Page 106 of Sway's Peace
But he did know that he was not a survivalist. He could fight and survive in a station, in a city, in dangerous places full of people. But doing so in the wilds was a completely different skill set. One he absolutely did not have.
Still, he didn’t hesitate to follow Loyalty as he made his way towards the wall that was erected around the city. He moved like he knew where he was going, and apparently, he did. The place he led them to wasn’t just an ordinary stretch of wall. It was a maintenance door. One that let out right beside one of the large obelisks that were used for maintaining gravity and atmosphere.
Loyalty shoved his way through, knocking the door down. It had been completely ripped out of its tracks already, making it easy. When Sway ran through, he turned and helped Loyalty lift it back into place. They shoved it up, making it look as natural as possible before they turned and ran into the trees.
It was immediately a completely different world. A wild and unnerving one. The ground turned uneven and natural, the neatly laid roads replaced by detritus and rough terrain. Loyalty didn’t hesitate, charging through like he knew the place.
Luckily, the vibrant glow of his quills and eyes were easy to follow. Sway could focus on not tripping and falling as he jogged after him.
Too quickly, the sounds of the Song faded at their backs. The quiet, subtle music of the forest replaced it. The difference was jarring.
Sway paused and turned.
Through the trees, just barely, he could see the lights of the Song. He couldn’t hear their music any longer, but it was still whistling in his brain. Right alongside the screams of his past.
His chest hurt. Like something was ripping inside. It made each breath hard to pull in, but somehow also made each exhale feel incomplete. Like the air was still trapped there, creating a pressure that was going to either explode outward or cause an implosion.
His people, his father…
“Sway.”
He turned back again. Loyalty was there, glowing in the darkness. Staring at him from a few paces away, breathing hard.
He said nothing, but there was something like understanding in his gaze.
Sway looked away again. Back to the Song. It hurt no less the second time.
He put it to his back and followed Loyalty deeper into the darkness.
Chapter 28
Grace
Smack!
The hard slap, damped by feathers, rang loudly in the room. Grace’s hand throbbed, aching from the force. Probably more than Vweet’s face. But she ignored it, clenching her fingers into a fist as she considered landingthatacross his cheek instead.
The male couldn’t look her in the eyes. His head remained turned from the force of the slap. He was looking down, his crest flattened to his head. He was the very picture of shame.
And it only served to make her angrier.
Howdarehe stand there and look pitiful after what he did? What he was still doing!
The room remained silent and tense as she glared at him, heart pounding, mouth dry. Hating her own helplessness. Hating this city. Hating Vweet and every judgmental, self-righteous farasie that populated this place.
Sway was gone. Run off into the wild jungles of a terraformed planet that was home to who knew what kind of creatures. Exiled by his own people.
And she had been kidnapped.
Admittedly, Grace didn’tfeelparticularly kidnapped. Shouldn’t she be tied up and locked down and terrified? That was how kidnappings always worked on TV, right?
But while she had been locked in a room at the headquarters, she hadn’t been tied up or mistreated. The people were cold to her, and refused to touch her or meet her eye. They were treating her like a pariah or a lepper. But they gave her good food and clean water. The bed was soft and warm. She had access to a clean bathroom. She even had a window – though it was locked.
As far as prisons went, this really wasn’t a bad one.
But it was still a prison, and she had been locked in here while they waited to see if she had conceived with Sway.
That wasn’t possible. She had turned off her ovulation. The egg factory was offline, there was nothing to conceive.
