"There's an equestrian school in the forest. It has to be someone playing a prank." Gianluca said over the phone to Alessandro. "How could a Dullahan appear in Paris?"
Alessandro said nothing.
He had heard his grandmother say that the riots in both New York and Paris during the 1930s had been connected to a man called Newt Scamander. His suitcase contained magical creatures, and those creatures would not normally appear in cities.
The same was true of Dullahans. They usually appeared in remote villages, accompanied by all sorts of terrifying legends.
"Are you listening?" Gianluca asked.
"I'm listening." Alessandro wiped his face. "Tell me how to get in."
"You really want to break into a military camp?" Gianluca asked.
"Are there any other pyramids in the forest?" Alessandro asked.
Gianluca fell silent.
Alessandro looked at the "pyramid." It was actually a stepped structure, with a red, white, and blue tricolor planted at its summit.
"The nobles of France were actually terrified that Georgiana would become a second Madame de Maintenon. In truth, the court during Louis XIV's later years became so stifling largely because of her." The middle-aged German man, Frank, said to Alessandro, "There's already been one Cromwell. Add her to the mix, and the court will become even more dreary. People still prefer Josephine."
Alessandro could not imagine it. He still remembered driving a speedboat with Monica and that strange British woman, heading toward the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute beneath a rose-colored sunset.
Back then, he had clearly felt relaxed and at ease.
"She turned the Saint-Cyr girls' school into a hospital. Madame de Maintenon's former suite is now hers." Frank continued. "I heard that on her first night after moving in, she corresponded with Bonaparte."
"Do you know what the letter said?" Gaetano asked.