The heavy iron counter of the Central Vaults shuddered as five silver storage trays dropped onto the oak surface with a hollow, metallic ring.
Caleb Conway stood before the chief quartermaster, his newly bestowed purple jade medallion resting flat against the breast of his gray coat, its nine golden bands catching the lantern light. The administrative clerks in the surrounding cages had stopped checking their tallies, staring openly at the glowing credit voucher Caleb had slapped over the register. With forty-two thousand Merit Points awarded from the unmasking of the disciplinary treason and his elevation to True Genius, Caleb possessed more liquid purchasing authority than half the junior elder houses combined, and he had no intention of hoarding numbers on a parchment slip while an uns
