He can honestly say that she's stunned him. He's fought a lot of different people, even done some things he wasn't all that proud of, but to hurt a child? To even threaten her? It goes against his grain, and he can feel a prickling sensation start at the back of his neck, warning him that if she really is his enemy, sent here to exploit a weakness, she's already got the upper hand.

"Johann Schmidt?" he asks, bitter incredulity invading his voice. "Johann Schmidt was a murderer, responsible for the torture and senseless killings of hundreds, even thousands, of innocent people. He believed that humankind was inferior, that the whole world should be filled with people just like him. He was a blood-thirsty lunatic, Sinthia. Stopping him meant stopping the war, because if someone didn't do it the killing and fighting would never have stopped until he'd destroyed every last living thing."

He shifts carefully. "Look around this ship. What do you see? Do you see people deserving to die? Because I don't think you do, and that's why I would never harm a hair on your head."