“We will soon see.” Leo placed his palms on the flat surface and pushed gently. An icy chill settled over him as he stepped into the small tomb. While the golden limestone blocks in the crypt made the room feel bright, the walls in the tomb were a dull, dreary grey. “It’s too dark in here.”
“Grace and I will go and ask Sylvester to light some candles,” Evelyn said. She gave Alexander his coat before they raced to the stairs.
“Follow me inside.” Leo shuffled forward. “But have a care. We do not want to break anything.”
They all crept inside; a sense of awe and wonder flooded his chest, and he knew his brothers felt it, too. This tiny chamber could contain the answer to their prayers. As they stood huddled in the centre of the room, they scoured their surroundings.
“The longer I stand here, the clearer the objects in the chamber become,” Alexander said squinting in the darkness.
“I can’t believe I have lived here all this time and knew nothing of this secret room.” Ivana touched his hand. “Do you think we will find the cure in here?”
Leo sighed. “We can but hope.” A strange sense of foreboding settled over him. Perhaps his anxiety stemmed from knowing Nikolai was not a man to be trusted. Perhaps a fear of the unknown caused mild panic to flare.
What would it be like to be human again?
In the years he’d spent coming to terms with the nature of the affliction, he never dared to ask himself the question. To walk in the sun, to eat ham and eggs for breakfast, were but simple pleasures most people took for granted, yet he would have sold his soul to experience them once again.
But things were different now.
Ivana was his life, his love, the greatest gift, the only pleasure. In those terms, his affliction changed nothing. It was neither a hindrance nor a blessing, and so he would not be disappointed if their efforts were in vain.
Evelyn and Grace returned carrying a candlestick in each hand. As soon as they entered the chamber, the golden glow illuminated the table at the far end. Leo took one from Evelyn’s hand and placed it on the wooden surface while he inspected the equipment. The others were placed in various positions around the room.
“It looks like some sort of filtering device,” Elliot said touching the glass tube leading into a bulbous bottle. “This piece of muslin could have been used to remove impurities.”
Leo shrugged. “Such contraptions mean nothing to me.”
“I think these are Talliano’s notes,” Alexander said. He was sitting behind a desk at the opposite end of the room, flicking through a leather-bound book. “It’s all in Latin. His writing is appalling unless he was drunk when he scrawled the words.”
“There’s a chest on the floor over here.” Grace knelt down in front of the small wooden trunk. “It’s not locked.”
Leo and Elliot came to stand behind her. “Open it.”
With hesitant fingers, she raised the lid. “There’s nothing inside but a piece of rock.”
“Rock?” Leo bent down and peered into the chest. He removed the grey, silvery lump. Its shiny metallic lustre sparkled in the light. “I have
no idea what it is.”
“In Latin it is known as haematites,” Alexander said coming to stand with them. “Talliano mentions it in his notes. From what I can read, the scholar believed it removed impurities from the blood.”
Leo frowned. “Do you suppose we are to ingest a fragment of the stone?” He shook his head. “Surely not.”
“There is something under this tray,” Grace said, removing the wooden structure that had supported the stone. “There is a box underneath.” With steady hands, she removed it and carried it over to the table before placing it down gently.
They all came to stand before the inlaid mahogany box.
No one spoke for a few seconds, but it felt like hours.
“One of us will need to open it,” Elliot eventually said with slight apprehension.
Leo turned to Ivana. “Perhaps you should. After all, the contents belong to you.”
Ivana grasped his arm. “No. You open it.”
Leo sucked in a breath before flicking the tiny brass catch and lifting the lid. Five small brown bottles lay nestled amidst a bed of burgundy silk.
Leo stepped back, his hands were shaking, his heart thumped hard in his chest. “Good Lord. I think we have found the cure.”