“It wasn’t self-defense. He didn’t have a chance against my skills. I hunted him down and I executed him. It was not government sanctioned and the laws of my people didn’t sanction such an act. I wish I could tell you I was sorry he’s dead, but I’m not.” He turned his head to look at her. “Maybe that’s why I can’t forgive myself. And it’s why I live apart from the others of my kind.”

A weight seemed to be crushing her chest. “Were you arrested and charged?”

“I presented myself before the council of elders for judgment, yes. We have our own laws and courts. I was charged with murder. I didn’t deny it. How could I?”

Rachael closed her eyes, tried to block out his words. Murder. Murder. Hunted him down and executed him. The words echoed through her mind. Flashed at her like a neon sign. “But it doesn’t make sense,” she murmured aloud. “Murder doesn’t fit with your personality. It doesn’t, Rio.”

“No?” There was amusement in his voice, a twisted, humorless, sarcastic mocking that made her flinch. “You’d be surprised at what I’m capable of doing, Rachael.”

“Did you go to jail?”

“In a way. I was banished. I am not allowed to live among my people. I do not have the benefit of the elders’ wisdom. I am alone, yet not alone. I am close to them, yet always apart. My people cannot survive in jail. There is only death or banishment for a crime as grave as mine. I was banished. My people do not see me, or acknowledge my existence. Well, other than the unit I run with.”

She listened to his voice. There was no note of self-pity. No plea for compassion. Rio stated a fact. He had committed a crime and he accepted the punishment that went along with it. She let out her breath slowly, struggling not to judge too quickly. It still didn’t make sense to her.

“Are you going to tell me why you killed him?”

“Whatever my reasons are, they weren’t good enough to take the life of another. Revenge is wrong, Rachael. I know that. I was taught that. I knew it when I hunted him. I didn’t even give him the chance to draw a weapon so I could claim self-defense. It was an execution, pure and simple.”

“Is that what you were thinking when you killed him?”

There was a silence. Rio’s thumb slid over the back of her hand. “No one ever asked me that. No, of course not. I didn’t look at it that way, but I did know the council would either decide to put me to death or banish me when I returned and told them what I’d done.”