Perhaps not happiness, then, but contentment. Or at least satisfaction that her place on earth was as more than merely one half of a marriage, a womb to bear an heir, or a showpiece for her mother to flaunt.
Victoria had a more important, more difficult role than most women—or men—could imagine. If she could find the same satisfaction and peace her aunt had as Illa Gardella, Victoria could ask for little more.
Because her mother delayed her, Victoria was late meeting Ylito at what was left of the Villa Palombara. Despite the early February chill and dampness, she had Oliver drive a circuitous route in the city in order to make certain no one was following her from Aunt Eustacia’s villa. When the barouche stopped in front of the crumbling wall shaded by the old oak that had grown through it, Oliver turned to look at her.
“This the meeting place?” He looked at her questioningly. Not only was his driving gentler than that of Barth back in London, but his care for her safety was as well. Unlike Barth, Oliver wasn’t as keen on leaving a woman alone on the streets, particularly in areas that could be considered dangerous.
Of course, unlike Barth, Oliver had never seen Victoria fight vampires.
“Yes, you may let me off here and return to the villa. ”
She’d never seen a person with such dark skin as Ylito. Even Kritanu, who had the mahogany skin and sleek dark hair of his Indian heritage, had lighter coloring than the hermetist.
“So, you are the new Illa Gardella,” he said, looking at her soberly. Victoria was surprised at his low, smooth voice; for some reason she’d expected him to sound as exotic as he looked, with his walnut skin and hair that spun out in tight, finger-length coils all over his head. His family was originally from Egypt, Wayren had told her, but Ylito’s grandfather had left the land of the pyramids and come to study with the Venators in Rome nearly a century ago.
“And you are the mysterious Ylito,” she replied, and felt compelled to make a brief bow to him. “I am delighted to meet you, particularly since I understand you rarely venture out. ”
He looked as if he was at least two decades, or more, older than her own twenty-one years. He was dressed in boots and breeches and a coat and shirtwaist, as any other man of the times would be, but with his dark skin and regal bearing, he still looked exotic. He gave her a formal bow in return. “Come, let us look at this strange door. ”
Now, in the daylight, Victoria could really see the deep split in the wall. It was caused by a low branch of the large oak growing through what had likely been a small crack at one time, but as the oak’s branch and trunk filled out, it had opened the wall. The shadow of the large tree, along with a mess of leafless vines, had helped to camouflage the opening.
With Ylito’s help, Victoria climbed through the crack, turning sideways so she could slip through the wet stone. She couldn’t help but think it was best that Zavier wasn’t there, for he would never have fit his bulky muscles through the slender opening. As soon as Ylito stepped both feet on the ground, they started off, Victoria leading the way.
The ground was wet and muddy, seeping into Victoria’s slippers, and the budding leaves had begun to shoot into green furls that would soon thicken the view even more.
Ylito made a disgusted comment under his breath as he paused to wipe mud from the side of his boot, but then he followed behind Victoria as they traipsed through thigh-high grass toward an awkward-looking gray-brick building. What must have been the main part of the villa loomed high behind it, and was made of the yellowish stone most common in Rome.
As Victoria trudged along, she turned her mind from the chill of her cold, wet gown to something nearly as uncomfortable: how to find Sebastian.
In London she had been able to go to his pub, the Silver Chalice, to contact him, but it had been destroyed. The last time she’d seen him was here in Rome, when, with his usual talent, he’d simply shown up when she didn’t necessarily want him to. Short of putting a notice in the newspaper, there was little she could do to find him.
But then a thought struck her. Sebastian had introduced her to two young women, twins named Portiera and Placidia. Perhaps if she called on them she might be able to learn how to find Sebastian in this city.
Not to mention the fact that her mother would love to see her interested in making social calls.
Since Lady Melly had arrived, Victoria had spent the last two nights at home with her aunt and friends, playing whist, catching up on gossip, and generally doing the things she thought she’d left behind when she married and moved from her mother’s home. Even as a marchioness she was expected to have social obligations—but at least they would be under her own terms.
“There it is,” Victoria said, gesturing to the wall made of slim gray stones stacked atop one another as she and Ylito passed through the same gate that the vampires had used two nights before. Off to the right was the smooth white lintel framing a solid stone door.
“La Porta Alchemica,” said Ylito, stepping toward it.
Victoria’s sodden skirt brushed against him as she too moved toward the door. It was not a particularly large one, now that she saw it in full daylight. Just an average size, low enough that someone as tall as Max might have to duck to cross the threshold.
She watched as Ylito smoothed his dark hand over the white marble as though reading with his fingertips the symbols carved there. Above the door was a large circle carving, within which were two triangles superimposed on each other, one pointing up and the other pointing down, and a cross stamped on top of them.
“Jupiter…tin…diameter sphaerae thau…circli…non orbis prosunt… Venus…copper…” murmured Ylito, moving his hand down the right side of the doorway.
“What does it say?”
“Alchemical symbols—this is for the planet Jupiter,” he said, showing her the top carving that looked like a cross with an arrow pointing to the right, “and represents the metal tin. Below it, the symbol of feminity, or Venus, the circle with the cross below it. There is Mercury and Mars…” he added, gesturing to the other side.
“What does it all mean?”
Again Ylito flashed his white teeth. “I do not know, and apparently neither did Palombara. As the story goes, he found the papers of an alchemist who came to Rome searching for a mysterious herb. After the alchemist disappeared, Palombara studied his journals and had some of the content engraved on the door. For example, under the Jupiter symbol it says, ‘the sphere’s diameter, the circle’s tau, and the globe’s cross are of no use to the blind. ’ It simply means one might have the tools, but if one doesn’t know how to put them to use, they’re worthless. ”
Victoria, looking at the odd symbols, couldn’t agree more.
A large dial was set into the stone of the portal, covering about the center half of the entrance. The round disk, which was flush with its setting, was formed of a different color stone and had the shape of a triangle carved into its face. At each of the three corners was a small rectangular notch, no more than two fingers wide and one thumb-length long. Victoria could see that the dirt and moss had been scraped away from the bottom right-hand notch, as though someone had recently slipped something into the hole.