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The Sith Lord and the Scientist Section E - Part 7

Author's Note: Warning - the Vader/Leia arc continues in this part, and there is graphic content. If you want to read the sections of the story with that removed from it, you will need to join the DVEB Yahoo Group and go to the relevant parts in the archived posts. The ones with the Vader/Leia scenes are flagged and can easily be avoided. Alternatively, you can use the jump ahead link below to skip the one scene at the end of this part. Be aware that there are references to their relationship throughout the rest of it.

The Executor, Deep Space en route to Coruscant, Month 2.

DAY 18

***

My eyes snap open and I am instantly awake at what I sense. Luke is waiting outside my quarters and probably wants to speak to me about yesterday’s events. There is no hostility to be sensed in him, so hopefully he will not verbally attack me again. Choosing to leave him there for a while, I breathe in the delicate smell of millaflowers from Maia’s hair which is spilling over her shoulders and down her back between us. In sleep, she is peaceful and relaxed, so I slide my hand down to her middle, checking on the son she nearly lost and gently healing her internal injury with the Force. I shift a little so that I can look into her face and watch her eyelids flutter as she dreams of her lost homeworld, like she always does when she is stressed too much and wants to escape. She has good reason to wish herself well away from here and from me.

I know how she thinks and how compassionate she is, so to get what I wanted I gave her no choice in consenting to my marriage to Leia… and then … then instead of simply doing the minimum necessary with Leia, as I had promised, I made love to her fully, not once but twice, and sired a son on my own daughter as result of that … and last night … last night, I decided sex with Leia was more important than caring for Maia, who should have been in our bed, resting in my arms, instead of on the floor in the children’s room heartbroken and crying. She was generous to me, as she always is, in granting our bedroom and privacy to Leia and I, and all I gave her was pain in return.

Closing my eyes, I look inwards, to see what I would prefer to deny. Alongside the deep and broad soul bond between Maia and myself is a much smaller bond. This is the link I had forged with Leia so I could access her mind, now magnified a hundredfold into an enduring Force bond. That is the result of my not removing it immediately and wanting to have Leia as a replacement for Padmé. From the emotions which gripped me afterwards, my desires turned that wish into fact the first time I made love to her yesterday.

Unfortunately, Leia is now permanently bound to me just as her mother was, and we are both completely besotted with one another because of it. Removing the bond with Leia is still possible, but doing it would be excruciatingly painful for all three of us. It will simply have to stay where it is, yet not as it is. My mental privacy is something I refuse to compromise. Maia, I trust to never intrude on me; Leia, I do not. Carefully, deliberately, I place blocks around it, shutting Leia completely out of my mind, preventing her from sensing anything from me, and me from receiving anything from her. More importantly, Maia won’t feel anything from Leia second-hand through me.

That problem dealt with, I try to ease my arm from under Maia’s head without waking her, only to fail at that endeavour. Her eyes open and blink a few times in the dark, so I raise the light level to allow her to see me.

‘Good morning, gorgeous,’ I greet her.

‘Hi, handsome,’ her sleepy voice replies.

She rolls onto her back and looks up at me, her expression puzzled and questioning.

‘Meditation pod,’ I remind her, guessing why she is disoriented, ‘and there is just enough room for the two of us in here.’

I lean over and kiss her lightly on the mouth, quickly turning it from a chaste to passionate one. It’s our morning kiss to start the day, but it can’t last forever so I pull back and end it.

‘As soon as the doctor approves,’ I whisper in her ear, ‘you are mine.’

‘As soon as you have time, you mean,’ she replies. ‘I know how busy you are and will be, and it won’t stop when we arrive at Coruscant. It will be worse.’

‘For my Empress,’ I decide, ‘I will always make the time.’

I watch her head swivel about as she realizes where Luke is.

‘Luke has been waiting for me,’ I reveal, ‘so I had better put him out of his misery and let him in. You, my little goddess, need to sleep some more, so stay where you are and rest. I will wake you later.’

I open the pod, push myself out of the reclined command chair, and step into the room. Maia watches me, curious what I am going to do, but I close the pod again, preventing her from listening in on what my son might say to me. Before I open the main door, I straighten my robes with a tug. The Emperor ought to look presentable, no matter whom he is meeting.

‘Father?’ Luke asks when I motion him in through the open door, surprised to see who is greeting him.

This is the first time he has seen me without my armour. I wait until the door is shut and securely locked behind him before I say anything.

‘My office, now,’ I order him into a more private space. ‘Maia is sleeping in my meditation pod and I see no reason to disturb her with our discussion.’

His eyes rarely leave my face as I lead him into the room in question and sit down behind my desk. I will let my son speak first, just to see what he has to say.

‘You aren’t wearing your armour,’ is Luke’s first comment after he has chosen a chair and sat down in it.

‘I can remove my helmet when I want to and only the life support systems are necessary,’ I tell him. ‘The rest is for defense in battle and intimidation. My mask is far more effective for that than my face, and I prefer to wear the armour in public.’

‘You don’t…’ he starts, so I finish it ‘… look like what you expected, and no, Luke, I am not a monster under the helmet, nor am I the evil, cruel warlord the Rebellion has tried to portray me as. You should know better than to believe propaganda.’

‘Maia loves you and you killed your former master to save me,’ my son states, ‘so there must be something redeemable in you. At least I want to believe that there is.’

‘Foolish, young Jedi,’ I tease him. ‘I am a Sith Lord. There is very little in me worth redeeming.’

‘You forget, father, that I know you better than that,’ Luke prods at me. ‘I know you love your Lady and your children, and Sith Lords are incapable of love. They do not have feelings towards others in that way. You can redeem yourself fully by abandoning the dark side and letting go of your anger and other negative emotions.’

‘Yesterday,’ I decide to take the opening he has conveniently given me, ‘you were the one who was angry, and I can understand why. Leia is your twin sister and your first instinct, and a commendable one at that, is to protect her, but Luke, she is also an adult who is capable of making her own decisions. She chose marriage to me and you must respect that.’

He looks down, at the floor, and sighs in frustration. This does not bother him as much as something else does.

‘You have a twinbond with your sister,’ I suddenly remember that fact. ‘You felt it, all of it. When we first made love …’ I start to splutter, ‘and whenever Leia and I … and even when we were in the shower last night and she …’

I instantly stop trying to talk when I see how embarrassed Luke has become, his face blushing deep red in reaction to what I have said. If he felt it all, he knows exactly how much I hurt her yesterday morning, which explains why he was so angry when I first told him I had married her. His initial reaction was to his twin’s pain, the second to it being me who did that to her, and the third to my fathering her child.

‘Yes, father,’ he admits, ‘I felt all of it.’

‘Luke, if you don’t want to experience her every strong emotion or feel what your sister does during sex then you need to block her out,’ I offer him what help I can, ‘Find where your twinbond is in your mind, and set up a series of barriers around it to act as filters. In your case, you will probably want to avoid anything related to sex, so adjust what you let through accordingly. Later, when she gives birth, you will need to block that out, too. Labour pains are quite disturbing to feel second hand.’

The horrified look on his face at my last statement is highly amusing, but I choose not to let him know that or laugh out loud. My son is talking to me once more, so why provoke him into anger again?

***

I wait until Ani is probably in his office then sit up and hug my knees to my chest. Yesterday and last night were full of emotional turmoil for me and it will be days before I have completely sorted myself out. Ani doesn’t seem to understand how much he has hurt me with his dishonesty and manipulations. His concerns have been for Leia and Luke, not me, and he is wrapped up in dealing with the politics and demands of the position he has chosen to accept. For a moment, I wish that he had refused to become the Emperor and that our lives could go back to how they were, and those thoughts prompt a few tears.

‘I don’t want to be Empress,’ I complain to the air around me, knowing no one will hear, and that my husband wouldn’t care even if he did, ‘and I want to go home.’

Home. I think hard about what time of year it would be and what everyone would be doing. It would be the end of November, the Fall term coming to a close with exams soon to follow in December. The weather would be cold and snow on the ground. Winter was not my most favourite time of the year, but Christmas would not be that far away. I let out a quiet sigh. There is no way to go back, so there is no point in even thinking about it.

Pick something to work your way through, I scold myself. You did that on Vjun after you left him, and maybe that process will help you with this situation, too.

I decide to start with something simple.

Leia’s child. What do I feel about her son? Compassion, I quickly decide. He had no choice in who his parents are or how he was conceived. No matter how angry I feel about the circumstances, Leia’s son is blameless and I will treat him as such.

Who next?

Luke. Leia’s brother. Luke must have known about their relationship as twins from what he was yelling at his father yesterday. Why didn’t he tell their father that Leia was his daughter? If Luke had said something when he first had a chance to, I know Ani would never have touched Leia. Luke’s silence contributed to the situation, but he had no idea that the Sith Lord would threaten Leia with sex when he was interrogating her and then coerce her into marriage. He must have thought that keeping Leia’s identity secret would protect her and that back fired rather spectacularly. No, I cannot blame Luke for what has happened, not entirely, although if he had chosen to be honest, his sister would not be married to their father, now.

Leia herself. Leia could have told Ani the truth at any time during her interrogation and chose not to, not until after he had married her. If our husband had known he was her father, I am certain that he would never have married her, never done anything sexual with her at all.

I shake my head.

How could she remain silent?

Leia must have known that Ani would follow through with his threats when she kept refusing to give him the information he was demanding, and still she said nothing. Why? Was it to protect Luke as she has claimed? I pursue that thought for a moment, considering what might have happened if she had told Ani who she was. Would he have threatened to harm Luke and then carried through with that in order to make her co-operate? Ani loves Luke, but if he thought he had no other choice, he probably would do something to his son. So, Leia let Ani have what he wanted from her, marriage and sex, and said nothing in order to keep her brother from harm.

