The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1)(13)

“What about the spiral things on the edge?” asked Tristan.

The four symbols bore no resemblance to the Chinese characters or sharp lines forming the hexagrams.




“That … That, I’m not entirely sure,” admitted Enrique. “It doesn’t match anything recognizable from Chinese augury. Perhaps it’s an added-on signature from whoever possessed the compass after it’d been made? Either way, it doesn’t seem like a map to anything. Which, honestly, is disappointing, but that doesn’t mean it won’t fetch a good price on the market.”

Laila drew herself up on her elbows, tilting her head to the side a little more. “Unless it’s a map in disguise.”

The room fell silent. Séverin shrugged.

“Why not?” he asked softly. “Any ideas?”

Zofia counted the lines. Then she counted them again. A pattern nudged against her thoughts.

“This is nothing we haven’t seen before,” tried Séverin cheerfully. “Remember that underwater Isis temple?”

“Distinctly,” said Enrique. “You said there wouldn’t be any sharks.”

“There weren’t.”

“Right. Just mechanical leviathans with dorsal fins,” said Enrique. “Forgive me.”

“Apology accepted,” said Séverin, inclining his head. “Now. When it came to that code, we had to rethink the direction. We had to question our assumption. What if what we’re looking at is not just a map, but a hint to what it might lead to?”

Tristan frowned. “A bunch of divination lines do not a treasure make, dear brother.”

“Lines,” said Zofia distractedly. She tugged at her necklace. “Are they lines?”

“That,” said Séverin, pointing at her, “is exactly the type of reasoning I’m talking about. Question the very assumptions. Good thinking.”

“What if you shine it under a different light?” mused Tristan.

“Or do those symbols at the four corners correspond to something that’s a hint?” asked Enrique.

Zofia kept quiet, but it was as if the pattern had peeled off the metal square. She squinted at it.

“Numbers,” she said suddenly. “If you change the lines to numbers … it becomes something else. We did a similar procedure last year with the coded Greek alphabet riddle. I remember because that was when Séverin took us on that expedition to Nisyros Island.”

All five of them collectively shuddered.

Tristan drew his knees to his chest. “I hate volcanoes.”

Zofia sat up, excited. A pattern had finally taken shape in her mind.

“Each of those hexagrams is made up only of broken and unbroken lines. If you make every unbroken line a zero, and every broken line a one, then it’s a pattern of zeroes and ones. It looks like some kind of binary calculus.”

“But that doesn’t tell us anything about the treasure,” said Tristan.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. The ancients were obsessed with numbers,” said Enrique thoughtfully. “It’s clear in their art. Which makes me wonder what else might be here. Maybe it’s not a strange calculus after all.” Enrique tilted his head. “Hmm…”

He pointed at the symbols tucked into the four corners.




“Séverin, can you alter the image and break off the four corners?”

Séverin manipulated the mnemo hologram so the four corners broke off. Then, he shrank the I Ching diagram, enlarged the four corners, and placed them beside one another.

“There,” said Enrique. “I see it now. Séverin, place them in a block and rearrange the order. Turn the first symbol sideways, attach it to symbol two, symbol three should hang down, and the fourth symbol goes on the left.”

Séverin did as asked, and when he stepped back, a new symbol took shape:




“The Eye of Horus,” breathed Enrique.

Envy flashed through Zofia.

“How…” she said. “How did you see that?”

“The same way you saw numbers in lines,” said Enrique smugly. “You’re impressed. Admit it.”

Zofia crossed her arms. “No.”

“I dazzle you with my intelligence.”

Zofia turned to Laila. “Make him stop.”

Enrique bowed and gestured back to the image. “The Eye of Horus is also known as a wadjet. It’s an ancient Egyptian symbol of royal power and protection. Over time, most Horus Eyes have been lost to history—”

“No,” said Séverin. “Not lost. Destroyed. During Napoleon’s 1798 campaign to Egypt, the Order sent a delegation tasked specifically with finding and confiscating all Horus Eyes. House Kore sent half its members, which is why they have the largest supply of Egyptian Forged treasures in Europe. If there’s any Forged Horus Eyes left from that campaign, it’s with them.”

“But why was it destroyed?” asked Laila.

“That’s a secret between the government and the Order,” said Séverin. “My guess is that certain Forged Horus Eyes showed all the somno locations on Napoleon’s artillery. If everyone knew how to make his weapons useless, where would he be?”