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The Sith Lord and the Scientist Section B - Part 6

The Devastator, Imperial Center, Coruscant System, Year 0, Month 7.

DAY 5

Ani is watching me when I open my eyes. I have slept late today. Last night was difficult - my stomach rebelled and I was quite miserable for many hours trying to keep it settled. Poor Ani decided to suffer along with me and stayed at my side despite my attempts to shoo him into bed to get some sleep.

I run a finger carefully down his face, avoiding the bruises on his temple as best I can. It will be a few days yet before the evidence of his close call fades. If that crazy Jixton hadn’t found the Sith Lord, who knows how long it might have been before he was rescued. Or, I worry, who else might have found my unconscious love? Someone less inclined to be helpful?

Ani doesn’t reply to my concerns, only pulls me in close for a kiss. He knows he’s in for a good scolding when I feel up to it.

So much for your promise to be more careful, Sith Lord, I scold a little. Just look what happens when you are out of my sight for more than a few hours.

It wasn’t my fault, Maia, he admits, I had no way to know my agent would turn on me like that.

I hold him tight to reassure myself. Ani obviously had no contingency plans to deal with a traitor in his camp. The whole episode has scared me badly though. I felt it when the impact of the explosion hit him, tossed him through the air, and partially buried him in rubble. And the terrible sensation when the Sith Lord was knocked out. That horrifying, seemingly unending moment of blackness swamped my senses. Melina had caught me before I could hit the floor, but I knew what had happened and that I could do nothing about it. As a civilian, I have no authority to order a rescue.

‘Ani, what should I do when I know you are hurt or in trouble?’ I ask, hoping he has some advice for me.

‘In the future, go to Thirsk or Piett. They will trust your judgement,’ Ani tells me, ‘and they each know you would only go to them in an emergency. It is unfortunate you did not go to Thirsk this time. That trip off planet with Jix at the helm was almost as bad as the explosion.’

A snicker escapes before I can stop it. Jix is totally hopeless as a pilot. Ani has complained about those brief few minutes after he regained consciousness and before he took over the helm of the ship Jix stole at every opportunity since then.

‘Maybe you should insist he gets flying lessons,’ I suggest, giggling a bit as I do.

‘A waste of time, Favorite, and I have other more useful things for Jix to do,’ he admits.

Like what, my curiosity wants me to ask, but I know better than to pose the question. One pseudo-positive result of the mess on Aridus is that Ani has acquired a new agent.

‘Well,’ I tell him, ‘we will see just how long that lasts. Jix’s devil-may-care attitude and insolence will drive you nuts sooner or later.’

‘That is my concern, Maia, so stop fussing about it,’ Ani scolds. ‘Now, you were awake most of last night and it will be several hours before the ship is in orbit. I want you to stay in here and rest until then. If you are still sick later, I will have Trever look at you before we go to my castle.’

Am I going to be stubborn about this? Nope. I want to see what his official residence on Imperial Center looks like, so I will behave and try to snooze a bit longer. Ani presses another kiss on my forehead and quickly sets about his morning routine. Before he goes, I sense him beside me. Curious, I open my eyes to see what he is up to. I hear a packet being ripped open, then feel his hand pull the blankets and nightgown away from my back. A patch is pressed against my skin and rubbed into my back.

‘I want to make sure you are well enough to travel later,’ Ani reveals. ‘If you need it, I will have Trever give you something stronger before we leave.’

A gloved hand brushes a few stray hairs off of my face. I look up and smile at him.

I love you, Anakin, I remind him.

I know. Now get some sleep, Favorite mine. I will wake you in plenty of time, he tells me.

A few hours later, a light touch to my shoulder wakes me.

Ani? my groggy brain asks.

‘Time to get up, Maia,’ he quietly informs me.

I watch him leave the room, but stay in bed. My stomach is not co-operating at all, and my attempts to soothe it are only partially successful. No, I think miserably, why did it have to act up today when I want it to behave?

When I fail to appear in his office after an hour, Ani returns, looking for me. I have finally managed to get dressed and over to a chair, but the thought of making the trip down to the shuttle and then enduring the flight after that is not at all appealing to me.

‘Maia,...’ Ani starts, then stops abruptly when I turn to face him.

‘Do I really look that bad?’ I wonder.

‘Yes, you do,’ he answers.

The Sith Lord turns to the comm panel and a moment later I hear Dr. Trever, the Chief Medical Officer, answering.

‘My Lord?’ the doctor asks, puzzled. Obviously he was not expecting this call.

‘I need you in my quarters immediately,’ Ani orders, not bothering with any niceties.

‘And the problem is?’ Trever prompts.

‘My Favorite is ill and I need you to ensure she can travel,’ the Sith Lord admits.

‘I will be there momentarily,’ the doctor replies and cuts the connection. He’s as blunt as Ani can be, I decide.

A few minutes later, Trever arrives, and I can tell he is not happy about having to make this house call. He gives me a cursory glance, then pulls a hypospray and stack of patches from his bag.

‘Stronger anti-nausea patches,’ the doctor identifies.

Without asking or waiting for me to offer it, he grabs my arm and empties the drug he brought into it. The finished hypospray is tossed back into his bag.

‘Wait a few minutes, then she should be ready to go,’ Trever instructs as he leaves the room.

Ani merely watches him leave without any comment.

‘How cranky can you get,’ I complain.

‘Good doctors, particularly ones who are willing to take military posts, are difficult to find and keep, Maia, and he has other patients he considers more important than my sick concubine,’ the Sith Lord tells me. ‘Trever is an excellent surgeon and clinician, even though his bedside manner leaves a bit to be desired at times.’

Having experienced the man’s bedside manner, or to be honest, lack thereof, I have to agree.

I look over at Ani. My stomach is quiet now. Time to get up and go while it is behaving itself. The second I am on my feet, though, I start to sway noticeably. Whoa. That was some drug he used on me. I take a careful step and the Sith Lord moves to my side. A supporting arm slides around my back and I am guided from the bedroom through our quarters and into the corridor. He keeps his arm around me the entire walk to the shuttle, then settles me into my seat before leaving to finish whatever of his last minute tasks remain.

I wait patiently for Ani to return, and Thirsk and my four Lieutenants to join me. A noise behind me draws my attention. The Commander has arrived and my spacer’s trunk has been loaded.

Thank you for packing my stuff, Ani, I tell him when he appears at my side.

Melina did, not I, the Sith Lord admits.

He passes by me and steps into the cockpit. Ani will be flying the shuttle today, not his usual pilot. I wish my stomach was more reliable - it would be nice to sit up there beside him and look out - but I am not risking a spell of nausea, no way.

I fill the time by listening to Thirsk talk to Melina about some security drills he wants the four Lieutenants to do. We may have quite a while to wait before we can leave. As this is a non-priority, non-military trip, we will have to wait our turn until a spot in the traffic grid opens up. To my surprise, I hear the Sith Lord request immediate clearance.

Why are you pulling rank? I wonder. He rarely does that unless it’s necessary.

Normally I don’t have a sick concubine to worry about, he reminds me, and having both of us on board could be just a bit too tempting for some of my enemies. I do not intend to be a sitting target waiting for an opening in the grid.

Oh. I have never thought of myself as a target before. Not a pleasant idea at all.

The shuttle is in motion now, so I peek through the cockpit and just as quickly look away. Nope, that was not a wise thing to do. For the rest of the trip, I concentrate on keeping my stomach quiet. When I feel the shuttle come to rest, I risk a glance forward again. We’re on a landing platform. How odd. I thought Ani would use a private hangar, not a more public space like he has done.

I get up from my seat and step towards the landing ramp only to be stopped by Melina and Adi. Now what? Puzzled, I turn to give Ani a questioning look.

‘A moment, my lady,’ Adi says. ‘You need to be properly covered.’

What?

Before I can protest, Melina throws a veil over my head, quickly arranges it and pins it to my hair.

I am not wearing this thing, Ani, I vehemently protest, refusing to budge when he pulls on my arm.

You will, Maia. Don’t defy me, the Sith Lord warns, dragging me down the ramp.

Not a chance, no way. Do what you like. I am not wearing it, I stubbornly insist.

Then we will do this the hard way, he decides.

I feel him force his way in, rap sharply against my mind and I instantly black out. When I come to a few minutes later, Ani is carrying me along the narrow walkway leading from the landing platform to what appears to be an open square. I shut my eyes tight and bury my face in his shoulder. No way am I looking down into that vast empty expanse beneath us.

Awake, are you? the Sith Lord observes. Ready to behave or do I need to knock you out again?

The veil is still over my face and he has draped it over my arms as well.

Why are you insisting on this? I ask. You never once mentioned that I would be subjected to this sort of treatment, and I wasn’t forced to cover-up like this on Carida.

Carida is not Imperial Center, he flatly states. I see no reason to make it easy for my enemies to identify you, Maia.

I consider continuing to protest. His reason makes perfect sense and I can’t think of anything to counter it with. Besides that, if I do resist, he will simply knock me out again and carry me along, and I know that once we are at his castle there will be some other punishment for my public defiance as well.

No, I decide, it is just not worth it despite how I feel about being forced to cover-up.

I understand, Ani, I admit to him, then concede, I’ll behave myself.

Good, Ani notes, you are willing to be reasonable about this. I will set you down now.

Don’t, I quietly request, not wanting to deal with my fear of heights.

I feel him hesitate for a split second, then he continues on at the same rapid pace.

I had forgotten about your fear of heights, Ani admits. Next time, I will be sure to use my private hangar.

And why didn’t you do that this time? I muse quietly to myself. He’s up to something, yet again, but I am not going to pry.

We’re in the square now, Maia, and I am going to put you down, the Sith Lord tells me.

I cautiously open my eyes as I am set back on my feet. Things look faded through the veil, but I do recognize the Imperial Palace at the other side of the square. A quick visual survey tells me that the ultra-rich are the only ones who can afford to live in this district. Where to now? I look over at Ani who must have been waiting for me to sort myself out.

He sets my hand on his arm and leads me along the edge of the square, heading directly for a large imposing edifice. A glance up at him reveals nothing and he makes no comment along our journey, so I try to occupy myself by looking about. Most of the other people in the area are giving us a wide berth. Obviously no one wants to annoy the Sith Lord by coming too close, but there are a number of curious onlookers and the odd soul who just stops and stares.

‘The media,’ I hear Adi state.

‘Holovision,’ Daini identifies, ‘and TriNebulon, too.’

‘About time,’ Thirsk growls.

I turn a little to see what they are talking about and spot what must be a couple of news crews. Well, I guess this will speed up our trip. Ani takes no notice though, and maintains his even pace. He’s deliberately letting them catch up to us, and it sounds like the Commander actually expected them to show up. The media are close on our heels just as we reach the entrance to the columned courtyard at the front of the Sith Lord’s castle.

Faint, Maia, Ani orders.

What? I reply, startled.

He doesn’t ask a second time, but instead pulls the same stunt on me he did earlier. I feel my legs give way as I start to pitch forward. Ani grabs me, though, before I hit the stone pavement. Letting myself go completely limp in his arms, I hear a commotion as Thirsk accosts the reporters while Melina and Adi run interference. A few quick steps and we are clear of the ruckus. The Sith Lord carries me across the courtyard, up a flight of stairs, and past a few columns. Then a door closes behind us and there is silence.

I hear someone approach us. Best to play act like Ani wants until he tells me otherwise, I decide, so I stay quiet in his arms and just listen.

‘My Lord?’ a man asks.

‘My Favorite is quite ill, Lyam. Send Reena down to my private quarters immediately,’ Ani orders as he carries me along.

‘And the reporters outside?’ Lyam wonders.

‘Thirsk and the Lieutenants will deal with them. Let them broadcast what they want. It will only serve my purposes,’ the Sith Lord decides.

I hear a turbolift door close then feel downward motion as it begins to move. Ani shifts me a bit in his arms and I wrap my own around his neck in response.

‘Feeling better?’ he teases.

‘What are you up to this time, Sith Lord?’ I nosily ask.

He simply chuckles in answer and steps from the turbolift into a wide corridor.

‘I needed an excuse to keep you out of public view, so you will be ill for the next few days,’ he reveals.

A few minutes later we are in a room with one of his meditation pods in it.

I guess, ‘Is ‘home’ set up like on ship?’

‘Not quite, my Favorite,’ Ani tells me as he carries me into what must be his private quarters.

I look about as best I can. The first chamber is obviously a small reception room with two doors leading off of it. Ani walks through one into a kitchen/dining area, then enters the bedroom. A door off of this room must be for the ‘fresher. At least that is a familiar layout.

The Sith Lord sets me down on the bed then goes to a compartment and selects a nightgown for me. Someone has planned ahead, I note. I feel him pull the pins from my hair and the veil off of my head. Good riddance, I happily think.

‘Reena will be here soon. You need to change and get into bed,’ Ani instructs.

‘Reena?’ I question. Who’s this?

‘Your personal physician,’ he replies, loosening the back of my dress.

I turn and stare at him, surprised.

‘I spent a considerable amount of time finding someone suitable,’ the Sith Lord reveals. ‘I actually ‘stole’ her from the faculty of the leading medical school on Rhinnal, so behave yourself and don’t annoy her.’

Ani eases the dress from my shoulders and lets it fall to my waist. The nightgown is pulled on next and I shimmy my way out of the dress before handing it to him. He tucks me in and disappears into the adjoining room, presumably to wait for this doctor. I won’t play at being ill, I decide. She will see through that instantly. Instead I will just whine about my pregnancy sickness and how miserable I have felt.

When the Sith Lord reappears with Reena, that idea vanishes from my mind. I stare at her a moment. She’s a bit older than my mother with greying brown hair and dark eyes. There is a firm but not severe or stern look on her face. This is someone who doesn’t put up with any nonsense from anyone yet is not harsh about it. I think there is a good sense of humor somewhere too, though she is trying to hide it at the moment. Reena knows my illness was an act, I quickly realize, and is still debating whether to play along with it or not.

I look at Ani then back at the doctor. Now what?

Reena doesn’t wait for me to say anything. Instead she takes charge of the situation.

‘You have been ill, my lady?’ she asks, and I see the twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

I nod at her and answer, ‘Pregnancy sickness.’

She smiles at that. Good. I was right about her sense of humor.

‘Let’s see how you are doing then,’ Reena decides.

I watch, curious as she pulls a few things from her bag. Some of them I recognize, but others are like nothing used on Earth. Like all doctors, she just has to take some blood. She drops the sample into a gadget of some sort and waits for the results.

‘How far along are you?’ she asks next, looking at whatever numbers are on the screen in her hand.

I think a minute, then tell her, ‘About eleven weeks.’

One of her eyebrows goes up at that.

‘I need to check something,’ she quietly states.

Another piece of equipment is pulled from the bag - a screen attached to what must be a scanner of some sort. Ultrasound or its equivalent, I decide.

‘If you wouldn’t mind,’ Reena leads on.

I don’t reply, just shove the sheets down and slide up my nightgown. This should be interesting. As I expect, she proceeds to scan my middle, but keeps the screen oriented so I can’t see it. Ani has wandered over to my side by now, curious as well. Guess he wants to see what our son looks like, too.

Reena frowns at the screen, adjusts something, then sets the scanner aside. With a sigh, she turns the image to where the Sith Lord and I can see it. Oh. Cool. Our son. He’s got arms and legs already, but isn’t it a bit early for that? I look up at the doctor, puzzled.

She answers my unspoken question, ‘Not eleven weeks, my lady, but nineteen - more than two and a half months.’

My mouth drops open so I snap it shut. What? That’s over three Earth months. I look up at Ani, but sense nothing from him.

‘You wouldn’t be the first woman who was wrong about when she conceived,’ Reena tries to reassure me.

‘But I had my monthly, I bled,’ I admit, embarrassed.

‘How much?’ the doctor asks.

I quietly consider what to say, then tell her, ‘Not much but I thought that was just stress related.’

‘It’s not unusual to have that happen the first month,’ she soothes.

‘But...’ I start to say, then stop dead.

I stare at the screen. If I am really that far along, then it must have happened the first time Ani and I ... That’s the only explanation for this. I shut my eyes tight and carefully count days. No, oh no. That one night was just about the best possible time for him to get me pregnant.

Reena reaches over and squeezes my hand. She can see my distress.

