Page 65 of Violet Legacy

It shouldn’t, but like the serpopards and everything else she had learned, reality was far more creative than she had ever given it credit for. Rieka looked up. “It’s the constellation painted on the mosaic. In the journal, it is the only constant in each of the images. Mom drew hundreds of versions of the temples, papers upon papers that she eventually burned. The only thing that stayed the same was the sky.” Rieka half-turned. “This sky. Dante worked it out.”

“Why not outside in the real world?” Sypha asked.

“The constellation was cross-referenced. The configuration has not existed for eleven thousand years.” Dante moved to stand behind Rieka. “This room will remain open only until the end of the Jimourt.”

“Are there any other entrances?” Talik asked. “This place has more clandestine tunnels than most.”

“None that we have been able to identify. Idris has a handful of scholars working through the older maps to identify if we have missed anything,” Khalida said. “The tunnel system bypasses this entire area. When the Arx was constructed, they either kept this space entirely separate or weren’t aware it existed. The vault was a later addition.”

It wasn’t making any sense. “How much later?”

“Six hundred years,” Khalida said. “According to Aadya, it took them three hundred years to construct as they had to go through the original foundation.”

“Could they have built it on something older?” Rieka mused out loud. Idris had mentioned something about building on older foundations, but that made little sense if what Khalida was saying was true. “But if that is the case, why would you seal it off from the rest of the Arx?”

“To keep a secret.” Sypha blinked slowly. “I will leave this with you all.”

“Or to keep something out,” Talik added as he turned and knocked on the tiles. “Is there anything behind the mosaic?”

Rieka walked over to Talik. They were in front of the crashing waves and endless ocean. It was beautiful, but not an area she had focused on. Maybe there was something she had overlooked.

Talik shook his head. “Something was scratching against the other side. Too small to be a serpopard or anything of decent size.”

“Are you positive?” Khalida asked.

Talik gave Khalida a droll stare, his obsidian gaze blank with unnamed emotion. “I know what scurrying rats sound like.”

Khalida flinched.

Dante moved to Rieka’s other side, brushing up against her. He tapped the wall. “It sounds solid here.”

Rieka closed her eyes as she trailed her fingers along the mosaic. The tiles weren’t as smooth as the other ones. They held bumps and elongated marks. Was it some sort of writing? She didn’t recognize it, but dead languages had never been her forte. Keeping her eyes shut, she memorized every mark. “There is an inscription.” She turned to Dante. “Do you recognize the language?”

Dante’s hand grazed Rieka’s as he followed her path along the wall. After a few minutes, he looked at Rieka, a flash of disappointment crossing his handsome features. “No. But Idris might.”

Another dead end. At this rate, the vault would be closed before she got any answers to the questions that plagued her.

“Rieka,” Khalida called out. She sat slightly separate from the rest of them, crouched in front of another portion of the mosaic. “There is a slight discoloration with these waves.”

Rieka strode toward Khalida.

“The tiles here are slightly raised when compared to the rest,” Khalida added, a long nail trailing against the light blue waves. “Can you see it?”

If Rieka squinted, maybe she could see the difference. But her eyesight had improved nowhere as much as her other senses. She angled her head. Maybe the constellations had nothing to do with it. It could have just been a coincidence, something Lilian had liked to draw. Over and over again. No. Dante was correct. The constellation was important. Why else would Lilian have drawn it?

She took a step back and froze.

There, hidden within the waves near the floor’s edge, was an engraved flower. The faint outline of a lily. How did she miss it before? She must have spent hours looking at the mosaic on the first day.

It is the symbol of Vandana. Find the lily, and you will find your way home.

Kneeling next to Khalida, Rieka traced the flower as she ignored the strange look Khalida was giving her. For a moment, she felt like Lilian was with her, watching over her.

“Does the flower mean anything?” Khalida asked, a hint of kindness in her tone.

Rieka half-smiled. “My mom said it used to be Vandana’s favorite flower.” She pressed the flower and hoped for the best. “And if I ever was lost, all I needed to do was find it, and it would lead the way home.”

Something shifted under her fingers. The ground groaned as the wall shook. Dante moved behind her as she stood. He was so close his body warmth radiated off him in waves. She crossed her arms. The throbbing in her arm was becoming unbearable, but she didn’t want anyone to know. The arms of the bracelet felt like they were burrowing deeper into her flesh. It was getting harder to hide the electrical shocks raging through her body. Right now, it was all forgotten as she stood transfixed. The mosaic continued to move. The scrapping sound of rock against rock was grating. Small dust particles flooded the room.

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