Can I blame her for that choice?

I rest my cheek on top of my knees and think about Leia’s choice. What would I do in the same situation? Sacrifice myself to save my brother, or say something and risk him coming to harm?

‘Sophie’s choice,’ I quietly say to myself, ‘having to pick between two choices, both of which will lead to someone being destroyed in the process, in this case, either Leia by marriage to her father or Luke by being the subject of his father’s torture.’

The tears begin to fall as I realize what she has chosen to do.

‘Oh, Leia,’ I whisper to my absent co-wife. ‘Does Luke understand that you have sacrificed yourself for his sake?’

Any thoughts I had of holding Leia responsible for the mess we are in vanish. She was put into an impossible situation and chose to protect her brother. I don’t know if I would have had the strength to make the same choice. Whenever Ani wants her, she will have to submit to sex with him, her own father and a former enemy, a man she has every reason to hate. She must obey him in all things and will bear his son, and there will be no escape for her from any of it. It’s no wonder she won’t acknowledge Ani as her father; that’s the only way she can cope with their marriage and her pregnancy.

‘Anakin,’ I quietly growl, knowing he is too busy talking to Luke to pay any attention to me.

If anyone is responsible for what has happened, it is my husband.

The Sith Lord chose to threaten Leia with sex with him during her interrogation. He forced her to accept him as her husband when Leia was in no position to deny him that. Their marriage was his idea, his choice based on political considerations, and he is the only one I can blame for it. That he didn’t know she was his daughter at the time is irrelevant. Ani and I are soul bonded in such a way that he had no business marrying or having sex with her or anyone else. I know that it takes a few hours for an egg to be fertilized after having sex; it is not instantaneous. So, while Ani’s son with Leia might have been conceived yesterday, the act which led to that occurred two days ago in that interrogation cell.

I bite my lip and try to rein in my anger at how dishonest he has been with me. Just as Leia has to live with her marriage to the Sith Lord, so do I. Somehow, I will have to deal with the pain and heart break I will feel every day, every time I see them together, every time I know they are having sex, every time I can feel Ani’s love for her, every time he puts her ahead of me. It’s not fair but it will be how things are. His behaviour has made it clear to me that the Sith Lord is no longer mine, no matter what he says to the contrary; he’s chosen to be completely hers.

The tears fall freely, now, so I bury my feelings deep, hide them from my husband, and let myself grieve for what I have lost. My marriage is in tatters, although Anakin has not recognized how thoroughly he has destroyed it yet, and I will never completely trust him again. There have been too many lies and manipulations in the past two days for me to easily forgive him, but I cannot bring myself to hate him because that is too dangerous an emotion and a quick path to the dark side. Instead, I will myself not to care at all, putting on an invisible set of armour to protect myself with.

Hate and anger are not the opposite of love: indifference is.

***

I exit my office, Luke at my side, and open my pod. To my surprise, Maia is awake, sitting up, her chin resting on her knees and face wet with tears again. That sight freezes me in place. She didn’t call to me and I felt nothing from her: I can feel nothing from her. It is as if a wall has descended between us, cutting her off completely. My wife is clearly upset about something and trying to hide that from me. Rather than drag from her what the problem is in front of my son, I leave her be. Maia has had her life turned upside down in the past two days and my publicly prodding at her for an explanation for why she was crying will not help. Sooner or later, I will find out what is wrong. While I watch, she quickly wipes the tears from her face with the sleeve of her nightgown and starts to shift herself about so she can stand up.

‘Stay where you are,’ I tell her. ‘I don’t want you to move too much until Leanan has seen you, so I will carry you into the kitchen in a few minutes, after I put my armour on.’

She stops in place and silently stares at me.

‘Luke, wait here,’ I instruct my son. ‘I will ask Leia to speak with you.’

I feel two sets of eyes following me out of the room, one calm and curious, and the other completely indifferent to me. It is a rather unsettling experience.

‘Leia?’ I call to my still sleeping daughter-wife.

She rolls over and blinks at me. There is a brief flash of confusion on her face, which is quickly hidden, and then open desire and need.

‘Anakin,’ she names me.

‘Luke is waiting to speak to you,’ I warn her. ‘You need to talk to him, but be careful what you say.’

Leia quickly gets up, but instead of going directly to her brother, she comes to me, slides her arms around my waist, and looks, expectantly, up into my face.

‘I want you, husband,’ she asks of me. ‘Make love to me, right now. Luke can wait.’

She wants me and I am not interested. After blocking our bond, my raging sexual desire for her has faded away, to be replaced by a father’s love for his daughter.

‘No, Leia, not now, not today, not tomorrow, and not until I decide I want to make love to you,’ I firmly refuse her, pulling her arms away from my body and holding them in front of me. ‘I belong to my Empress, not to you, so don’t ask me for sex again. Go speak to your brother. He is waiting for you by the door to my quarters.’

As she leaves the bedroom, I let out a frustrated sigh. Leia is going to be a problem if she continues to expect sex from me, and Maia is still angry at me for lying to her and marrying Leia.

Managing two wives is going to be quite a chore.

***

I watch Ani go and decide to lie down again, hoping he leaves me alone for a while. Luke says nothing to me, so I ignore my stepson, rest a hand on my middle, and check on my son instead. There is no pain this morning, no throbbing or dull ache. My body seems to have sorted itself out. Thankfully, my son is safe, and I will try to catch a quick nap before breakfast.

‘Leia,’ Luke greets his sister.

‘Luke,’ she speaks his name in return.

Judging by where her voice is coming from, she must be in the doorway to the den. I stay silent and don’t move. If they think I am sleeping, they won’t go into Ani’s office. This should be an interesting conversation, if one I might not want to hear.

‘He hurt you,’ Luke bluntly states.

‘Just a little,’ she replies. ‘I expected it and it couldn’t be helped.’

Silence from Luke. He knows she has lied to him, just as I do, but won’t push it.

‘You are well?’ he asks her, sounding rather awkward.

‘I am fine, Luke,’ she reassures him. ‘Come here, see for yourself, and let me hold you for a moment.’

I hear their footsteps as Leia comes into the room and Luke goes to her.

‘I can’t feel your son any longer,’ Luke states, concerned. ‘Did something happen to him?’

‘My husband shielded him,’ she reveals. ‘My son is fine.’

Of course Ani would do that. He wants no one to know Leia is pregnant, at least not yet.

‘Leia, I am so sorry. All of this is my fault. I should have told him the truth…’ Luke starts an apology, but Leia interrupts him, ‘… and I should have told him, too, but it’s done, now, finished. We are married and I will give him a son. There is no point in regretting the past.’

‘And how do you feel?’ Luke asks.

‘Tired,’ she admits. ‘It has been a busy few days with not much sleep.’

‘Leia,’ he says to her, ‘that’s not what I meant. How do you feel about him?’

‘What do you want to hear from me, Luke?’ she replies, sounding frustrated that he has chosen to pry. ‘That I hate the man who is now my husband?’

‘Leia…’

‘Stop it, Luke,’ she warns him. ‘The issues you have with the Emperor are yours to deal with, not mine. Don’t involve me in it. He is my husband and the father of my child, and I love him.’ She pauses, takes a deep breath then continues, ‘I love him, Luke, and as hard as it is for you to believe that, you need to accept it. I love him. Don’t break my heart by asking me to choose between you.’

Hearing her say that makes me even more determined to not allow myself to feel anything. If she loves Ani that much, after everything he has done to her, she can have him.

***

‘Leia,’ I call to my daughter, prompting her to step away from her brother.

She turns away from him and comes to me, setting her small hand in my gloved one when I offer it to her. Luke needs to accept how things will be, so I pull her close, into my arms, and kiss her. Leia complies, opens her mouth to me and for a brief moment, I forget that she is my daughter and deeply and passionately kiss my wife.

‘I love you, my wife,’ I whisper in her ear once our kiss is finished.

‘I love you, my husband,’ she just as quietly responds.

Luke is staring at the floor, his expression caught between acute embarrassment and outrage. Shoving my marriage to Leia in his face in such a blatant manner was a calculated risk I was willing to take, and it has obviously paid off. My son won’t make an issue of our marriage again, not after seeing his sister so openly and willingly enjoy a kiss from me.

‘Go, select something for your breakfast, Leia,’ I suggest. ‘There is an autochef in the kitchen, and Luke might want something, too. Mikal and his sisters will be awake soon, so we can all eat together.’

I watch them leave, Luke following after his sister, and turn to my open meditation pod. Maia is still in it, lying on her side, and looks to be sleeping soundly. Pulling off my cloak, I step closer to her and carefully cover her with it. Rather than wake her, I will let her rest and have my morning meal with all of my children.

***

Don’t think about them, I scold myself when I see Ani kiss Leia, and don’t let anyone know you are awake. I close my eyes and slow my breathing, willing myself to relax. After Luke and Leia leave, I hear Ani come closer and feel him toss his cloak over my body, but he says nothing to me and opts to follow them back into his private living quarters. He must have decided I was asleep.

While they are having breakfast, I quietly sit up, wrap myself in his cloak, slip out of the meditation pod, and go into Ani’s office, closing the door after myself. I know I should eat something, but my stomach will only rebel if I try. Instead, I select a ‘saber treatise from the shelf, curl up on the couch and start reading. This one is on the seventh form, Juyo, the one the Sith Lord refuses to teach me because he considers it too close to the dark side and too dangerous for me to learn. He hasn’t forbidden me from reading about it, so I will use that loophole to study it in theory. My eyes run quickly over the pages as I store as much in my memory as possible. When it is quiet, later, I will think about it.

I sense Ani approaching, so I return the book to the shelf and take the one next to it. After I open it to where I had left off reading it, I do my best to become completely absorbed in the discussion of using two blades at once. At home, this would be called Florentine; here it is part of the form called Niman.

