Page 110 of Sway's Peace
Why would he do that? Was it a trap?
But when Grace twisted it, it powered on just like it should. It floated in front of her and obeyed when she tried to open a display screen. It wouldn’t do that unless the owner had given permission for others to use it freely.
No one wanted random people using their combots. Most people would set theirs up to respond to friends or family if prompted. But that required that person being there when the permission was given. Setting it to open usage was the only way he could get the machine to obey her as things stood.
He obviously felt guilty and conflicted. But did he really mean this…?
Grace hesitated only a moment. Maybe itwasa trap, but even if it was, she couldn’t let the chance slip her by.
She didn’t have Tanin’s contact information – or anyone on the Humility, in fact. Sway was in charge of keeping in contact with the ship and, after all, she had only been a temporary passenger the last time she was there.
But what she did have was a subnet connection, and the Humble Delivery Service had a very public service request page. It didn’t have the comm signatures of the crew, but it did have a template to fill out for job requests.
Her fingers moved with the quickness of an experienced administrator. She wasn’t coy or cute about it either. In big letters, she begged for them to return. To help them. They hadn’t chosen to stay. They were in trouble.
All told, it probably took her twenty seconds to fill and send the message. It sent off without even a confirmation of receipt or promise to follow up. It seemed like a failing in the process for the service, but more importantly it made her more nervous.
Did it actually go through? Did they get it?
Maybe she should just comm the peacekeepers? She knew that Sway would be safe because he was here with their permission.
Right?
Or what if that was a lie Garnet told her to keep her from panicking? It seemed like the kind of thing they’d do to protect themselves. What if the peacekeepersdidn’tknow and she contacted them and then Sway ended up in a worse position?
No. She needed his crew. The people who understood him. The only ones who could be trusted to help him.
His real family.
She clung tight to the combot, waiting for some kind of signal from the page. Some sense that things were going to be okay.
It remained silent and unmoving. Even when she sent a second message through the job request page. Then a third.
Someone finally came around to clean up the mess she made with her tray and caught her with the combot in her hands. They snatched it away from her before running out. No doubt to tell on her to Veesway.
But the message went out already. Right?
Grace plopped down on the bed, her heart pounding. She looked to the window – she’d already tried and failed to break it – and out over the bright forest beyond the walls of the Song.
“Please be safe, Sway,” she begged softly, her heart clenching painfully in her chest.
Chapter 29
Sway
The forest was bright and lovely in the daylight. The vibrant yellows and oranges made for a tropical forest that seemed like it was golden and idyllic. The insects buzzing and flitting around were all bright and jewel toned. Sway was sure there were animals, he could even hear them calling to each other, but he had yet to see them.
However, they were definitely there, and certainly big. Whatever had dug this burrow was large enough that it needed enough space that Sway and Loyalty could both stand together in the hole without crowding the other.
The burrow was angled into the dirt, the opening half covered by a net of detritus. Whatever animal owned it before had matted grass and sticks and roots together into a crude mat and used to cover the opening. It was mostly pulled off now, leaving the entrance half open for Loyalty to stand in and look look through.
Aside from the music of the forest, the burrow was silent. Sway was sitting at the back, on what remained of the nest of whatever beast once made this home. He had his back against the roughly hewn wall. The soil was oddly solid. Whatever dug the hole hadspread something over the dirt that hardened it like stone so it wouldn’t collapse. It also made the hole much cooler than the bright, tropical air outside.
Sway had one leg up, his arm resting on it, staring forward at nothing. His thoughts seemed to be racing endlessly, yet also not forming into a single coherent thing.
He needed to get back. But no part of him wanted to step foot in the city. He was filled with a potent and poisonous combination of self-hatred, disgust, hurt, and longing. He couldn’t even figure out where any of his emotions were coming from. Every thought and memory was an icy needle striking him through the chest, all compounded by the guilt of not immediately leaping to his feet and going after his female.
“I don’t think we’ve been followed,” Loyalty said, stepping away from the entrance and coming to sit down across from him in the depths of the burrow. He mirrored his pose, the glow from his quills and eyes an eerie light in the dim hole.