‘I will let you rest, my lady,’ she tells me, ‘the other information I will need can wait.’

I quietly watch her pack up her bag and go.

Ani stays silent at my side. He knew. He must have known. And he said nothing about it. And he treated me so very badly that night after the convocation, and for what?

‘When, Ani, when did you know?’ I ask him.

Silence.

‘Anakin, I need to know this,’ I prompt him.

‘On your homeworld,’ he finally, reluctantly admits. ‘I was curious, so I checked on you while you were falling asleep in my arms. I could tell you had released an egg, but it wasn’t until the next morning that I sensed our son. It was a bit of a shock to discover you were pregnant so quickly and with such a strong heir for me, too.’

‘You idiot,’ I snap, ‘It was the best possible time for it to happen!’

Why, oh why couldn’t he just have been honest with me about that cursed oath? All of my misery, all of our problems go back to that one thing.

‘If you had been honest, Ani, I would have seen to it that I didn’t get pregnant that night,’ I reveal. ‘I was not ready to be a parent yet, and judging from your irresponsible behavior, you aren’t ready, either.’

I point a finger at him, get out of bed and stalk towards him as he steps back from me. My temper is close to the boiling point and I have had more than enough of this nonsense from him.

‘No more lies, Anakin,’ I warn him. ‘No more deceptions, half-truths or crap like that when it comes to our personal life. Not unless you want to completely destroy our relationship, not unless you want to be miserable for the rest of your life.’

‘Don’t threaten me, Maia,’ he coldly states.

‘Threaten?’ I quietly say, ‘No threat, Anakin, but a promise. And I always keep those.’

I turn away from him, put my back to him, cross my arms, and consider my situation. What a mess. I suppose I could just ignore this, let it slide like I have other minor blow-ups. But he will lie to me again and again if I do that. No, I decide, steeling myself, I need to put an end to his dishonesty right now.

‘There is no room in our relationship for dishonesty, Ani,’ I calmly tell him, ‘so you will have to decide what is more important to you. Being honest and having a good, loving relationship with me, or continuing to lie about things and enduring a cold-hearted concubine who will have absolutely nothing to do with you.’

With that I sit down on the bed, my back still to him, waiting for his response. The Sith Lord says nothing, but I hear him pace back and forth across the floor, stopping every so often, I am sure, to look over at me. He’s wondering if I am serious about this. Time to give him a taste of what life might be like then. I reach for our bond, but instead of sending something to him, I ruthlessly cut off the constant emotional support I have so carefully maintained. There is a sharp inhalation behind me and the steps stop instantly. Hurts, doesn’t it, to have that cut off. Now you know, Sith Lord, how it feels when you do that to me.

I wait a few minutes for a response. Still nothing, so I reach for our bond once again, this time shutting it down to a mere trickle of what it normally is. Another gasp from him. He didn’t think I knew how to do that. I smile sadly to myself. Sorry, Ani, but I had to learn how to do that with Michael. Eavesdropping on him when he was with his girlfriend could be quite uncomfortable.

‘Maia, ...’ Ani finally says and it comes out almost as a moan.

I stay silent, waiting. He takes a step towards me, then stops. Time to lay down the law.

‘You can’t build a relationship on lies, Anakin. When you do that it’s like a house built on a foundation of sand. The first storm, the first earthquake and it falls down around you,’ I tell him. ‘And when you lie and I find out the truth, the pain Ani, the pain you cause me when all you had to do was be honest in the first place. Maybe you can live like that, but I can’t and I won’t.’

I hear another tentative step, then silence again. He’s thinking about things, I realize as I gently brush against his shields. Good. He can have as much time as he needs then.

***

I stand here, staring at her, silent.

She expects an answer from me and I cannot give her one. I cannot tell her what she so desperately needs to hear.

How can I?

The truth is truly a double-sided weapon, one that cuts the wielder as surely as the intended target. She makes it sound so very easy. Tell the truth, be honest, and all will be well. If only life were that simple.

I reach for our bond. Almost nothing remains of what once was. Her love is gone as if it never existed. I did not expect her to be that determined, that ruthless, that ... cruel.

She called me that once and I freely accepted the title. But to feel such from her? From one who so easily loved? From one who’s entire being sang with her love for me?

I reach towards her, then let my hand fall back again. She does not move, does not respond, merely waits, patiently, for an answer I cannot give.

A house built on a foundation of sand she had likened to a relationship built on lies.

An equivalency I understand all too well.

My first love, my Padme, I destroyed with such. Oh, I always was able to somehow justify what I said, what I did, but in the end - in the end it cost me everything.

And it started with one simple lie, one small deception, which quickly poisoned all.

As it has done with Maia.

I take another step, then stop dead.

Have I truly been that great a fool?

Only fools repeat their mistakes, I remind myself, and this is one you cannot afford to make again.

I measure her resolve. She will not yield, will not bend in this. There will be no compromises here. It will be all or nothing. Only complete surrender from me will be acceptable.

But I am a Sith Lord. I will not be humbled, be brought to my knees by anyone.

We are at an impasse then.

***

He is still standing there, silent, after many long minutes, and I can easily sense the turmoil in his mind. This is one decision he does not want to make. I can wait, I decide, will wait as long as it takes. Time to check on my son then. I let a hand drift over my middle and find that nothing has changed. Good. All is well there.

Ten minutes later, I shift a little. Ani is still quietly fighting with himself and I am quickly becoming uncomfortable. Something is wrong. Another small move on my part and I double over in pain. No, I think, horrified, no, not that, not now.

‘Maia?’ Ani asks, alarmed.

In a flash he is beside me. I feel his hands try to sit me up a bit so I push him away. Any movement and the pain becomes intense and searing. Breathe, Maia, I remind myself, as I attempt to control the pain, breathe slowly and maybe the pain will ease a bit. The Sith Lord hauls me to my feet next. Big mistake. Blood is now running down the inside of my thighs and bright red spots start to stain the pristine white of my nightgown.

‘Kreth,’ I hear Ani curse.

He pulls a blanket off the bed, wraps me in it, and picks me up. I hear him activate the comm-channel in his helmet and Reena’s quick response to his terse words as he runs from the bedroom back out to the turbolift with me held tight in his arms.

I shut my eyes and concentrate on staying calm. Panicking will just make it worse. When I feel myself being set down, I open them again. This must be the castle’s med-center. Reena is waiting for me, I guess, and waves the Sith Lord out.

No, my love, don’t go, I think, pleading with him, I’m afraid and I need you to stay. Please Anakin, stay.

He hesitates, then moves to stand by my head, positioning himself where I can look up at him. The doctor gives Ani an odd look, but does not try to send him away a second time.

Reena pulls open the blanket, rolls my ruined clothing out of the way, and starts a scan like she did earlier. Checking to see what is going on inside, I realize. I feel Ani’s hand slip into mine, and with the contact I can sense that he’s extremely worried about this.

The doctor says nothing for a while, simply continues with her tests, adjusting the angle of the scanner until she is apparently satisfied with what she sees. Finally she sets it aside and replaces the blanket over top of me.

‘Your child is fine,’ Reena tells us, ‘but your Favorite has a subchorionic hemorrhage.’

‘And?’ Ani asks.

‘She will need to stay here until the bleeding stops and I am sure that the tear will not get any larger,’ the doctor decides. ‘I need to get her changed and cleaned up first. Then I will position her so the torn tissue will fall back into place.’

Reena goes into another room for a moment before returning with a robe for me. She watches Ani for a moment, a measuring look on her face.

‘A word, my Lord, in private, if you wouldn’t mind,’ she finally requests.

I see the two of them go into an office and decide it is a good time to get changed and cleaned up. The nightgown I drop on the floor before wrapping the robe around me. A quick listen reveals that Reena has not closed her office door, so I tip my head and concentrate on eavesdropping a little. Too bad I didn’t notice that sooner. Their conversation sounds quite interesting.

‘... and I don’t know what is going on between you two,’ I hear Reena say, ‘but if her stress levels don’t drop immediately, she will probably miscarry and could even bleed to death from it. I would suggest that whatever you have done to upset her, you apologize for, right now and be done with it.’

Ani growls a low, probably rude, response which I can’t make out. No, he really doesn’t like it when he gets called on the carpet. But he is going to get it from her for that remark, I just know it.

‘I heard that, your Lordship. I do know Huttese and you don’t frighten me in the least,’ the doctor retorts. ‘If your Favorite is making you miserable, you must have done something to deserve it.’

This could be quite funny. Ani now has two females on his case for his bad behavior. I do my best to not start giggling.

‘Women,’ Ani spits out, ‘are a curse on all men.’

‘And men are nothing but a nuisance to us as well,’ Reena baits him.

‘Doctors,’ he snarls, ‘are a necessary evil.’

‘Truer words have never been spoken,’ she replies, amused.

Ani hates being reminded of his dependance on the medical profession. He knows exactly what she meant by that. The doctor is obviously not going to back down, nor is she going to let him have the last word.

There is an infuriated hiss from him.

Oh, no. Ani has just lost his temper. I see the Sith Lord storm from Reena’s office. He looks at me and stops in his tracks. His helmet tips down and I know he has spotted the blood soaked nightgown on the floor. Dead silence from him now.

Reena steps past him, pulls the blanket off me and shifts me onto my side. A pillow is shoved behind my back, a second one under my chest, and the blanket replaced. With a gentle touch, my hair is moved off my face. Then she returns to her office and shuts the door, leaving Ani standing there with me watching him.

I carefully consider what to say to him.

Ani, I quietly state, you have to decide what is most important to you. I can’t do that for you.

With that I try to relax a bit. I am tired and I hurt inside. My son is fine - I can sense that easily now that I am no longer panic stricken. Time to sleep then. Ani can sort himself out here or elsewhere. I have only one thing left to say to him.

I love you, Anakin, I tell him before I shut my eyes.

Imperial Center, Coruscant System

DAY 6

The Sith Lord is gone when Reena wakes me the next morning. I quietly help her move me about and don’t protest when she slides an i.v. into my arm. It has been more than a day since I have eaten and I am dehydrated and hungry.

‘No solid food for a day or two while I keep you here,’ Reena warns me, ‘and you must stay quiet and do as little as possible for a week after that.’ She wags a finger at me and adds, ‘and no fooling around with his Lordship either. Not for at least two weeks. You may do what you like to him, but he is to keep his hands off of you entirely.’

I blush bright red at that. No way would I ever do to him what she is obviously thinking. She laughs a little at my embarrassed response.

‘Maybe I should go over your medical history now since you can’t escape from me,’ she teases.

The look on my face prompts another laugh as she pulls out a datapad.

‘Let’s start with the embarrassing questions, then, and get through them before that man of yours comes back,’ she decides.

‘He won’t be back,’ I flatly state, ‘not after the way I scolded him yesterday.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that, if I were you,’ Reena tells me. ‘He only left your side when the Emperor called him away an hour ago, and very reluctantly at that.’

Oh. I stare at her, surprised.

She watches me, smiles, then reveals, ‘I was rather unprofessional last night, and listened in a bit. He spent some of his time apologizing to you and berating himself for being a fool.’

Ani did that? How odd. Well, I will just wait and see what he does when I am awake.

Reena’s attention is back on her datapad. Embarrassing questions she had said. Fine then, hurry up and ask them. She proceeds to rapidly do so, and with each successive one, I become more uncomfortable.

‘How many sexual partners have you had?’ Reena finally gets to that particular query.

‘Just his Lordship,’ I reply.

Her eyebrow goes up. She doesn’t believe me.

‘It’s true,’ I snap, offended by her assumption.

‘And for how long?’ she smoothly continues, giving no indication my reaction disturbed her.

‘About two and a half months,’ I admit.

Another odd look from her. Why is she behaving this way?

‘He was your very first lover, then?’ she asks. ‘You did nothing with anyone before him?’

‘Of course. I just told you that,’ I answer.

She sits back and watches me a moment.

‘That explains a few things,’ Reena decides.

Like what, I want to yell at her. I am getting frustrated and angry at this line of questioning. My private life is none of her business.

‘He is extremely possessive and protective of you, my lady,’ she tells me, ‘to the point where it is becoming excessive and unhealthy for both of you. That attitude partially comes from him being your first lover. I suspect he knows he got you pregnant that first time as well. Yet another contributing factor.’ She pauses to think a moment, then continues, ‘He is acting just like any dominant male would around his new, pregnant mate, but you need some breathing space and time away from him, too. For your own mental health, if nothing else.’

Reena falls silent, waiting for me to say something. When I don’t, she sighs and resumes her list of questions. Thankfully there are no more that pry into areas I do not want to discuss. When she is finished, I am left alone again, so I lie still, quietly brooding.

Ani is ready to apologize from what Reena told me, but I know he will be angry with what I said to him yesterday. He might say sorry, perhaps even be sincere about it, yet still refuse to budge on what is really the problem. Damn. If only I hadn’t started bleeding. A few more minutes of waiting and he might just have given in to me. Well, there is no help for that now. I will have to continue being stubborn about it and hope he realizes that I am right about this. The only acceptable solution, I firmly resolve, is no more lies from him.

I consider my situation. If he won’t yield, my life is going to be lonely and miserable because I won’t give in, won’t accept anything other than complete honesty from him. The thought of what might happen if he doesn’t, the years of living with nothing but coldness from him produces a few silent tears. It won’t come to that, I hope. Please let him be decent about this, I silently pray, please let him understand why this is necessary, why I am asking this of him.

My mind wanders into other territory. I hate that blasted veil, but he is obviously not going to back down on that. Does he not understand what it symbolizes to me? No, I decide after a bit of debate, he obviously doesn’t. He just sees it as another way to protect me.

Then there was that threat he made a few weeks ago. Is he really cruel enough to take our son from me? Would he lock me away if I refuse to do as he wants? I feel the tears start again and bury my face in the pillow. Taking our child away would destroy me. Surely he knows that.

I carefully reach for our bond, noting that it gradually opened up again while I slept. Ani is busy being the Sith Lord from what little I can feel from him. He won’t be in a very good mood when he gets back, I sadly realize, and he will be here shortly, too. Coldness, all I can sense is complete, utter coldness, so I yank my awareness back. A shiver passes through me. This is going to be one nasty encounter.

The door opens but I don’t look up. I know who is there from the breathing. He steps closer to the bed and I shrink back a bit, frightened by what I am sensing from him. There is no escape, and when he finally touches me, I flinch away, afraid of what he might do.

‘Kreth,’ Ani curses, ‘I was so preoccupied I had forgotten ...’

There is an odd sense of detachment from him, then the cold, frightening darkness is gone, replaced with a calm, soothing warmth. His hand brushes against my face again, but this time I remain where I am. I slowly open my eyes. He’s next to my head, standing there quietly, waiting for me to do something. What does he want me to do, to say? I said all I needed to yesterday. There is nothing left to say except for one thing. The one thing I tell him every day whether he wants to hear it or not.

I love you, Anakin, I tell him, letting him feel it from me as I say it.

A moment’s hesitation from him, then he scolds, Maia, beloved, you should be sleeping.

A touch to my mind and he nudges me into a deep sleep.

Hours later, I wake and find that I am no longer in the med-center, but safely tucked into our bed in his private quarters. He’s propped me in place like the doctor had, I note.

‘Did Reena let you bring me here?’ I ask, curious.

‘Yes, and you will be more comfortable here than in the med-center,’ Ani answers me from behind my back.

I try to turn over to look at him, but he stops me with a touch.

‘No moving around,’ he warns. ‘Reena will have my head if you start bleeding again. It was difficult enough as it was to persuade her I could look after you properly.’

The Sith Lord gets up from where he had been lounging and sits in the chair beside me. He’s wearing a set of black Jedi Master robes I have never seen him in before. That thought prompts a small smile from him.

‘I prefer these when I am here,’ he says, ‘and they are more suitable as well since I can move about my quarters in them.’

A quick glance reveals that the bedroom door is open. Oh. He must have environmental controls throughout his suite. Cool. Ani sees where I am looking and smiles again. Obviously he is in a good mood despite everything that has happened.

I feel him take my hand in his and brush his thumb across the back of it. In response I shift my attention back to him. Now what, I wonder.

