Read Online Iron Cast by Destiny; Soria - Free Book Online Page A

That suspicious son of a gun? Don’t worry, our councilman is no idiot. You know he was the one who first started wearing an iron ring as a way to identify hemopaths when he shook their hands? Every jeweler in the city made a mint after that story broke.”
    â€œI don’t see how you did it, then.”
    They passed under the tracks of the elevated railway, and a train rumbled overhead. Sunlight glinted off its windows as it passed. Corinne walked a little faster until they were free from the crushing weight of the steel and iron.
    â€œIt’s not that hard to follow,” she said. “The Bengali banker is a long con based on the pig in a poke. But instead of foreign banknotes, we used elephants.”
    â€œWhy elephants?”
    Corinne shrugged.
    â€œCurrency can be counterfeit. No one’s going to pay for foreign bills without having them examined. When Ned Turner saw those elephants, he was practically throwing money at us. No one can counterfeit an elephant.”
    â€œNo one except a wordsmith.”
    â€œNo one except an exceptionally skilled wordsmith,” Corinne said, skipping over an uneven patch of concrete. “Elephants aren’t particularly subtle.”
    â€œI still don’t get it.”
    â€œIt’s not that complicated. We pretended we were with a failing circus from Canada, selling off our attractions as we traveled south. The Franklin Park Zoo is managed by the city, and Turner was eager to make his mark as councilman. We offered to sell our elephants for an absurdly low cost—or I guess it was. I’m not entirely sure whatthe market value for elephants is. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to make such a public spectacle of the deal.”
    Once the newspapers had been tipped off, Ada wanted to call it quits, but Corinne couldn’t resist the challenge. If they could swindle the councilman on a bridge full of citizens and press, then they would be the talk of Boston for decades to come. Hemopaths had been running small cons in the city for as long as Corinne had been alive, but no one had ever pulled off anything like her version of the Bengali banker. The fact that the councilman was the chief proponent of the movement to illegalize hemopathy only made their success that much sweeter. She just wished she could have seen Ned Turner’s face at the moment the elephants faded into nothing.
    â€œI understand the con,” Gabriel said, with only the barest hint of irritation in his voice. “I just don’t see how you tricked a Columbia graduate with twenty years of politics under his belt into thinking there was an elephant on the Harvard Bridge.”
    â€œIt was four elephants,” Corinne said. “And in my experience, the smartest person in the room is always the easiest one to fool.”
    Gabriel shook his head. “Maybe if you catch them off guard. Maybe years ago before anyone knew what hemopaths could do. But as soon as I hear you start quoting Wordsworth or Keats, then I know that you’re about to create an illusion. I know it’s not real.”
    â€œFirst of all, I would never waste breath on one of the Romantics. Second of all, are you really suggesting that I couldn’t fool you, right here, right now?”
    Corinne stopped walking and turned to face him.
    â€œHow could you, if I know you’re about to do it?” Gabriel asked.
    â€œTake off your hat,” Corinne said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œLet’s find out if you’re smarter than the councilman. Take off your hat.”
    â€œI just said—”
    â€œIf it only works on the weak brained or the gullible, then you have nothing to worry about.”
    Gabriel looked ready to protest further, but he removed his hat, holding it in both hands. There were a few people passing on the sidewalk, but they were all bundled in their coats, lost in their own business.
    â€œNow, what are you holding?” Corinne asked.
    With a pained