Page 29 of Healing Creek
Celestia smiled wide through her freckles. “I’ve always loved the wild tales from the Beta Sector expansion. I pretended to be a refugee runner when I was a kid. Smuggling hapless civilians from war torn planets out of the sector. Now,theywere heroic.”
Samantha’s lips tipped in a wistful smile. “In the heart of every indie pilot there’s an adventurer waiting to come out.”
Most at the table chuckled agreeably, but Grace couldn’t force herself to laugh with the others. She’d be traveling with Patel starting tomorrow. She wished she had Celestia’s courage. She was being ridiculous thinking she could somehow help her sister escape once they were together. She had to be the least courageous person on the ship.
Creek took her hand. The rough tip of his thumb brushed across her pulse point. “Are you afraid of riding with the crew?” Grace suppressed a shiver and shook her head. “No, of course not. You’re right. They wouldn’t jeopardize their release.” His hand enfolded hers in warmth and safety. “None of them were cruel to me, before you arrived. Mostly, they were indifferent.”
“Indifference to cruelty is no less cruel,” Creek said.
Jennifer, the sister who was known almost as much for her lectures on ethics as she was for her work in genetics, would agree with him. A knife twisted in Grace’s gut every time she thought about how she was being used to force her sister to go against her most precious beliefs.
The worry in his eyes squeezed her heart. She wasn’t worthy of such a good man, but she wanted to be. She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I’ll be fine.”
The realization that they’d drawn the attention of everyone at the table had her pulling her hand back.
Creek released her hand as she pulled it under the table and tapped out her anxiety.
“Yes,” said Carn, surprising everyone. “Inaction can be as cruel to those suffering as the action causing that suffering.”
“Or too little action,” added Diablo. “I don’t think Mercury is going to be satisfied with the progress the resistance has made in freeing our people.” He spat out the word progress as if it tasted bitter in his mouth.
Samantha stroked him soothingly. “Oh, Lo. You can’t discount the good they’ve done.”
He put a hand under her chin. “Would you have been satisfied to rescue Mercury and leave Carn and me to die?”
“No, of course not.” Samantha scowled at the idea.
Diablo huffed in approval then leaned over to rub his cheek against hers.
Thoughts bounded through Grace’s mind like cats in the night. She wished she could be as certain of the right thing to do as Samantha and Diablo seemed to be. She’d been thinking of her choice as being between her sister’s life and doing the right thing, but maybe that wasn’t the choice at all. Her chest tightened and she wanted to scream.
Creek cleared his throat. “It might be difficult to convince the resistance to do things differently, but I will stand with you and so will many of the other Dogs at Haven.”
He didn’t even want to return to Haven, but he would face the ones who’d hurt him to do what was right.
“There must be a better way to end the enslavement of our people,” Creek finished.
Grace noticed the hand Samantha moved to her abdomen as if she needed to protect the life that grew there.
Jennifer would never be able to live with herself if she was part of creating a new generation of slaves for the arena. Could Grace? Tears tracked down her cheeks and fell into her lap. The answer was finally easy. No.
Chapter Eleven
TheAbundance
EarthAllianceBetaSector
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Grace brushed the tears from her cheeks. She’d known Creek would notice. What she hadn’t expected was to end up in his lap. He lifted her and pulled her against his chest.
Right there.
In front of the whole table.
The sound of chatting and movement came to a halt and all eyes were on them. She should have felt exposed and afraid, but Creek’s arms wrapped her in warmth and support.
“What’s wrong, Grace?”
