Neil wanted to put his mouth there.
He tore his gaze from Constance’s breasts, searching for anywhere else that he could look—anywhere that wouldn’t end up with him reaching for the fasteners on her damnable trousers.
His eyes fell on the flaming sword in his hand—which had been driven several inches into the wall.
Neil’s brain struggled to absorb it.How could the sword be in the wall?
The thought solidified, becoming stark.
The sword isinthe bloody wall.
Panic sparked through him, and Neil let go of the hilt.
The temple plunged into complete, utter darkness.
He could feel the puff of Constance’s surprised breath against the open collar of his shirt.In the darkness, her heat, her touch—the sound of her clothing sliding against her skin as she adjusted her position—were all amplified into an exquisite torture.
“Stuffy,” she said carefully.“Why did you put out the light?”
Neil swallowed thickly.“I’ll fix it.”
He made himself reach out through the blackness.His hand remembered well enough where it needed to go.His fingers brushed against the bone hilt, and he made himself clasp it once again.
The sword flared back to life.
Constance’s grip on his shoulder tightened.“Neil, why is your sword halfway through the wall?”
“It must have fallen into a… a seam in the rock.”
Constance’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.She disentangled herself from Neil’s body to give the elaborately carved stone surface a better look.“There’s no seam, Stuffy.There’s only a slice in the middle of these carvings—right where your sword went in.”
Neil’s horrified thoughts shot back to a severed branch on the ground the night before—and earlier, to the slice in the column of the garden pavilion in Nandapur.
The three incidents wove together into a conclusion that held all the reasonableness of pure logic… except that it was impossible and entirely horrifying.
Neil took a half step away—which was as far as he could get without letting go of the hilt and losing the light again.“Ha ha ha.But that would be… You can’t possibly be suggesting…”
“Pull it out,” Constance ordered.
Neil was suddenly very uncomfortable with where this was going to lead.
He forced himself to draw back the sword.
It slid from the stone without a breath of friction.Neil stared at the flaming metal with a rising sense of horror.
Constance faced him with an air of unmitigated challenge and pointed to the wall.“Stick it back in.Someplace new.”
Neil laughed nervously.“Connie, you can’t possibly be suggesting…”
“Put the sword in the stone, Stuffy.”
Neil didn’t want to do it.But what possible reason could he give for refusing?
He slowly drove Dyrnwyn’s flaming point forward.It slid into the surface as though the rock were made of butter.
Terror and dismay iced his veins.
“Well, that settles that,” Constance concluded cheerfully.“Your sword can cut through stone.”
