Pah. I cupped my hand over the receiver. ‘Have you heard of ossombe root?’ I asked Winter.

There was a line forming between his eyebrows and his expression was tight. ‘No.’

If even Winter hadn’t heard of it, then it was highly unlikely that such a rare ingredient would be easy to find. And I didn’t know any Mongolians. ‘Thanks,’ I said drily to Iqbal.

‘You’re welcome!’ he trilled. ‘So how does next weekend suit?’

‘For what?’

‘Karaoke, of course.’

‘The binding is still in place,’ I said. ‘And you don’t know where to get ossombe root from. Ergo, you’ve not fulfilled the terms of our agreement.’

‘Oh yes, I have. I’ve told you what you need to do to gain your freedom.’

I shook my head. ‘Nope.’

‘Ivy…’

‘You really should get back to that thesis. It won’t write itself, you know.’ I ended the call.

Winter drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. ‘What was that about?’

My phone rang again. Iqbal’s name appeared on the screen and I turned it off. ‘I asked someone to look into our binding,’ I said, trying to sound casual. ‘To see whether there was any way of breaking it before the hundred days were up.’

‘And?’ Winter asked stiffly.

‘Ossombe root.’

His mouth tightened. ‘But you don’t know what ossombe root is or where to get it?’

‘No, I don’t.’

‘That’s a shame,’ Winter commented. He didn’t look at me.

‘Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘It really is. We could be free of each other if only we could find some.’

‘Hmmm.’ Winter put his foot down on the accelerator, narrowly beating the next red light. Neither of us said another word until we reached the library.

Chapter Fourteen

Winter cracked his fingers as we entered the library’s front doors. I guess he wanted to show that he really did mean business. He strode up to the front desk and barked at the man behind it. ‘This entire area needs to be closed off immediately. Make sure everyone leaves.’ He checked his watch. ‘You’ve got two minutes.’

Just when I thought he’d been softening up. The man stared at him. ‘Adeptus Exemptus Winter,’ he began, his left eyebrow twitching furiously.

‘I’m sure we don’t need everyone to leave,’ I said helpfully. Winter glared at me. Somewhat belatedly, I realised I’d called his authority into question in public. Oops. I hastily backtracked. ‘What I mean is it would be fabulous if you could stay on this desk,’ I said, addressing the man. ‘You seem like an excellent gatekeeper and someone who can keep everyone away from the library for the time being.’

The man’s chest puffed up slightly. ‘I could do that,’ he sniffed. ‘But what I can’t do is kick everyone out. There are a lot of people carrying out important research here. Unless there is a health and safety issue, I can’t simply order them off the premises.’

Thinking about it, I suppose that it was vital to the Order – and by extension, Winter – that no one discovered the Cypher Manuscripts might have been compromised. There was the potential for mass panic if the news got out; even I felt shaken by the possibility and I didn’t care whether the Order lasted one more day or one more millennium.