Chapter 15Sofia
Chapter 15
Sofia
What am I doing? Not only should I not be alone with the one man I shouldn’t be alone with, but the very last thing I ought to be doing is trying to solve some riddle that may be from a crazy person, intent on doing me or my family harm.
Yet still here I am in the palace library with none other than Marco Revera, a guy who smells like a strong, burly man in touch with nature, of sweat and earth, and something indefinable that can only be described as him .
Let’s face it, I’m having serious Indiana Jones fantasies about the man who called me Principessa in the car on Sunday, making the patter of my heart hitch as he stands too close to me for me to do anything but concentrate on breathing.
See? I should not be doing this with Marco.
But you see the thing is I can’t get that riddle out of my mind, no matter what I’m doing or where I am or who I’m with. My mind keeps bouncing around the idea that there’s a scroll buried somewhere beneath the palace that has something to do with a righteous ruler.
Please don’t judge me. Anyone who knows me knows that I think the sexist and old fashioned Ledonian law of succession, that states the Crown must follow the male line, should be abolished. Malveaux managed it forty years ago. Why can’t we? With one brother already abdicating the throne in favor of marriage to his Malveauxian Princess and the other not giving two hoots about being king someday, it would make my life to find some ancient scroll that could change all that.
It’s not that I’m greedy or power hungry or like the way I look with a big fat crown on top of my head. It’s just that being Queen someday feels right to me, like it’s something I’m destined to be.
Why must my worth be measured by my gender? Even in this modern age, tradition still binds us, dictating that only a man can rule. But I know I have the skills and the heart to lead. I’ve studied our history, our politics, our people. I understand the complexities and the potential of our small nation, sitting as it does in the huge continent of Europe. I know I’m the right person for the role.
And now I’ll get off my soap box, I promise.
So, this is where I find myself, with Marco, alone in the vast palace library, searching for what? We don’t quite know.
“What exactly are we looking for?” I ask as Lemon and Pepper wander around, sniffing the floor.
“The riddle says to seek the wisdom in an ancient book,” he replies, surveying the walls of books around us. “Which one of these is ancient?”
“All of them.”
“ All of them? That’s not exactly helpful.”
“Well, it depends on how you define ‘ancient.’ It could be ancient Greek or Medieval or from the Renaissance. We have a lot of old books that have been housed in this library for generations.”
He blows out of breath as he leans back against the leather padded desk. “There’s no clue in the riddle, so I suggest we start anywhere. How about over there?” He points at a shelf of dark green leather-bound books looking appropriately old and worn.
“Those are Medieval,” I tell him. “They’re all written in old Ledonian, so if you can read it…?”
“Nope. Can you?”
I shake my head. “The first hurdle and we fall down already.” I lean back against the desk beside him and watch as he pets a grateful Pepper’s head. “Sorry. I wish I could be more help.”
He’s got a determined look on his face, his jaw set. “Is there a nook in the library? Something set back from all the shelves, or behind some furniture or something?”
“There’s this little nook over by the corner near the window,” I say as we cross the room. “We used to play in it when we were children. It’s been a long time, but I see no reason for it not to still be here.”
I show him the small archway beneath a row of shelves. I once researched the history of the nook and discovered it was created by King Gerald II for his children to sit in and read.
Marco begins to feel around the edges of the nook, pushing against each of the shelves as well. The wall of books doesn’t move. But then he comes to a stop, his hand underneath one of the shelves. “What about this? It feels like a button or something.”
I place my hand in the spot and find a wooden button the size of my palm. “I’ve never noticed that before. What is it?”
“Push it and see.”
I push the button and instantly a hidden door pops open about a foot. Excitedly, we pull it fully open, dust falling on our heads as we push through old spiders’ webs to make our way into the small hidden nook behind the shelves. Neither of the dogs follow us. Perhaps they know something we don’t?
“This is amazing! I never knew this was here,” I say in wonderment as I look around a dark, empty room.
Marco turns the flashlight on his phone on to illuminate the space.
The room is cold and musty smelling, like it hasn’t seen the light of day in some time. There are four rough stone walls and a smooth stone floor. Other than the spiders’ webs in the corners, the room is empty.
