Page 128 of Tomb of the Sun King

“The flaming sword of Rydderch Hael is real.” Neil enunciated each word carefully, as though hearing them aloud would make them easier to accept. “And it flames. With fire.” He closed his eyes again. The stone box of the tomb swam around him.

“Sonowyou believe it!” Constance retorted. “The thing the rest of us have been trying to tell you thisentiretime!”

“But you were talking about magic!” Neil pushed back wildly.

“Of course we were!” Constance threw up her hands. “What else do you think has been going on?”

Despair washed away Neil’s last shreds of indignation. He dropped his head to his arms where they were crossed over the soaked knees of his trousers. “I have been an enormous ass,” he mumbled mournfully into his lap.

“I suppose it’s something that you’re able to admit it,” Constance allowed. “That’s more than I can say for Julian Forster-Mowbray. At least Ellie, Adam, and Sayyid managed to escape with that batch of mysterious women.”

Neil’s head shot back up, his eyes widening with a mixture of hope and alarm. “They escaped? They’re all right? But how do you know?”

“I did a bit of eavesdropping.” Constance smiled a little viciously. “The look on Mr. Jacobs’ face when he gave Julian the news was quite satisfying.”

Relief crashed through Neil like a bucket of water. The impact was staggering, momentarily stealing his breath. When he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse and uneven. “I… I didn’t let myself really think of what might have… I couldn’t, or I would have…” A wash of overwhelming feeling choked off the words—and then Neil’s head shot up with a jolt of aching panic. “But are youcertain?”

Constance’s expression softened at the urgency of his tone. “I’m certain.”

Neil yanked off his spectacles and put his face in his shaking hands. “They all might have been…” His throat tightened on the word, cutting it off. He forced out the rest, the confession spilling from him in a desperate rush. “And Ellie told me—shetoldme that Julian was an unreliable rotter. She told me totrust her, only I couldn’t! No—Iwouldn’t, because I wanted so badly for things to go back to the way they were! It was a stupid, stubborn, selfish impulse, and all three of them might have…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say the rest. It still hurt too much, shooting a wrenching fear through him that left him feeling as though he was tearing down the middle.

“It would have been my fault,” he finally choked out, pressing the heels of his trembling hands to his eyes.

A sigh carried to him softly from across the room. Something plopped down next to him. Warmth radiated against his damp skin as Constance settled against his side.

“You made a mistake,” Constance declared.

“A mistake?” Neil’s head jerked up. “I could have gotten all of them killed!”

“Give Ellie and Adam a little more credit than that,” Constance returned dryly.

“But I should have listened!” Neil pushed back.

“Yes,” Constance calmly agreed.

“I should have trusted all of you!”

“That, too. And I am still furious at you for it,” she added pointedly.

Neil stared at her helplessly.

Constance picked his spectacles up and slipped them over his ears. Her face came back into focus. She looked at him steadily. “But we’re all idiots every once in a while.”

Neil’s cheek was wet. He swiped at it awkwardly.

“You’ll do better next time,” Constance finished.

The easy confidence in her tone caught at something inside Neil’s chest and gave it a wrench. It hurt, and he found himself deeply, quietly grateful for it.

Constance comfortably leaned back against the wall beside him as Neil roughly pushed another tear from his cheek with the palm of his hand. It took him a few moments before he could speak again.

“What about this batch of mysterious women?” he asked once he felt like his voice would come out somewhat steady.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea.” Constance put on a slightly martyred tone. “If Ellie had something up her sleeve, she didn’t let me in on it. I can only guess that they were a band of rogue lady revolutionaries who caught wind of our mission and interceded to prevent the Staff of Moses from falling into the hands of Egypt’s enemies.”

Neil blinked, lost for words in the face of her fantastical theory.

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