‘There are things you need to hear from me, Maia,’ he admits, ‘some of which I should have told you a long time ago. But I will not upset you with any of that now. You need to rest and heal.’ He looks intently at me a moment, then teases, ‘and eat!’

Right. I am not allowed to move and he wants me to eat. He disappears into the kitchen and returns with a glass for me.

‘Let me help you,’ Ani offers, so I let him shift me about a bit and hold the glass so I can drink from it.

When I am finished, he props me on my side again and sits quietly in his chair beside me. I nervously reach my hand towards him. Has he decided to be honest with me now? Is he mad at me or not? He catches my hand and stays silent, watching me.

Finally, he says, ‘I deserved what you did to me yesterday.’

Whoa. That is something I didn’t expect to hear. He releases my hand, gets up, and starts pacing. After a few minutes, he stops and looks at me.

‘I can be an arrogant fool on occasion,’ he flatly states. ‘Hopefully you won’t need to hit me over the head too many more times to cure me of it.’

Ani steps close to me again, runs his hand down my face, then drops to one knee so he is at my eye level.

‘I may not be very good at showing it or saying it to you, but my little goddess, I do care for you,’ he reveals. ‘And when I thought I might lose your love ...’

The Sith Lord looks away. He’s having a hard time admitting this to me and to himself.

‘... it was almost more than I could bear,’ he somehow manages to finish in a whisper.

‘Ani,’ I soothe, reaching over to touch his face. ‘Ani, it’s alright to feel that way.’

He says nothing in answer, simply sets his forehead against the edge of the bed and lets me brush my calming fingers over his head then run them through his short, spiky hair. My poor love. You are having a hard time dealing with what you feel. All those long forgotten emotions you have ignored for so many years have roared back to life with a vengeance.

‘It’s not easy to admit love for someone,’ I quietly tell him, ‘it opens us up to being hurt.’

Ani tips his head up and stares at me. Did I ever hit the nail on the head that time. This is what has been the big problem all along. He is scared to death of being hurt again. No wonder he has always been so reluctant to let me know how he really feels, and quick to shove me away or sabotage our relationship whenever he felt he was letting himself get too close. It was his defensive way of putting some distance between us.

Dear Gods, I ask, what happened to him all those years ago that hurt him to this extent?

‘Betrayal, Maia,’ he coldly states. ‘A betrayal of the worst possible kind.’

He starts to move away, to distance himself again, but I set my hand behind his neck and drag myself close to him. Then I kiss him. Gently, softly, I put my lips to his.

I won’t leave you, my love. No matter what happens, no matter how much you hurt me, I won’t ever leave you, I won’t ever stop loving you, I reassure him.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Maia, he warns before pulling away from me.

‘You need to rest,’ he decides and there is no warmth, no love at all left in his voice.

I watch him leave and once he is gone, quietly cry myself to sleep.

DAY 7

I pick away at the vegetables on my plate, then set my fork aside while I brood. Reena was by earlier and has decided I can move around a little bit now. Not that I can go anywhere or do anything anyway. A glance towards the main door reveals no sign yet of Ani, so I let out an annoyed sigh. He spent the night in his office and said only a few words to me this morning. Fine, Sith Lord, go and hide somewhere. Avoid me all you like, but you can’t run from what you feel forever.

Frustrated and bored, I carry my plate to the sink. Time to relax and behave myself. After wrapping myself in a blanket, I sit down on the bed and decide to spend some time peering in at my son. There you are, I think happily to myself, and you are getting bigger and stronger, too. I gently brush my senses around him, soothing him even though I know there is no conscious thought there to connect with. There is an odd twinge inside me in response to my touch. Did he move? I shouldn’t be able to feel that yet. He’s far too small. Another light touch to him with the Force produces the same funny fluttering sensation. He did move! Cool. Really cool.

The Sith Lord comes in, but I pay no attention to him. I am too busy seeing what will prompt our son to move. When he sits beside me and adds his hand to my middle, I briefly look up and smile at him before returning my attention to our son.

‘I can feel him move, Ani,’ I tell him. ‘It feels weird, too.’

‘Maia, ... ‘ he starts, then stops, removes his hand and stares at my stomach. Maybe Ani just felt the same kick that I did.

I decide to keep talking, to give him some time to think, ‘If I brush against him with the Force I think he kicks me in response. He doesn’t like being prodded at all.’

When Ani is still silent, I tease, ‘Maybe he’s a bit like his father that way.’

A snort of amusement comes from the Sith Lord at that. He’s in a good mood at the moment. I feel Ani set a hand under my chin and lift my face to look into his. His eyes are calm, settled and full of laughter, I note just before he kisses me. It is a gentle, light kiss, but I want more than that. When he starts to pull away, I slip my arms around him and hold him close, pressing my lips hard against his.

I only have a few seconds to wait. He brushes my lips with his tongue, urges me to open my mouth to him. I tease him a bit, bar his entry with my own tongue, dueling with him for a moment before yielding completely. Gradually I fall backwards on the bed, pulling him over with me, all the while maintaining our kiss which is now deep and intense. My body melts beneath him and I know what I want now. With a mischievous tug, I yank his belt off, pull the codpiece lose and reach for the seam which runs down the front of his body armor, only to find my hands being caught and pinned to the bed.

‘None of that, my love,’ Ani warns me, ‘not for two more weeks, and only if Reena approves.’

No, I think miserably. I had hoped she didn’t say anything to him about that.

‘You may kiss and touch me all you like, though,’ he teases.

So he can have all the fun he wants. Not fair.

I look up at Ani. He’s lounging beside me, leaning on one arm while he watches the expressions on my face. I give him a playful shove, push him over on his back and kiss him. If this is all I am allowed to do, then he is going to get the most thorough treatment I can give him. Feeling a bit bratty, I cover his face with kisses, making sure to hit his ear’s ticklish spot a couple of times just to see him squirm a little. I return my lips to his next and let him kiss me as he likes to. One last kiss from me now. Shall I be brave today? Why not, I decide. A peck on the end of his nose and my lips are on his again. Ani stiffens in surprise when I run my tongue over them, but he responds by opening his mouth and letting me explore it as I want to. He has all his own teeth, I discover, and he tastes sweet, like the supplement drink he must have finished for lunch. When I finally end this kiss, he holds me close, brushes a hand through my hair and murmurs something to me in Sith.

Did I hear that right? I carefully consider what he just said. Yes, he did say what I thought he did. Oh, Ani, I think, feeling a tear escape, thank you for that. It means everything to hear that from you.

‘If you start to cry every time I tell you ‘I love you’ I will have to stop saying it,’ he teases.

That makes me cry a bit more, but he doesn’t scold or tease me for it, just holds me close to his chest until I stop. Finally, he shifts me onto my side and settles me in for my afternoon nap. I watch him replace his codpiece and retrieve the belt I pulled off. Once they are back in place, he sits beside me again.

‘I realized last night that there are only two things which are truly important to me, Maia,’ the Sith Lord admits, ‘you and my son. Everything else has to take second place to ....’

He abruptly breaks off, and snaps his head around to look straight through the wall. His eyes narrow with concentration. Something is definitely wrong.

‘Stay here, Maia,’ he orders. ‘Don’t move. I am going to close the blast doors on this room once I leave it.’

‘Ani, what’s wrong?’ I ask, watching him rapidly replace his mask and helmet.

‘We have a guest who has decided to pay us a visit in a manner I do not appreciate. I intend to give him a welcome he won’t soon forget,’ the Sith Lord reveals, brushing his fingers over my face before he goes.

I watch the door close and the heavy armor plated ones drop immediately after. He’s concerned enough to make sure I am completely secure. Who could the intruder be though? The castle’s security systems should have dealt with him long before he could ever reach these rooms.

I shut my eyes and stretch out my senses. Ani is nearby, next to his meditation pod, in fact, and he’s busy with the Force. Who is that there with him, though? A careful brush against our uninvited guest and I know exactly who it is. Jixton. What ever possessed him to break in here? Well, Ani will put a good scare into him, if he lets Jix survive the experience, that is.

Ten minutes later, the blast doors open and the Sith Lord returns to my side.

I quietly tell him, ‘Only Jix would be crazy enough to try to get in here.’

‘So you did figure out who it was,’ he notes, pleased with my surmise.

‘You chased him off, I guess?’ I ask, curious.

‘Not exactly. I put some fear into him and sent him on an errand,’ Ani admits.

‘Errand. Right,’ I reply. ‘More likely some mission or another designed to keep Jix busy for a while.’

A low chuckle is his response to that.

‘I want you to sleep, my Favorite. You need to rest. If you behave yourself, I will give you a surprise tomorrow,’ Ani tempts me a bit.

Surprise? Cool. His presents are always good ones. I close my eyes and settle in for my nap. There is another laugh at my quick compliance with his request.

‘You are only stubborn when it suits you, and then just to annoy me,’ he teases. ‘A most contrary and obstinate little goddess, just like your namesake.’

I snuggle closer in to my pillow and smile a little. He’s trying to provoke a response to get out of giving me the present he has promised. That’s not going to work, Sith Lord, not when I know what you are up to. His hand brushes down my cheek but I refuse to open my eyes. Nope, that won’t work, either. I can feel his amusement now, and his surrender. There will be no more attempts at getting me to talk.

‘Sleep, my love,’ he soothes. ‘I will wake you when Reena comes to check on you.’

True to his word, Ani rouses me a few minutes before the doctor arrives. She is her usual efficient self, and is not surprised when I mention the weird flutterings I can feel inside me.

‘A bit earlier than for most women,’ she reveals, ‘but there is not much to you so it will be easier for you to feel him moving about.’

She gives me a measuring look.

‘You need to gain more weight, my lady. I will set up a diet for you to follow,’ Reena advises. With a glance at Ani, she adds, ‘and no more of Lord Vader’s supplement. There is not enough of what you need in it.’

Well, I can live with that. It was beginning to get boring drinking the same things all the time anyway. I can’t think of anything else to ask her about, so I watch her go a few minutes later. She’s a good doctor and I like her, I decide.

‘Time to eat,’ Ani announces next as he disappears into the kitchen.

The Sith Lord putters about in there for quite a while before coming back to the bedroom and stripping off his armor. He’s up to something again, I just know it. I stay quiet and let him carry me to the dining table once he is in his robes.

After I am settled in a chair, I carefully examine what he’s made for me. Soup, bread, a few of the veggies I like and a small nerf steak. With a smile I dig in and do my best to have a bit of everything.

Ani watches me, entertained by my appetite, no doubt.

‘Finished?’ he finally asks, and when I nod, he brings a bowl from the cooling unit.

What’s this? I give the round, ice-covered lumps a poke with my spoon. They are the size of large marbles, and a variety of colors. Not sure what to do, I give Ani a questioning glance, then return my attention to what must be dessert. Time to try one then. It’s cold, but melts in my mouth. Strawberries? These look nothing like my favorite fruit from Earth, but they certainly taste the same.

There is an amused chuckle at the look on my face. Fine, laugh at me, Sith Lord.

‘What are these things, Ani?’ I ask between bites.

‘Neema-fruit from Naboo,’ he identifies. ‘Hard to get fresh since they are out of season now. They taste best with a bit of ice on them so I dipped them in water and chilled them for you.’

So this is what my favorite juice is derived from.

‘They taste like strawberries from home,’ I tell him, ‘but those only come in red and can be much bigger.’

Home. I set the spoon aside as a wave of homesickness hits. How I miss everyone. Shutting my eyes, I scold myself a bit. Stop that, Maia. You can’t go back and there’s no point thinking about it. Ani loves you and he’s right here. Don’t upset him with this sort of foolishness.

I feel a hand on my cheek. Ani, I think, my love. He kisses me next, then I am picked up again and carried out of the kitchen towards his office.

What’s he up to now? I glance about the room. Bookshelves lined with interesting looking volumes, a desk with a data terminal, and ... a fire place? Ani sets me down in front of the cheerful blaze, but I feel no heat from it. There must be a barrier of some sort to keep the flames from interfering with the controlled environment.

‘How are you keeping the flames from interfering with the oxygenated atmosphere?’ I ask him.

‘Magnetic shield,’ Ani admits as he sits down beside me. ‘It looks nice, but has no real practical purpose. I use it as a focus sometimes when I meditate.’

I give the heavy blanket on the floor a poke. Nice and soft. Comfortable to curl up on. The pillow I want is out of reach though, so I pull it to me with the Force and settle myself next to my love. His hand brushes through my hair and I feel a pair of lips on the top of my head. Liquid is poured into a glass and I smell the sharp, distinct odor of something alcoholic.

‘You drink?’ I blurt out.

‘Only the very best Corellian whisky, and rarely at that,’ Ani reveals. ‘It bothers my battered insides if I indulge too often.’

‘I never touch the stuff,’ I tell him.

‘That’s not entirely true, Favorite, so out with it,’ he scolds.

Oh, no, he picked up on that.

‘Once, then,’ I admit.

‘And...?’ he prompts.

‘Trust me. You really don’t want to know,’ I try to dissuade any more questions.

‘Tell me anyway,’ he insists.

He’s expecting another embarrassing story. With a sigh, I give in.

‘It was my nineteenth birthday,’ I reluctantly start my tale of woe, ‘and Liz, Rick and Michael decided to take me to the popular bar on campus.’

Ani lets out a snort and interprets, ‘You were of drinking age and your sex-crazed roommate, your friend, the Admiral, and your brother, the Jedi, decided to get you drunk.’

I start laughing. The way he put it makes it sound hilarious.

‘Well, yes,’ I admit, ‘and they succeeded. Admirably, too. It’s a good thing I don’t remember much of that night, either.’

‘This sounds intriguing. So what did you do, Favorite?’ the Sith Lord asks.

This I really don’t want to tell him.

‘Maia,...’ he warns.

‘Stood on top of a table and sang love songs,’ I blurt out, burying my face in the pillow.

‘That’s not all there is to the tale, I imagine,’ he prods again.

May as well tell him the worst of it.

‘They were to you,’ I mumble into the pillow, hoping he doesn’t hear.

No such luck and dead silence from him. I knew that’s how he would react.

‘And some of my classmates were there,’ I add. ‘I was teased for months afterwards. It was horribly embarrassing since I couldn’t remember much of anything. They took great delight in telling me all sorts of stories about what I supposedly said and did just to torment me. Rick finally set the record straight and told me what really happened, but by then....’

‘By then, many were convinced you were crazy to love a Sith Lord who would never know you existed,’ Ani quietly finishes for me.

I think about it for a few minutes while he sips on his drink. Yes, that’s exactly how everyone reacted. Everyone except my brother and a few close friends. Rick and Liz never said one negative word to me about it. And Michael. My brother had only chuckled a bit and told me that sometimes the impossible does happen.

I turn my head so I can look up at the Sith Lord.

‘Michael would have liked you, Ani,’ I decide.

A small smile starts to appear.

‘Once he would have stopped trying to kill you, that is,’ I tease him. ‘He always was the over-protective big brother to me.’

‘The Admiral mentioned something along those lines in that letter he wrote to you,’ Ani notes.

I hear him set aside his glass and see the lights go out. An arm slides around my waist next as Ani shifts himself to lie down beside me. There is a quick kiss to the back of my neck and I shiver a bit at it. His lips are cold from his drink.

‘Time for me to talk and you to listen, my wife,’ he tells me.

This must be serious if he is calling me that. His hand brushes over my stomach and I sense him checking on our son.

‘I can’t promise you that I will be the perfect husband to you, Maia,’ Ani admits, ‘and while I would like to tell you the truth of everything you want to know, I can’t. It’s not possible. It is just not safe for you to know certain things about me and what I do.’

He is silent a moment, so I wait patiently for him to continue.

‘What I can do is be honest about how I feel and truthful about anything which affects only the two of us. I know you deserve more than that, but this is all I can offer,’ he quietly states, pauses, then adds, ‘It would be different, my love, if we were ordinary people leading normal lives. But I am second only to the Emperor and I would hope you understand what that means.’

Understand? I know all too well exactly what it means.

‘Now, my love, I owe you several apologies. I should have been honest with you from the start about your oath, and I should never have concealed our son’s existence from you like I did.’ I feel his hand tighten around my waist, ‘But I was afraid, Maia, of what my master might do if I told him immediately about our son. I wanted him to accept you as my mate, first, then convince him, later, to let me keep our child.’

