Rin, who listened in silence, finally said, “Knowing that Hayle is susceptible to Seeds and getting injured means he would heal slower, yet he makes you both Hunters. Doesn’t that count towards using you?”
She knew who their mentor was.
Baltory Weis. The Section Head of the Division of Internal Investigations, Department of Law Enforcement.
Cnaris hated his guts. Rin didn’t like him either. She found him too much pretense and too little substance.
Rayve turned away. “You don’t understand. Even if he does, it doesn’t matter. I will do anything for him.” He clenched his fists. “And I’ll protect Hayle too.”
The older Signon twin turned out to be someone who threw in everything in a gamble. She wondered if his actions were more parts bold or more parts stupid.
You’ll lose it all in one wrong move, she thought to herself, and already very close to it too.
“So, you decided to trade your heart?” she asked.
“I…I went ahead of myself,” he forced himself to concede. “I heard about the Heart Shop – that they offered anything in return for some kind of payment.”
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“So you asked them to cure Hayle?”
“Yes,” Rayve hissed through his teeth. “I told them I was willing to pay, but they lied to me. They held Hayle captive.”
Rin did not want to ask what he paid them with. She thought the contract was full of loopholes to begin with. The biggest loophole was the unknown nature of the Seed.
“Making him part of the Seed removed his weakness” Rin said They didn’t lie. You were the one who took the bait.”
“They did. It made his condition worse than before.”
“No,” Rin said firmly. “When he becomes a Seed, he will no longer have the problem.”
Rayve’s eyes widened in horror. “He is not going to become a Seed.”
“You’re not the one having the last say, not after selling your brother to the shop.” The words came out before she could help herself. Rayve turned whiter than a sheet. “I told you to stop before you regret it.”
“Thank you for reminding me, and this is precisely why I came to you for help,” Rayve said, tone rising in anger.
“So you’re hiring me?”
“I’ll pay you if you ask for it-” he snapped and stopped, realizing how foolish he sounded. “Darn it all! Are you enjoying yourself now?”
“No, I’d rather be in bed, rather than getting stuck in other people’s lives and stories – all of which have nothing to do with me.”
“Well, you’re stuck here with me now. Do you have a way out of it?”
Rin turned on the spot, examining her surroundings. The night was unnaturally silent and incomplete. She wondered if the Master was watching somewhere. “The rules were created by the Master himself. This Territory belongs to a Seed, and there’s ultimately only one way to handle a Seed.”
“How are you going to –” Rayve began and stopped as realization dawned on him.
She gave him a cold smile. “When it comes down to it, I’m going to destroy it all – this pretentious clockwork street, and the Heart Shop along with it.”