any appropriate way.Instead I met him halfway.
‘I mostly read German and Latin,’ I said.‘I can read English well enough if you have a dictionary, but I don’t think I could speak it.’
Raleigh lit up.‘Perfect.I was practically raised in Latin, and we mostly spoke French at court, but I barely know two words in English and these’—he gestured to one of the tables where there wereso many tomes stacked that the wood sagged in the centre—‘are all in English.’
‘Court?’I asked.It was the second time he’d mentioned it.The first time I’d assumed he meant Vienna, but from the way he spoke of visiting the Emperor he must have meant somewhere else.
He could have lied.He could have named any court in the world to dowse my interest.Instead he went still.So terribly still that no living being could hope to emulate him.Then he jerked, as if suddenly realising where he was, and turned away.‘I lived abroad for quite some time.’
‘Were you in France?’I asked, interest building.Even our secluded corner of the world had heard about the revolution.The king had been overthrown several years after Raleigh returned to the Orlfen Valley, but I imagined someone who’d lived as long as he had would know to read the signs and escape before the aristocracy started losing their heads.I had always liked that theory because it was a rational explanation for his absence and return.Better than Yann’s story that Raleigh had spent centuries hibernating in a grave, or his friend Kay’s idea that he was touring Hell.
‘No.’Raleigh remained focused on straightening and restraightening the same stack of books.‘I’ve never had the opportunity to visit.I’m not sure I will for a while now.’
‘Then which court was it?’
‘It’s irrelevant,’ he snapped.‘You don’t need to know about that.’His hands were shaking.‘Just focus on’—he waved at the books—‘this.’
I knew better than to question him further.‘Where should I start?’I asked instead, changing the topic.
Raleigh looked relieved.He pushed his hair from his eyes, sighing to himself.‘That stack there.’He pointed to a pile on my right.
I moved towards it.‘This one?’
‘No, the one next to it.Not that one.Yes, there.There’s nothing groundbreaking in them, but they’ll give you an overview of my kind.That book on the top is where you should start.’
I put my hand over a volume in desperate need of rebinding, to confirm, and Raleigh nodded.
‘Nearly everything you need to get started is in there.More than legends, that is.Then …’ He peeled off, moving books around one of the desks until he found what he was looking for.‘These are my research notes – everything Moira and I have tried already.’He handed me a single notebook, then stepped over a stack of books to reach the one clear surface in the room.‘This can be your desk.Any books you keep on here I’ll assume you’re working on and won’t touch.Everything you need to take notes should be inside.’
I walked to the nearest shelf and ran my hand along the row of medieval spines.A thick layer of dust came away, twisting into my lungs and choking me.Clearly no one had touched them in years, perhaps not in living memory.Present company excluded.
‘Now, I ought to be getting to bed before I accidentally walk past a window.’He said this as though I was supposed to laugh.I did not.I had no interest in putting him at ease and prolonging the conversation.‘Do you have everything you need?’
‘I have quite enough, thank you,’ I said, trying to rub the dust off my fingers.
‘Good.’Our conversation was well and truly over, yet still Raleigh lingered.‘Well … goodnight, then.’
‘It’s morning,’ I replied stiffly.
‘Right, yes.’He remained in the doorway a moment longer.‘Good morning, then.’And, finally, he left.
The moment I was free of him I ran down the length of the room and threw the windows open, clouds of dust motes billowing in my wake.A wave of sickness washed over me, and I stopped.Was I imagining the disapproving aura seeping through the room?
‘I’ll close the curtains before Raleigh wakes,’ I said aloud, feeling foolish.It seemed to work.The presence dissipated and the library felt less hostile, at least until I spotted a particularly plump spider in one of the shelves moments later.I hurried away, wishing not for the first time that Yann was with me.Vampires I could handle.Spiders were capable of crawling into your clothes and tickling you, which was too horrific for words.
There was a room off the library that must have been Raleigh’s study.It was littered with parchment of varying colours, strewn everywhere except the drawers they belonged in.I plucked up one of the papers at random and found it to be a tax record from two hundred years ago.If there was something useful in his study, I doubted I would be able to find it.I threw the record down in disgust and backed out again.