‘You should have stayed in the pod,’ Ani scolds me, once he discovers where I am. ‘You are supposed to be resting and behaving yourself.’

He sits down beside me, lifts the ‘saber treatise out of my hands, glances at which one it is, and sets it aside.

‘I will have you practice in the salle with both Luke and I, in a few days, after you have had a chance to rest,’ he decides. ‘Leia needs to learn the basics of shielding to protect her son, and I would appreciate it if you could help her with that. Luke will be working with me on other, more advanced skills.’

The Sith Lord picks up my left hand and holds it in his over his heart. I keep my eyes down and refuse to look at him.

‘You are upset,’ he states.

When I don’t answer, his other hand tips my chin up so he can see my face.

‘More than upset,’ he decides. ‘You are angry with me to the point where you are afraid of what you feel and not sure how to deal with it.’

I don’t react.

‘Staying silent and burying your emotions won’t help you avoid this conversation, and will only make you feel worse in the long term,’ he warns me. ‘You need to talk to me about it.’

Calm, stay quiet, I remind myself, and he will eventually give up and leave.

Ani, however, does neither.

Instead of growing angry or frustrated by my stubbornness, he chooses to kiss me, pushing me backwards on the couch until I am flat under his body. I try to escape from him, but he pins me in place with the Force, holding my hands against the leather and refusing to let me go. When he starts to pull off his codpiece with his hands, I know exactly what he has planned. Since he can’t breach my defensive shields without doing a fair amount of damage, he has decided to use sex and our bond to enter my mind to find out what I feel and why.

‘Stop it, Anakin,’ I tell him. ‘I don’t want to do this with you.’

‘So, she does know how to speak,’ he states, instantly backing off and releasing my hands.

Ani is still over top of me, his pelvis against mine, his weight resting on his left arm while he caresses my face with his right hand. I glare up at him, furious that he had the audacity to use forcing himself on me as a way to make me talk to him.

‘Get off of me,’ I hiss at him.

When he doesn’t do as I ask, I swing my hand at his face, intending to make him jump back. Instead of trying to stop the blow or moving to avoid it, Ani lets me hit him with a resounding slap on his cheek. The impact leaves a bright red mark on his pale skin and I feel the echo of his pain from it over our bond.

I freeze in place and stare at my hand, then his face, horrified by what I have just done to the man I love.

***

Rather than defend myself, I let her slap me and accept the stinging pain which comes with it. If nothing else, it is the very least I deserve for what I have put her through. The look on her face, though, after her blow connects is anything but what I expect.

Maia looks horrified.

I push myself up, sit beside her, and wait to see what she does. She stares at her hand then at me. A keening wail comes from her throat as she curls up on her side in a small ball and starts sobbing uncontrollably. It then occurs to me that she has never deliberately harmed anyone in her life. When Thirsk’s troopers were shooting at her, she deflected the blasts away rather than injure them, and she has never been able to successfully fire on an enemy ship, even in the sims.

The first person she has intentionally struck in anger is me, the one she loves most of all.

‘Maia,’ I call to her. ‘Come here, my love. Let me hold you. I am not angry with you for slapping me when I have earned it.’

She manages to crawl over to me, so I help her into my arms and hold her close, not saying a word as she cries herself out. Her shields have collapsed under the emotional strain and I can see the damage that has been wrought, what I had done to her with my deliberate deceptions and worse, what she has done to herself in reaction to that and to my marriage to Leia. Her mind is full of jagged, self-inflicted injuries. Little trust remains and there is not much foundation left to rebuild it on. Where once there was love is now anger, pain, and suffering. From her perspective, our relationship is in ruins, and that she has reached this point is entirely my fault. All I can do is patiently begin again, as I did once before, and hope that she will eventually heal herself and forgive me.

‘Do you need help shielding?’ I quietly offer.

In the state she is in, maintaining her own defenses will be difficult, if not impossible, and she knows that.

‘Please?’ she asks of me.

This is a test for me by her. I touch her mind lightly, gently, not intruding or making any attempt to read her thoughts, anchoring the shields I build for her, and powering them with my own energy and strength channelled through our bond. Sliding my hand to her middle, I do the same for our son, hiding him away until she is able to see to that herself.

‘May I kiss you?’ I request.

There is hesitation then a quiet, unspoken ‘yes’ from her, so I set my lips briefly on her forehead. Her surprise at my restraint is obvious, as is mine when her lips contact my own. I keep it short, chaste, not pushing her for more than what she is willing to give.

‘Shall I help you with your bath and breakfast?’ I suggest.

Her answer is a nod this time, so I shift her in my arms and lift her up. The water I had filled the bath with earlier is probably cool by now, but I can easily heat it for her. A hot bath will quiet her mind and give me some time to sort out what I am going to do, to determine the steps needed to heal her mind and our marriage.

‘We are on our way to Coruscant,’ I tell her as I walk past the Holonet terminal. ‘You will have two weeks before we arrive to think about a new wardrobe, one appropriate for you as my Empress.’

That produces a resigned sigh from her. Clothes are not high on her list of favourite things to buy, but it will be one way to distract her. I hear Mikal and his sisters playing in the den as we approach it. They are content and busy, so I leave them be. Luke and Leia are quietly talking to each other when I carry Maia into the kitchen. Both stare at us and fall silent. That something is seriously wrong must be obvious to them.

‘Out,’ I order, without trying to be polite. ‘You can go to my office to continue your conversation.’

They abandon their unfinished cups of caf on the table and close the door between the den and kitchen behind themselves, cutting off ‘Mi’s chatter, and leaving Maia and I alone. I set her down on our bed, tip her face up, and look at her. Stress and grief have marked her. She looks tired and worn, and far older than she is.

We are soulbonded and she is now sick with pain and anger to the point where the damage is expressing itself physically as well as emotionally. I lower myself to my knees in front of her, rest my head against her legs, and grieve for what I have done to my merati. We stay like that for a long time, until I feel her fingers in my hair.

‘Anakin,’ she names me, her voice soft, quiet.

‘I am a fool,’ I confess, ‘and the worst sort of fool, at that. Only a fool would hurt the one they love in the way that I have hurt you.’

‘You are my husband,’ she reminds me.

She has chosen to accept me as her husband rather than reject me. I don’t let my relief show, but I do need to apologize to her.

‘And a rather poor one,’ I admit. ‘I have made a series of stupid choices and very bad decisions, and you have paid for them. I cannot change what I have done, only apologize for it.’

Silence.

I risk looking up to see her face. Maia’s eyes are closed, her features expressionless.

‘Don’t hide your anger and pain,’ I tell her. ‘Talk to me, please.’

‘There is little point in discussing it,’ she refuses, ‘when I will only feel more, and it will never stop as long as you are married to Leia.’

‘It will stop if you decide to let it go,’ I suggest. ‘I know it is hard for you to accept that I have another wife, and I know it hurts to admit to yourself that I love her.’

She looks away from me, the pain now openly visible on her face. I know from my own experience that if she won’t deal with her anger and jealousy, they will only fester and destroy her from within, so I will force her to face some of her negative emotions as a first step in the healing process.

‘Does it bother you that I love Luke?’ I ask her. ‘Does my love for our children make you jealous?’

‘Of course not,’ she replies. ‘You love them as their father.’

‘As I also love Leia,’ I reveal. ‘Don’t confuse the love I will always have for my daughter with the sexual desire I had for her as my wife. Those are separate and will always be separate.’

‘That’s not...’ Maia begins a protest, so I cut her off.

‘… not what you saw yesterday and not how I behaved,’ I admit. ‘I had no choice, Maia. It was her wedding day, and she had the right to demand sex with me. Leia wanted me and that was,’ I pause, consider what I had felt, ‘rather flattering, but the raging desire on both our parts was a product of the Force bond. I have completely blocked that now. It won’t happen again.’

I don’t tell her that Leia is drawn to me regardless of the blocked bond. My daughter-wife wants sex with me because of the compulsions I had planted within her mind and etched onto her body to make her co-operate and accept me as her husband. This is something I will need to deal with myself, in my own time, once Maia has sorted herself out.

I move my hands and set them over Maia’s. Through all of this there has been one constant: her love for me. That has been the one thing in the past four years which has been strong and true, despite everything I have done, and I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want to lose her. For the first time in my adult life, I decide to put someone else’s needs ahead of my own desire for power. The throne will mean nothing if she is not there at my side.

‘I don’t want to lose you,’ I finally confess. ‘I will give up everything if you ask it of me, even the throne, if that is what it will take for you to stay with me and love me.’

***

I quietly consider his offer, what would be best for us, and what would be best for our children. My love for him will never change, no matter what he does to me, but if he wants me to stay with him, how he has been behaving with Leia cannot continue.

‘I don’t want to be Empress,’ I tell him, ‘I want you to divorce Leia, and I want to go home, to my real home.’

‘If you truly want me to give up the throne, I will,’ Ani concedes, ‘but the other two are impossible. Leia is permanently bound to me by Sith law just as you are and I cannot divorce her. However, I will abide by whatever your restrictions will be on what I can do with her, and I will not have sex with her without your approval. We cannot return to your homeworld, but I will find a planet for us, somewhere quiet and isolated, where we will be left alone. Perhaps Grand Admiral Thrawn would be willing to secure us a place amoung the Chiss, far from Coruscant and the political turmoil which I know will erupt in my absence.’

I look straight at him. Even when I ask him to do what is best for us as a couple and a family he cannot stop himself from bringing the rest of the galaxy into it.

