Heist of Yaventown : An epic fantasy romance with elves, gang wars, and thievery! (Thieving Hearts Book 1) by Alex Callan & Angelica Babineaux

Author:Alex Callan & Angelica Babineaux [Callan, Alex & Babineaux , Angelica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alanset Books, L.L.C.
Published: 2023-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20: The Dragon’s Hoard

Sylf

For every trap, puzzle, and monster that we’ve had to face so far, this had better be the greatest heist Ilcanos has ever seen, let alone Yaventown.

I slip past Tomlyn, scrutinizing the new room. An empty bookcase, a desk with no drawers, a chair that doesn’t match any other furniture.

…Which naturally drags your eyes to the great statue of a dragon, embedded in the south wall. The statue is bright red with intricately carved scales, its mouth open as if to spout flame and hellfire down upon us.

Tomlyn strolls towards it, falling back into that hips-forward position. From the back, his shoulders shift beneath the thin white shirt, and all I can think of is the stark difference between the breadth of his shoulders and his narrow waist. It’s appealing in a way I don’t expect.

This is foolish. We’re so close, I need to focus. After casing this mansion for months I got a feel for its shape and size. Even with the madness with the hallways, we are reaching the end of the road.

Then he turns to look at me, his bright red eyes calculating.

I turn away from him a bit too fast to look at the desk. There’s a tall device resting on the surface, a crystal spinning within a rectangular metal case, runes etched into the sides. Next to it is a note written in Common. Picking it up, I blow off the dust, and read:

To whomever finds this, a simple touch is all it needs to stop. Then, the charade will be done. You, who have bested my dearest friend, are worthy to continue my research. Good luck.

“Is that it?”

Tomlyn leans forward over my shoulder and taps the glass.

“No, wait—”

There’s a loud clunk, and the armored trunk of the dragon shifts to reveal a golden spinning wheel with several dials.

Tomlyn kneels down and runs his hands over the mechanism. “Okay, alright. Last thing between us and the goods, right?”

As Tomlyn starts to fiddle with it, occasionally swearing when something crunches instead of clicking seamlessly, I recall exactly what sort of mechanism it is.

As a girl, I remember one dull, snowy day at home where my father had me try and crack a safe with this same mechanism on it. Even with most of my strategies, it still took the better part of an hour to figure out the mechanism. Far too long for it to be useful in any circumstance. Then, at the end of it, my father unlocked it in six seconds before I stormed out of the room scowling.

Sometimes the best strategy is the simplest.

“Okay, I think I got it—the hallway had six entryways to it, and the corridors had five different iterations that we saw, maybe there’s a numerical sequence to the portions we pass. Okay, let me try—”

I pull out my dagger and wedge it into the seam between the first mechanism and the second, popping it off the door completely. I try to only relish the look

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.