Page 31 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

Grace

The Humility was an old ship, but it was well cared for. The ship’s AI especially didn’t seem to be as old as the ship would suggest. It didn’t hesitate to respond to her and the answers and help it gave were all pretty advanced, sometimes even anticipating what Grace would need before she asked.

The first day, while Grace was hiding from the docking crew, not wanting to answer questions about why she was here and not at work, she cleaned Sway’s room.

He tidied up before leaving, but it needed a deep, proper cleaning.

She had nothing better to do, and the ship’s AI had the supplies she needed brought to her on a little hover cart.

She scrubbed the privy from top to bottom – even getting rid of that ghostly stain that, indeed, looked like a very messy and warped ‘leave’.

She had to squint to actually form the letters, but it was definitely there.

Well, until she scrubbed it away. Frantically working off her nervous energy as she was finally able to come to terms with everything that happened in the last few days. Energy that only became more important to burn when she felt the Humility taking off from the dock.

Taking her away from this chapter of her life. It hadn’t been a long one, but the ending meant she was definitely going to remember it vividly.

She did at least get one friend out of it.

Reetak messaged her before they left, explaining that she’d assumed control over Grace’s docks until she could get a replacement.

Covor still hadn’t come into work. Although he would have been healed very quickly by any mediring on the station, he likely didn’t want to return until the threat was gone. Which worked out just fine for Grace.

Reetak made her promise to stay in contact, and she likewise promised to update her with all the juicy gossip once Covor finally dragged his sorry butt back to work.

Meanwhile, Grace successfully healed from being traumatized about what happened and moved on to being angry and incredulous.

Her life was upended and totally ruined because some crazy, handsy guy got it in his head that he owned her somehow.

It was desperately unfair, and she’d already sent a message to the company explaining what happened and why she left so suddenly.

She might have edited it a little when it came to her rescue, downplaying the violence from Sway and Loyalty.

She didn’t want that to be the focus, and she didn’t think either of them did anything wrong.

Violence from a farasie surprised her, sure, but that had faded now.

She was grateful for his help, more than anything.

She’d even looked it up. Farasie would indeed commit violence for the sake of someone important to them.

It wasn’t encouraged among their people.

No one would gladly proclaim that they would kill for the sake of their mate or children.

But if someone did , no other farasie would be able to condemn that action.

Honestly, Grace was rather flattered.

Did she mean that much to him? Did he feel the same draw towards her that she did to him?

How did the farasie mate? She wasn’t sure, and now she was too nervous to look it up.

Like if she searched for the answer, she would be making something real that, right now, was only a faint possibility.

Or, worse, ruining something by realizing it wasn’t what she thought.

After the upheaval of everything else, she couldn’t add that to her plate.

She just couldn’t handle the answer right now – positive or negative. She was stress cleaning and hiding from reality, she definitely wasn’t ready for more life altering changes.

Still, despite everything, when she felt the ship moving, she emerged from her new room curious. She’d done lots of work on starships over the years since she first began working at Uver Prime. But she’d never been able to see the results of her work.

As the admin girl, she just coordinated the people doing the actual labor.

She told them what needed fixing, then waited for them to tell her it was fixed.

She didn’t get to see the difference between those two points.

Her post-repair walkthrough was just that, a walkthrough.

At best, she could see how much cleaner things looked, not how much better they operated.

The engine was deadened now, the new shielding keeping things quiet the way it was meant to. It also kept the heat and radiation from leaking out. Even when she walked past the door she knew led into the engine room, she didn’t feel any excess heat.

The ship smelled better. It looked better.

It was still outdated as far as style. And no amount of scrubbing would ever be able to make this place sparkle like new again.

It was always going to show the signs of its age, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Nor did it take away from the charm of the ship.

Like a classic car that would never again be fit for a showroom but would always shine as proof of what the vehicle could do.

The difference between a museum quality car and a street quality one of the same make and model.

