Page 54 of Sway's Peace
It wouldn’t be fair to expect everyone to just accept that and forgive them for no reason. Garnet, and Goldie for that matter, were strange exceptions to a rule they couldn’t rightfully expect from everyone.
The fact remained, no matter what, that theywerekillers. Theyweremurderers. And they would kill again if their hands were forced.
As much as Sway wanted to believe he wouldn’t, that he would live as a proper farasie from now on, he knew it wasn’t true. He’d recently watched the captain kill a male that threatened his female, and he felt nothing but a sense of satisfaction from it. If it came to it, he’d do the same.
Their lives were more important. It was worth killing for.
Sway hated how easily that thought came to him, but he still believed it. And he knew he would still do it. If no one else on the crew could, if he was the only one left, he would step up to fight. To kill.
What was another life to weigh on his consciousness? He’d already come this far. He would probably do even more.
Should be doing more…
Grace was right to not want to be associated with him because of that.
“I’m sorry.”
Sway’s head turned quickly. He stared at her, shocked.
Shewas sorry?
Grace was staring at nothing, her form stiff. She had to feel his eyes on her, but she didn’t look at him. Her gaze remained firmly in front of her, focused off in the distance.
“Grace…”
“You were trying to tell me something, and I ran off without listening. I’m sorry.”
“No!” He said quickly, turning in his chair to face her directly. “You were not wrong for that. You don’t have to force yourself to be around me. I know-”
Grace was shaking her head quickly. Denying his words before he even had a chance to finish them, her face tightening in consternation.
“That must not have been easy to confess. And I didn’t even try to hear you out. Even after you stuck up for me. You risked yourself for me. You broke your pacifism for me. And I couldn’t even do you that common courtesy.”
“Grace…”
“I’m listening now. I hope it’s not too late. Y-You were saying that you were from R-Rik-Vane?”
Her voice warbled. She was scared. Anxious, at least. But she was still sitting there, gritting her teeth, determined to hear him out. He adored her for it, even as he was angry at himself for forcing her into such a position where she had tomakeherself be around him.
But shewaslistening. And he wanted that more than anything. He wanted her to hear him. Some part of him wanted her to understand and accept him.
The captain had that. Sway was no better a male than him. Couldn’t he have the same?
“W-Why were you there? On Rik-Vane, I mean,” she whispered, like she was scared to know.
Rik-Vane wasn’t a prison – though it felt like one. Criminals weren’t condemned to that place. No, it was more accurate to say they escaped there. Before the authorities could catch them and send them somewhere else, they chose Rik-Vane. They must believe they had at least some chance at freedom in that place.
They didn’t. Most died within five years. Some didn’t even last one year. There were no elderly people on that station.
And while it wasn’t officially a prison, it still acted like one. The peacekeepers might have given up on the station itself,but that didn’t mean they ignored it. They still monitored the people inside. They kept track of people and their crimes. And, most importantly, they did their best to make sure that no one escaped.
Grace was asking him why he fled to that place. What he’d done that was so bad, he was willing to risk Rik-Vane over prison.
But…
“I was brought there as a youngling,” he admitted, making her stiffen. “My family left my home planet for a vacation. I think I had to be about ten. Maybe nine. I don’t recall anymore. But our transport ship was intercepted by pirates. My parents and I were captured.”
Grace turned to look at him. Finally. But her expression was one of horror. Her lips parted, but no sound came out, so he continued.
