ise

ed cold as the two hired thugs

on the table with naked, feverish greed. "But that piece was swindled from my stall. Hand it over

ookshelves. Arthur Sterling immediately scrambled in f

d, his voice shaking despite his anger. "Do you have any ide

cond, fear warred with the promise of

ntly to the thugs beside him, "but I won't be robbed of a

hed his wand through the

efore the spell light could even coa

draw my h

ed my right hand, and snapped my

n. No glowing

mospheric mana erupted from my palm,

ught the casting thu

ac

cketing backward through the air, smashing straight into the display cases by the entrance. Glass shattered in a viole

dead, terrif

looked unhinged. The second thug stared at me with w

ess m

t cas

nd ancient elders of the High Council. For an eighteen-year-old girl in a threadbare tunic to sna

mchair, his breath whistling through his

eyes to the

," I sai

slip from his fingers, turned on his heel, and sprinte

violently that the brass knuckles clattered against hi

back, the front bell chimed

their seven-foot granite frames blocking the daylight entirely. Their

e zone," the lead warden rumbled, his voice g

authority. "Attempted armed robbery against the Sinclair estate. Take this tra

to the floor, magical suppression manacles clamped around his wrists, his hysterical

, save for the ticking o

table, my expression

said, "shall we con

d across his weathered face. He reached inside his coat, pulled out a heavy velvet

fied promissory chits, redeemable at any branch

I said. "J

parchment into my coat, and then casually reached out

rrowed. "Eloise? W

paid for its true value. But you won't live to

what I meant, his face sud

lutched his left chest, his knees buckling under h

hick veins of pitch-black, necrotic mana began sp