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
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