He sensed the fleeting panic the female warrior before him could not quite conceal.
Shadow energy surged around Renato, clearly relaying the changes in her emotions to him.
Fear, surprise... but no killing intent. Raven's first reaction had been terror, not an instinctive urge to silence him.
That suggested she was not a follower of Ghaunadaur.
"Wh-what are you saying!" The mercenary commander stood on the back of the sofa, her back pressed against the wall, her voice distorted with fear. "I don't know anything... no! I didn't hear anything!"
Watching Raven sweat profusely, too frightened to know what to do, Renato gained a deeper understanding of just how tightly Samoriel City controlled its people's thoughts.
The three entered the secret chamber at the top of the tower and resumed their negotiations.
Ghaunadaur's divine name had given Raven quite a fright. The way she had sprung off the sofa in a panic hardly seemed like an act.
But once she realized that neither of them was an Inquisitor from the Ruling Council, the seasoned mercenary gradually regained her composure.
The chamber was small, with several rows of shelves nailed to the walls, piled high with assorted food and supplies.
Strips of dried meat hung from the beams, while several barrels of fresh water and cheap mushroom wine stood stacked in a corner.
Renato could not help wondering whether the room doubled as a storeroom.
"So you want information about the Gray Zone?" Raven perched on a small stool, twirling a key ring around her finger. "There's no shortage of rumors about that damned place. Some true, some false-who can say? By the usual rules, information about a secret cult like this is worth quite a bit..."
"This is why you lowborn wretches will never earn the Goddess's favor," Tristana