“Sì, I remember.”
My mind raced. Was that the same day I’d found the red heart-shaped stone?
“Pia?” I heard Mylos say.
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Decker asked if you thought you could find your way back to the chest.”
“Maybe…” It had been so long since I was in those caves. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples with my fingertips.
“Lucia, could you?” Rile asked.
“I’m not sure, but we could try,” I heard Lucia answer. “Pia, what’s wrong?”
I turned to my mother first and then looked at Lucia and finally at Mylos.
“That was the day I found it,” I said, barely above a whisper.
“Found what?” my mother asked.
“This?”
I turned to Mylos, and he held the stone in his hand. My mother reached around me to grab it from him, but I was faster. As I closed my hand tightly around it, all conversation in the room ceased. I wasn’t sure anyone was even breathing.
“Give it to me, Pia.”
“No, Mamma.”
“Pia, please.”
“What is its significance?”
She shook her head.
“Tell me, or I’ll—”
“It isn’t just a stone, Pia.”
“What is it?”
My mother shook her head a second time.
“Come, Mamma,” I said, standing and holding my hand out to her. I led her out to the terrazza.
“Something about this stone causes you great distress. Tell me what it is.”
“You shouldn’t have given it to Mylos.”
“Why not?”
“It’s cursed.”
My first inclination was to roll my eyes, but given my mother’s level of agitation, I refrained. I waited, arms folded again, for her to continue.
“Very well. It is believed to have belonged to the Prince of Venetto, Viano de’ Medici, also known as the Black Prince. He and his men stole it from the corpse of the Sultan of Grenada after stabbing him to death. Shortly after that happened, Viano contracted a mysterious disease from which he died less than a month later.
“The stone was passed down through the Medici family, with every recipient dying a violent death or from a mysterious disease. It is said that Estancia’s first husband stole the gem, and it was found on his body after his death.” My mother shuddered.