"What were all these for?" Yelena asked, staring at the cabinets.
"Originally, they held sacred furnishings and other objects that the French stole and never returned," Marcella replied, slowly walking along the cabinets and looking at the paintings on them. "I believe one of them will be Ludovico's entrance to the tunnels."
"Can you feel anything?" Bridget asked.
"Give her a moment," Cosimo chided gently.
Valentine offered Marcella his dagger. "Here, cut something. Maybe some blood will help reveal it."
"Enough," Cosimo said, taking the dagger. "You four stay there." Cosimo followed Marcella as she kept looking at the paintings on the wardrobes. She was lost in her own thoughts, not paying them any attention at all.
The doors on the upper cabinets along the western wall depicted various scenes of Christ's life from the Gospel of Luke, except for the last three, which were of the god Triton and a nereid, Mary of Egypt in the desert, and the vision of Saint John.
Marcella was mainly focused on the lower cabinets that were painted with the coats of arms and other insignias of the Sforza, Visconti, and Este families. She paused when they reached the paintings depicting allegories of death.
"It has to be here somewhere. He would have wanted it to be where his family was represented," she murmured to herself. She reached over and lightly ran her hands along the wood.
"Marcella? What is it?" Cosimo whispered.
Marcella's fingertips touched a cabinet painted with a faded skeleton with snakes curling about it, and her necromancy magic flared around her.
"Madonna Mia!" she exclaimed softly. "There's something… I can't explain it…"
Cosimo gestured at the others to join them. "Open it, Marcella."
"It will be locked. It has to be," she said, shaking her head.
Cosimo smiled. "Not to you."
Marcella leaned down, gripped the brass handle, and the small door swung open. They all peered inside….at a slab of stone.
"Damn it, it felt so right," Marcella hissed, reaching in to touch the stone. "There's nothing. No keyhole or anything. Whatever was here has been blocked off."
"Time to try the Sforza door wards theory," Valentine insisted, gesturing to Cosimo. "Give her the dagger, Dad."
Cosimo crouched down beside Marcella and offered it to her, hilt first. "Just a small cut on your finger. You don't need to hurt yourself just to test a theory."
"This feels so silly," Marcella said. She took the knife and used the tip of the blade to prick her finger. A small bead of blood rose to the surface, and Marcella put her hand back on the stone. They stared in wonder as the blood trickled and formed the family crest of the House of Sforza. With a deep rumble, the stone slid back, revealing only darkness beyond it.
43
"Oh my god. Oh my god. It's real. Oh my god," Marcella whispered over and over.
Cosimo laughed softly at her excitement.
"Told you there would be a magical door," Bas said smugly.
"Actually, I was the one who thought of the blood ward," Valentine corrected.
"Hush, you were both right," Cosimo intervened. He took the dagger from Marcella, handed it back to Valentine, and passed Marcella a small torch. She shone it around in the darkness.
"It opens out after a metre or so. Follow me," she said and crawled into the cupboard.
"This is so fucking exciting," Bridget said, bouncing up and down. She touched the piece in her ear. "Are you getting this, Lay Lay? Fuck yeah, we are going in. If we lose connection, we will let you know when we are out again."
"Make sure you close the wooden door behind you," Cosimo reminded them and crawled into the tight space. He struggled with his broad shoulders but managed to get through and stand up in the rough tunnel.
Marcella was shining her light all around her. "You boys will have to watch your heads. Men used to be a lot smaller when these were built."
