I hope to find one of the secret passages leading into the city. I hope someone would be waiting for me to show me the way. I’ve sent word ahead that I’ll be going. I don’t want to risk being killed before I’ve had a chance to have a chat with his Majesty himself. Still in these desperate times that paranoia reigns, I’ll need to be extra careful and suspicious, even if there is someone indeed waiting for me to lead me inside.’

‘I’d love to come with you, but I’ve got a slight suspicion that dressed like this I won’t make it within a hundred metres of the walls. And there is the small matter of shaking off my own group of governesses there.’

Michael and Mark. Brothers separated at birth in dangerous times. Chance brought them together. They always had a feeling that there was someone out there listening to each other whilst growing up. They each thought that they had an imaginary friend until one day they had to share a room in an inn far from home. And it was then that they realised that they were each other’s “supposedly imaginary friend”.

At the palace of Vlachernae in Constantinople the discovery of the empty crib and the lifeless body of the governess were enough to briefly overshadow the menace of the Ottoman armies at the gates of the city and distract the Emperor and his advisers from the defence of the city facing impending doom, clearly telegraphed by the movements and positioning of the enemy in a blockade of the city.

A huge search was initiated throughout the palace and the city, but as the minutes and the hours passed with no success, with not even a clue as to the whereabouts of the baby and his abductor, the feeling that it was too late hung in the air that was already heavy with fear.

CHAPTER 2

Limassol, Cyprus

Present day

Elli was in for another unsettled night’s sleep and an early wake-up call, a rude awakening. Around her there was peace; the city was too far away down the hill for any sounds to reach her. But inside her mind she was boiling in turmoil.