Page 32 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

Do nothing. Because he knew. He had to know. Right? Otherwise, why else would Sway ask him for permission before committing acts of violence? Why would he act like it was totally normal when Sway showed up at his window so he didn’t leave a comm trail?

If the captain was compromised…

Then the crew was too.

There was nowhere safe for her to go! Nowhere secure to run to. His room-

She was staying in his room!

“Grace?”

That was Garnet she ran past. Her fellow human, confused, gave her a look as she passed. Grace turned at the last moment, nearly twisting an ankle as she whipped her head back. Garnet was different. That dress, her expression… had she always had bangs?

“You’re Grace, right?” She asked, like she didn’t know.

This place was crazy! And if she was mated to the captain, then she knew too!

Turning on her heel again, Grace continued her desperate flight.

Though she knew it was his room, Grace had nowhere else to return to. To hide in. She raced inside and locked the door. She’d watched Sway program it only to her, but her heart was pounding as she considered someone coming along and forcing it open anyway.

Now what?

Had she left the psycho boss just to put herself in the hands of a psycho killer?

“Dang it,” she breathed, running her hand over her hair.

She was already on the ship, rocketing through space.

They still needed to finish calibrating the subspace crystals or they wouldn’t be able to swing, so they’d be stuck moving at sub-light speed.

It would be easy for someone to catch up to them, and she still had her combot, so she could-

The door chimed, alerting her that someone was on the other side. Grace froze.

Had Sway come to…

She wasn’t sure what he might have come to do. Murder her? Hurt her? Some part of her didn’t believe that he would, but isn’t that what so many victims said? They never saw it coming. They seemed like such a nice person. If it was always obvious, there’d be a lot less victims, right?

“Grace?”

She flinched, but that wasn’t Sway’s voice. It was Garnet’s. The door was too thick to be heard through. Her voice was being filtered through an audio channel.

“I’m calling the peacekeepers!” Grace yelled back.

“And that’s okay. If that’s what you want to do. But can I talk to you first?”

Grace didn’t move immediately. Holding herself, she frowned at the door. She couldn’t see anything through it, but she felt Garnet standing on the other side.

She didn’t answer. Her heart thudding painfully in her chest. Garnet knew too. Of course she did, if she was mated to the captain and he knew then she had to know. Grace had seen another human and just assumed it was safe. Just because they were the same species! How stupid was that?!

About as stupid as seeing a farasie and just assuming he was safe. Was that a prejudice? A positive one, maybe, but she’d let it make her assume things about someone and make a possible lethal decision. And now she was trying to figure out a way to get out of here before-

“He didn’t have to tell you, you know,” Garnet said, her voice soft and beseeching. “That’s my fault. I told him to be honest. I, er, didn’t think he’d do it immediately. Or quite so bluntly. But these guys are nothing if not dedicated. I’ll give them that.”

Grace was biting on her lower lip. Garnet was laughing, but the sound was sorrowful and uncomfortable. The sort of awkwardness born from a silly oops kind of mistake. Not the kind that led to someone confessing to murder.

Which he didn’t have to do.

Right. He didn’t have to do that. Why would he do that? He had to know she’d take it badly. That anyone would take it badly.

And why would he come out and just announce it? It really made no sense. It honestly didn’t even seem real.

But that look in his eyes…

Cautiously, heart pounding painfully against her sternum, Grace slowly approached the door and pressed the button to unlock it on the console. Almost immediately, it slid open, revealing Garnet. Who was wearing pants, not a dress, and definitely didn’t have bangs.

Oh. There were two humans on this ship, Grace realized distantly. They must be sisters. It was a distant thought though as Grace looked at the sheepishly grinning Garnet.

“Hey,” she greeted. Awkward. Like they’d run into each other at the water cooler and weren’t quite sure what to say. “Can I, er, come in?”

Grace hesitated before stepping to the side.

“Thank you,” Garnet inclined her head as she walked past.

Grace looked into the hall, but there was no one waiting there to jump her. To hurt her. The door slid shut again no problem and it was just the two of them alone in the small room. Garnet was standing along the far wall, twisting her fingers together, as Grace looked back at her.

