Sin shifts like he’s thinking of dragging her right back.
I give him a slight shrug. “I mean, she has a point. We should check it out.”
His jaw works as he slowly nods, and his eyes return to tracking her steps. “You work for Ragna.” It’s a statement, not a question.
Immediately, she stops short and whirls around to glare at him. “Stay the fuck out of my head.”
Before I can speak up, Sin returns her hostility. “Trusting strangers is what got us into this mess. If reading your thoughts is what it takes to ensure you aren’t a threat to my mate, then I can assure you that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
His threat floors me, but before I can wonder if he’s bluffing, Sin’s power pulses. Red light creeps in her direction.
She doesn’t even flinch.
At this point, I’ve decided she’s either a badass or an imbecile. Exasperation bleeds into my tone as I try to find common ground. “Look, it doesn’t take mind-reading to realize we work for the same person.”
Figuring the bone ring is likely our best bet at proving we work for Ragna, I reach into Sin’s pocket. His brow lifts, and then he looks amused as I dig around, not finding it.
I narrow my eyes at him. “A little help?”
He lets out a low chuckle, reaching into his other pocket and handing me the bone ring. The moment it leaves his fingers, it pulses against my hand.
I ignore the sentient jewelry, because frankly, I have bigger problems. “We work for Ragna, just like you.”
I hold up the ring, hoping it’s not just some super common Beast Realm trinket.
She nods but doesn’t look any more trusting. Sin’s suspicion hasn’t eased either.
Work with me, people!
Still, no more accusations are thrown out, and we manage to leave the cavern in search of evidence.
The redhead leads the way, likely because Sin doesn’t want her walking behind us.
The dark tunnels are quiet, and despite our earlier scuffle, there’s no clanging metal of guards to indicate reinforcements are coming.
We walk through the silence for only a few minutes before I hear it – whispering static echoes down the tunnel. It’s faint, but growing louder with our every step.
Souls.
Neither the redhead nor Sin gives any indication that they can hear it, too. There’s a fork in the pathahead, and thankfully, the redhead takes a left, turning toward the sound before I can direct her.
A small part of me hopes she didn’t hear me mention my Reaper power to Sin.
It’s the delusional part.
The static becomes a cacophony of echoes when the tunnel opens into another cave. This space is easily double the size of the throne room, and unlike the other passages, it’s blindingly bright.
The light comes from row upon row of cages that cut across the cavern. Each one glows brightly blue, thanks to the souls packed inside them. There are thousands of them.
My jaw drops. “So, this is where they’ve been hiding.”
The redhead doesn’t bother slowing as she responds, “No. This doesn’t even scratch the surface of how many souls have gone missing.”
She strides through the room, barely sparing a glance at the spirits, as she heads for a door at the far end. Anxious to see if there are more cages filled with souls, we follow.
We make our way down another tunnel until we come across another large cave. This one is set up like some kind of factory. Steel rods are piled against walls, tools litter the maze of work surfaces, and forges are still lit. It looks like it was just vacated.
Stifling heat radiates from the embers, causing sweat to drip down my back as I walk along the different workstations. A frown pulls against my lips as I try to figure out how this fits together.
