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“A little so—particularly afroer , the firstborn is supplanted at the mother’s breast and feels threatened in every way It is the older sibling who bears the resented and robbed by his own brother, by his faressor The younger brother is usually the unsuspecting offender who’s easily taken by surprise What’s different here is that Attila was not unsuspecting or easily defeated It doesn’t fit anything we know about hihter He had lived at the Eer and could probably smell a conspiracy from a hundred miles off”

“What evidence is in the inscription?” Remi asked

“He said Bleda ‘was chosen’ to die He didn’t just die Fate or the Creator chose one of the two brothers over the other That iht This is also the saddest of all the deaths of Attila’s life up to that time He had already lost his mother, father, uncle, and tives that we know of One thing that would make Bleda’s death worse was if he forced Attila to kill him”

“It’s horrible,” said Remi, “but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems”

There was a call for passengers to board the flight to Bucharest “Thanks, Albrecht We’ll talk to you e’re on the ground again” She quickly dialed Tibor’s number

“Yes?”

“It’s Reave us in France was correct It worked out We’ve turned the treasure over to French authorities for safekeeping The next spot is in Transylvania, on the River near Alba Iulia, and we’re on the way But Bako got the inscription too Could you please—”

“We’ll watch theo”

“Thanks, Tibor They’re already calling our flight We’ll call you froot up to join the line of people entering the collapsible boarding tunnel to their airplane

The plane rumbled down the runway and rose into the air When it leveled, Remi lifted the armrest between her and Sam, leaned her head on his shoulder, and promptly fell asleep The uninterrupted race froht and searching in the daylight, had finally exhausted her After a short time, Sam slept too

They ahen the pilot announced the approach to Bucharest Airport After clearing Romanian customs, they picked up their rental car As they drove toward Alba Iulia, Remi read a history about Attila and his brother Bleda that she had downloaded to her phone at the airport in Paris

“It says here that Bleda had a famous Moorish dwarf named Zerco in his retinue Bleda was so fond of him that he had a special ns with him”

“If I were Zerco, I think I would have passed up the honor,” Saht where everyone else is twelve feet tall and weighs a thousand pounds”

“I suppose having a king’s favor and protection must have seemed worth the risk”

Sam was silent for a moment “Is there any mention of what Zerco did after Bleda was killed?”