“What is this place?”
“I have no idea. It’s kind of creepy.”
Marco’s eyes flash to mine. “Not creepy, Principessa . Fascinating.”
Warmth seeps across my chest at the nickname and I offer him a weak smile. “If you say so. Do you think this is what was meant in the riddle?”
“Of course I do. If the riddle’s correct, there should be an ancient text in here. ”
By the light of Marco’s phone, we search the room, but we come up with nothing.
“Maybe there’s another secret room in the library?” I say with a shrug.
But Marco doesn’t respond. He’s too busy running his hands across the stone walls, searching. When his hand lands on a stone that juts out from the wall more than the others, he pulls it toward himself, grit falling to the floor. To my surprise it pulls straight out to reveal a solitary leather-bound book with gold trim hidden inside.
Marco looks at me in what I can only describe as amazement.
“This is surreal,” I exclaim, giddy. “That’s got to be the book from the riddle.”
“Would you like to do the honors?”
“All right.” With trepidation—because let’s face it, where there are spiders’ webs there are also spiders—I reach into the hole and pull out the book. Turning it over in my hands I can see it’s tattered and worn. “Marco, this has to be it!”
He shines his light on the dark green leather cover with gold detailing, and carefully, I open the book. The spine makes a creaking sound, as though it hasn’t been opened in many years, and I turn to a bookmarked section at the very start of the book.
Marco’s flashlight illuminates the text. It’s written in an old-fashioned font, but the words appear to be in Ledonian—not ancient as the riddle states.
“Let’s take it out into the light and have a good look at it,” Marco suggests, and I close the book carefully.
He directs the light on the wall behind me and picks up the stone we removed.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m putting the stone back in place in case we unleash a series of life-threatening events that could mean the end of life as we know it.”
I arch my brows. “Life threatening events that could mean the end of life as we know it? What are you talking about?”
“It’s classic Indiana Jones. If you pull a stone out of a wall, all manner of things can happen. None of them good.”
“Ah, but we removed the stone and the book, and we are both still alive,” I point out.
The skin around his eyes crinkle as his lips curve into a smile. “Good point, Principessa ,” he replies, but he slots the stone back into the wall all the same.
We step out into the bright light of the library and close the hidden door behind us, both of my dogs greeting us like they thought we were gone forever.
“It’s all right, my darlings. We’re safe,” I tell them as I carry the book to one of the tables. I place it carefully and open it again on the bookmarked page. I read the words aloud.
“In the grand and gilded throne hall,
Find the painting on the wall.
Press the gem with a gentle hand,
A hidden door will then expand.
Step inside and take the key,
Turn it twice, and you will see.”
“It’s another riddle,” he says, his eyes shining with excitement. “It repeats what it says in the first riddle about there being a passageway beneath the throne.”
“So, the grand and gilded hall is the throne room?”
“Exactly! Can we go there now?”
“I don’t know. It may be in use. We knight people in that room, as well as hold official receptions, as you know. I’ll need to check. ”
“Let’s go there now,” he replies, his eyes bright.
“Now?” I ask on a laugh, because this entire experience is nothing short of thrilling—and the fact I’m having this experience with Marco? Well, I’ll admit it only adds to that thrill.
The door to the library suddenly swings open, startling us all, and Marco and I look up in shock to see Amelia heading into the room in her jeans and sneakers, looking relaxed and easy, her long dark hair falling in soft waves over her shoulders, a relaxed smile on her face.
The dogs rush over to greet her, and I freeze, my heart thudding as guilt swamps my bloodstream. Guilty of what exactly, I don’t know. Okay, I do know. Being caught alone with Marco, that’s what.
She greets the dogs, and her eyes widen as they alight on us. “Hello, you two,” she says, her eyes sliding between us. “Isn’t this cozy? What are you up to?”
“Book things,” I reply with my chin lifted as though to challenge her to question us further.
Which of course she does. She’s Amelia.
“The two of you are in here looking for books?” she asks.
“That’s what you do in libraries. Look at books,” I reply.
“What books are you looking for?” she asks, peering at the book on the table between Marco and me.
