Page 59 of Royally Matched

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 unleasha 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.