‘Maia,’ he reveals to me. ‘I was directly responsible for Palpatine becoming Emperor and claiming the right to rule as a dictator, and because of that, indirectly responsible for everything which followed. I can’t just walk away and leave the mess I have created for someone else to clean up.’ He pauses, a troubled and serious expression settling over his features. ‘And there is another reason, Maia. The galaxy must be united militarily to defend itself from an invasion. Palpatine foresaw that decades ago and much of what he did, what I have done, and what I must do in the future was and will be aimed at warding that off.’

‘Then leave me out of the political games, Anakin,’ I give him a compromise since despite his promise he will obviously refuse to abdicate. ‘I don’t like that sort of stuff and I am really bad at it. I will be your reclusive Jedi wife and stay out of the public’s eye.’

‘You will be expected to be my Empress,’ he reminds me. ‘People will question it if you are not at my side.’

‘Screw the rest of the galaxy,’ I rudely state. ‘They can survive without me being put on display for their entertainment.’

‘Screw?’ he asks, puzzled. ‘Is that another Earthism?’

‘Would you rather I said frack, feke, or droyk?’ I use the three crudest Corellian expletives I learned from listening to Han curse at his ship.

‘I would rather you didn’t say any of those words,’ Ani states before he starts laughing. ‘Hearing them come from your mouth sounds extremely odd.’

I can’t stop the smile which creeps across my face. He hasn’t teased me in days and I have missed that. His hands squeeze mine in response to my amusement.

‘Better,’ Ani decides. ‘I want you to be happy, and if that means limiting your time in public as my Empress, and my abstaining from sex with Leia, then so be it.’

His blue eyes meet mine and there is an intensity, a burning need, in them as he stares at me.  I shiver as I feel him look past me, into me, into my soul almost. Our bond flares with the emotions he sends to me; love, support, caring, concern, and most strongly at this moment, desire. Inwardly, I shy away from him and send nothing in return.

‘Healing and forgiveness take time,’ he accepts my reluctance, kissing my hands after he says it.

I don’t let him release them. Curiosity crosses his face then understanding. Without saying another word, he stands, still keeping my hands in his and pulls me to my feet and into his arms.

‘I will hold you for as long as you need me to, and tonight,’ he whispers in my ear. ‘Tonight, I am yours and will do whatever you ask of me.’

‘Tonight,’ I accept his promise, ‘but for now, Anakin, just kiss me.’

***

I do as she asks and kiss her deeply, passionately, until I feel her trembling in my arms. At that, I move my lips to where her neck meets her shoulder and lightly kiss her there instead. As I hold her close to my chest, she relaxes, and I am grateful that I have not been rejected outright, but she has not entirely accepted my apology or forgiven me, either. Maia is close to a shatterpoint, as far as our relationship is concerned, and I could easily lose her permanently.

‘Let me see to your bath,’ I finally tell her. ‘Why don’t you choose a suitable gown for being out in public while I do that? I need to take you to our new quarters, the Emperor’s quarters, today.’

The water, of course, is cold when I go into the ‘fresher and check its temperature. I reach into it with the Force, speed up the molecules, and heat it until it will be comfortable for her. Maia likes hot baths, but I don’t want it to be so warm that it burns her. When I return to the bedroom, she has laid one of her favourite dresses on the bed and is looking at her gold armbands. If she wanted me to remove those for her, I would do so, yet she has never once asked.

‘Out of your nightgown,’ I order, ‘so I can help you into the water.’

‘I won’t break,’ she grumbles at me. ‘I can manage on my own.’

‘You need to rest,’ I decide. ‘You will do that today if I have to keep you constantly at my side to make sure you do it.’

‘Yes, I am sure to fall asleep during your many, boring meetings,’ she teases me.

‘Boring,’ I agree, ‘but necessary.’

I reach over and pull loose the tie holding the nightgown closed at her neck. There is no attempt to stop me, so I slide it off of her arms and down to her waist, knowing that it will fall to the floor when she stands up. Her hands are set in mine as I offer to help her up, and she is soon cradled in my arms again.

‘I will be back, later,’ I promise after I have lowered her into the bath’s warm water. ‘You still need something to eat.’

‘Not hungry,’ she stubbornly states.

‘You need to eat, and you will eat,’ I insist. ‘You ate next to nothing yesterday and will be sick if you don’t have something today. Our son needs you to eat, too.’

She soaks her hand with water and flicks it at me, showering my face with warm droplets as a form of protest at my fussing. I don’t retaliate in kind, tempting as it is. Instead, I bend over and kiss the top of her head.

‘Behave, wife,’ I growl at her when she sends some more water in my direction.

Her laughter follows me into the kitchen and lightens my mood as I enter commands into the autochef. That bread she liked, some nuna soup, a selection of sweet vegetables, and fruit for dessert should be enough to tempt her into a eating a few bites. While the autochef works away on Maia’s meal, I go back to the bedroom and open the compartment with my helmet. I pick up the mask, hold it in my hands and stare at it. For over two decades it has been my public face, a prison imposed on me by Palpatine. It has become a safe haven as well, a wall to hide behind, and a form of security. I don’t really need to wear it, but for now, I still want to.

‘Anakin?’ Maia calls.

She has finished her soak, so I set my mask on the table and go to her. I will help her as much as she will allow, keep her company while she eats, and then put my mask and helmet on.

There is much to do today and I want to start on it.

***

I crane my head about and try to keep track of where we are going. Ani promised to take me to our new quarters today, but it looks like he has chosen to visit Medical, first, so the doctor can check on me and remove the med cuff from my arm. Leia is trailing behind us, following a few steps after Ani, and she is as uncomfortable with our Royal Guard escorts as I am.

The Imperial Guards are making you nervous, my husband observes.

I don’t like them, Ani, I admit. Something feels not quite right with them, and Thirsk warned me never to trust them, too.

The Sith Lord shifts me slightly in his arms then suddenly drops me to the floor and ignites his lightsaber. He breaks my fall, cushioning it with the Force, as I react as Thirsk trained me to, rolling into a ball and trying to get out of Ani’s way. My husband, however, has chosen to stand over top of me, one foot to either side of my body, protecting me from the force pikes which are now operating at full power and aimed at him. I wrap my arms around his shin and tuck my head in beside his knee, seeking what shelter I can from the pikes. Leia has flattened herself against the wall of the corridor and is slowly backing away from the fight, trying to avoid attracting the attention of the four red figures Ani is doing his best to fend off.

I should have worn my lightsaber, I decide, as a pike is narrowly deflected away from my head by my husband’s blade. Choosing to follow Leia’s example, I make myself as small as possible, and keep out of the way as much as I can, while I try to think of how I might be able to help.

Use the Force, Ani reminds me.

I do the first thing I think of which shouldn’t do too much harm and will remove one of Ani’s opponents from combat. Picking one of the guards as my target, I shove him backwards with the Force as hard as I can, knocking him off his feet and sliding him along the floor a considerable distance down the corridor. The same tactic is just as effective on a second one, and neither of them stirs after they impact the floor. Ani’s lightsaber disposes of the third one, separating legs from torso at the waist, and the fourth steps back, breaking off his attack, before dropping in place. When I look up, I can see my husband’s hand extended in that guard’s direction, his fingers pinched tightly together. Obviously the Sith Lord had dispatched that one, too. He pulls my hands off of his leg and walks over to the two guards I had sent flying. Without any hesitation at all, he impales one through the chest and decapitates the other, killing them before my eyes as he had their colleagues.

I push myself up onto my hands and knees, intending to attempt to stand up, but instead of making it to my feet, at the smell of the blood and other bodily fluids splattered around me, I throw up on the floor in front of me and burst into tears.

‘Maia,’ Ani calls to me, as he quickly shuts off his ‘saber.

He returns to where I am at a run and drops to one knee beside me. My hands are shaking uncontrollably when I sit back on my heels next to him, and I can’t stop crying. What he just did was horrible. Those two guards were helpless and defenseless, and he executed them.

‘Come here, Maia,’ he orders.

Ani pulls me over and into his chest, holds me steady as my entire body trembles violently, and prevents me from seeing the corpses around us by laying his hand on my cheek, blocking my view, and using it to keep my head held firmly against him. I feel extremely ill when I think about what just happened and what he did to those men. Bringing a hand to my mouth, I close my eyes and give up on controlling my sobs. Leia comes closer and I feel her hand touch my back when she takes up a protective position opposite to our husband.

‘This is the first time she has seen you kill someone up close,’ my co-wife comments.

‘Yes, it is,’ Ani admits. ‘She is an empath and very sensitive, Leia, enough so, that I have always carefully protected her, and never allowed her to see me in actual pitched combat.’

‘She is in shock and needs to be seen to,’ Leia states. ‘I know what to do until the doctor can sedate her. Let me look after her for you while you do what you must. There will be more involved in this plot than just these four.’

I hear the sound of many feet approaching us at a run and know either reinforcements or rescue has come. The arms around me loosen, releasing me, and when I try to protest, Ani gently transfers me from his embrace to Leia’s.

I need you, Ani, I plead with him.

‘Leia will help you,’ he quietly tells me. ‘She knows what you need.’

He stands up next to us, bending over enough that he can rest his hand against my face, and tries to quiet me with his touch, brushing my cheek with his fingers until Thirsk reaches him. His focus, out of necessity, is now elsewhere and not on me.

‘Sister-wife,’ Leia says to me. ‘I am here for you and I will hold you until our husband can care for you.’

She keeps me secure in her arms, as Ani had, and won’t let me turn my head to where I can see the dead guards

‘My Lord, I came as soon as I received your signal,’ I hear Thirsk tell Ani, ‘but I wasn’t fast enough, from the look of it.’

‘I expected the attack to come after I left my Empress and the Princess in Medical, not before, Thirsk,’ the Sith Lord reveals. ‘That was a mistake on my part.’

‘Your Lady?’ Thirks asks.

