for the love of sin empty handed, you figured he missed reaping the target you were after. I don’t know why I can’t see the evidence of your crime crawling on you, but it must have been you.” “Camouflaging sins is a little trick I never taught you, Peter.” Gerd sighed. “And yes, sadly my newest apprentice has a long way to go before he becomes a competent seer. Not like you. You were my
discuss your ultimate disposition. Considering our position under the law, it is doubtful that you will cause us any problems. After all, who ever believes a sin-seer’s testimony? We are all charlatans, yes?” Gerd laughed at his own joke. My breath caught in my chest. “Don’t do it, Gerd. Leave my sins alone. You know I’ll confess to anything if the pain is great enough. Any tortured
“Camouflaging sins is a little trick I never taught you, Peter.” pride, my best student. But your moral compass is . . . how can I say it? Too precise, too true for this business. You do not yet have the fire in your gut to play our game well.” “So what is to come? Your geriatric henchmen here try to beat the truth out of me?” Gerd stepped closer to me. “No. We simply remove one of your sins and see if your ensuing distress produces the answer we need to hear.” He held a sin-extraction tool in his hand. “And later, we 51 - Crimson Fog
soul would. It won’t do you any good! Best you just kill me now.” Gerd only shrugged and stooped over me. I felt the slightest twinge in my upper arm. And then, terror. It was the horror of separation, of infinite, melancholic longing. A pit of blackness beyond black opened up before me: the loss of all hope. Worse than death, a fate that granted no mercy, no succor. A pain beyond imagining for all eternity. I screamed.