He pulls me in tight to his chest and I know that he really doesn’t want to tell me the next bit.

‘I am sorry I mistreated you that night. I did not want to do that, but ...’ Ani stops speaking. When he continues, his voice is quiet, almost a whisper, ‘.... but I had no choice. Our son is just too strong for my master to let go without good reason. I did not want to hurt you, my little love, but I needed you to react that way. I had to be able to honestly tell my master you would go mad if he took our son from us. He would have known if I lied to him about that. So he gave me our son to keep you stable and sane. It was the only way he would let me keep our child.’

Oh Ani, I think, how terrible that you had to resort to such desperate measures just to keep our son from the Emperor. I set my hand on top of his and give it a reassuring squeeze.

‘There’s more, but you have heard enough for one day,’ the Sith Lord decides, ‘and since we are both comfortable here, I see no reason to move.’

I feel him pull another blanket over top of us. Sleeping by the fire will be cool. Too bad it doesn’t fit the cliché - there’s no blizzard raging outside or bearskin rug underneath us.

‘You like the idea of being stuck alone with me somewhere, don’t you?’ he asks.

I snuggle in tight to him. Like? Definitely. Too bad there is always something he needs to do or someone he has to talk to.

I let out a sigh, and admit, ‘Those four days we had to ourselves on my homeworld seem like heaven now.’

‘We have the next two weeks more or less to ourselves,’ he reveals with a chuckle.

‘What?’ I blurt out, surprised.

‘Orders from the Emperor,’ he ruefully admits.

‘Sounds like a pretty strange situation to me,’ I tell him. ‘Why would he order you to just hang about and do nothing?’

‘Shall I show you?’ he offers.

I give a nod. This should be cool.

Ani reaches for our bond, touches my mind and pulls my awareness back into his own. It is a bit disorienting but he doesn’t wait for me to sort myself out before triggering a memory. Weird, I decide, things look strange through the lenses of his helmet. I sense his amusement at my reaction as he whips through his recollection of his meeting with the Emperor. Guess there are some things I am not supposed to learn about that.

He stops at some point and I find myself immersed in what he had experienced.

Ani is looking down at the floor from what I can see through his eyes. He must be kneeling, too, judging from the distance to it.

‘Now my friend,’ I hear the Emperor say, ‘you have created a problem for me which you need to look after immediately.’

The Sith Lord glances up at the man seated in front of him. He is puzzled by what he was just told.

‘I don’t understand,’ Ani admits.

‘I didn’t expect you to,’ his master flatly states. ‘You never could manage the women in your life.’

Silence from the Sith Lord. An annoyed look crosses the Emperor’s face. He gets out of his chair and turns to stare out the window.

‘I know what happened to your Favorite yesterday,’ he reveals, sounding a bit offended, ‘and I felt her emotional distress as did every Force sensitive in the sector. If you cannot treat her any better than that, I will take her away from you. She is nothing but a child, Lord Vader, one you will handle with the greatest of care from now on. There will be no more public displays like that spectacle you put on when you arrived.’

I feel Ani flinch in surprise.

‘She fainted, my master, that’s all,’ Ani protests.

‘That is not what I am referring to, my apprentice,’ the Emperor snaps. ‘Seeing a live broadcast of you dragging an obviously terrified woman off your shuttle and then proceeding to forcibly carry her from the landing platform is unacceptable.’

‘She wasn’t frightened,’ Ani retorts, ‘she was being stubborn.’

The Emperor turns and points a finger at the Sith Lord.

‘It doesn’t matter what really happened,’ he scolds, angrily, ‘only what the media and the public think of it. I had intended to use the two of you as role-models. You may have ruined my plans.’

He returns to sit in the throne and stares down at the Sith Lord, tapping one finger on the armrest as he thinks.

‘The public’s view of you must change,’ the Emperor finally decides.

‘What?’ Ani asks, startled.

‘In this one area only,’ his master reassures him. ‘You, my friend, will be both my loyal, dedicated military commander, and a devoted, attentive, and caring mate to her.’

The Sith Lord gets to his feet and takes a step backwards. He can’t believe what he just was ordered to do.

‘My master?’ Ani asks, puzzled.

‘You will do as you are told,’ the Emperor reminds him. ‘What you do in private is your own business, but in public you will treat her with kindness and consideration, and will not raise your voice or hand to her, no matter what she does to provoke you.’

He sits back in his chair, obviously amused by Ani’s stunned reaction to this. When the Sith Lord says nothing, though, he adds a few more orders related to me.

‘You will see to it that your Favorite behaves appropriately from now on,’ his master commands. ‘She is to be both supportive and compliant to you. I want the public to see her as my version of the ideal woman - quiet, obedient, unobtrusive, and completely devoted to her mate. When your son is born, she will become my model mother - dedicated solely to her family.’

I can sense Ani’s amusement at this. He knows how stubborn and contrary I can be and how difficult I will find it to follow the rules the Emperor has just dictated.

‘I will do as you wish,’ the Sith Lord concedes.

‘Good, very good. Now, she needs to recover and should not travel for two weeks at least,’ he states, ‘so you, my friend, will stay here on Imperial Center until she is able to leave. There is a new opera opening in a week’s time. You will accompany me to the premiere and bring your Favorite with you. I want you to make some public appearances with her while you are here. You need to repair the damage your foolishness may have done. In the meantime, I have a few errands you can look after for me ...’

The memory fades at that and I feel a moment of disorientation as I open my eyes. Reliving that with Ani was truly bizarre. I take a moment to consider what I have just learned.

‘Ani, did he order you to do what I think he did?’ I ask.

A low chuckle, then, ‘Yes, my love, he did.’

I shift a bit beside him, moving in closer to snuggle up to him. Ani can be as affectionate in public as he wants to be, now, and the Emperor will think he is only following orders. A smile creeps across my face. This should be fun.

‘I won’t do anything too provocative, Maia,’ he reminds me, ‘and we must be careful not to over-do it at first. My master expects I will be reluctant to show you any public affection. He would not have been so insistent about it, otherwise.’

‘He doesn’t like women very much, does he?’ I wryly observe.

‘Why do you think that?’ the Sith Lord questions.

I let out a snort and quote, ‘ “quiet, obedient, unobtrusive, and completely devoted to her mate, and dedicated solely to her family.” Sounds like the old cliché from years ago at home. Women should be silent, barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.’

No response from Ani to that, so I tell him something else I have guessed, ‘From his attitude, I would assume that at some point in the past some woman got the better of him and he has never forgotten that.’

Dead silence. I must have been pretty close with that surmise.

‘Perhaps,’ Ani finally admits.

I feel a kiss on the back of my neck again.

‘Now, if you want your surprise tomorrow, you must be good and go to sleep,’ he tells me.

Surprise? Oh. I pull his arm tight around my waist. No need to be stubborn here.

A few minutes later, I am asleep.

DAY 8

***

My morning’s tasks are finished, so I return to my private quarters to retrieve Maia. She was quiet and unhappy when I told her I had to leave, and will be in no better a mood after I tell her I will be gone for most of the afternoon as well.

Maia looks up at me from the book she was reading as I enter my office. At least my Favorite is able to keep herself entertained when I am away.

‘I have another errand to do this afternoon,’ I tell her.

There is a flash of quickly hidden resentment.

‘Maia,’ I warn.

She has become very possessive of the time I spend with her. And I will have less and less of that to share in the coming months.

A slightly hurt expression appears next. Very well, then, I will have to deal with her attitude when I get back.

‘Do you want your surprise?’ I ask, changing the topic.

‘Yes!’ she answers, discarding the volume on ‘saber forms she was busy with.

‘Come along, then,’ I offer, holding my hand out to her.

She slips hers into mine and tries to hurry us along, doing her best to outpace me. I hold her back, keeping her at a slow, gentle walk. Reena will be in a foul mood if I have to take my wife to my castle’s medlab.

‘Stop that,’ I scold when she tugs on my hand again, ‘and behave yourself.’

‘But,’ she starts to protest.

‘Behave,’ I repeat.

Her pace slows to match mine, so I steer her into the conservatory and release her hand.

‘It's beautiful,’ she notes, as she looks about.

I allow myself a smile. The last time I was at Imperial Center I selected a landscape architect and set him to work. Now that she knows this exists, Maia will probably spend many happy days here when I am away.

I follow her down to the pool with the fish in it and watch her settle herself on the seat beside the water.

‘Stay where you are,’ I suggest. ‘Thirsk and your staff will be by in a few minutes.’

She doesn’t look up from where she is trying to persuade the fish to come closer to her hand.

‘You may have whatever you like,’ I decide. ‘Pick out anything you want and don't worry about the cost.’

Maia finally shifts her attention back to me. I can tell she is wondering what her surprise is.

‘Anything?’ she teases.

‘Anything,’ I confirm.

Even if she ordered a hundred of everything she sees this afternoon, it wouldn’t affect my net worth. Let her choose as she pleases.

‘You won’t be gone long?’ she asks.

‘As long as is necessary,’ I reply.

Another flash of resentment from her.

I don’t let her sense my annoyance, but instead sit beside her on the carved rock bench. My fingers trail down her cheek before I rest them on my knee. Her attitude is partially my fault. In protecting her, keeping her isolated, she has become completely dependent on me emotionally. This is a potentially dangerous situation, one I need to remedy quickly.

‘I know you don’t want me to be away from you,’ I admit, ‘but this is how it must be.’

She looks away, refuses to meet my gaze. I reach over and turn her face so she can’t avoid what I need to say to her.

‘If we were living on your homeworld and I was on active duty in the military, would it be any different than it is here?’ I question.

Maia shakes her head in answer.

‘It would be worse,’ she softly says. ‘I wouldn’t be able to stay with you.’

I leave my fingers under her chin, brush her lips with my thumb.

‘Then be grateful for the time we have together,’ I suggest. ‘Once my flagship is finished, I will have little of that to give you.’

‘It’s…’ she starts.

‘…not fair,’ I finish for her. ‘I know that, but you knew how things would be for us. I told you on your homeworld what it would be like.’

There are tears threatening, so I lock the doors with a gesture and pull her close. It has been very difficult for her to adapt to her new life. Culture shock. Living with me. Learning everything younglings know and take for granted. It will be easier for her once my son is born and she has him to keep her occupied.

But now I am late for my meeting and must go.

‘I will be back later,’ I tell her.

***

I watch him go, and quickly turn away from the doors once he is gone. It isn’t fair, I want to protest, but I know that won’t change the situation. With a sigh, I resign myself to living with it. Complaining to Ani won’t help and will only annoy him.

The fish come closer when I wiggle my fingers at them. Maybe I can find out what they eat and tempt them with that.

Thirsk and my Lieutenants appear a few minutes later. At least Ani lets me have them for company. While I wait for them to join me, the Commander, after surveying the area, takes up his usual guard position by the entrance.

Melina gives me a smile and picks a spot on the bench next to the one I am on. My aide sometimes gives me the impression that she thinks I am an uneducated country bumpkin, though she does try to hide that opinion quickly whenever I might notice it. Cyran sits beside me where Ani was. Of the four women, she has been the most friendly, and I like her the best. Adi, I do my best not to roll my eyes at. She means well, but at times is a bit scatterbrained. And Daini. If Liz had a clone, personality-wise, it would be her. Any good looking male in uniform is fair game to her. Ani’s wingman, Rik, has spent days avoiding her clutches. The five of us, I decide, could not be more unalike.

‘You’ve cut your hair,’ I tell Cyran. Her normally shoulder-length blonde hair is now styled in a short bob.

‘I wanted to try something different, my lady,’ she admits.

‘I think it looks better when it's a little longer,’ I decide.

‘Shorter hair is the newest fashion,’ Melina adds.

The doors open before I can reply to that and Thirsk gives the short, dumpy woman who is standing there a critical look.

Now what?

‘You may come in,’ the Commander tells her.

She walks over to where the rest of us are sitting and introduces herself, ‘I am Melanani, my lady. Lord Vader asked me to show my latest designs to you…’

I only half-listen to the rest of what she says because the reactions of the women around me are far more interesting. Melina is openly surprised, and Adi looks rather stunned. They obviously know who she is though her name means nothing to me.

For the next hour there is a parade of models. Most of the dresses are not to my taste at all, but a few of the simpler ones would be fine. I accept a datapad from the designer once her showing is finished and look at the list on it.

‘I can ensure delivery within two days, my lady,’ she assures me, assuming that’s why I am hesitating, I suppose.

‘You will need to order four of everything you want,’ Melina advises.

I give her a puzzled look, then ask, ‘Why?’

‘One each for here, his Lordship’s new flagship, Bast Castle, and the Devastator,’ my aide reveals. ‘That way you won't be moving your wardrobe every time Lord Vader transfers location.’

‘But…,’ I start to protest, then stop. Ani did say to pick whatever I wanted to, and he wasn’t at all concerned about how much I might spend.

Alright, for once in my life I’ll be a spendthrift. With a touch I pick out the dresses I liked on the datapad, then add a couple others Ani might think are suitable as well. I deliberately avoid looking at the total purchase cost and return the datapad to Melanani.

‘Simple and without excess,’ she notes. ‘You have excellent taste, my lady, better than most of my clients, in fact. Now that I know what you prefer, the next show I do for you, I will leave the more frivolous designs out.’

The instant she is gone, the four women with me start talking all at once, each determined to get out her opinion.

‘Do you know who that was?’ Cyran finally manages to say overtop of the other three.

‘No,’ I confess.

My companions fall silent at my admission.

‘That,’ Melina tells me, ‘was the most sought after designer in the Empire. She is a bit of a recluse and I’ve never heard of her ever accompanying her models to a show, public or private. Obviously she didn’t want to offend his Lordship.’

‘I think she just wanted to get a look at you, my lady,’ Adi volunteers. ‘The media have been going crazy trying to find out anything they can about you.’

Somehow I keep myself from rolling my eyes.

‘Ready for the next one?’ Thirsk breaks in.

‘There’s more?’ I ask him.

‘A few more, my lady, but if you have had enough, I will tell them to come back another day,’ he offers.

I consider what to do. If I send them away, they might have to do their shows when I would have a chance to spend time with Ani. And I prefer to get this over with quickly rather than draw it out.

‘Ask the next one to come in please, Thirsk,’ I request.

The rest of the afternoon goes quickly. By the time the last model has left, I have picked out two dozen dresses and formal gowns. And not once did I look at the price on any of them. That’s something I don’t really want to know anyway.

When Thirsk and the Lieutenants start to leave, I stay put.

‘My lady?’ Melina questions.

‘I just want to be alone for a while,’ I admit.

‘I will wait outside the door for you, then,’ Thirsk decides, opting to be my bodyguard once again.

When I am finally by myself, I get up and wander along the gravel path which winds through the ornamental gardens. Ani has good taste, I decide. This place he had built for me, while small, is quite beautiful. I tip my head up. The ceiling is partially transparisteel, partially stone, but I know that both must be heavily shielded. Dusk has come, I note as the light through the panes starts to fade.

With a sigh, I make my way back to the fishpond and resume my seat.

‘Hello, fishies,’ I tell my new, brightly colored friends.

They swim near my hand, then disappear into the water’s depths.

‘Abandoning me already?’ I ask them. ‘You wouldn’t be so fickle if I had something to feed you.’

I pull my hand from the pond and shake the excess water from it.

I wonder where Ani was today. Despite the Emperor’s orders to look after me, I suspect that the Sith Lord has been seeing to various business dealings and not running errands for his master.

‘It's not fair,’ I protest to the empty room, ‘really not fair.’

He never lets me do anything. Never allows me to go anywhere or meet anyone. And I am bored out of my mind with the routine our lives have slipped into. Get up, have breakfast with Ani if he hasn’t left early, try to keep busy until lunchtime, perhaps have a session in the salle with him, look through various reports for him all afternoon, then dinner and the evening which I, more often than not, spend alone until my love drags himself to bed late at night. He has had less and less time to give me and I really resent it when our plans to have a few minutes together are tossed aside because of something that comes up at the last second.

And more and more, he has been brooding about the Rebellion and that small group of rebels he is so intent on catching. If only Wermis had recaptured them at Monastery, I wish, the Sith Lord would not have to be chasing after them, now. I give my head a shake. While I don’t like the Devastator's Captain, Ani has managed to persuade me that the man is competent, if a bit thick at times.