‘She has been badly frightened and is shaken, but uninjured,’ Ani reveals. ‘My second wife has experience with treating shock and will see to her.’

I risk taking a look at my husband. He is standing nearby, his attention on the Commander in front of him, while the corridor is full of activity. Thirsk’s men are removing the dead guards, and someone has called a cleaning ‘droid to deal with the mess from the fight and its aftermath. Soon, no evidence of what happened here will remain.

‘Don’t look,’ Leia warns, using her hand to block my view. ‘You don’t need to see it.’

‘I’ve confined the rest of them to the quarters you assigned to them,’ Thirsk states. ‘They have been disarmed and can’t escape. Give me the word and I will dispose of them all.’

‘Not all of them were involved in this assassination attempt, Commander, but I want all of them removed from their positions as guardsmen,’ the Sith Lord decides. ‘I can never trust any of them, and the actions of a few have given me the opportunity to be rid of them all.’

He comes back to me, bends down and tips my face up so he can see it. Gloved fingers gently brush away my latest tears while Leia holds my head close to her shoulder. Her body is shaking as I continue to tremble in her arms.

‘She’s sliding deeper into shock, and you need to be her husband for her, not the Emperor,’ Leia informs him.

I will see to you, my love, Ani promises.

‘I will take her to Leanan, myself, and ensure she feels safe before I leave her in Medical,’ he tells Thirsk and Leia. ‘We will discuss her security in private, Commander, once she returns to my new quarters. My Empress needs guards she knows personally and is comfortable with, and I must be able to trust that they will never harm her or our children.’

My husband pulls off his cloak, wraps it around me and gathers me up in his arms, easily lifting me from the floor and away from Leia’s protective embrace. I nestle into his chest and close my eyes. His body is warm, the steady sound of his breathing is soothing to me, and I know he will keep me safe.

Before we resume our interrupted journey, Ani rattles off a series of orders, ‘Leia, you will stay with Maia. Keep her close to you and never leave her alone. Thirsk, guard both of them yourself, with your six best men, and escort my wives back to our new quarters once they are finished in Medical. I want to see a roster of those men and women whom you trust, the very best from the 501st. They will become the core of my new personal guard and be responsible for the security of myself and my family.’

Thirsk and Ani continue their discussion as we head to Medical, and the Commander and Leia somehow keep up with the rapid pace the Sith Lord is moving at, all of us encircled by members of the 501st. This will probably be another aspect of my new life as Ani’s Empress, I grumpily admit to myself, and the prospect of being constantly surrounded by security is not at all appealing to me.

***

I gently set Maia down on the doctor’s examining table and keep my arms around her, holding her close to my chest until she is no longer shaking. Leia makes herself comfortable in a nearby chair and waits.

‘You are safe, Maia,’ I reassure her, wiping the tears from her face with a cloth I have grabbed out of the doctor’s supply. ‘Leia will stay with you. You will never be left on your own, and Commander Thirsk and his men will protect you. Palpatine’s old guards could not be trusted, but your new ones are reliable, decent men and women who are completely loyal to you and me. They will sacrifice themselves to keep you and our children from harm.’

I must go, little goddess, I tell her. The guards need to be dealt with immediately, before their plotting and disloyalty can spread.

Stay, Anakin, please, she asks of me.

I step back and take her hands in mine. There is only so much I can do to reassure her, and I cannot stay with her, not when I must be elsewhere.

‘The doctor will not appreciate my presence,’ I warn her, ‘and I must question the remaining Imperial Guards. Any who conspired to attack us will need to be dealt with quickly.’

I turn to Leia, knowing that I require her help.

‘Leia will keep you company, and I will join you both later, as soon as I am able,’ I promise them. ‘You should talk about what you want in our new quarters, and decide what clothes you would like to have made. Your coronation gown must be black, trimmed with gold, and Leia’s dark grey edged with silver. I want both of you to look beautiful for the ceremony. Whatever you wish, it will be yours.’

Little love, I silently reassure her, I am always here for you. Lean on our bond, call to me if you need me, and I will answer.

My fingers give Maia’s a quick squeeze and I brush her cheek with them before I retreat into the doctor’s office. There is information she will require from me and I don’t want to discuss it in front of my wives.

‘Leanan,’ I acknowledge her when she looks up from her desk at me. ‘Maia is in shock and needs to be treated for that. There was an assassination attempt and she was in the middle of it. I had to kill four guards in front of her, and she became physically ill and hysterical afterwards.’

‘I will sedate her and prescribe some patches, but you have more experience dealing with post-combat shock than I do,’ Leanan tells me. ‘You need to talk to her about what she saw you do.’

‘I will, later today,’ I confirm then add, ‘There is something important you need to know about Leia and I. This must go no further than this room and those who are directly involved.’

‘Go on,’ the doctor encourages me to speak.

‘Leia is my daughter,’ I admit to her.

Her face freezes as she debates how to respond to that.

‘I did not know about our blood relationship before I married her,’ I continue, ‘and she did not tell me the truth until after I had sex with her.’

‘I see,’ Leanan slowly replies.

‘She is pregnant with my son,’ I finish. ‘This will be the only child she has because I cannot divorce her and I will soon be unable to sire another one. You need to see her through this pregnancy and make sure she delivers safely.’

‘You know I cannot guarantee a problem free pregnancy,’ the doctor warns me, ‘especially with such a close genetic relationship between the parents.’

‘Leia is aware that I am her father but is in denial,’ I tell her. ‘It is how she has chosen to cope with the situation. I know you will do your best with this, and that is all I require from you,’

***

The doctor’s hands are gentle as she opens the med cuff and pulls the needle out of my vein. I flinch at the brief pain from that and hold the gauze pad hard against the puncture wound, as she had instructed, to prevent too much bruising.

‘Rest for the next few days,’ she firmly insists. ‘There should be no more excitement for you until his lordship’s coronation.’ When I open my mouth to protest her orders, she adds, ‘I know about this morning’s attack. I will give you some patches to help you sleep and relax, and I expect you to do exactly that for the next two weeks. For now, lie down on your back so I can have a look inside.’

Arguing with her is futile, so I give up and do as I am told.

‘You will be next,’ I warn Leia when she laughs at how I hiss at the coldness of the scanner the doctor uses against my skin.

‘No, she won’t,’ Leanan tells us. ‘She is not far enough along for me to see anything with this technique.’

I wait patiently for her to find what she is looking for.

‘There,’ the doctor points it out to us on the screen. ‘There is your son, and there is where you tore. It is healing well, and you can resume some of your activities, including sex with your husband, but no duelling in the salle for a few days and you need to reduce your stress levels, if at all possible.’

She sets the scanner aside and sighs.

‘When I accepted this position, I never expected to end up being the Royal Obstetrician,’ she reveals. ‘It is a role I am not particularly well suited for but I will do my best. Up with you, now, so I can treat your shock.’

‘I’m fine,’ I try to argue with her after I push myself into a sitting position.

‘No, you are not,’ the doctor firmly states, reaching for two boxes of med patches. ‘I saw you when the Emperor carried you in. You witnessed a terrible event up close and will need to deal with that. His lordship is better equipped to help you with what you saw than I am, but I want to make sure that you rest.’

I make a face when she motions me to turn around.

‘You know I hate being drugged,’ I stubbornly resist.

‘Necessary,’ Leanan insists. ‘Either use the patches or I will admit you to Medical for monitoring. It’s your choice, so choose.’

Glaring at her has no effect, so I let out an exasperated sigh, turn my back towards her, and let her stick the two patches between my shoulder blades.

‘One is a mild sedative,’ she tells me, ‘and the other a relaxant. By the time you are back in your quarters, you should be ready for a nap. Use the sedative at bedtime, too, to help you sleep. You will need to change the relaxant patch twice each day.’

Her eyes move to Leia and in that instant, I know that Ani has told her Leia is his daughter and that she is pregnant with his son.

‘Your Highness, it’s your turn,’ the doctor indicates we are to switch places.

I accept Leia’s help as I move off of the table. To give them privacy, I start to leave, to go to the reception area to wait with Thirsk and his ‘troopers.

‘Stay, please,’ my co-wife asks of me, replacing me on the exam table while a blood sample is drawn from her arm.

‘Are you sure?’ I question her. ‘You might not want me here while she examines you, or for me to hear what you will be told.’

‘I want your company,’ Leia admits, ‘and I am supposed to be looking after you for our husband.’

I hesitate and look at the doctor, who nods her head in agreement.

‘I will stay, then, but if you want me to leave, at any time, just say so,’ I offer.

‘Physical exam, first, then questions,’ Leanan decides.

I help Leia to exchange her gown for a medical robe, unsnapping the back of her dress, and glad to be doing something helpful rather than sitting about feeling useless. When the doctor returns, I position myself so that I will see nothing, standing by Leia’s head and holding her hand to reassure her. Having gone through this several times myself and expecting this is a first for her, I am not surprised when Leia flinches a little and grimaces as the doctor does what is necessary.

‘Done,’ the doctor announces. ‘No urgent issues that I can see or feel, but your pelvis is small. It might be necessary to induce you early, if allowing your child to go to term will result in him growing too large for you to deliver naturally. Get dressed, now, and I’ll start with the questions.’

Leanan retreats to her office to retrieve her datapad and to allow Leia to put her gown back on.

‘Is she always like that?’ Leia asks as I close the back of her dress for her.

‘Like what?’ I respond.

‘Clinical,’ she replies.

‘Not always,’ I reveal as I slowly sit down. ‘She likes to argue with his lordship, just to irritate him, and when my son died, she was extremely upset that she could do nothing for him.’

Leia stares at me.

‘You didn’t know about that,’ I slowly say to her.

‘Yes and no,’ Leia admits. ‘We heard about the funeral but none of the details.’

