Violette again ran her eyes around the room right up to the moonlight. She walked to the balcony, letting the glow shower her. Her eyes gawked at the full moon, wondering about the words written inside the box they found.
But no matter how long she stood there, the answer didn't magically come to her mind. She lifted her index finger to the chin, her gaze dropped down.
“Reach your eyes to the moon…” she repeated under her breath, entering the room again.
“Any progress?” Dante’s voice came from the doorway.
Violette looked up at the vampire and shook her head.
He closed the distance between them in two steps, examining the space around. Then following the moonlight, he headed to the balcony.
Violette's eyes lowered to the dark coffee table, where a book lay beside a crystal jewelry box, a velvet pillow cradling a golden crown, and a small framed portrait of the Queen.
“Oh, she loves herself,” Violette murmured, reaching to the frame before remembering she couldn't touch it.
Suddenly, a subtle, beguiling glimmer caught the corner of her eye, beckoning her to look closer. The crown. The same one depicted in the grand portrait back in the hall. The center stone was not as luxurious as she’d imagined a queen might wear, yet it held her attention all the same, shimmering in a way she couldn’t look away from.
“There's a trick,” Dante sighed, coming back to the room but he didn't manage to continue as Violette cut in.
“It's a moonstone,” she gasped.
Dante stalked in a moment, peering at the spot Violette’s eyes sankin.
“The stone on the crown is a moonstone,” she repeated in awe. “That's it! Reach your eyes to the moon!” She raised her head with an inspired smile on her face.
“Great.” The vampire sat on his knee, scrutinizing the crown. His hand reached for the stone and it answered with a glowing blue light but he couldn't take it, not touch it. “Hm…I don't think it's here. I know there's spells to hide the objects in memories but I think this one is just a prompt for what to seek in reality.”
“And where do we have to look for it?” Violette parted her lips.
“The crown was on the Queen when she was buried.” Dante stood up without taking his eyes off the gem.
Violette slanted her head at his side with confusion.
“We are going back to the crypt.”
His voice sent frost over her skin. She winced at this terrible thought.
“We will…dig up her grave?” She swallowed.
Dante nodded.
Then he said something else but she couldn't quite hear it: his voice was nothing but a distant noise. His features got blurred and the surroundings started to get misty. Everything around started to disappear and Violette felt a strange pull as if something tried to drag her out of this dream. The last thing she saw was two sapphire eyes flickering in the darkness and then she woke up.
Herbody was aching. Violette was sure she was just sleeping but it felt like she was dragging a heavy burden on her back the whole day. Her body was weak and the pain was tightening around her head like an invisible ring. She took a deep breath and slowly breathed out. It didn't help with the headache but it made her head a little bit clear, at least she understood where she was. Her eyes darted to Dante's body on the ground, he still was in the dream. So she sat, curling her legs to her chest, waiting for him to come back. They had a lot to talk about.
After a few minutesDante snapped a sigh and then his eyes opened.
“Why do I feel like I was run over by a carriage?” he breathed.
“I think it's a side effect of the powder,” Violette yawned. Every muscle of her body was burning. One more yawn escaped her mouth.
“Then we should find a place to stay,” Dante said.
He didn't look as tired though.
Lucky, probably an advantage of being immortal,Violette thought.
She glanced at him as he reached a hand to help her to stand up. Suddenly as she looked at the ground again it seemed to her like a very comfy place to lay down. She actually would lay anywhere, curling up in a ball, no matter how hard or cold the surface would be.