I feel my son stir a bit. He’s getting restless, so I head towards the door where Thirsk is waiting to take me to Ani’s private quarters. It’s dinnertime for me anyway and I need to stop brooding about what I can’t change or do anything about.

DAY 11

Ani promised to take me on a tour of his castle, but has instead left me in the conservatory again. I glare at the doors he just closed and secured. Jix’s latest attempt to sneak in means that it may be days before I can persuade the Sith Lord to resume showing me his official ‘home.’

Annoyed, I stomp down to the stone bench and retrieve the fish food I have hidden under it.

‘Here, fishies,’ I call as I scatter the crumbs over the water. ‘Here’s your lunch.’

They promptly appear, mouths open and ready, so I add a few more bits to the ones they are busy nibbling on.

‘You’ve got them well trained, Aunt Em,’ I hear Jix tease from behind me.

I close my eyes and shake my head.

‘Wrenga Jixton,’ I scold him a little, ‘you are going to get yourself in trouble.’

‘Trouble’s my middle name,’ he claims, joining me, but sitting on the other bench, not mine. Jix knows better than to push his luck. Ani is going to be irritated enough as it is.

‘Lord Vader takes a dim view of your insolence,’ I warn him.

I get a lop-sided grin in response, so I let out a sigh and put the fish food back where I keep it.

‘He keeps me around for entertainment,’ Jix wryly admits, ‘and because I get the job done.’

‘And because he trusts you,’ I add, ‘but you shouldn’t go too far.’

‘No worries there, Aunt Em,’ he assures me, ‘I know when to stop. Besides, he should be happy today since I brought him someone to duel with.’

‘And, …’ I prompt, hoping to get a few details.

‘Admiral Droon had a few lightsabers in his collection, so I brought one of them back with us,’ Jix reveals. ‘Somehow I doubt the Admiral ever expected he might have to use it.’

‘Oh,’ I reply, then add after a bit of thought, ‘I don’t think I want any details.’

If the Sith Lord was angry with the Admiral, he has probably cut him into very small pieces by now.

I hear the doors open and Ani’s annoyed comment, ‘You should not be in here, Jix.’

‘Just paying a social visit, Uncle Dee,’ Jix teases him in response, getting up from the bench and heading away from me towards the door.

‘Since you have so much free time on your hands, I have another job for you to do,’ the Sith Lord decides. ‘And it’s one that should keep you busy for quite a while.’

‘See you when I get back, Aunt Em,’ Jix tells me.

The door shuts after them and I am left to wonder what task Ani plans to send him on.

***

The moment that Jix is through the doors, and those closed behind him, I growl at him.

‘Stay away from my Favorite, Jix,’ I scold, shaking a finger at him. ‘I will put up with your insolence, your teasing, and even your attempts to get through my castle’s security, but you will stay well away from her.’

He has the nerve to look a bit amused at that.

‘Jixton,’ I warn.

‘Alright, Uncle Dee,’ he concedes, ‘no more unannounced visits to Aunt Em.’

‘Good,’ I reply.

Maia doesn’t need Jix upsetting her with his antics.

I turn and head to my office, waving him along with me. My other agents have failed to discover any trace of the sound slugs Mia stole, and I intend to give Jix the job of finding them and exactly who she gave them to.

***

DAY 12

I shift a bit beside Ani as I wake up. He’s still asleep and luckily gives no indication that my restlessness has disturbed him. Time to think, then, about some of the past week's events. The Sith Lord only gave in to me as much as he felt was absolutely necessary, a fact I discovered yesterday when he refused point blank to answer my questions about our son’s future. Stubborn man, I decide. Well, he will have to tell me sooner or later what his plans are, so I will be patient.

At least he has promised to be honest with me about anything which concerns just the two of us, and has owned up to and apologized for some pretty horrid lies. That's a good start to build on. Now I will have to make sure he keeps his word and doesn’t fall back into his old behavior patterns.

My son stirs a bit inside me, so I soothe and quiet him as best I can. Those weird fluttering sensations he produces in me can be rather unsettling at times. Last night I kept waking up due to my fidgety offspring. Maybe Ani was responsible, I wryly think. The Sith Lord was busy messing about with the Force until quite late, and ‘junior’ always reacts when he feels that too strongly nearby.

I worry for a few minutes. We have been ordered to attend the opera tonight, and being in close proximity to the Emperor has me concerned. Stop fussing, I scold myself. Ani will be there and surely he won’t let anything happen to you.

With a careful move or two, I turn myself over and smile at the sleeping Sith Lord. Now that he freely admitted his love for me, there is an easiness, an openness in our relationship which wasn’t there before. He’s still a bit hesitant about showing affection sometimes, though, and I know he was afraid I would lash out at him about some of what he confessed to me. My poor, confused love, you should know by now I could never hurt you like that. I just listened quietly to everything he said, not saying a word in response, and I know Ani was rather unnerved by that. What did he expect? A screaming, hysterical concubine? What’s in the past is done with and recriminations and accusations won’t change anything which has happened. I learned that fact years ago.

Ani still shows no signs of waking, so I let my mind wander a bit. Reena’s prohibition has made life interesting. I have used it as an excuse to curl up to the Sith Lord whenever I want a bit of attention and the opportunity has presented itself. Fortunately he hasn't scolded me for being a pest, but I know he is secretly hoping the doctor lifts her ban on sex next week. He’s assumed my lack of that is why I am being so persistent. I stifle a snicker. Sorry, Ani, but I intend to be just as affectionate after that as I am now.

I watch Ani’s face carefully. He’s close to waking up, so I nestle in closer and kiss him. His eyes fly open with that contact.

Good morning, Anakin, I tell him, I love you.

Maia, my beloved, is his slightly sleepy response.

A minute or so later, he is propped up against the wall with me happily settled in his arms. I let out a contented sigh and send him quiet, lighthearted thoughts. We are supposed to have today to ourselves until we have to leave for the Opera House tonight.

‘You have some more practicing to do today,’ Ani decides.

This is not what I expected to hear, so I ask, ‘Practicing of what?’

‘Proper manners in a formal setting,’ he explains.

‘Not more etiquette,’ I say, with a moan.

No, not that, not again. He’s already spent an entire day making sure I won’t say or do anything stupid tonight. Ani merely smiles at my misery.

‘Thirsk and the Lieutenants will be helping you practice today,’ he informs me.

‘I could be sick again,’ I hint about, trying to think of a way to get out of tonight’s commitment.

‘Not a chance. If I have to go and endure that off-key soprano once again, then you are going with me,’ he insists, ‘even if I have to order Reena to drug you.’

I make a face at him which produces a laugh.

‘Be sure to bring a few peanuts then,’ I suggest. ‘You might need them!’

‘Behave, concubine,’ he playfully growls.

I merely snuggle in close and purr happily at him. There’s no reason to get out of bed until we want to and I feel like staying right here for a while.

‘Stubborn,’ Ani teases.

‘So are you,’ I reply.

‘Contrary,’ he continues to tease.

‘And so are you,’ I repeat again, trying my best not to smile too much.

‘Temperamental,’ he ventures.

‘Nope,’ I retort, ‘that’s you, not me.’

‘Little hedonist,’ he tries.

Oh. Well, this will be harder to counter.

‘Not until next week,’ I remind him, ‘and you were the one who suggested fooling around on the command deck, not me.’

Ani starts laughing and I smile a bit. I knew he had forgotten about that.

‘Then I shall see to that once we leave and the ship is in hyperspace,’ he offers.

No, I think to myself, no, he can’t be serious.

I tip my head up to look at him. There’s that bratty smile again. He has every intention of doing what he just threatened to.

‘Maybe you will forget about it again before then,’ I hope.

‘Not a chance,’ he teases. ‘It ought to be fun, don’t you think?’

‘What about the recording units?’ I ask, looking for a way out.

‘Easily disabled,’ he reveals with a smirk, ‘unless you want a permanent record of our exploits.’

I must have been making some interesting noises and faces at that suggestion because the Sith Lord starts laughing at me. He’s just been leading me along, I quickly realize.

‘You,’ I growl, ‘are a brat.’

He laughs louder and draws me in for a kiss.

Favorite, he calls me.

Sith Lord, I respond.

When I pull back, I simply look quietly into his face. He raises an eyebrow, wondering what I am up to. My love, I think, I wish I could do something for you. I reach a finger to his cheek, gently trace the terrible scar on it. Ani has forbidden me to try healing his lungs, but he hasn’t said anything about his other injuries. Time to try something before he figures out what I am up to and moves to stop me.

A puzzled look crosses his face. He has no idea what I am planning. Good. I quickly reach for the Force, tap into it, then rest my hand on his left cheek and channel it into him.

‘Maia!’ he calls to me, trying to snap the connection I have established. ‘Don't!’

He has finally realized what I am doing. I ignore his protest and refuse to let him break the link. The old injury resists and I stubbornly add more energy to what I have already used. Heal, dammit, I think, heal. Agony burns across my cheek, and I see a horrified look appear on Ani's face. A moment later, the pain is gone, and black spots are dancing in my vision. His hideous scar, I happily note through the blur, is gone, replaced by a thin white line.

‘I don’t feel very good,’ I tell the Sith Lord just before I pass out.

‘... stupid, stupid concubine,’ I hear Ani scolding. ‘I can’t believe how stubborn and stupid you can be. Why won’t you just obey me? Why must you be so, so, damn stubborn!’

I cautiously open an eye. He’s wearing his robes and pacing back and forth beside the bed, talking to himself. From the sound of things, he is pretty mad and I am really in for it this time. Before he notices, I shut my eye again. Too late, though, he knows I am awake.

‘Maia,’ he warns, ‘don’t play act.’

‘Okay,’ I woozily answer, opening my eyes to look up at him.

‘Didn’t I tell you not to try to heal me?’ the Sith Lord starts to lecture, shaking a finger at me. ‘Didn't I warn you what could happen? Why are you always so stubborn? Why won’t you just do as you are told?’

‘ ‘Cause I am supposed to make your life interesting?' I groggily reply.

He lets out an exasperated sigh.

‘You aren’t even coherent, so I am not going to bother scolding you any more,’ he decides. ‘It doesn’t work anyway.’

‘Nope,’ I admit, ‘never worked when my mother did it either.’

‘Well, I hope you recover in a few hours because you are still going to the opera with me,’ the Sith Lord reminds me.

‘Okay,’ I cheerfully agree.

The look on his face is priceless. He obviously expected an argument from me.

‘Go back to sleep, Favorite,’ he orders. ‘You are not quite yourself yet.’

‘Nope,’ I stubbornly reply, ‘not yet, Ani.’

‘Maia, do as you are told!’ he snaps, thoroughly frustrated with me, as he heads for the door.

I watch him carefully. Ani hasn’t noticed what I did yet. Maybe I need to do something about that. I shove myself into a sitting position and my head spins a bit as a result. Control, I remind myself, concentrating on regaining my balance.

‘Don’t you like your new face?’ I ask him.

‘What?’ he answers, stopping his retreat from the room.

I point to my make-up bag and tell him, ‘There’s a mirror in there. Have a look.’

Ani turns and gives me a measuring stare. He hates mirrors. They remind him of what happened those many years ago. I give him an annoyed look and call the bag over to my hand. A quick rummage produces what I want. I open the small mirror and extend it towards him. The Sith Lord backs away as if I were handing him a poisonous snake.

‘Trust me,’ I reassure him, ‘you will like what you see.’

He rather reluctantly accepts the mirror. I know what he expects to see in it. Ani stares at the glass, unmoving. Finally, he reaches a hand to his cheek and runs a finger along the thin white scar. With a snap, he shuts the case and returns it to me.

‘That was not worth what it could have cost us,’ he flatly states.

I let out a snort.

‘Being knocked out for a while is not much of a price to pay,’ I decide.

‘That is not what I meant,’ he snaps, ‘you endangered our son with your foolish action.’

‘How so?’ I ask, curious.

‘You could have died draining yourself like that,’ the Sith Lord explains. ‘All of the Force you used was your own.’

‘What?’ I exclaim. That’s not what I felt.

‘It’s a rarely seen effect of our bond,’ he tells me, sitting beside me on the bed, ‘which is also related to why your back was marked when I was punished. I decided a while ago to research what happened the first time you tried this, but the last week was the first opportunity to do so. And I only found what I was looking for last night. Listen to me, Maia. Any healing you do to me or vice-versa draws on internal, personal energy and relies on injury transference. If you use too much or the wounds are too great, you will die, and the same goes for me. That's why you must never, ever do that again.’

‘Oh. Well I wish you had said something about this earlier,’ I scold him a bit.

‘I had planned to tell you today,’ he admits, ‘but you just had to ...’

He falls silent.

‘Why did you do that?’ he finally asks. ‘You didn’t need to. It wasn’t necessary.’

I draw Ani into my arms and hold him close.

‘I don’t think you will understand why, even if I explain it to you,’ I admit.

‘Try me,’ he prompts.

‘You needed it,’ I tell him.

‘Oh,’ he replies and I know he still doesn’t get it.

I kiss his cheek, and do my best to explain, ‘Ani, I love you, and despite what you might think, your outer appearance matters not a bit to me. But I know deep down that it matters to you, and you need to see yourself as I see you. Without the terrible scars, without the wounds. You are a handsome man inside and I love you for that.’

Silence from him again while he thinks about what I just told him. I hold him close and run my fingers through his hair, soothing him. The scar on his scalp is still there, hidden by his short blondish-brown hair, but I will obey him and not try to heal it. He turns his face to look into mine. My handsome Sith Lord, I think. You look quite good now. Your scars are no worse than those of any other soldier who has been around for a while.

An amused smile appears. He still doesn’t get it. Oh, well, he will eventually.

‘Naptime for me, then,’ I concede, since he is being so insistent about it.

‘I have a better idea,’ he tells me with a low growl.

‘Ani?’ I ask, puzzled. Now what is he up to?

A second later I have been carefully tackled and pinned to the bed. With a tug using the Force, he rips off my nightgown. Fine then, Sith Lord, I’ll play along with you. I reach up and yank off his belt. No codpiece to worry about here, so I slide my hands under his robes and do my best to get them off of him.

‘Stop that,’ he orders.

I ignore him and manage to get all of his garments open before he grabs my hands again.

‘Behave yourself,’ he insists.

‘No way,’ I retort. ‘If you are going to strip off my clothes, then you are in for the same treatment.’

‘Very well, then,’ Ani concedes.

To my surprise he takes off his robes and tosses them aside. I promptly hide under the blankets and refuse to look. With a smirk, he lounges next to me, obviously enjoying my embarrassment.

‘Still shy? Even though this is what you wanted?’ he teases, pulling the blanket off of my face. ‘I really do need to do something about that. You weren’t this bashful that night on your homeworld.’

‘That’s because I thought I was dreaming,’ I answer back, annoyed.

‘Or when you were pinned under me at the university,’ he continues to needle. ‘You were quite ready and willing to let me do as I wanted to you then. You practically begged me to ...’

‘What?’ I snap. I don’t remember any incident like that.

‘Forget I said that,’ Ani suggests.

‘Not a chance, Sith Lord,’ I growl, ‘so out with it right now.’

This must be another one of those things he ever so conveniently had me forget. Well, he is going to own up to it right now if I have anything to say about it.

‘It’s not important,’ he tries to be evasive.

‘I don’t care, Anakin. I want to hear it,’ I stubbornly insist.

I can sense him debating whether or not to come out with it, so I decide to do something to encourage him.

‘If you tell me, I’ll be good today,’ I sweetly promise.

‘Oh? Sounds tempting,’ he tells me, running a finger down my cheek.

‘I’ll do anything you want me to,’ I tempt, mirroring his action.

‘So what exactly will you do for me?’ he asks, intrigued, no doubt.

Oops. Now I am in trouble. I should have been much more careful about what I offered. No way to get out of it, so I had best play along with him.

‘Whatever you like,’ I decide. Hopefully he won’t ask me to do that one particular thing.

‘Deal!’ he triumphantly announces, obviously pleased about whatever he has planned.

‘Story first,’ I remind him.

‘You are really determined to hear that, aren’t you?’ he asks.

I answer with a nod.

‘Very well, then,’ he concedes.

Story time! I think happily.

