I think the good flamen had still entertained until then the fond delusion that he was in charge of his own fate, despite the death of a young darling of the empire who was in some manner under his care. So when I came out of the channel under the egg and he tried to instruct me in his High Church voice, I hooked one finger into his mouth and dragged him bodily against me by the cheek, which is exquisitely painful, and then I pinned him against the Chamber with my blade. Not actually pinned. He was not pierced. Pinked, maybe.