Grace hesitated before stepping to the side.
“Thank you,” Garnet inclined her head as she walked past.
Grace looked into the hall, but there was no one waiting there to jump her. To hurt her. The door slid shut again no problem and it was just the two of them alone in the small room. Garnet was standing along the far wall, twisting her fingers together, as Grace looked back at her.
For a long minute, neither of them said anything. Just stood there, staring, waiting for the other to speak. The air was tense and silent. Garnet was the one who broke it first.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted at last. “I told Sway he should tell you the truth. That if you two were going to be something, he owed you the truth. I guess,” she laughed awkwardly, “there was a miscommunication. Instructions were unclear. I did not mean for him to just say it out loud all bluntly like that.”
“You know then,” Grace breathed. “That’s he’s…”
“Oh, yeah.” Garnet nodded quickly. “They all are.”
That wasn’t a surprise. But it was still dreadful to hear. Grace’s knees went weak, and she dropped down onto the side of the bed. Garnet was quick to sit next to her.
“But, hey, that doesn’t make them bad people,” she rushed to say, putting her hand over Grace’s like she was trying to comfort her.
“How- How does being a murderer not make you a bad person?”
“I guess it depends on the context?”
“The context?!” Grace gave her an incredulous look.
Garnet nodded. So firmly and confidently, it made Grace wonder ifshewas the crazy one. “I’m not saying what they did was necessarily morally right. I’m just saying that, considering their circumstances and knowing their pasts, they should get some leeway.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Grace yanked her hand away. “Do you even know what Rik-Vaneis? It’s the kind of criminal cesspool that you can’t even be properly warned about. It’s a nightmare.”
“Have you been there?”
“Of course, not! No onegoesthere. It’s a place where the most evil scum of the universe run to escape because they can’t go anywhere else. It’s a den of the worst of worst. Where murderers walk the streets and killers control the gangs and-”
“Tanin was born there.”
Grace fell silent. Looking back at Garnet. The girl had a hard look on her face.
“You think he deserved it?” She asked, a harsh edge in her voice. Like she was daring Grace to say something bad about her mate. “You think he earned that punishment? That fate? He was born into that life. He had no choice but to do what he needed to in order to survive. You can’t possibly condemn him for that until you’ve lived through what he did and came out the other side lily white.”
“That’s not…”
“I don’t know Sway’s story. I don’t know how he got there. But I do know that he chose to get out. He chose to leave that life behind. All of the guys did. They escaped Rik-Vane because they didn’t want to be those people anymore.”
“Garnet-”
“They are bad guys, yes. Okay. I get that. They have done terrible things. All of them have. I’m not excusing that. All I’m telling you is that you have no right to judge them for it. Not when you don’t know what they lived through. What brought them here.”
Grace couldn’t rebuke that. Not when she was met with the passion and determination burning in Garnet’s eyes. She reallybelieved what she was saying. It was important to her. So much so that Grace could see the pain of it etched into the lines of her scowling face. She could only stay silent as Garnet got to her feet.
“They’re bad guys, but they’re good men,” she said, giving Grace a cold look. “And they’re my boys. And whatever just happened here with you and Sway, that’smyfault. I gave him bad advice. But don’t you ever condemn my boys without hearing their story. And don’t act like you’re some kind of victim here. You chose to come on this ship. You chose to follow him.”
“That’s not…”
“If you want off, tell me now. We can still turn this ship right around and put you back on Hir-Fallow before dinner time. You weren’t kidnapped. You’re not being held against your will. And if you want to call the peacekeepers, go ahead. We’re not going to stop you. But all of them are here now with the blessings of Captain Ikvar of the peacekeepers. He knows full well who they are, and he is letting them be free. I’m sorry you’re scared, and I’m sorry Sway misunderstood me, but in no way were you ever wronged or hurt by him.”
With that, Garnet turned on her heel and marched from the room. Grace winced when the door slid shut behind her.
How did she manage to come out of that interaction feelingguilty?
She wasn’t the killer here! She hadn’t done anything wrong! If she knew beforehand that Sway had such a past, she wouldn’t have come at all! Anyone would feel the same!