Leanan returns before I can explain what had happened on Hapes. I ignore most of the questions Leia is answering, but quickly recognize that the doctor is deliberately skipping some of what she had once asked me. She already knows Ani’s medical history so there is no point in asking Leia about her father’s.

‘Your mother’s background?’ the doctor asks at last.

‘I don’t know,’ Leia admits. ‘I was adopted as an infant. I never knew much about my birth mother.’

‘You could ask your father,’ Leanan suggests.

Leia slowly blinks at her without answering. Her face is expressionless and it is as if the doctor had said nothing to her. My eyes meet Leanan’s, but I remain silent and slowly shake my head. This is not going to end well. I motion to her to drop the subject and leave it alone, but the doctor deliberately ignores me.

‘You are married to your father, and when you had sex with him to consummate your marriage your son was conceived. Your son is your father’s child, Leia. Denying this will not help you,’ the doctor delivers the complete truth.

‘I am pregnant with my husband’s child,’ my co-wife finally confirms, ‘and my husband is the Emperor.’

This is how Leia is dealing with her sexual relationship with her father - complete denial of her parentage.

‘Leia?’ I ask, touching her hand.

She snaps out of her odd state of mind.

‘Let’s talk about your husband, now,’ the doctor switches topics. ‘I know he was your first sexual partner and I have his medical history, so most of the usual questions can be skipped. Do you have any questions for me?’

Leia shakes her head.

‘Not now,’ she replies.

‘You can always come back later or call me to your quarters, if there is something you need to know,’ Leanan reminds her.

***

I step into the meeting room and stare at the six men being held in it. These are the last of the guards I need to question, and all of them have been implicated in the assassination plot. Each is in binders and only one of them, Commander Kyneugh, the one closest to me, will look at me. These are the men Thirsk identified earlier as ones to watch, and his warning was well founded. If it had not been their four co-conspirators who attacked me, it would have been some of them instead.

‘Traitor,’ Kyneugh, snarls at me.

I don’t bother with a verbal reply and instead walk over to him, lift him by the throat, and snap his neck, letting him drop to the floor when I open my hand to release him. He was on duty on the battlestation and probably suspected that I was the one who killed Palpatine. His death is necessary to protect Luke, Maia, and myself.

‘Instead of plotting to attack me,’ I growl at them, ‘you should have been upholding your oath and reporting those in your midst who were disloyal.’

I pace around the room’s perimeter, stopping behind each of the five remaining men in turn, letting them think I am about to unleash my wrath on another of their number. Not that I expect they will so easily feel threatened by me. Palpatine’s training and selection methods have ensured that his former guards are hardened and immune to most forms of intimidation, interrogation, and torture.

Not one of them moves or flinches, and none of them will betray any of the others involved in their plot. If nothing else, they are loyal one another and their dead master. Rather than waste any more of my time on them, I exit the room.

‘All are guilty. Execute them,’ I order the four members of the 501st’s commando unit who had accompanied me.

I wait for them to return and listen to their leader request a clean up crew. There are other places I need to be, and other, more important tasks that I must see to.

***

I do my best to stay awake, but the sedative patch is defeating my efforts.

‘Sorry, Thirsk,’ I mumble into the Commander’s shoulder as I yawn and start to nod off again.

‘Rest, my Lady,’ he urges me. ‘You need it and I don’t mind.’

He is carrying me through the corridors, away from Medical to the new quarters Ani has decided we will use. Leia has been walking beside us, but she has said very little. I suspect she is busy processing what the doctor told her and still adjusting to being Ani’s wife in public. Around us are six of the 501st’s elite Commando unit.

‘Commander,’ I hear a familiar baritone voice. ‘I will carry the Empress from here.’

I am carefully rolled from one set of arms into another and contentedly nestle into my husband’s chest. He must have finished dealing with the guards.

‘Sleepy?’ he asks me when I don’t open my eyes.

‘Very,’ I admit.

‘Go to sleep, then, and let me look after you,’ he orders.

His even breathing, smooth walking pace, and steady beating of his heart soon soothe me into a half-awake state. As we pass through the corridors, Luke and Leia start speaking to their father about our new quarters, but I don’t pay much attention to their conversation. Sleep is of more interest to me at the moment. I hear a large set of doors open, but don’t bother to look about. There will be plenty of time to investigate our new living space later.

‘Entryway and guardroom,’ Ani identifies the room. ‘Thirsk, there should always be four of your best men stationed here.’

A few more steps, another door opens, and he enters a larger space given the echoes.

‘Reception area and it needs appropriate decoration and furnishings,’ he states. ‘Leia, this will be your task. You are probably more familiar with what would be suitable than my Empress is.’

Yet another door opens before us.

‘Throne room,’ the Sith Lord says. ‘It will need three more command chairs added to it. One beside mine on the left for my Empress, and two on the level below that, one on the right, the other on the left, for my heir and my second wife. Your quarters, Leia, are through that door on the left. Luke’s are beside yours. Mine are to the right. Yours has never been occupied, Leia, and you may decorate it to suit your personal tastes. Luke may do with his as he pleases, too. I will send one of Maia’s aides to you to help both of you with that. For now, I will be meeting with Commander Thirsk in my office, which is off of the reception area.’

I feel him turn, away from Leia and Luke, and presumably to what will be our quarters.

I want to stay with you, I ask of him. I will sleep better if you are near.

Then I will keep you close to me, he promises.

His turn continues into an about face, and I am carried back to the reception room then into what must be his new office off to the right.

***

I set Maia down on the divan closest to the desk and settle her in a comfortable position. She still has the cloak I wrapped her in earlier, so I tuck that around her and ease her into a deep sleep. The sedative will keep her out for several hours.

‘My Lord?’ Thirsk asks.

‘We won’t disturb her, Thirsk. She has been treated for shock and is heavily sedated,’ I reassure him, knowing what he is worried about. ‘It was her first real experience of hand to hand combat, and what I had to do to protect us frightened and upset her.’

My old friend stares at me in that way he always does when he knows there is more to something but won’t pry.

‘Be seated, Commander,’ I tell him. ‘The Royal Guards must be replaced, and quickly. None of them can be trusted.’

He selects a chair between Maia and the door, guarding her without consciously thinking about it. Thirsk has a soft spot for my wife, but I know that his feelings are closer to those of an older brother protecting a vulnerable younger sister than to anything I would consider inappropriate. From the time I returned from her home world with her, he has carefully watched over her for me, minding her security with an uncanny single-mindedness when it comes to detecting and removing potential threats, and that means he is the ideal person to head my new personal guard.

‘You have disposed of the other six?’ he asks.

 I opt to sit beside Maia, staying close to her as I had promised.

‘There was no point in trying to extract any information from them,’ I admit. ‘That there were others beyond those ten is obvious, but identifying them in the twenty who remain will be difficult.’

‘Then be rid of them all,’ he suggests.

His determination amuses me

‘That would raise far too many questions,’ I decide. ‘Killing those who failed to protect Palpatine and plotted to attack me can be justified. Executing all of them for that will negatively affect morale. I will disperse those I know had no involvement, and assign them to elite units where they can be watched. Those I suspect will find themselves in postings where there is no escape. None of them will be placed where they can do any harm.’

‘So, where does that leave your security?’ Thirsk brings us back to the topic I wanted to speak to him about.

‘Choose my new guards from the elite of the 501st. You will be their Captain and answer directly to me,’ I state. ‘Select those you trust the most and those who are best suited for it. My wife will need at least ten female bodyguards she is comfortable with and who are willing to work with the Noghri. For me, it does not matter because I can easily defend myself where she cannot.’

If his promotion surprises him, he does not show it. Instead, he pulls out his datapad and hands it to me.

‘Already done, my Lord,’ he reveals.

He must have worked on this while Maia and Leia were busy with the doctor. I scroll quickly through the list of those he has chosen. All are well trained, completely loyal, and known to me. Five of the women are roughly Maia’s size and coloring, too.

‘Handmaidens,’ I identify his intentions, pausing to read through the profiles of those five. ‘You intend for my Empress to have several decoys who are well trained in unarmed combat, and she will be more at ease with them if they are not obviously armed and armoured.’

My fingers swap the screen to the other open file. It contains his notes on suitable weaponry, schedules for further training with Maia and her new body guards, and an image of blue armour, in a style from decades ago.

‘You are modelling the armour you would suggest to me on that of the old Republic Guards,’ I observe.

‘After today, I think it would be wise to be rid of the red armour and concealed faces,’ Thirsk flatly states. ‘It will only trigger flashbacks for her.’

I slowly set the datapad down on my new desk.

‘She is an empath and emotionally fragile, Thirsk,’ I quietly note. ‘I have always protected her from being directly involved in actual combat, but failed to do that this morning. It will take days, weeks, perhaps months for her to recover from seeing me kill those men.’

Maia stirs a little, so I lift her hand, hear her soft inhalation at that contact, and soothe her back into a deeper sleep.

‘I have seen what post-combat shock can do to someone,’ my new Guard Captain tells me. ‘If it might help, I am willing to talk to her, as I do with all of my ‘troopers when they have difficulties.’

‘Tomorrow, perhaps,’ I accept his offer. ‘Today, she should rest.’

‘Sleep can heal many wounds, my Lord,’ Thirsk says, becoming formal.

‘You may go, my old friend,’ I dismiss him. ‘I have given you a difficult task to do and no time to finish it in.’

His salute is crisp as he goes, but my attention has shifted to my wife.

Maia is dreaming, her eyes fluttering beneath their lids. My curiosity wins the battle between letting her be and seeing what has caught her imagination. I slip into her mind and find myself trapped in what she is experiencing, held in a repeating nightmare where she relives what happened this morning in a continuous loop.

I wrap myself around her, mentally and physically, block what she had been dreaming from her memory, and pull her back to awareness.

