The ceremony of "dropping luck" was over, but the banquet inside the hall was still going strong—which meant one thing: the dreaded toasting rounds.

Sophia sat by the flowerbed, still holding her little pot.

After going back and forth in her mind, she decided to stash the whole pot of loot behind the fountain statue. For one, it was out of sight. And two, the crowd tonight was all rich and powerful—who'd care about a few trinkets?

She had just ...