Heart pounding with anticipation, he dashed to his bedchamber, his stiff muscles screaming in protest. He extracted the original piece of the Stone of Tears from its hiding place in his leather satchel at the bottom of his wardrobe. Returning to his study, he set the stone beside the puzzle he’d just completed and read the ancient language:
As my betrothed betrayed me with another,
So shall the same fate befall your lover.
To the ends of the earth
From this day forth,
Ye are the cursed,
Condemned to hell’s worst.
For true love’s very breath
Is destined for death.
Grace will fall, a stumble she’ll take,
Then suffer the pain of hell’s headache.
If ye have the gift of wedded bliss,
She will die before you kiss.
Or two days after the vows are said,
Your bride, so cursed, shall be found dead.
Once your intended has been loved in word and deed
Nothing can save her from my curse’s greed.
There is but one key
To set the cursed free.
Follow the beauty to a risky feast
As she shows her lover she is not the least
And proves through sheer daring that never shall fail,
Do the same so love, not death, shall prevail.
He rubbed his hands over his face, the stubble of his beard abrading his palms. He knew the words. Now he just needed to figure out what the bloody hell they meant. He glanced at the clock.
He had less than twenty-eight hours left to find out.
Only twelve hours remained.
Striving to fight off the panic threatening to strangle him, Philip raked his hands through his hair. With Meredith’s help, he’d spent the entire day going through his journals, searching for a clue as to what the curse meant, but without success. For Andrew’s and Bakari’s safety, Philip refused to reveal the exact words he’d pieced together, but sent them off to the museum to search through the documents there regarding anything to do with pearls, a feast, or the price of true love. He’d suggested that Meredith write another note to Charlotte, asking that she, Albert, and Hope come to the townhouse so she could break the news to them and prepare them for the worst, but she’d refused.
“Not yet. To do that makes it seem as if I’ve given up hope, and I haven’t. I have every intention of being your bride.”
Forcing his gaze from hers lest she see the fear curling through him, he continued to pore over his journals. He swallowed his mounting dread, which increased with each passing minute. Another minute without an answer. Another minute lost. He refused to look at the clock, but each time the mantel clock struck the quarter hour, his mind registered that he was swiftly running out of time. He pulled another journal toward him, simultaneously praying and cursing. Damn it! The answer had to be somewhere. Had to. Had to. Had to find it. Please…
“I don’t think we’ve paid enough attention to this,” Meredith said. He looked up. The enormous pearl rested in her palm. “Given its size and age, this single gem is no doubt worth thousands of pounds.”
Philip adjusted his spectacles, giving her his full attention. “I agree.”
“It’s the sort of gem that would be worn by someone very important. A queen, perhaps.”
“Yes, a queen such as Nefertiti or Cleopatra… both of whom were great beauties…” A memory tickled the back of his mind, mingling with the final lines of the stone’s message.
“What is it?” Meredith asked.
“I’m not certain, but you’ve sparked an idea.” Rising, he walked to the bookcase in the corner, then crouched to run his finger over the leather-bound spines on the bottom shelf. “There’s a story I recall reading years ago-” He found the volume he sought and slid it out. “Give me a moment.”
Bringing the volume to his desk, he flipped through the pages until he found the entry he sought. As he read the words, his heart began to pound and his hands to shake.
“I think I’ve found something,” he said.
She leaned over his shoulder. “What book is that?”
“It is one of my earliest journals, consisting of notes I took years ago when I had the opportunity to read Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. When you mentioned the pearl, and a queen wearing it, coupled with the last lines of the stone, it somehow struck me as familiar.”
“Who is Pliny the Elder?”
“A Roman administrator from the first century. In Natural History he wrote of an event where pearls played a pivotal role at one of the most celebrated banquets in history. Apparently Cleopatra wagered Mark Antony that she could host the most expensive dinner in history, one that could never be equaled.”
Understanding flared in her eyes. “A beauty, and a risky feast.”
“Yes. According to the story, she intended to convince Rome that Egypt possessed a heritage and wealth so vast that it was beyond conquest. That also fits in with the curse. Antony was her lover, and she was trying to prove she-Egypt-was strong, and ‘not the least.’ ” He could not keep the excitement from his voice as he read more of his notes. “The banquet indeed proved luxurious, but not any more so than Cleopatra had served on other occasions, and therefore Mark Antony thought he had won. But then Cleopatra, who was wearing a pair of large pearl earrings, removed one, crushed it, dropped it in her cup of wine, and drank it down, whereupon the judge of the wager declared that the astonished Antony had lost the bet.”
Her eyes widened. “Sheer daring.”
“Yes. It all fits into the words of the curse,” Philip said, his heart pounding with the certainty that this was the clue they’d sought. Jumping to his feet, he grasped her shoulders. “The last line of the stone. Do the same so love, not death, shall prevail. If we do as she did, love, not death shall prevail.”
Her eyes widened with comprehension and hope. Her gaze dropped to the pearl nestled in her palm. “Do you suppose this could be the other pearl, from Cleopatra’s other earring?”
“I strongly suspect that it is.”
She breathed out a long, slow breath. “Dear God. If it was worth that much then, how much do you suppose this pearl is worth now?”
“Not nearly as much as your life, Meredith.”
“But you yourself said it must be worth thousands of pounds. If it was Cleopatra’s, I’m guessing that is a conservative estimate. To consider destroying something so rare and valuable-”
He silenced her by touching his fingers to her lips. “You are more rare and valuable than anything. Come. It’s time to end this curse.” Taking her hand, he led her to the decanters, where he poured a goblet of red wine.
Feeling as if she were in a daze, Meredith watched him crush the gem into the crystal. Dear God, that gem was priceless, and he’d crushed it without a thought in his bid to save her.
“Philip… what if you’re wrong?”
For an answer, he drank from the goblet, then handed it to her. “Drink.”
She did as he bade, swallowing the remaining liquid. Then they stood in silence, watching each other. A minute passed. Meredith’s heart pounded with trepidation as they waited for a sign, a clue that the curse was broken.