Harper Bennett let out a sharp, jagged sigh, her eyes glowing with a faint amber light. "I have a plan. Take the Hayes contract. Once you mark that parchment with your thumbprint, you’ll have the first ten million silver. I’ll scour the Bennett vaults and pull together the rest. You can throw the twenty million at Hudson’s feet and sever the bond. It galls me to give that monster a single coin, but your soul is worth more than silver."

Avery was stunned. The Bennett family’s territory had been plagued by drought, and their treasury was far from overflowing. Raising ten million silver would be a heavy blow to their...