There weren’t any windows that she found while wondering, but the ship’s AI was very helpful when she asked it to direct her to the galley. She had been there once before, of course, but that honestly felt like a lifetime ago now.

The new food synthesizer was taking up the majority of the space in the small room.

The table was still in there, shoved against a far corner, but the stools that went with it were gone.

There was no other choice as the synthesizer needed that space.

That was fine since, clearly, no one ate in here anyway.

Grace began tapping at the console of the machine, checking out all the recipes and options. She was in the mood for something decadent and sweet. The kind of hot, gooey sweetness that made her teeth hurt but her heart warm.

The sound of footsteps caught her ear, and she turned just as Sway walked in. She immediately smiled, stepping to the side, making room for him to stand next to her.

“Hey, you,” she greeted happily. “I was just getting hungry. Figured I could get something that’s at least fifty percent sugar and one hundred percent bad for me. It seems like a good day to eat my feelings to make them better. Got any recommendations?”

“I’m a murderer.”

Grace’s finger paused over the console.

Huh?

What did he say?

Looking back at him, the rest of her body still frozen, she frowned. “That’s a bad joke, Sway.”

But he wasn’t smiling or laughing. He was staring right at her with the solemn sort of seriousness of someone on the stand about to be questioned by a team of cutthroat lawyers.

“I’m not joking,” he said, his tone firm but not hard. Sincere. “I’m a murderer. I’ve killed a lot of people. I don’t know how many. I lost count. No. I don’t think I ever kept count.”

“Sway, seriously, this isn’t funny.” She finally pulled her hand back, holding it to her chest as she took a reflexive step away from him. Annoyed, because this was a bad prank.

“I spent most of my life on Rik-Vane.”

Grace’s breath caught in her throat. “Rik… Rik-Vane…?”

“I escaped a few years ago. But while I was there, I hurt and killed a lot of people just so I could keep on living.”

Grace’s heart was pounding. Despite the voice in her head yelling, insisting, that he had to be making a poor joke, fear was licking at her belly.

But that was stupid, because he had to be joking.

She tried to tell the burst of fear that.

But it did no good. Not when he was looking at her with those eyes.

Those soulless eyes again. The same ones that stared down the barrel of a gun and beheld a dead man on the floor and felt nothing.

The fear was rising up her throat to choke her from within and she couldn’t make it stop.

Rik-Vane was possibly the most infamous cesspool of criminals in the universe. The station was all but abandoned by authorities and instead had been taken over by the demented and the lawless. Only the worst of the worst went there, and only the truly terrible survived there.

Grace had heard of Rik-Vane like it was a monster.

The kind of place that parents didn’t mention to their kids.

The kind of place drunk, young fools would claim they could definitely dominate if they ever had a chance to go there.

It wasn’t mentioned in polite company, and the people that lived there were spoken of like fetid beasts scrounged up from the deep.

But Grace had never heard of someone escaping Rik-Vane. That wasn’t even possible. So, this had to be a joke. A gag. A prank. Right?

Sway couldn’t really be…

He just continued to look at her, his eyes distant. Cold. Empty. Unfeeling. He didn’t have that gentle smile on his lips. His crest was plastered tight on his head, his tail pulled thin. Unnaturally still. Totally without feeling. It was like there wasn’t anything sapient there.

“You’re lying,” she breathed. Needing him to say that he wasn’t being for real. That it was all just an unfunny laugh at her expense.

“I’m not,” he said simply.

Just like that.

He wasn’t joking.

He was a murderer.

A murderer from Rik-Vane!

“Grace, I-”

He reached for her.

She turned and ran.

Didn’t even think about it. Didn’t give herself permission to do it. She just took off. The only thought on her mind to get away. To put distance between herself and the self-proclaimed murderer!

“Grace!” He called out, but she didn’t stop. Didn’t turn around.

Oh, stars, was he chasing her? Was he hunting her down.

There was nowhere she could go! She was stuck on a ship!

The captain!

She should get help from the captain. Surely, he would-