‘But just as the technology underpinning these vaults has changed over the centuries, so too have their locations. As the locus of global power shifted, the sites of the vaults did, too. Two thousand years ago, the primary vault was located in the safest place of the time, central Rome. During the Dark Ages, it lay in a crypt buried deep beneath a mountaintop monastery in France. These days, as the fulcrum of global power has shifted to the West, there are two main vaults, one in Switzerland, the other in the United States.’

Iolanthe held up a finger.

‘But the four kingdoms do venerate history and this is a weakness of theirs that we can now exploit. For, over the millennia, out of a deep sense of respect for past glories, the kingdoms have kept intact some of the older, no-longer-used vaults. Indeed, to have an old vault on one’s property is seen as a mark of prestige in the royal world.

‘One such vault—the primary vault of its time, the tumultuous era around 1200 B.C.E.—does indeed still stand and it holds the copy of the crown that we seek. The vault of Troy.’

She pointed at the huge estate on the coast of the island of Tenedos.

‘And the vault of Troy lies underneath that mansion.’

‘How do you know this?’ Nobody asked.

‘Because I’ve seen it. I’ve been inside it.’

‘You’ve been inside it? Were you on a research trip or something?’

‘No.’ Iolanthe smiled. ‘I was attending a wedding. A very big society wedding.’

She explained.

‘The island of Tenedos—the whole island—has been owned for a thousand years by the Zampieri family, one of the richest families in history and one of the most influential in the royal world. The Zampieris made their fortune during the rise of Venice as a seagoing empire and during that time, they acquired many islands in the eastern Mediterranean.

‘And when the only daughter of the family patriarch, Giovanni Zampieri, decided to get married, her wedding was held here, on Tenedos.

‘It was an astonishingly lavish affair while still remaining stylishly understated, as is the royal way. The ceremony was held on the lawn you can see, looking out over the sea. But the reception was held inside the vault underneath the property, the vault of Troy. Now, I’ve seen a lot of remarkable things in the royal world, but that vault was something else. It didn’t have any recent treasures inside it. As I said, those had long been taken to more modern facilities. But it did still have on its walls and in its alcoves some statues and items from the Trojan period which were simply too big to move from the vault and which were nothing short of breathtaking.’

‘Like the copy of the Crown of Priam?’ Nobody asked.