For a long minute, neither of them said anything. Just stood there, staring, waiting for the other to speak. The air was tense and silent. Garnet was the one who broke it first.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted at last. “I told Sway he should tell you the truth. That if you two were going to be something, he owed you the truth. I guess,” she laughed awkwardly, “there was a miscommunication. Instructions were unclear. I did not mean for him to just say it out loud all bluntly like that.”

“You know then,” Grace breathed. “That’s he’s…”

“Oh, yeah.” Garnet nodded quickly. “They all are.”

That wasn’t a surprise. But it was still dreadful to hear. Grace’s knees went weak, and she dropped down onto the side of the bed. Garnet was quick to sit next to her.

“But, hey, that doesn’t make them bad people,” she rushed to say, putting her hand over Grace’s like she was trying to comfort her.

“How- How does being a murderer not make you a bad person?”

“I guess it depends on the context?”

“The context?!” Grace gave her an incredulous look.

Garnet nodded. So firmly and confidently, it made Grace wonder if she was the crazy one. “I’m not saying what they did was necessarily morally right. I’m just saying that, considering their circumstances and knowing their pasts, they should get some leeway.”

“Do you hear yourself?” Grace yanked her hand away. “Do you even know what Rik-Vane is ? It’s the kind of criminal cesspool that you can’t even be properly warned about. It’s a nightmare.”

“Have you been there?”

“Of course, not! No one goes there. It’s a place where the most evil scum of the universe run to escape because they can’t go anywhere else. It’s a den of the worst of worst. Where murderers walk the streets and killers control the gangs and-”

“Tanin was born there.”

Grace fell silent. Looking back at Garnet. The girl had a hard look on her face.

“You think he deserved it?” She asked, a harsh edge in her voice.

Like she was daring Grace to say something bad about her mate.

“You think he earned that punishment? That fate? He was born into that life. He had no choice but to do what he needed to in order to survive. You can’t possibly condemn him for that until you’ve lived through what he did and came out the other side lily white. ”

“That’s not…”

“I don’t know Sway’s story. I don’t know how he got there. But I do know that he chose to get out. He chose to leave that life behind. All of the guys did. They escaped Rik-Vane because they didn’t want to be those people anymore.”

“Garnet-”

“They are bad guys, yes. Okay. I get that. They have done terrible things. All of them have. I’m not excusing that. All I’m telling you is that you have no right to judge them for it. Not when you don’t know what they lived through. What brought them here.”

Grace couldn’t rebuke that. Not when she was met with the passion and determination burning in Garnet’s eyes.

She really believed what she was saying.

It was important to her. So much so that Grace could see the pain of it etched into the lines of her scowling face.

She could only stay silent as Garnet got to her feet.

“They’re bad guys, but they’re good men,” she said, giving Grace a cold look.

“And they’re my boys. And whatever just happened here with you and Sway, that’s my fault.

I gave him bad advice. But don’t you ever condemn my boys without hearing their story.

And don’t act like you’re some kind of victim here.

You chose to come on this ship. You chose to follow him. ”

“That’s not…”

“If you want off, tell me now. We can still turn this ship right around and put you back on Hir-Fallow before dinner time. You weren’t kidnapped.

You’re not being held against your will.

And if you want to call the peacekeepers, go ahead.

We’re not going to stop you. But all of them are here now with the blessings of Captain Ikvar of the peacekeepers.

He knows full well who they are, and he is letting them be free.

I’m sorry you’re scared, and I’m sorry Sway misunderstood me, but in no way were you ever wronged or hurt by him. ”

With that, Garnet turned on her heel and marched from the room. Grace winced when the door slid shut behind her.

How did she manage to come out of that interaction feeling guilty ?

She wasn’t the killer here! She hadn’t done anything wrong! If she knew beforehand that Sway had such a past, she wouldn’t have come at all! Anyone would feel the same!

Still, discomfort continued to churn and swirl inside her belly.

Because it’s not like she asked about Sway’s past. She didn’t even try to check on him, or any of the crew of the Humility. She’d pulled a real dumb girl act by just trusting herself to some guy because he was cute.

No, not even because he was cute. She’d seen that he was a farasie, and then just assumed that she was safe with him.

Like the prejudice that made Covor and the dock crew treat Loyalty badly, but just swinging in the opposite way.

She’d judged him by what he was and put herself in his hands without a second thought.

How did Garnet manage her to flip this around on her so completely?