***

I wake with a start, to find myself wrapped in the Sith Lord’s arms.

‘Anakin?’ I ask, puzzled.

‘Nightmare,’ he responds.

I crinkle my forehead as I try to remember what I was dreaming about. After a few seconds, I give up. It’s gone and good riddance.

‘I want to hold you for a while,’ Ani offers.

I snuggle into his shoulder and sigh contentedly. The sedative is still making me groggy, but he doesn’t seem to mind holding me as I drift off in his arms. No bad dreams disturb my sleep and whenever one threatens, my husband quickly wards it off. When I finally wake up a while later, he is still there, still keeping me secure against his chest.

‘You’re awake,’ he observes.

I nod my head and look around at his new office. The colour scheme is dark reds, greys, and black, accented with ugly artwork in the same shades, and I don’t like it.

‘It’s too dreary in here,’ I complain. ‘Palpatine had a weird sense of taste.’

‘That can be changed rather quickly,’ he decides. ‘What would you suggest?’

‘Get rid of the ugly pictures on the walls and jettison those weird statues out an airlock,’ I tell him. ‘Lighten the colour scheme and throw away that hideous carpet. Make it more like your old office. I was comfortable in it. Being in here just gives me the creeps.’

‘Creeps?’ he asks.

‘Earthism,’ I admit. ‘An uncomfortable, uneasy feeling - like there is something wrong, but you can’t identify exactly what it is.’

Ani brushes my cheek with his hand and settles me back against the divan. I watch him stand, go to the most prominent of the statues, and begin circling it, almost as if he is a predator stalking prey. He extends his hand towards it, pulling on it with the Force and causing it to rock on its pedestal. When that doesn’t produce the result he wants, he lets out a frustrated growl, ignites his lightsaber, and uses it to slice diagonally through the metal. The statue falls, in two pieces, to the floor with a resounding crash, making me flinch. Within it is a cavity containing a small lightsaber hilt.

‘Typical,’ Ani states when he picks it up and sets it on the desk. ‘He liked to keep one on hand and hidden away.’

I stare at the lit ‘saber in his hand and shiver, but Ani’s attention is on the two other statues in the room.

‘Palpatine was only on my ship a few times, never when you were with me, and never for very long, but he did have these quarters furnished as he saw fit. Let’s see what other tricks and toys he had hidden away in here,’ the Sith Lord suggests.

Somehow I manage to remain relatively calm while Ani systematically destroys the rest of the statuary, and searches the room and desk for hidden compartments. Anything he finds joins Palpatine’s lightsaber on the desk. The Sith Lord has no idea how nervous his behaviour and free use of his lit blade is making me. When he moves to stand in front of me, I begin to shake. The only place he hasn’t checked is the divan I am lying on.

‘Maia,’ he starts to say something, but stops himself and shuts off his ‘saber.

I stare at him and bring my hand to my mouth.

‘I have frightened you and that was not my intention,’ my husband apologizes. ‘Your uneasiness is due to the weapons and objects Palpatine concealed in here. They are tainted with his presence, which your empathy makes you particularly sensitive to, and I need to find and remove all of them.’

He soon has me settled in his arms again and is trying to soothe my nerves.

‘Listen to my heart, little goddess,’ he tells me. ‘Set your ear above it and just listen while I talk to you.’

For a moment, Ani says nothing as he waits for me to do as he has asked. Once I am comfortable, silently counting his steady heart beats, I feel myself relax, which must have been what he intended.

‘You have had a rather upsetting day,’ he admits. ‘Much of that was my fault and some of it bad timing. I knew the guards were plotting to attack me, but did not anticipate that they would try to harm you as well.’ When I stir at that, he quiets me with his touch before continuing, ‘There were no other options, Maia, because I had to protect you. If I had fought purely defensively, in hopes of Thirsk reaching us quickly, there was the risk that you might be hurt. I had to remove the threat to you as fast as possible, and that meant delivering killing, rather than disabling, blows, even to those who appeared to be beaten and harmless. I won’t apologize for what I did because it was necessary, but I do regret that you had to see it.’

I bite my lip and consider what he has said.

‘Don’t try to analyze what I have said,’ he warns me, picking up on my thought. ‘Guessing what I think or feel about something only leads you into making false assumptions. Ask me, Maia, if you want to know something. I am right here, so talk to me.’

‘Why didn’t you just throw them out of the way and keep them from doing anything?’ I work up the courage to ask him that.

‘There were six others involved in their plot,’ he reveals. ‘If those four had been given a chance to communicate their failure to their co-conspirators, I would have had a full scale mutiny to deal with amoungst the rest of the guards, and that could have spread beyond them.’

‘Oh,’ I quietly reply. ‘That’s why.’

‘Yes,’ he confirms. ‘That’s why I killed the two you knocked the air out of. They were still conscious and about to comm their colleagues.’

Gloved fingers pull my hair back, out of my face, and he rests his hand on my cheek.

‘You did very well this morning, given that it was your first time protecting me in real combat rather than during a training session, but the middle of a battle is no place for you,’ Ani decides. ‘There will be other attempts to kill me. It is a risk which comes with the throne. Once it is clear that it is pointless to try, and I remove the instigators, those will eventually stop. In the meantime, I will keep you as safe as I can.’

‘Bodyguards,’ I grumble at him, ‘and more security.’

‘Your security team will be Thirsk, the handmaidens he has selected for you, and the Noghri,’ my husband reveals. ‘Jix should be on Coruscant by the time we return there, and he will be reassigned to your staff as well.’

I push myself upright and stare into his mask.

‘Handmaidens?’ I prod at him.

‘Handmaidens,’ he confirms. ‘For your personal guards, Thirsk has selected highly trained female members of the 501st whose job it will be to keep you safe.  Later today you will meet them. You will be training with them, too, because you need know what to do and to be able to work with them if there is an attempt to kidnap or harm you.’

***

I lead Maia into what will be our new private quarters, leave her in the entry room, and walk around the kitchen, carefully reaching out with the Force to see if there are any more surprises to be found.

‘Ugly,’ I hear my wife comment from the equivalent to my old quarter’s den. ‘All of this hideous stuff has to go.’

The furnishings definitely do not meet her standards.

‘Come in here and look at the kitchen,’ I suggest.

She joins me and inspects the contents of each storage compartment in turn, runs her fingers along the counter, and examines the autochef.

‘Better,’ she decides. ‘What’s in here can stay. I can live with a white colour scheme, and the table and chairs are fine.’

I offer her my hand and she accepts it. There are other rooms to explore.

‘Living room,’ she calls the next one I pull her into.

Comfortable chairs, facing a large screen, fill one end of the room, and an open area is located at the other. There is plenty of space for our children to play in here, and the colour scheme is not as severe as in my new office.

‘Liveable, for now,’ Maia states. ‘It needs work, though.’

‘There are five choices for bedrooms for the children,’ I reveal. ‘I would recommend the largest for the girls and a smaller one for Mikal. The third will be for our next son. The fourth of those rooms I will use for my workshop and the last will stay empty, for now.’

She opens one of the doors off of the living room, revealing a small ‘fresher.

‘Let me show you the larger one and our bedroom,’ I suggest.

***

Ani steers me into our new bedroom and all I can do is stare. It’s huge compared to his old one. In the center is a large bed, to one side a desk and a command chair, and a small table with two comfortable chairs are in a corner. Instead of compartments for storing clothing in, there is an entire room, the equivalent of a walk in closet.

‘That definitely has to go,’ I deliver my verdict on the statue dominating the center of the room.

The Sith Lord goes over to it and gives it the same treatment the ones in the office received, retrieving another concealed lightsaber from the wreckage. I opt to check out the ‘fresher while he pokes about, looking for anything else his former master left behind. Like the kitchen, the ‘fresher is designed to be functional rather than make a statement. There is a large bath two people could sit in, a separate shower, and a toilet to one side in a cubicle for privacy. Palpatine certainly liked his comforts and had no qualms about using whatever space he saw fit. In comparison, our old quarters are miniscule. Two large mirrors, which I know Ani will have removed, dominate one of the walls. I look at my reflection and sigh. The past few days have taken a toll on me. Rather than appearing rested, even after my nap I look exhausted and stressed. No wonder the doctor insisted on the meds. She’s worried about me, as is Ani, and for good reason.

I hear footsteps behind me and see my husband come up behind me in the mirror. His helmet swivels as he looks around the ‘fresher before his arms pull me close.

‘I look terrible,’ I admit.

‘You should rest some more,’ he insists.

‘Not in that bed, not until it’s stripped down and cleaned, and new bedding put on it,’ I decide. ‘Honestly, Ani, I prefer to have our old one moved in here. I don’t want to keep anything he used.’

‘You can have another nap in the office, then,’ he offers. ‘I will have it cleared out, immediately, and the furniture transferred in from my old one. While you are sleeping, I will see to it that the living quarters are made ready and everything moved for you.’

DAY 19

***

I accept the hydrospanner from Luke and twist the components back into place. This is one task I will not leave to anyone else. The environmental controls in my private quarters must work correctly and adjusting them to suit my needs has occupied much of the past two hours.

‘The moisture ‘vaporators back home were child’s play compared to this,’ my son observes.

‘Those had only one function,’ I state. ‘This has many more and I cannot risk it, or the secondary or tertiary systems, failing.’

I let out a few curses in Huttese when the piping refuses to budge. Forcing it will make the problem worse.

‘Let me, father,’ Luke offers.

I swap places with him and allow Luke to wrestle with aligning the last of the connections.

‘You haven’t given me an answer to my offer,’ I remind him.

‘I am still thinking about it,’ he replies, ‘and you really need to learn some new curses. You keep using the same ones and those were old when I was a kid.’

