Xandria was shaking. “What message?”

August tried to ignore the gun in her hand. “April uncovered the solution.”

“April? Since when do you work together?”

“Actually, we’ve been getting along better than we ever did,” August said. He couldn’t help but grin a little.

“How sweet,” Xandria ridiculed. “What did you find?”

“There was another book that Gutenberg printed while he was working on the enormous task of the Bible,” August said. “Do you know what it was?”

“No. I’ve never heard anything about it.”

“That’s because he printed this other book in secret in an effort to pay his loans back to Fust. The book was called The Sibylline Prophecies, and it was fraught with distressing claims of the future. But the most interesting thing about the verses was the way in which the predictions were established. You didn’t simply read the book. You discovered it.”

“How?”

“The reader was supposed to take the first initial of each verse and combine them to create words. It was almost like a game.”

“The first initial of each verse. I see. Just like the initials of the illuminations.”

“Right. We applied the same idea to the Gutenberg initials. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t even know what language the result would be in . . . Latin . . . German. We weren’t sure where to start. But then we remembered the map. In the center—connecting all the illuminations— was the coin with the woman’s face. Based on that clue, we reduced the possibilities to a list of ancient goddesses and female royals. Eventually, we came up with a name that made sense. Messalina. ”

“Barbara.”

“Yes. Messalina was originally the wife of the Roman emperor Claudius. Our friend here”—he indicated Barbara’s tomb—“was known as the Messalina of Sigismund’s Holy Roman Empire.”

“Emperor Sigismund was a pawn too,” Xandria said. “He was nothing without Barbara. Before she came along, he was withering in his own stupidity. War was rampant. Even his allies hated him. The entire Holy Roman Empire was crumbling around him. Barbara changed all that with the Order of the Dragon.”

“But she was forgotten for it, wasn’t she?”

“Not by everyone. Not by me.” Xandria paced, waving the gun. “You see, some people would look at her and say that she didn’t achieve what she wanted because ultimately she didn’t get credit for it. But credit can often equal death. I was happy to work from the shadows and allow Cornelius to take the credit, as well as the blame.”

“So you were happy to sit by and watch the draconists idolize him?”

“Until the time was right.”

“For what?”

“To fulfill the destiny Barbara was never able to attain,” Xandria said. “The treasure will make it possible. Once it’s in my hands, the Order will fall completely under my command. And that’s just the beginning.”