Chapter 33 – Neve #2
His powers weren’t exactly like a vampire’s compulsion, fae mind reading powers, or whispering, but they were close.
Bac could suggest something to someone, and they’d have the overwhelming urge to help him.
No questions asked. Bac said there were other facets to his magic, but that this bit would be the most useful to us, so that was what we focused on.
We’d have Freyia with us too and her compulsion was an option, but no one wished for her to use her magic unless it was a last resort.
Getting in. Persuading. And then leaving—walking calmly down the street and vanishing without issue. Or so I prayed.
Guards so large they had to be part troll flanked the towering double doors of the coinary. Luccan paid them no mind as he strode inside with the rest of us behind him.
Fires blazed in two long hearths that lined the hallway leading into the main chamber where leprechauns helped clients.
I craned my neck to peer around Luccan. It appeared we’d timed this right. Aside from the leprechauns on duty, of which about half the desks were occupied, only one client lingered in the chamber. The fewer people to witness this, the better.
The sounds of our boots echoing on the floor intensified as we entered the main chamber.
Above, a ceiling, gilded and domed, nearly took my breath away.
Emeralds cut the golden dome into sixteen equal parts and at the top gleamed a gem that looked to be a diamond.
The ceiling alone made it clear that this coinary was more prestigious than the one I’d seen in Eygin.
Like the ceiling, the desks that the leprechauns sat behind appeared to be made of solid gold. The floor was white marble and chandeliers dripping with gems lined the long room.
A leprechaun with a bald, wrinkled head and extremely long ears stood from his desk, approached Luccan, and bowed.
“Lord Riis. A surprise to see you here. I’m Coinmaster Balvor. What may I do for you?”
“I wish to enter my vault and withdraw items. And I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
The leprechaun clasped his hands in front of him. “Very well, no need to sit down then. Allow me to retrieve the cauldron.”
The Coinmaster darted over to his desk and back. “Your hand, if you please.”
Luccan obliged, placing a hand on the cauldron. Though I couldn’t see it, I assumed that his name appeared on the cauldron’s other side, telling the leprechaun that Luccan was exactly who he claimed to be.
“Follow me, my lord. Your servants can wait here.”
“I wish for them all to come to assist,” Luccan replied.
We’d figured we’d come up against this roadblock, but both Luccan and Vale were sure that if Luccan insisted, they’d allow us all into The Below.
Nobles brought guards and servants—perhaps this many was unusual, but it wasn’t unheard of. “I don’t care to carry it all.”
We planned to stuff our pockets to make that true. After all, extra gold never hurt.
Balvor hesitated, tilting his head to the side. One of his ears flopped slightly to the side. “Can we keepers of the coin assist?”
“I prefer my own help.”
Not surprisingly, Balvor’s smile disappeared as he turned back to the restricted part of the bank. “As you wish, my lord. Follow me.”
Luccan walked behind the leprechaun, and we followed. I didn’t spot anyone watching us, and yet when we passed through a door leading into a dark tunnel that led downward, I sighed.
“Few people have that response to the back part of a coinary. Most find it stifling.” Balvor eyed me with interest as he pulled a torch from the wall and lit it with magic. “Are you part leprechaun?”
“Uh, not that I know of,” I said, unable to lie. But who knew? Maybe long, long ago, I’d had a leprechaun ancestor.
“Hmm, too bad. Watch your step. And stay away from the walls.” Balvor descended the staircase.
Despite the light from the torch, inky blackness enveloped us on the way down.
The staircase was wide enough for four to walk side-by-side, though after Balvor’s warning, we went in single file.
I took such care to focus on the steep steps that when a growl came from my right, I tripped onto Vale, who walked ahead of me.
Thankfully, my mate proved more surefooted and caught me.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Theft deterrents,” Balvor chirped as though he’d been waiting for someone to fear the creature I still could not see. “Monsters, caged along the staircase. All kinds, at random intervals.”
“Stars,” I breathed. I’d been told that we’d encounter captive creatures of tooth and claw down below, but on the steps too?
Did Luccan know what they were? Vale? As we ventured to a part of the coinary where the wealthiest and the oldest noble families in the city kept their prizes, I had to imagine that both had gone this way before. Questioningly, I looked at Vale.
“They’re fairly new, and I don’t know what’s inside,” he whispered. “But I’m sure they remain caged unless a leprechaun releases them.”
And with Bac’s powers of persuasion, that wouldn’t happen. I swallowed but kept going.
Down, down, down we went. It felt like we’d descended at least four stories into the ground, and we weren’t at the bottom.
Occasionally, another growl or snarl filled my ears, and while I did not fall again, I couldn’t help but wonder what might be lurking a few paces to either side, caged and unseen down a narrow hallway that branched off the steps.
I wondered, but I prayed we wouldn’t find out.