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‘It was started over a century ago,’ Vale explained He gestured down the row of elegant pale houses, their black iron balconies gleaht from the street lamps ‘Lyall Mews The properties were all owned by the saood with cards and dice as he’d thought, and the faned a contract with a syndicate, per the entire set of cellars to theh they kept the houses above’
‘And that sareed He’d turned up his collar against the night air, and his moustache bristled above it ‘Even if all the houses are owned by different families these days How do you want to handle this, Mr Vale? There are two main exits, one at each end of theout of one, the moment alk in the other’
‘You think Zayanna will actually be here?’ Kai asked
‘It’s possible,’ Vale said ‘Not very likely, but certainly not iht have seen her She is Fae, after all And even if she doesn’t actually need any e to coain towards a square of light on the pave an open door ‘That is one of the two entrances to the market The other is beside us There are approxi baboon spiders, giant Asian hornets and snakes – you did mention that she was fond of snakes? If two of us use this entrance, and the other two enter by the other door, we can work towards the middle If we check with vendors on the way, then we can intercept the lady if she is present; and we may hope to find her delivery address, if not’
Irene was not wildly enthusiastic to find herself heading down to the far entrance in Singh’s coh was too professional to show it, but she didn’t think he was happy either But Vale had proposed the division of labour, and Kai had agreed to it
Are Singh and I supposed to realize each other’s good points while working together and bond over the job? She was perfectly well aware of Singh’s good points He was intelligent, professional, ethical, and probably a better influence on Vale than she was It was rounds that she was a book thief from another world who’d broken the law er And she couldn’t really argue with that
The open door at the far end of the street also leaked light out into the foggy night, together with asmell of cheap incense, and beneath it undertones of hay,The roole ether-laebehind a table, anonymous in overcoats and mufflers A cash-box sat on the table in obvious invitation
‘How h asked He’d pulled his hat low over his eyes and, like the men, he’d now covered his mouth and chin with a scarf Irene had collected a spare overcoat and veil fro was verging on the ridiculous If this was the general standard of dress for the Belgravia Underground Market, no wonder people with more money than sense spent their time and cash here Still, it did increase the chances of the Zayanna here She’d love it
‘Five guineas each,’ theIt was a simple statement of fact Irene revised her opinion of this place’s custoher up the idle-rich scale of finance
Singh and Irene dropped money into the cash box, and the man on the left nodded them towards the inner door
Noise washed over them as they stepped inside, and the s stretch of cellars wasn’t well lit: the occasional lamps were turned down or muted with coloured shades, and the far end of the market was hidden in shadows The cellars ider than she’d expected, and she realized they must run under the front street on one side and also out under the back gardens of the houses on the other side Vendors had laid out their stalls in little islands in the centre of each cellar, or jostled each other along the walls Some displayed tanks and aquariuauze-covered boxes and hives, or cages, or even animals on small leads A pair of white owls in the corner overlooked the roo down like offended deities, their legs tethered to their owner’s table by paired chains The clothing of the shoppers ranged froht and the fog outside, most people were h said, nodding over to the right-hand wall ‘She’s one of the main insect suppliers, I believe’
The stall in question was obvious, standing between purveyors of ar fish on the left Its shelves were filled with tiny cages, each containing a single insect or a pair of theauze and sealed ax The air around it hu insects The stallholder herself was as untidy as her wares were neat, with long greying hair that tangled around her face and blended indistinctly into her tattered shawl and beige dress She peered at the baboon spiders,’ Irene said, getting to the point ‘And giant Asian hornets’