Page 52 of Sway's Peace
Loyalty’s glowing purple eyes glanced over. They shined brightly, even in the lights of the room. He looked deliberately at the short distance between them. “You know, no one else in the Coalition would be comfortable letting me get this close. They fear me. My blood. If I’m hurt, no one will come near me. I can heal fast, thanks to the control I have over my blood, since it’s just my body. So, I don’t really need their help. But still, no one would even try. They’re afraid that a single drop of my blood or saliva, even just touching them, would be enough for me to infect their bloodstream and take over them too.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Grace rolled her eyes. “If it was that easy for you, we’d be overrun with xenoms already.”
Loyalty chuckled. “True. The process of claiming a new body is more complex than they think. I can’t claim just any body. It’s not quick or easy. But reality doesn’t matter. I’m a monster that can infect you with my blood and kill you while you’re helpless to fight back. That’s all they see. And that’s all that matters.”
“That doesn’t make you a monster,” she retorted. “That makes you a guy with infectious blood. Now, if you’re going around just purposefully killing folks with your infectious blood,thatwould make you a monster. But just having it doesn’t mean anything.”
“So, you think Sway is a monster?”
“Well, no, that’s not…” Her voice trailed off, frowning.
“Do you think anyone that kills is a monster? No exceptions?”
“Of course, not. That’s way too narrow of a view. There’s an exception for every rule. Like, er, self-defense? Or protecting someone. T-Those are perfectly reasonable, er, reasons? Ugh. What am I even talking about?”
“So, why did Sway kill the people he did?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I didn’t ask. I… I ran away.”
“Because you’re scared of him?”
“Maybe…?”
“Because you think he’s a monster?”
“No!” She shook her head quickly. “That’s not what I mean. He’s not a monster. Neither of you are monsters.”
“Thank you,” he smiled gently. “You’re probably the first person who wasn’t my own kind to say that to me.”
“That’s terrible.”
“I imagine Sway knows how it feels.”
“Huh?”
“Well, he’s clearly not on Rik-Vane anymore. And he doesn’t smell at all of blood. The others? The avanavas especially. They have blood on them. But not Sway. If he’s killed before, he hasn’t done it recently. His people are natural pacifists. It’s instinct to them. If he’s killed in the past, it’s not because he wanted to. Right?”
“I guess,” she admitted softly. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Not too late to find out. Unless you think he’ll hurt you?”
“No,” she said immediately.
Because she absolutely did not believe that. Sway, who had hurt Covor to protect her, who had otherwise treated her with such gentle kindness, wouldn’t hurt her. She never got that feeling from him. Even when he confessed to what he did, she wasn’t actually afraid for herself.
She’d run because…
Just because she’d freaked out. Without giving him a chance to explain. Without waiting to see if he had an exception, an excuse, that would explain what he did.
That’s why she felt guilty. That’s why Garnet’s words hit so hard. Sway had opened up to her, trusted her in a way.
And she’d immediately turned away from him.
At the very least, she owed it to him to listen.
Loyalty smiled. “Made a decision?”
She nodded, smiling back gratefully. Deliberately, she put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not a monster, by the way. Just to make that clear. It’s not a matter of me thinking anything. You just aren’t one. Everyone else are the ones thinking, and they’re wrong.”