‘You fainted and I had to anchor your awareness in place, so I did so,’ Ani starts.

‘I already know that,’ I tell him.

‘Don’t interrupt,’ he scolds, before continuing. ‘After I did that, you just had to figure out what I did. When you found our bond, you did something you shouldn’t have - you flooded my mind with your feelings for me. Now you know what that will do to me, but you didn’t then.’

‘Oops,’ I quietly say. ‘You must have been rather uncomfortable from the physical reaction I know that would evoke.’

Ani gives me an amused look, then adds, ‘Not just a physical response of that sort, but an emotional one as well. It was all I could do to stop myself, and when I was aware again of what I was doing, I had you pinned to the couch beneath me. So I decided you needed a lesson in proper manners and did this.’

As he finishes his last sentence, I feel him touch our bond and an instant later my mind is completely swamped by his emotions, his desire and need for me. My reaction is immediate and powerful. I throw off the covers and pull him closer to me, then on top of me. There is not a shy cell left in my body.

‘Ani,’ I moan, trying to get him to respond to my advances. ‘I need you. I want you. Right now, please.’

His emotions are abruptly cut off. Good grief, I think, what am I doing? I look up at his face, shocked at what I just did. The Sith Lord merely smiles at me, enjoying the fact that I am pinned snugly beneath him, our bodies neatly wrapped around one another.

‘It still works, I see,’ he teases. ‘You wanted to do the same thing then, but couldn’t get my belt off. Not that I would have let you remove it anyway.’

‘You, you brat,’ I growl at him.

That prompts a quick kiss. He moves to lie by my side, draping an arm over my waist. I reach over and grab a blanket, but he stops me from pulling it over us.

‘Don’t,’ he quietly requests. ‘You need to get over your shyness. Just relax here with me.’

I reluctantly comply and am rewarded with another kiss. Finally he resumes his tale.

‘I had to hide our life-bond from you after that. You probably would have worried away at it if I hadn’t and delayed the healing process. Or, you might have driven me into making love to you before you were really ready for that with your uncontrolled need for me. So I set up a barrier in your mind and then removed your memory of the incident,’ he confesses. ‘And that is all there is to the story.’

‘I bet,’ I snidely comment, ‘Out with the rest now, Sith Lord.’

‘Truly, that’s all,’ he tries to convince me.

I glare at him. He’s hiding something, I just know it.

‘Fine, then,’ he concedes with a sigh, ‘I offered to make love to you just to see what you would say, and then turned you down when you said “yes”.’

‘Twice,’ I say, making sure he hears a bit of hurt in my voice, ‘you led me on and then turned me down twice. On the same day, no less.’

‘I couldn’t have obliged you even if I wanted to, Maia,’ he reassures me. ‘You were torn inside and needed to heal. If I had done as you wanted, I would have only hurt you more and I didn’t want to do that.’

‘Then why ask?’ I pose the question I had wondered about after our walk out to the waterfall.

‘A test,’ Ani admits, ‘and perhaps a cruel one, but I needed to know that you honestly, truly wanted me. Once we were bonded and I looked in your mind I knew with certainty that you loved me. No further tests were necessary after that.’

I lie quietly in his arms, thinking. Time to get a few more pieces of information out of him.

‘And how many other tests did you set me?’ I prod.

‘A few,’ he reveals.

‘Like what?’ I continue to dig away.

I sense him considering what to say.

‘Truth, Ani,’ I remind him. ‘You promised me that.’

‘I tested you for truthfulness ... ,’ he confesses.

That temper tantrum wasn’t him just having an emotional crisis then. Sneaky.

‘And?...’ I prompt.

‘... to see if you really were fearless, ...’ he continues.

That i.v. he had me set up and the interrogation session over where Earth was located, I bet.

‘... and to prove you were loyal to me,’ he finishes.

‘What?’ I ask. That one doesn’t make any sense to me.

Ani shifts uncomfortably beside me. There’s a confession coming up, and it must be a real doozy.

‘There was nothing wrong with my TIE,’ the Sith Lord quietly admits.

‘WHAT!’ I yell at him.

‘I think you heard me,’ he calmly states.

‘You, you,...’ I start then stop. He’s rendered me speechless.

‘Maia,...’ he tries to soothe me, but I am having none of it.

‘I lied to my uncle to cover for you,’ I start fuming, ‘I stole Marcus’s car, broke into my colleague’s lab, and nearly killed myself walking along that ledge. Not to mention that I aided someone my homeworld’s military would probably shoot on sight. Do you have any idea what sort of trouble I would be in if I ever went back there?’

‘Well, yes, ...’ he tries to answer.

‘Why, Ani? Why did you do that?’ I ask him.

‘You intrigued me,’ he gets out, setting a hand over my mouth to shut me up so he can finish. ‘I spent a few minutes studying you when you first looked at my ship and you were obviously not at all frightened. I had never met anyone who wasn't the least bit afraid of me before and I was curious. Engine trouble was the first thing that I could think of as an excuse to stay around for a while. After that, well, I figured it would be a good way to see if you really would help me fix the problem, and to see if your loyalty to me was real. I had no idea you were afraid of heights or I would never have let you endanger your life unnecessarily.’

I don’t say a word in response, just lie silently beside him. He lied to me right from the moment I first met him.

‘Is there anything else you did during those four days I should know about?’ I prod.

He hesitates.

‘Ani,’ I warn.

‘I left messages with the Admiral for your family,’ he admits.

‘And?...’ I prompt.

‘That’s all,’ he flatly states.

I suspect he will say no more to me about it, but he surprises me by adding, ‘I told them you were my wife, that you would be perfectly safe and well looked after. And I told them about my son since I did not know when we could return for a visit.’

My parents know about their grandson. I snuggle in close to the Sith Lord and kiss him.

‘Thank you,’ I tell him, meaning it with all my heart.

‘I knew you would want them to know,’ he says.

I consider what to say about the rest of what he has confessed. If he hadn’t come up with a reason to stay at the observatory, I would not be here with him now. Does that excuse his lies? No, but I decide there is no point in scolding him further about any of it.

His hand brushes across my hair and I feel him soothing me with the Force. He’s waiting for an explosion of temper from me, I suspect, so I will be contrary just to surprise him.

‘What should I wear tonight?’ I ask.

The hand stops abruptly while he puzzles out my change in topic.

‘You haven’t seen the gowns I picked out yet, so maybe I should model them for you,’ I suggest. ‘Then you can choose the one you want me to wear.’

I extract myself from his arms and look about for something to wrap around myself. His robes are at hand so I reach down to grab them. Ani yanks them away with the Force. Right. He wants me to get over my shyness. Fine, Sith Lord, since you insist then, I'll do the nudist thing even though it will only embarrass me.

Doing my best to ignore him, I open the compartment with my gowns and his cloaks. What to try on first? I look through the two dozen dresses and select one at random. The clasps take a moment to figure out, but once I have it on, I do what the fashion models did last week during the private show which was my surprise, and walk back and forth a few times and spin about in it. Ani watches, obviously amused by my antics, but makes no comment until an hour later when I have tried on all the ones suitable for tonight.

‘The fourth one,’ he decides. ‘I want you to wear that.’

I blink at him. That gown? The strapless one with the low-cut bodice? The one I feel the most exposed in?

‘Why?’ I ask, curious.

‘It displays your new assets the best,’ he teases.

Very bad choice of words, I decide.

‘Assets,’ I growl, stalking towards him. ‘I’ll give you assets, Sith Lord.’

With a yank I pull one of the pillows into my hand and swat at him with it. A few seconds later the pillow is the subject of a tug-of-war. When Ani gives a particularly hard jerk, I let go, and he flies backwards on the bed. The startled look on his face is just too funny, so I start laughing at him.

‘Think that’s funny, do you?’ he scolds.

He beckons with his hand and I am shoved from behind to land right beside him on the bed. That’s even funnier, I decide, as I continue giggling. A moment later I feel a pillow land on my rear end. So you want a pillow fight, do you? I scoot sideways to avoid the next blow, roll over, and grab my own weapon. The next few minutes are hilarious as we each try to get the better of the other.

‘Give up, Sith Lord,’ I suggest, as I try to swat him again, ‘you can’t win.’

He just smiles and aims his pillow at my left side. I do my best to dodge, but lean too far and fall face-first next to him.

‘Surrendering at last, concubine?’ he asks.

‘Never,’ I mumble into the sheets.

‘Very well, then,’ Ani says, as I feel his pillow across my backside again.

He is busy preparing another attack when the comm chimes.

‘Saved by the bell!’ I cheerfully crow.

‘Only a temporary cease-fire,’ he warns.

Time to make good my escape then. I try and slip off the bed while the Sith Lord answers the comm, but he spots me and I find myself pinned in place with the Force. Rats.

‘My Lord,’ I hear Lyam over the comm, ‘my apologies for disturbing you, but you have an urgent communication from Fondor.’

‘Send the signal through immediately,’ Ani orders.

Fondor. The shipyards. Oh, no, I hope nothing has gone wrong there. The comm chimes again as the signal is rerouted.

‘My Lord?’ Captain Piett tentatively ventures, obviously not sure of who it is he is talking to.

‘Yes, Captain. What is so urgent that you had to interrupt my ... rest?’ Ani asks.

I snicker quietly. He just about said ‘fun.’ My mirth earns me a sharp look from the Sith Lord.

Sorry, Ani, I'll be good, I tell him.

‘Progress report, as you requested, my Lord,’ Piett promptly explains.

‘Go ahead then,’ Ani instructs.

I listen silently as Piett gives the Sith Lord a quick run down on how things are going. Ani occasionally interrupts to ask for further details. Sounds like everything is fine there.

‘Your completion estimate?’ he asks once Piett is finished.

‘Three weeks, perhaps a few days earlier,’ the Captain answers.

So soon? I see a smile appear on Ani’s face. He’s a bit surprised by that, too.

‘Excellent, Captain. You have done very well,’ he praises.

‘Thank you, my Lord. I will see that the crew knows you are pleased by their efforts,’ Piett offers.

‘Do so,’ Ani orders. ‘I will return next week for inspection and to supervise the final tests.’

With that he signs off and looks over at me.

‘Back to Fondor again?’ I ask, curious.

‘Yes, and sooner than I expected,’ he admits, ‘and I will have to take you with me. It is just not safe for you to remain here.’ Ani hesitates, returns to sit beside me, then warns, ‘Once my flagship is finished, I will be going after the Rebels at Yavin. You will be on an active warship in a battle zone, Maia, and must do exactly as you are told. No arguing, no stubbornness, no disobedience. Do you understand?’

I give a nod and try to move. No success. He is still holding me in place. Rats.

‘Time to get dressed and have something to eat,’ he decides as I am released.

I watch him disappear into the ‘fresher and push myself upright. The bed is a disaster with the sheets pulled out and pillows tossed everywhere. Ani is going to busy with his medical needs for a few minutes, so I decide to be a brat. Grabbing a pillow, I lie in wait beside the ‘fresher door, planning an ambush for when he does reappear. The moment I hear the door open, I swing the pillow, only to have it caught, pulled from my hands and thrown out of reach.

‘Favorite,’ he growls, ‘you shouldn’t have done that.’

As I back away, he stalks towards me. When I turn to run, he grabs me, hauls me into his arms and drops me onto the bed.

‘Time for a lesson in manners,’ Ani decides. ‘You have misbehaved far too much the last week.’

‘I didn’t hear any complaints at the time,’ I remind him.

He ignores my remark and shakes a finger at me, scolding, ‘No more eaking up on me, Maia, or I will let my defenses give you a taste of what you could expect in return.’

‘Once, I did that once,’ I admit.

Ani crosses his arms over his chest and gives me one of his looks.

‘Alright a few times, then,’ I own up.

He raises an eyebrow.

‘Fine, I won’t sneak up on you anymore,’ I promise.

‘Good. Go have your bath,’ he orders.

Rats. No more creeping up from behind and kissing him on the ear.

I do as ordered and settle myself in for a nice soak. The hot water makes me sleepy, so I relax, close my eyes and drift a bit. A sharp nip on my neck startles me out of my reverie. With a shriek of surprise, I pull away from my attacker, sending water everywhere in the process. Ani, of course, is backing out of the ‘fresher, laughing. I just glare at him.

‘You, you,’ I snap, ‘you sneaky Sith Lord.’

‘Learned your lesson?’ he asks, sounding thoroughly amused.

‘Yes,’ I answer, still giving him an evil look.

Ani leaves me alone after that, so I quickly dress and have breakfast. A light brush against his mind and I find that he is in his office, not doubt going through the reports that Piett transmitted to him. Rats. What to do now? After the scolding I received, I decide it is best to leave him be. Maybe I should entertain myself by singing for a while.

A quick dig about produces the memory chip with the music I had transferred over weeks ago. I drop the chip into the appropriate spot in the comm unit and select a track. Italian composers today, but not Baroque ones, for a change. As the strains of Puccini fill the room, I close my eyes and happily start into O mio babbino caro. Nice, simple way to warm up.

When I open my eyes again, as the song ends, I see Ani standing in the doorway watching me.

‘That’s a different one,’ he notes.

‘Puccini,’ I admit. ‘Most of his stuff sounds much the same because he often recycled musical themes. His heroines are often rather sad, too. They either kill themselves or die of some disease.’

‘Sounds like most of the popular operas here,’ Ani wryly comments.

‘I bet there has never been a performance here with a bouncing soprano, though,’ I tease.

His eyebrow goes up. Curious, are you?

‘At the end of Tosca, the heroine throws herself off a castle wall. One time Dame Eva Turner, the soprano, was a bit too enthusiastic about the leap, and instead of landing on the mats and staying put, she flew back up, above the walls of the set,’ I tell him, ‘much to her embarrassment and the amusement of the audience.’

Ani gives me one of his looks. He thinks I am trying to put one over on him.

‘I find that story rather hard to believe,’ he admits.

‘It’s perfectly true,’ I insist. ‘My great-grandfather was actually at that performance eighty or so years ago. He always enjoyed telling that tale to anyone who would listen.’

‘I will take your word for it then,’ Ani decides, but I can tell he is still not entirely convinced.

I smile at him and start a piece by Verdi. The Sith Lord listens for a moment, then heads back to his office. He can hear me in there or close the door if I am bothering him, but I know he is enjoying the music even if he won’t admit it.

An hour later, I have had enough of singing opera, so I change the music slug for another one. Gilbert and Sullivan this time. I start giggling. There is a rather interesting recording on this particular chip. Starting the song I want, I settle in to listen for Ani’s reaction. This ought to be entertaining.

The first time through, the standard set of lyrics plays. So far, so good. Now Rick’s version. There is dead silence for a moment, then I hear a loud, amused laugh from the Sith Lord. I just knew he would find that rather funny.

Perhaps I should send someone to go and get that friend of yours, Ani teases. He would keep me entertained, if nothing else, but he had better not sing that particular song in public.

Too late, Ani, I admit, it’s rather well-known in certain circles.

Not here, I would hope, he ventures.

No, but at home, yes, I tell him.

I sense him return his attention to his work. He needs to finish that and I am distracting him, so I decide to give up on singing for now. Time for a rest anyway. Tonight we will not return until late and I will need the sleep.

Hours later, I rouse a little. Ani has come back to bed and is curled up around me. He’s sleeping soundly, too. My love must be quite tired to resort to a late morning nap with me. I happily move nearer to him. The Sith Lord is always warm to snuggle up to and what he considers a comfortable temperature for his quarters, I find a touch cold. Luckily he does not wake when I pull him in closer, so I settle in to wait for him to do so. Sometime later, he stirs, but does not awaken.

What is he going on about? I listen carefully. He must be dreaming, talking in his sleep without realizing it. How odd. Ani has not done that before. And what he is saying makes absolutely no sense at all. His voice gets louder, more agitated, then he pulls away from me. When he starts to toss violently, I know I need to do something.

‘Ani, love,’ I tell him, ‘you are having a bad dream and need to wake up.’

No response other than a low moan.

Ani, please wake up, I prompt him, gently nudging his mind as I do.

His eyes snap open at last, but there is no recognition in them.

‘Padmé?’ he asks, looking at me with a confused expression on his face.

What? Where did that name come from?

Ani? I question, worried.

He stares at me a moment, then gives his head a shake. I move to his side and wrap myself around him.

