Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(73)

She froze and stared at the table.

“Your sword burned through it?” Valmont retrieved the triangular piece of wood she’d sliced off. He turned it over in his hands. “Look, there are char marks where your blade made contact.”

In a singsong voice, Bryn said, “My sword is cooler than your sword.”

He snorted. “It is not.” Drawing his weapon, he held it to the light. The red and blue metal glowed more brightly than it had before. “Stand back,” Valmont said. “I want to try something.”

Once Bryn was out of range, he positioned himself and swung his sword at the other corner of the table. The smell of burnt wood again filled the air as his sword burned through the table just like Bryn’s had.

Valmont grinned. “You were saying?”

“Dang. I wonder if they are part of a matched set?”

“They could be.” Valmont re-sheathed his weapon and then pointed at her waist. “Yours didn’t come with a carrying case?”

“Uhm…no and I’m not sure how to turn it off.” It’s not like she could walk around holding a half flaming, half frozen sword. That was the type of thing people tended to notice.

“Open your hand, like you would to release a regular sword,” Valmont suggested.

She opened her hand and the sword disappeared. A bit of panic filled her chest at its absence. She closed her hand like she would do to hold a regular sword, and it reappeared this time without sinking fangs into her wrist, which was a plus. “Again, wow.”

“Agreed.” He checked his watch. “Why don’t you grab your key and we can show Miss Enid what we found.”



Miss Enid stared at Bryn like she was a candidate for a psychological evaluation.

“I swear we’re not making this up.” Bryn pointed at Valmont’s new sword. “Where do you think Valmont’s shiny new friend came from?”

“Show her yours,” Valmont suggested.

They were back in the room with the trapdoor, so it wasn’t like anyone could see. “Watch this.” Bryn held her arm out and pretended to pick up a sword. The sword came to life, making Miss Enid jump backward.

“Oh dear.” She touched her forehead like she felt a headache coming on. “I don’t understand how this is possible.”

“The writing was on the wall,” Valmont said.

Bryn choked back a laugh.

“I didn’t mean that as a joke. Literally, I saw the writing on the wall.”

Miss Enid paced back and forth. “We should alert the Directorate immediately before we go back down there. Otherwise they might think we’re conspiring against them.”

“Fine,” Bryn released the sword so it disappeared, “but I’m not handing this over to Ferrin. I’m calling my grandfather.”

One phone call to the Sinclair estates and her grandfather stalked into the library in record time. He didn’t bother with social niceties. “Show me the room.”

Okay. She’d show him her new bracelet after she showed him the room. It might make more sense then. She led the way down the stairs and over to the once again normal-looking wall.

“Is this some sort of joke?” her grandfather roared.

“It takes a knight bound to a dragon who is willing to bleed for him to open the door,” Miss Enid said like this was a common everyday fact.

Bryn grabbed Valmont’s hand, waited for him to touch his blade to the wall and then once again sliced her finger on the blade. Before she could touch the area where the door handle had been, her blood rolled down the blade and when it made contact with the wall the door appeared.

Her grandfather sucked in a breath. Good. She’d unsettled him. He’d done it to her often enough.

Valmont opened the door. Miss Enid turned on a battery-powered electric lantern, which flooded the room with light. “Oh my.” She stared in wonder and then set down a canvas bag bulging at the seams with what she’d called a book preservation kit, which she’d insisted on bringing.

“Sometimes there are old spells set to guard items which might still have power. What did you touch?” her grandfather asked.

“The sword called out to Valmont, so we knew that was safe,” Bryn said.

Her grandfather glared at Valmont. “That is Directorate property.”

Aw, crap.

Valmont unsheathed the sword. The dual colored flames danced in the light. “Can you argue it wasn’t meant for me? Especially since I’ll use it to defend your granddaughter?”

“You may keep it,” her grandfather said. “What else did you touch?”

Bryn pointed at the book with the crumbled pages. “I found that open and tried to turn the page, but it fell apart. And I opened that scroll.”

Valmont pointed at the disc with the maze. “Be careful. The edges on that thing look sharp.”

“Why were you down here in the first place?” her grandfather asked, sounding more curious than irritated.

“I’m writing a paper on the history of lineage checks.”

“Strange topic choice.” Her grandfather pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and picked up the maze disc.

“There’s still a lot I don’t know about this world,” Bryn said. “I thought that was a good place to start.”