Page 74 of Elven Lies

This was all real. Everything Aldous had taken, either as payment from clients who’d contracted Shade’s expertise acquired during missions, all piled up in this vault. All abandoned, most likely to rot, because the bastard clearly had a hoarding problem.

And Shade hadn’t seen a penny of it.

Fucking changeling.

A screech of laughter ripped her from her stunned disbelief before Rowan darted past into the vault, tossing both hands in the air and leaping over haphazard stacks of valuables. “And they say this world lacks for any real riches!”

Another cackle echoed through the room.

Rebecca blinked again, looked over her shoulder, and saw only two dead orcs in the level-five lobby, both lying where they’d dropped in the golden circle on the floor. Still, it seemed a good idea to shut the door before moving on to investigate.

“What’s that saying humans have?” Rowan asked with another laughter as he rummaged through a jumbled pile of all the expensive jewelry that hadn’t made it into the display case. “You hit the fucking jackpot.”

“Thatisa very Earthside phrase,” Rebecca replied blankly, still not quite able to believe what she saw. “This is…way more than I expected.”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect shit from this guy. Everybody else made him sound like such a waste of space.”

“Hewas.”

“But look at all his stuff!” Rowan spread his arms wide and spun in a tight circle. His boot knocked against a stack of small, intricately carved wooden boxes and sent them toppling to the floor. The lid of the top box popped open to spill a cascade of perfectly cut gemstones in every color imaginable across one of the Turkish rugs.

He turned around again to investigate the spill, then burst out laughing. “Rich as hell!”

“And that’s because he never paid anything back into Shade.” Rebecca headed across the room, scanning every larger piece of furniture and smaller items sprawled across them to trail onto the floor. “He certainly didn’t pay anyone what they’re worth.”

“Except himself, obviously. Hey, checkthisout.” He crammed a solid gold crown encrusted with diamonds and sapphires onto his head, then turned toward Rebecca and set his fists on his hips, lifting his chin. “Payment fit for a prince, don’t you think?”

She almost choked on the thought. “Aldous was no prince. Trust me.”

“But how does it look onme?”

“Ridiculous.”

Rowan whipped the crown off his head, turned it back and forth in his hands, then planted a noisy kiss on one of the gems before tossing it aside. The crown clanged onto a hidden pile of something else that scattered under its weight with the sound of heavy coins bouncing and rolling across hardwood.

Rebecca couldn’t begrudge Rowan his enthusiasm. This was likely the largest, gaudiest collection of riches he’d seen on Earth. It was for her. Hell, the total combined value of everything in this single room was far more than Rebecca had ever seen gathered together all at once. Even in Agn’a Tha’ros, and that was an entirely different world.

Still, she couldn’t join Rowan in his giddy, childlike excitement. Half of her wanted to celebrate with him, because with Aldous out of the picture and Rebecca’s full access to everything he’d left behind, the contents of this room could change everything for Shade.

Their quality of living, their gear, supplies, ammo, security systems, updates, technology. Not just for active missions, either, but for everyone. They could update the entire compound itself. Buy the next hundred years’ worth of supplies for the infirmary. Order nothing but gourmet ingredients for the kitchen.

There was enough here to fund whatever they wanted, though Zida was more likely to reject it all out of sheer principle. And Bor would probably have a heart attack.

The thought almost made Rebecca laugh, but she just couldn’t let herself get there.

The other part of her was so unbelievably furious with Aldous for what he’d done, and that fury warred with her relief, making it impossible to give in to either response.

He had actually done this. He’d put all Shade’s operatives in harm’s way countless times. He’d compromised their missionsand imperiled every team and operation simply by being there with them in the field. Somehow, through all of it, he’d squirreled away all this wealth and all these treasures to lock them up in a fucking Nexus vault downtown, where no one else could get their hands on any of it.

Where no one else even knew it existed.

“What’s the matter with you?” Rowan asked, still laughing and scurrying about the room, his attention flittering from one item to the next like a blinded moth.

“I’m…processing,” Rebecca murmured.

“Well process faster. This isfantasticfor us!” His hip glanced against one of the framed art pieces propped against a second antique desk and leaped to keep the whole thing from toppling over before stopping to investigate the crate on top.

“I mean it,” he continued, his eyes glinting when he cracked open the lid and peered inside at the contents. His eyes widened, and his grin sharpened before he slammed the lid shut with a harsh snap. “We take the money, as much of it as we can carry, and use it to really go all out, you know?”

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