‘You were having a nightmare, my love,’ I soothe, ‘and I had to bring you out of it.’

‘Maia?’ he asks, puzzled.

Well, at least he got the name right this time.

He touches my face with a hand, as if to reassure himself that I am real. Seconds later I am being crushed against his chest.

‘I thought I had lost you,’ Ani tells me.

He’s acting really weird. That must have been some nightmare.

‘Not a chance, Sith Lord,’ I tease him a little. ‘This is one concubine you are permanently stuck with.’

I feel his smile against my hair. Good. He’s coming out of whatever strange state he was in. His grip on me loosens a little so I shift in his arms.

‘Are you alright?’ I ask him.

Silence for a few minutes. He’s thinking about what to say to me.

‘I’m fine now, Maia,’ he finally states. ‘It was just an old nightmare, one I haven’t had in years.’

He’s hiding something. I debate trying to pry it out of him, then elect to let it be. If he decides to tell me, he will, when he is ready to.

‘Lunchtime,’ the Sith Lord notes.

I let him go from my arms and watch him enter the kitchen. He doesn’t know what I heard him say during his nightmare. Not wanting him to detect my knowledge, I quickly bury it in my mind. Later, when he is occupied, I will look at it and try to figure out what he is concealing from me.

Time to see what he is busy making for lunch. I follow him into the other room and when he stops to program the autochef, slip my arms around him from behind. Ani is still nice and warm from his nap, so I rest my cheek between his shoulder blades and let him pull me about the kitchen as he fetches his glass and a container from the cooling unit.

‘Silly little concubine,’ he teases. ‘How am I supposed to sit down with you there?’

In answer, I slide myself around from his back to his chest and wait for his next move or comment.

‘Very well, then,’ he concedes.

The Sith Lord manages to seat himself and haul me onto his lap. Perfect. I can stay for a while now. With a contented sigh, I tuck my head into his shoulder and shut my eyes. He can have his drink without my getting too much in his way.

I hear a beep from the autochef. My lunch is ready, but I remain where I am.

‘Not hungry?’ Ani asks.

I just shake my head. Staying put sounds much better.

‘You must eat, my love,’ he reminds me, ‘my son needs you to look after yourself.’

I reluctantly let go of him and fetch my meal. He’s made that soup I like. A trip to the cooling unit yields a few left over veggies so I add those to the tray as well. While I nibble at things, I give Ani the occasional worried glance. Why did he have that nightmare? He hasn’t had one before now, so what has upset him?

‘Don’t fuss, Maia,’ the Sith Lord scolds.

I give a guilty start and return my attention to my meal. He really doesn’t want me to know what his nightmare was all about and that was my sixth scolding today. At this rate I will be working on a record number of those by the middle of the afternoon. You promised him you would behave today, I remind myself, so you had better start right now.

‘Sorry, Ani,’ I apologize.

He gives me an annoyed look. I try to appear penitent, but that just earns me an irked glare.

‘Finish your lunch,’ he snaps, ‘Reena will be here soon and I need to put my armor on.’

That was number seven.

And it was uncalled for.

I bolt for the bedroom, my lunch forgotten, and shut the door after myself. The tears start the second the door is closed. Back into bed, I decide, so I curl up under the blankets and have a good cry.

Ani comes in to armor up a few minutes later, but I ignore him. I hear his exasperated sigh when he sits beside me on the bed.

‘What am I supposed to do with you?’ he starts in on me again. ‘The last week you have refused to act like anything other than a child. I have been extremely patient with you, but am I to put up with this silliness for the rest of my life or are you going to grow up and act like an adult?’

Number eight, my mind counts.

‘I won’t put up with a sulk from you, Maia,’ he warns, ‘or any more childish foolishness.’

Number nine.

‘Stop that!’ he snaps.

Was that ten or not?

The Sith Lord lets out an angry growl. He’s finally lost his temper with me and I have provoked him far too many times today to not get some sort of punishment for it.

‘Get dressed,’ he orders with a hiss, shoving himself away from the bed and throwing my tunic at me.

I grab my clothes and watch him stare at me. He’s not going to let me change in private at all. My face goes red as I strip off the nightgown and put my tunic and trousers on. Once I am ready, his hand clamps down on my arm and I am dragged through his quarters and into the turbolift. We are heading up, but he doesn’t stop the lift at the public section of his castle. Where are we going?

Ani says not a word, and when the lift stops I am pulled along after him once again. He stops at a door, opens it and shoves me through.

‘When you are ready to act your age, call me,’ the Sith Lord tells me, shutting the door in my face and locking it.

I rest my cheek against the door and start to cry. What is wrong with him? I carefully reach out and sense his presence retreat back down to his private quarters. The Sith Lord ignores me, giving my mind a rough shove away when I touch our bond. He’s furious so there is no point in going anywhere near him.

Time to survey my prison then. I turn around to have a look at the small room. There’s a bed, chair and table, and the other door must lead into a ‘fresher. An autochef is off to one side so he has no plans to starve me into submission. He can’t, I remind myself, he won’t do anything to harm his son. It’s me he wants to break.

Break? I hear him comment. No, Maia, not break. Teach a lesson to.

I slam my shields into place and spin them as thick as I can. No way am I going to let him eavesdrop easily on me. The bed looks inviting, so I flop myself down on it. My lightsaber pokes me in the hip, and I unhook it and set it beside me.

***

My tolerance is at an end, I decide, as I angrily shove her attempt to contact me away. Her childish behavior has got to stop. Maia can stay in the tower room for a while and think about how she should act.

I hear her comment about breaking her and reply to it. There is no way I will hurt her physically, but a few hours of enforced isolation from me will hopefully improve her manners.

I can’t risk any foolishness from her tonight.

The turbolift stops. I return to my quarters and resume working on the reports Piett sent me. My presence will soon be required at Fondor for the last series of tests on my flagship. Once I am finished with that, I start on my schedule for the next week. Maia should enjoy seeing the new wing of the Galactic Museum, so I block out tomorrow afternoon to attend the opening. At least my master won't be going to that, but the resulting publicity should satisfy his commands from last week.

Now to deal with tonight.

With a touch, I open the compartment with her gowns. She was not comfortable in the one I liked, so I will make her wear it to the opera as a lesson. I then comm her aide and wait for Melina to appear.

‘My Favorite is to wear this tonight,’ I tell Lieutenant Panib, pointing to the dress and jewelry I have selected on the bed. ‘Have Cyran style her hair and see to it that my Favorite is presentable.’

‘Yes, my Lord,’ she replies as she gathers up the items I had indicated.

‘She’s locked in room RC36 in the north tower. Make it clear to her that I won’t put up with any nonsense from her, and if she is difficult,’ I warn, ‘I will hold you personally responsible for her behavior.’

Knowing her staff will be held accountable should keep Maia well in line.

‘Yes, my Lord,’ Melina repeats, her voice quiet and tight.

She knows I will carry through with my threat if I need to.

I watch her leave and return to my office. There are still things to do before tonight's outing. Settling myself behind my desk, I pause a moment to consider the dream I had this morning. It was the same one I had years ago where Padmé is dying and I am helpless to do anything about it. Past experience has taught me that ignoring it would be a mistake, but Padmé has been dead for years. There is no point in worrying about her. And Maia is months away from giving birth. Dismissing it from my mind, I pick up the next report in the stack and start reading.

***

I lie there, quietly brooding, for several hours. He’s really angry with me this time. My other punishments have been slaps on the wrist compared with this. But if he didn’t like the way I was behaving, why didn’t he say something sooner?

I give a start. He’s shoving me away again, distancing himself, just like he has done in the past. After a week of being my being affectionate and loving to him, he must be feeling a bit smothered. Well, I will behave like he wants then and not do anything unless he initiates it. A few days of not being kissed or held by me should fix that problem.

My brain keeps running around in circles. Maybe his tantrum has something to do with his nightmare. I carefully pull out of my memory what I heard him say. Mostly unintelligible, except for that name, Padmé. Strange. I wonder who that is? Wait a minute, I realize with a start, the question should be, who she is. There is not enough information available for me to sort this out right at the moment, so I let it be and resume my brooding.

Ani has to do something soon. The Emperor ordered him to take me to the opera, and the Sith Lord won’t defy his master. My eyes land on my ‘saber. He’s forgotten about that in his fit of pique or I am sure he would have taken it away from me. Maybe I should teach him a lesson instead, but there is no time to do so now. I look around the room. Where to hide it? I reach behind the pillows and discover a gap between the bed and the wall. Perfect. As I replace the cushions, the door opens and Adi, Melina and Cyran come in.

‘We have orders to get you ready to leave,’ Melina admits.

She won’t look at me and I wonder exactly what Ani has told them to do. I just answer with a nod and watch Adi disappear into the ‘fresher. A moment later, I hear the bath filling. Cyran busies herself with the formal gown she is carrying. Damn. It is the fourth one I modeled for him. Next time, I won’t let the Sith Lord choose what I am going to wear.

‘Your bath is ready,’ Adi tells me.

I get up off the bed and step into the other room. When I try to close the door, Adi shakes her head. Obviously I am not to be allowed any privacy here. Ignoring her as best I can, I take my time washing my hair and soaking.

As I go back into the bedroom, I get sympathetic looks from my three Lieutenants. Things must be far worse than I thought. My temper rears its head in reaction.

‘What’s wrong?’ I snap, irritated. ‘Is his Lordship going to drag me in chains from this room?’

Melina’s mouth drops in shock. She looks quickly at both her compatriots, then back at me.

‘No, my lady,’ she whispers, ‘but he is furious and if you give us any trouble...’

My aide falls silent. She is scared to death of whatever Ani said he would do.

I narrow my eyes. He’s listening in, I am sure. Time to let him know just what I think of that threat.

>If you ever lay a hand on me, Anakin, or do anything at all to hurt me,< I warn him in Sith, >you will regret it every day for the rest of your life.<

I feel a burst of surprise from him at my threat. Good. Even though I know he would never harm me that way I am sure he got the message, loud and clear.

>And I don’t appreciate you scaring my aide with baseless threats, either,< I add for good measure.

Adi and Cyran are looking nervously at each other. They know exactly who my comments were aimed at. Time to get dressed, then, since the opera will be starting in about an hour. I drop the towel I am wrapped in on the floor and let Cyran help me into the mothsilk gown. A few adjustments in front and the bustier-type bodice has my now ample cleavage on display. Men, I think with a touch of disgust, are all the same. I watch Adi smooth the fabric of the full, heavy skirt and sit down when she is finished to let Cyran fix my hair. When Melina sets my make-up bag on the counter, I wave her away. That I will see to myself.

I complete my minimal make-up long before Cyran is satisfied with my hair. She’s done a good job of it, too, I note. Now what?

Melina opens the small box she had brought with her. A moment later, my necklace with the blue stone and earrings are on me. She pulls out a gold circlet set with matching blue gems and places it on my head. Cool. I get to play a princess. Too bad my knight in shining armor is being so miserable and nasty tonight.

The three Lieutenants head for the door so I get up and follow them. The trip down the turbolift is a silent one. Once we reach a small sitting room near the entrance to the castle, I am left on my own, the door locked securely as soon as I am inside. I wander aimlessly over to the window and look out, emptying my mind as I stare unthinking at the skyline.

Eventually I hear the door open behind me and Ani’s footsteps and measured breathing as he draws close to me. He stops at some distance from me, so I turn and wait for him to speak.

‘You will behave in public, Maia,’ the Sith Lord warns, ‘or I will lock you in the tower room for the next week. Any foolishness at all, one stupid remark, or inappropriate action and I will punish you for it.’

I stare at him, speechless. Threats now? When I had promised him I would be on my best behavior? Hurt and unable to say a single word in response, I simply nod my understanding to him.

‘Come here, then, and be quick about it,’ he impatiently orders next.

I quickly comply. Ani gives me the once over, checking that I am suitable for public display, I suppose.

‘Acceptable,’ he finally decides before leading me back out into the corridor.

Daini and Adi meet us down in the hangar. I feel rather resigned when I see what is in Adi's hands, but raise no objections when she throws the veil over my hair and fixes it in place. At least this one is made of a much finer material. There should be no problem with watching the stage through it.

The Sith Lord waves me towards a covered airspeeder next. He’s getting annoyed so I quickly step into the passenger compartment and sit down. I shut my eyes tight when I feel the vehicle become airborne and refuse to open them until we have landed again. A quick look outside, through the window, reveals a large crowd of people lining the entryway to an ornate, Baroque-style building. Great, just great. An audience which probably includes the media. Why couldn’t we sneak in using a back door instead?

Ani glances back at me. No doubt he heard that thought. I watch him open the door and take his hand when he offers it. Careful now, Maia, I remind myself, don’t trip and make a fool of yourself. The moment I step from the vehicle, the crowd erupts with wild cheering.

Ani, what is going on? I ask, surprised by our unexpected reception.

They are curious about you, that's all, and think raising a fuss will prompt me to pull off your veil so they can have a look at you, Ani admits. And the press release the Emperor insisted on has turned your first official public appearance into a bit of an event.

Press release? Well, the Emperor did want lots of publicity so I guess I will just have to muddle through this. A glance up at Ani reassures me a little and he pulls me in close to his side, stopping a few steps from the ‘speeder to let the news crews and reporters take whatever pictures they want. I stand quietly beside him and keep my eyes downcast, playing the part of a demure mate, just as the Emperor wanted.

Good, Ani praises, you are managing better than I expected.

I don’t reply, simply walk next to him, up the red carpeted staircase, and into the opera house. He leads me past the well-dressed elite of Imperial Center towards a private waiting room. Somehow I keep my sigh of relief from escaping. Having to mingle with and be subjected to a close scrutiny by high society is something I would like to avoid.

My relief is short-lived.

The waiting room is populated by elaborately garbed women, a few officers in formal military dress, and what must be court lackeys and hangers-on.

A few of the Emperor’s concubines, officers who are currently in favor, and whatever advisors my master is busy setting at one another’s throats at the moment, the Sith Lord identifies with a touch of contempt.

Ani obviously has no time or patience for any of these people. Not sure what to do, I just stay at his side as he crosses the room, heading to another door which must be the entrance to the Emperor’s balcony.

A syrupy-sweet voice stops him in his tracks.

‘Lord Vader,’ I hear the woman say, ‘how good of you to join us.’

The Sith Lord turns to face her, pulling me around with him.

‘Mara Jade,’ he addresses her, ‘what brings you to the opera?’

I stare at her while she laughs and tosses her head. Long red hair, green eyes, and the body of a well-trained dancer or warrior, and I suspect it's the latter, not the former. This is one dangerous woman. I study her carefully, glad that the veil conceals my face.

She’s putting on an act, I tell Ani. Mara is no vapid bit of court fluff despite what she would like people to believe.

Very good, Maia, Ani praises, Mara is one of the Emperor’s Hands and a trained assassin.

She doesn’t like you at all, I reply.

Jade’s accosting us has drawn the attention of many in the room. She has an audience now.

Ani? I ask, growing concerned.

Let me deal with this, he decides.

‘So this is the prize you have kept so carefully hidden away,’ Mara states, giving me a measuring look, trying her best to see through the veil. ‘Is your princess really as beautiful as Lord Tremayne has said?’

Blast. I just knew that creep would find some way to cause Ani trouble, and said creep has just come in the room. This is rapidly going from bad to worse. I take a small step closer to the Sith Lord who looks down at me, but says nothing to me. He muses aloud instead, seeming to ignore those around us.

"She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; and all that’s best of dark and light meet in her aspect and in her eyes..."

He’s quoting poetry? From home? And Lord Byron at that. Too surprised to do anything, I just look at the stunned expressions on Mara’s and the Inquisitor’s faces. Ani’s deliberately thrown them completely off-balance. How clever and sneaky.

I wait for him to finish, but the Sith Lord stops after the first four lines.

‘Beauty,’ he comments, ‘is what one decides it is.’

With that he spins about, drawing me after him, not stopping until we have left the waiting room, crossed a hallway, and stepped out into the Emperor’s private box. I take the seat he steers me to and spend the next few minutes examining the paintings and elaborate woodwork that decorate the balconies and walls. Cool. This place could be straight out of Italy. La Scala is similar in style. Bored of looking at building’s interior, I start to study the people who are already in their places. Some are busy staring back at me and it seems that most are intent on displaying their wealth as conspicuously as possible. How tacky.