I slide over to block her view. “Books to do with—” I begin and draw a sudden blank. Why can’t I think of a type of book we could feasibly be looking for? Any book will do!
“Fish,” Marco finishes for me, and I shoot him a grateful look.
Wait, fish?
I smile, hopeful that a book on fish is a totally feasible type of book for us to be looking for in a royal library, full of, well, books. “That’s right. We’re looking for a book about fish.”
“Like Nemo,” Marco adds.
“That’s right. Like Nemo.”
Amelia’s gaze slides between the two of us as though working out whether we’re telling the truth or not. “Isn’t that rather… unusual?”
“I don’t think it’s unusual at all. Do you, Marco?” I blink at him as though we really are looking for books about fish and not trying to solve a riddle that we have both grown to be fascinated by, given anonymously to my partner in… crime? No, not crime. My partner in adventure.
“I like to read just as much as the next man,” he says. “About fish in particular,” he adds for good measure.
I turn my gaze to my sister. Is she actually buying this load of old rubbish about fish? Although I do think we’re doing rather a good job of it.
“Really?” she asks.
“Really,” I confirm. “And you know I like to read, so from where I’m standing the real question is what are you doing here, Ami?”
I’m rather pleased with the way I’ve managed to turn this around. Marco and I make a good team.
“No, I meant why the two of you.” She points between us, as though we’re naughty children who’ve been caught with our hands in the cookie jar. Which, incidentally, that’s exactly how it feels. “Where’s Enzo?”
“Enzo’s been called away on business to The Netherlands,” Marco replies smoothly.
Amelia eyes the book on the table once more. “What are you reading? It looks jolly old.”
“It is old,” I reply, wishing she would leave us alone so I wouldn’t feel quite so much like Marco and I have been caught doing something wrong. Because we aren’t doing anything wrong. We are simply solving a riddle. That’s all.
She reaches around me to pick the book up and examine it. “This has got to be at least a hundred years old. Look at the fancy font. You can barely read it.”
I pull my lips together. “True.”
“Is it in ancient Ledonian, because if it is, you could get it translated,” she suggests as she hands it back to me. “If you’re interested enough in reading it.”
“It’s not in ancient Ledonian,” I reply as Marco says with an odd expression on his face, “What a great idea, Amelia, and I bet you know someone who could do a translation for us, too. Don’t you?”
Why on earth would Marco think Amelia would know someone who could translate ancient Ledonian? And the book isn’t even in ancient Ledonian, anyway. It makes no sense.
“Me? Hardly,” Amelia scoffs. She rubs her chin. “Although, now that I think about it, I did read about an old professor who used to teach ancient Ledonian at St. Cecil University here in Villadorata. Apparently, he’s retired these days and lives somewhere in the mountains, but he’s awfully good at translations. The best, the article said.”
I blink at her in disbelief. How the heck would my sister know something as random as that ? She’s never been interested in translations or old Ledonian let alone professors. And she claims to have read an article about this? Have I stepped into a parallel universe or something?
“I imagine you know where we can find this scholar,” Marco says, giving her a knowing smile.
I shoot him a look. He’s acting so strangely, almost as though he thinks Amelia has something to do with this riddle. Which of course she doesn’t. She’s Amelia. She’s not interested in riddles or hidden passageways or rightful rulers or any of that stuff. She’s interested in escaping her royal duties and having torrid love affairs.
My sister shrugs. “No clue, sorry. But there is this rather wonderful invention called Google. Have you heard of it? I imagine you could use it if you wanted to find the man.”
Marco’s still smiling at her as though he’s in on some joke. “We might just do that.”
“Great. Enjoy your books about fish.” She flashes us her pretty smile before she turns on her heel and sashays toward the door.
“What were you doing in here if not looking for a book,” I call out after her.
She replies, “No reason,” and then disappears out the door.
I turn to Marco. “What was that all about?”
“You got me,” he replies with a shrug. “Do you want to see if the throne room is empty?”
I beam at him despite the oddness between him and Amelia. This is exciting, solving a riddle together, and I for one am keen to discover the next steps. “I do.”
He grins, his face lit up, his eyes dancing. “In that case, let the adventure continue.”