A look up at Ani reveals that he is gazing about the theater as well, arms across his chest and in a ready stance. He’s not at all relaxed or comfortable. If he were, his thumbs would be hooked in his belt. I sense his distinct irritation and follow his line of sight as best I can. He’s staring at an alien in a nearby box.

Who is that? I ask, curious about who has him so annoyed.

Prince Xizor, he contemptuously identifies, who is increasingly becoming a thorn in my side. One day I will have to do something about him.

Xizor has noticed Ani’s attention and merely smiles at him in return before leaning over and speaking to the blonde woman seated beside him. She’s pretty, I decide, and judging by her dress, she has better taste than most in attendance.

A chime rings through the building. They must signal the audience like they do at home. I watch as those in the waiting room make their way to their seats in some of the adjacent boxes. Tremayne and Jade sit behind us, but Ani ignores them and they don’t say a word to either one of us. Another bell rings and from the corner of my eye I see Imperial guards step into the box and assume positions beside the door. Oh, no, here he comes, I think to myself.

Get up, Maia, Ani warns.

I promptly stand as does everyone else in the building.

That can’t be the Emperor, can it? He’s so ... short. The walking stick the old man is using taps with each step and he pauses only when he passes by me. Two yellow eyes look intensely at me before he returns his gaze forward. Control, Maia, I remind myself, you can have a hysterical fit later. Once he is at his throne, the audience begins to applaud. Palpatine smiles benevolently and nods in acknowledgment, then is seated. When Ani takes his place beside me, between the Emperor and I, I follow his lead. Good. If I had to be right next to the old Sith Lord I don't know what I would do.

A third chime sounds and the conductor appears. He is careful to bow towards the Emperor before starting the overture. Boring, I think to myself, as the musicians start to play. There is nothing particularly inspiring about this music at all. Then the theme changes. What? I freeze in place. No way, I must be mishearing things. A quick dig through my memory and I have found the corresponding piece in my head. Another shift in theme, another match in my mind. By the time the overture is close to finished, I know exactly what must have happened.

I look over at Ani. He's going to have a fit about this.

Ani, I tell him, there’s nothing original about what they are playing.

What? he asks, keeping his gaze ahead.

It's music from my homeworld, I admit.

Now he does turn to look at me.

Explain, he orders.

Every theme in the overture is from a famous aria. You should have recognized most of them, I tell him.

An angry hiss escapes from him and the Emperor glances over at the two of us.

‘Mia,’ Ani growls aloud.

‘Is there a problem, Lord Vader?’ the Emperor quietly prods.

‘No,’ Ani immediately responds.

Yes, I silently add.

Palpatine looks rather dubious at Ani’s answer. He knows something is going on, I decide, but won’t make a scene about it in public. I hear the end of the overture and the audience's prompt applause.

‘That was a better effort than the composer’s last attempt, wouldn’t you agree, my friend?’ the Emperor asks.

The Sith Lord hesitates, then simply affirms, ‘Yes.’

I keep my eyes on the stage in the center of the theater. The cast take their places and the show begins. Somehow I keep from cringing until the lead soprano attempts to sing Broschi’s Qual guerriero in campo armato as the first act’s closing piece. That’s horrid, I think. Not only did they change the words and key, but she can’t really manage any of the few ornaments they left in it. When her voice cracks during the cadenza, it’s all I can do to stop myself from laughing. No wonder Ani complains about having to sit through this.

With all the available singers in the galaxy, I note, you would think they would try and get somebody who could at least do a proper job of it.

She has political connections, Ani admits, and could actually sing when she was younger. Now ...

His comment is cut-off by the applause. Maybe that’s more for ending the audience’s agony than the actual performance, I think evilly, as the players disappear from the stage. Intermission now.

The Emperor retreats from the balcony, Jade and Tremayne in tow. Ani waits until everyone in the nearby boxes has left, then looks over at me.

‘At least we now know where those sound slugs ended up,’ I quietly volunteer.

‘Do we really?’ Ani snaps, sarcastically. ‘There could be a million copies out there by now.’

I stay silent at that, not wanting to annoy him further.

‘Stay here,’ he orders, ‘I am going to see what the composer has to say for himself.’

The Sith Lord stalks away from me, leaving me alone to wait for his return. A few minutes later, he is back.

‘Come with me,’ he orders next.

I hastily obey. The waiting room has been cleared, I note. Only the Emperor, Ani and I, a couple of guards, and a rather frightened looking young man are in it.

‘... and I just did as I was told and paid to,’ the man kneeling on the floor says.

We have obviously walked in on an interrogation.

‘And who was the sponsor?’ Ani snaps.

‘I don’t know, my Lord,’ he admits. ‘Everything was handled through agents. Sometimes wealthy patrons want to remain anonymous. I never thought it would be a problem.’

Ani raises a hand then drops it when his master gives him a warning look.

‘Get out,’ the Emperor orders. ‘You have one hour to return the stolen memory chips to Lord Vader.’ When the man scrambles to his feet, Palpatine adds, ‘Commander, see to it that he does so.’

I watch the now relieved composer and his red-robed escort leave the room.

‘Curious, most curious,’ the Emperor says.

Oh, oh. Here comes something I don’t want to hear.

‘I find it interesting that you, my friend, would be so passionate about recovering a few paltry recordings of your Favorite's singing,’ Palpatine notes, tapping the arm of his throne. ‘Perhaps...’

He falls silent and his eyes narrow. I feel his presence brush against my shields, then shove hard against them, trying to get in. My defenses barely hold, and after a minute or so, he backs off. His attention shifts to the Sith Lord beside me next.

Ani? I wonder.

No response. A touch on our bond and I discover that my love is fighting desperately to keep his feelings for me hidden.

Cut your emotions off, I tell him, knowing that is his only option now.

No, he refuses.

Ani, you have no choice, I reluctantly admit.

I sense his hesitation, then feel coldness and darkness echo across our bond. My eyes close as the pain of it hits me. Control, I scold, you have dealt with this before. When I open my eyes again, the Emperor is watching us both, and he looks rather amused at what he found. Ani and I are both in for it now, I am sure.

>Clever, Lord Vader, very clever,< the Emperor praises, no doubt assuming I don’t understand Sith.

I keep my face composed, not wanting to let on that I know what he is saying.

>It seemed the simplest tactic to use,< Ani admits.

Tactic to do what?

Palpatine merely laughs, then comments, >Women are such fools when it comes to love.<

I roll his words around in my mind. What is he going on about?

>For all her brilliance,< Ani calmly replies, >she is incredibly blind when it comes to me.<

>See to it that she remains innocent and naive, then. The more in love with you she thinks she is, the easier it will be for you to control and manipulate her,< his master suggests.

>A simple task, my master, since she is thoroughly convinced her feelings are returned,< the Sith Lord states.

No. No, no, no. I am not hearing this. I refuse to believe this. Ani would never do this to me, would he? He loves me, doesn’t he? I look back and forth, from one man to the other, then carefully stretch out my senses. Darkness and deception flood my mind. Oh, Ani, how could you.

I take a few steps back, away from the Sith Lord.

The Emperor laughs again, and responds, >She’s quite the fool then to ever believe you could feel that for her.<

The color drains from my face and I feel something die within me.

‘Your Favorite looks rather ill,’ Palpatine observes, putting on a grandfatherly act. ‘She must be upset about those stolen recordings. It’s late and you must look after her properly. Perhaps you should take her home.’

Ill? Ill? He doesn’t know the half of it. Heartsick, now, I just stand there, staring at the Sith Lord’s back. Ani finally turns to look at me and I feel nothing positive from him across our bond. No support, no concern. Absolutely nothing. Nothing except coldness, lust for my body, and a touch of contempt for my love for him.

So that’s how he really feels. I take a few more steps back, catch my heel on the gown’s skirt, and start to fall backwards. The Sith Lord watches me as I go, making no attempt to help me at all. My head hits the stone floor and darkness drops over my senses.

I wake in a panic, not knowing where I am.

/Where am I?/ I ask, falling back into Gaelic, the first language I learned as a child.

No answer, so I open my eyes. I am back in the tower room, locked up by myself. Someone has dressed me in a nightgown and put me to bed. A careful feel behind the pillows reveals that my lightsaber is still hidden away. Good. I am going to need it.

I toss aside the sheets and make my way, unsteadily, to the window. Once there, I let myself slide down to the floor and rest my cheek against the cold transparisteel.

He feels nothing for me, only lusts after my body, I quietly think, and wants me for a sexual toy and a broodmare. Well, I won't let on that I know the real situation. If I am careful, I might even be able to get away from him. My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

‘Good,’ Ani notes, ‘you are awake at last.’

I turn my head to look at him. He’s dropped the Sith Lord act and is doing his best to be kind and loving. I know better than to fall for that ever again.

‘I've come for my promised payment,’ he teases.

Oh. I had almost forgotten I had promised to do whatever he wanted for telling me that story this morning.

‘What’s wrong, Maia?’ he ventures next.

I rest my hand against the bump on my head.

‘Still a bit sore?’ he asks, concerned.

I nod.

‘I am sorry about that, but I needed to get you away from my master,’ Ani apologizes.

He looks intently at me.

‘Do you remember what happened just before you fainted?’ he ventures.

Nice one, I think. Am I going to fall for that and admit what I know? Not a chance. I shake my head ‘no’ and wait to see if he discovers my lie through my shields.

I pick up a sense of relief from him. Good. I managed to hide the truth.

‘My poor concubine, it’s been a long, difficult day for you. I could come back tomorrow if you like,’ he offers. ‘We are going to the opening of the new wing of the Galactic Museum in the afternoon.’

I give my head another negative shake. Best to get whatever he wants over with quickly. Sounds like I am to be locked up in here for a while longer, too.

Ani saunters over to me, looks down at me and I know he is smiling behind the mask.

What does he want me to do?

I think you know what I want, he firmly replies, and you gave your word you would do whatever I asked of you, so no hysterics, no trying to get out of it. Your shyness about my body is childish and annoying, and I want you to get over it right now.

Ani wants me to do that? I shut my eyes and refuse to cry. He promised, I think mournfully, he promised he would never, ever force me to do anything I didn’t want to. And he now he has added that to all his other broken promises.

I steel myself. You gave your word, I remind myself, and he has wanted you to do this for weeks. Maybe he will back down if I act like I am willing.

I tip my head up and look at his mask. There is no sign he will let me out of this.

How to go about it then? I pull what I know from my memory. I need to get into position first, I decide, so I shift onto my knees to get to the right height. My hands reach over and remove his codpiece, then open the seam of his armor and part the fabric of his bodysuit. Ani’s already fully erect, I note. He intends to enjoy this.

What next? I carefully take him in my hand and lightly run my fingers down the shaft while I work out what to do. My touch produces a barely hidden shiver from the Sith Lord, and I feel his hands entwine themselves in my hair. He’s not going to relent at all even though I have already done more than I am comfortable with. I hide my feelings deep inside myself, using control to numb my mind. Later, I will deal with what I feel later.

I take him into my mouth, use my teeth to tease him, my tongue to measure his length and girth. Every one of the tricks I had heard about that afternoon, I try out. With each one, I feel Ani’s pleasure across our bond, but refuse to let myself share any of it. Let’s see if I can fit all of him in, I decide. Sliding him deep into my mouth, I stop myself from gagging and simply exert a bit of suction. He shivers, then stiffens, and I feel his fingers twist in my hair as his hands hold my head tight against him. The Sith Lord is close to the edge, so I push him over it.

Ani gasps and I feel and taste hot, salty fluid in my mouth. Not sure what else to do, I swallow reflexively. He relaxes, releases his hold on my hair and I know he is satisfied with my performance. I watch him step back from me, reseal his armor and replace the codpiece. Relieved that is done with, I sit back on my heels and wait.

‘I thoroughly enjoyed that,’ he admits as he lightly runs his fingers over my face. ‘Thank you, my Favorite, you did very well for your first attempt at it.’

Humiliated by what I just did, I drop my eyes to the floor, refusing to meet his.

‘Tomorrow I would appreciate an encore performance,’ he suggests, brushing a hand over the top of my head, ‘since it will be a while yet before we can indulge ourselves in other ways.’

No reply from me to that. A pet. He is treating me like I am his treasured pet.

‘You need to sleep, my quiet little love,’ he coaxes, ‘Come along now, let me tuck you in.’

I look up and take the offered hand. There’s no point in antagonizing him by being stubborn or defiant. Concern and caring are all I can feel from him; nothing seems to be left of the painful emotions from earlier in the evening. I carefully get to my feet and he lifts me into his arms and carries me over to the bed. Blankets are thrown over me, and I get a few more caresses to my face and hair. Finally, he rests his hand over our son, checking on him, before withdrawing it and stepping back a pace.

‘You are so very quiet tonight,’ he observes, ‘so you must be exhausted. I won’t keep you awake any longer, then. Sleep now, my wife. My son needs you to rest.’

***

I step away from the bed and move to leave, but something makes me pause in the doorway, turn and look back at her. Maia watches my every move. Even when I dim the lights, I can still see their reflection in her shining eyes as she stares at me.

She hasn’t spoken a single word since I came into the room, and has diligently avoided any thoughts aimed at me. Her control has been perfect, in fact, but it’s almost as if she’s afraid to say anything to me. As if she is once again afraid of me.

Fortunately Maia doesn’t remember the scene with my master at the opera house. If she did - well, explaining that to her will only hurt her, and make her angry at how I deceived her.

My wife doesn’t like being tricked, but her own carelessness this morning let me get what I have wanted from her for weeks. She will be far more wary with her offers in the future as a result.

I expected some sort of protest from her, some small show of resistance to my request, but there was none. Just her silent compliance. Perhaps I was right, then, that her reluctance to touch me that way was simply another manifestation of her shyness. She certainly knew how to go about it and did it ever feel good.

Tomorrow I will ask her to do that for me again. Hopefully she will let herself share my pleasure over our bond. It’s only fair that she enjoys herself as I do.

Her eyes are still open, still watching me as I muse. Maia won’t sleep until I leave.

‘Good night, little goddess,’ I tell her. ‘I love you.’

Unexpected, uncharacteristic silence in reply. Every night this week she has answered that in kind.

Something must be wrong.

For a few seconds I debate returning to her side, but decide not to. Today must have exhausted her, and her head is still sore where she struck it on the floor. I will speak to her tomorrow, once she has rested, and find out what is bothering her then.

***

I see him dim the lights, but he doesn’t leave immediately, just stands silently in the doorway, watching me for a few minutes.

Eventually he bids me, ‘Good night, little goddess, I love you,’ before finally stepping into the corridor. He closes and locks the door after himself, and I know he won't be back until morning.

I wait until I am sure he is well away, then get out of bed and go back to where I was to brood. The cold surface of the window eases the throbbing of my head while I think. Time to let my barricaded emotions out.

Shame. Revulsion. Self-loathing. Humiliation.

I let him force me into doing the one thing I swore I would never do. The tears start immediately, but I keep quiet. If he hears me, I am sure he will be back to investigate.

My tears start to splash onto the nightgown but I don’t bother wiping them away.

Why? Why? I ask myself. How could he be so ruthless and cruel to me? I love him and the only thing I ever wanted from him was to be loved. Was that too much to ask for?

He’s a Sith Lord, I remind myself. Only a complete fool would love such a person. And to ever expect the same in return? No wonder the Emperor laughed at me. I have been supremely stupid and foolish.

I shut my eyes and let out my emotional pain, preventing any of it from touching our bond. A single sob escapes before I can stop it so I bury my face in my hands to prevent any others. Dear Gods, the hurt and pain of it all.

Is this what it feels like to have my heart broken?

I set a hand over my son.

Our son.

Darth Vader’s son.

No, I correct myself, Anakin’s son. The man I love is not the Sith Lord but the good man he keeps locked deeply within. I gently touch my child, soothing his restless movements. My poor innocent one. He will corrupt you and turn you into a younger version of himself if I don’t escape from him.

I shut my eyes, noting the odd blue glow I see through my eyelids. Too tired and upset to investigate, I decide to ignore it. When I am sure the Sith Lord is asleep, I will plan out what I need to do.

Part 7

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