The piping moves as Luke slowly coaxes it over just enough to meet up where it needs to be anchored, but this is a task requiring another set of hands. I slide the connector into place and attach it while he holds everything secure.

‘I like fixing things,’ we both say at the same time, each to the amusement of the other.

I lift the cover panels with the Force, setting them where they belong, and watch while my son bolts them back into place.

‘Obi-Wan would have scolded me for using the Force in such a trivial way,’ I state.

Silence.

‘I know he trained you, Luke,’ I prod my son, ‘and I can just imagine what he had to say about me.’

‘He didn’t tell me very much, and most of it turned out to be lies,’ Luke admits. ‘I heard the truth from you and from Master…’

Luke stops talking, realizing he may have said too much.

‘Master?’ I ask him. ‘I know of no…’

I halt my own words and think hard. Order 66 eliminated many of the Jedi, and the ones who survived went into hiding. Most of those, I very quickly hunted down. Only my old master, who died at my hands, myself, and…

‘Yoda,’ I flatly state. ‘The only member of the Jedi Council still unaccounted for.’

Luke can’t stop himself from flinching. That he did not immediately deny my statement in an attempt to protect Yoda suggests that the ancient Jedi Master is already dead.

‘He must have hidden himself quite well to escape my notice,’ I tell Luke.

‘You can’t harm him any longer,’ my son reveals. ‘He was very old and ill, and he died before I went to Endor.’

‘Then I am the last living member of the disbanded Jedi Council,’ I state. ‘Not that anyone would call me a Jedi, now.’

His task finished, Luke extends the hydrospanner towards me, offering me the tool. I accept it, but my son does not release his grip. We stand there, for a minute, both of us silent, each holding an end and staring at one another.

‘I am effectively your prisoner, if one who lives in a gilded and comfortable cage, instead of a high security holding cell,’ Luke decides. ‘I have few choices to select from, and Leia needs me to be near to her and safe. So, I will co-operate and be your heir, and I will train with you, father, but only as a Jedi, never as a Sith.’

***

I wake to unfamiliar noises and in a room I am not used to. The only sound I recognize is Ani’s voice as he rapidly gives one of his aides a long list of things he wants finished by the end of the day.

‘Out,’ the Sith Lord quickly dismisses whoever is there.

I finally open my eyes and blink at him. The couch I am on, the one he had moved from his old office to this one, is positioned so that he can easily keep an eye on me, but I am not visible to anyone else. He is standing behind his desk, his data pad in one hand while the other is tapping an access code into the terminal in front of him.

‘You are awake at last,’ Ani notes. ‘I was wondering if you planned on sleeping another day away.’

I wait for him to finish whatever had his attention.

‘How long?’ I ask him.

‘Sixteen hours,’ he reveals. ‘You obviously needed it, so I let you sleep undisturbed, other than moving you between the bedroom and here.’

I push his cloak off of me and sit up. After sleeping for so long, I need to make a run for the ‘fresher. When I stand up, though, I feel a bit shaky and unsteady.

‘Let me help you,’ the Sith Lord offers.

His arm is quickly wrapped around my waist and then he is guiding me out of his new office into the reception area. It is no longer empty. Leia has definitely been busy while I slept. Comfortable chairs and a tasteful colour scheme have replaced what was an empty and stark space. The throne room we step into next has also been changed. Four command chairs now dominate the area at the top of the stairs, and the transparisteel windows have had their blast covers drawn back. Hyperspace, with its swirls and strange streaks, is acting as the back drop for Ani’s throne.

Our private quarters are different, too. The walls and floors, once dark and gloomy, are now a pale grey or white, and nothing of Palpatine’s remains. For that, I am thankful and grateful. I couldn’t stand the old coot when he was alive and the prospect of coming into contact with something he once used does not appeal to me at all. As soon as Ani lets go of me, I disappear into our bedroom and make my way to the ‘fresher.

On my return, I take a quick look around the bedroom. The desk in it is new, so Ani must intend to use it as a private workspace away from his public office. In the walk in closet are my gowns and practical clothes, and his spare cloaks and extra set of armour. Everything is logically laid out. Even my jewellery has been placed in drawers with clear covers, allowing me to see where everything is stored without having to dig through anything. In the bottommost compartment are my treasures from home. I quickly strip off what I am wearing and replace it with a light underdress and warm, comfortable overdress.

‘Cyran moved everything for you and sorted it out,’ my husband tells me.

‘She did a good job of it,’ I praise my absent aide.

‘I am pleased that you are happy with our new quarters,’ he tells me. ‘If you want anything else changed, just ask.’

I turn around and step into his arms.

‘Everything is fine, Ani,’ I reply. ‘Where we live doesn’t matter. You, and only you, are all that I need to be happy.’

He pulls me close to his chest, so I deliberately lean against him. While I was sleeping, he was guarding me, watching over me to ensure that I was safe from harm, and never letting me out of his sight for very long. I cannot remember a single bad dream, which suggests he was keeping those away, too.

‘I owe you an evening with just the two of us,’ he reminds me, ‘or we could do something right now.’

I hesitate and raise my fingers to his breathscreen. A part of me wants to shove him away and the rest to accept his open offer. The hand he had been raising to touch my face is pulled back as he steps away from me and walks out of the bedroom, leaving me standing there alone. Ani has sensed my conflict, and rather than stay and hear a rejection from me, he has chosen to leave. I watch his silent retreat, not sure what I should do about it.

Is this what I want?

I bite my lip and stare at his back as I force myself to follow him. He waves Leia aside when she approaches him as he crosses the throne room, but that doesn’t stop her. Not wanting her to see me, I step to the side of the door to our private quarters, flattening myself against the wall, where I can hear both of them but am out of their sight.

‘Husband,’ she says to Ani. ‘I want you…’

‘You may want me all you like, Leia,’ the Sith Lord cuts her off, ‘but I have told you that I belong to my Empress.’

‘She promised some of your time to me,’ my co-wife reminds him.

‘Time during the day, yes,’ he growls at her, ‘and I agreed to that, but not to anything else.’

‘It is my right as your wife,’ she demands. ‘You owe it to me.’

Why is she being so belligerent about this? Anakin told me that he had blocked their bond, so that can’t be what is driving her.

‘Your right to demand sex from me ended on our wedding night,’ he snaps at her. ‘I owe you nothing more, but you will submit and obey me when I require it of you, Leia.’

‘I will not,’ she yells at him. ‘If you ask, I will tell you ‘no’ as is my right!’

She storms off, heading to her quarters.

‘Leia,…’ Ani calls after her, but she refuses to answer him.

‘Women,’ I hear him mutter to himself. ‘The bane of my existence.’

I don’t laugh. There is very little which is amusing about the situation my husband is in. Leia wants him, but he won’t touch her because he will not break the promise he made to me. He wants me, but I cannot bring myself to let him have me, not after what he has done with her. I bite my lip and consider that for a while, standing where I am, looking at the display of hyperspace through the viewports while I think.

Eventually, I continue after him, only to find him pacing his office and dictating instructions to another one of his aides.

‘Go,’ he dismisses the man rather abruptly once he realizes I am there.

My husband waits until we are alone before speaking.

‘What do you want from me, Maia?’ he asks. ‘Are you going to play games, repeatedly leading me on, only to reject me as a form of punishment, for the rest of our lives?’

His frustration is apparent.

‘Answer my question, first,’ I suggest, ‘and then I will answer yours.’

His fingers curl into tight fists. The Sith Lord is angry and barely holding that in.

‘Ask,’ he orders.

‘Only you and Leia knew what really happened in that detention cell, so you could have easily denied it and released her from your contract if you chose to,’ I state.

‘That is not a question,’ he tells me.

‘So, why didn’t you free her from your marriage?’ I ask him.

‘All prisoners undergo mandatory medical exams before release and I knew hers would confirm that she had sex with a human male while she was in detention,’ he admits, speaking candidly and honestly.  ‘I was the only human male to enter her cell, and because of that, it was impossible to deny what happened between us. Leia and I are permanently trapped in a marriage neither of us really wants and my poor decisions have put us there.’

He stops speaking, pauses, and looks at me.

‘Is this what you want to hear from me, Maia?’ he prods. ‘That I regret what I did? That I wish I had never hurt you with this? How many times must I repeat that to you and apologize for it?’

‘I needed you to be honest with me, Anakin,’ I confess. ‘I needed to hear the truth of what you did.’

‘Some truths are best left unspoken,’ he decides.

‘Some truths must always be spoken,’ I counter.

He lifts his hand then drops it again and turns away from me, choosing to rest his hands on his desk and lean on them. For the very first time, I can sense a feeling of defeat from him. The Sith Lord is at the point of giving up on our marriage.

Is this what I want? I ask myself again.

I raise a hand to my mouth and realize that it is not.

***

She lets out a cry, not entirely human sounding, full of despair and grief and something else as well. I turn my head to look at her, and see her bite the side of her hand in an attempt to substitute physical pain for the emotional agony she feels. When blood begins to run down her arm and drip on the floor, I yank her over to me, pull her hand free of her teeth and simply hold her to my chest.

Hers are not the only tears which are flowing.

How much pain can a person bear?

Physical pain does not bother me. It is an inconvenience and a nuisance to be borne, nothing more. I have lived through amputations, burns, and the destruction of much of my body, and endured all of that, used it as a means to fuel my anger and rage, used it as a means to drive myself to survive.

Emotional pain is worse because it never ends. I have lost a mother, a mentor, a wife, a son, friends, and colleagues, those I have known and loved. Grief and the agony which comes with it can be a powerful motivator.

All of that pales in the face of losing her.

Pales in the face of what I feel from her as she realizes she could lose me.

I let myself fall to my knees in front of her, humbling myself at her feet. Her pain has driven me to the ground in a way nothing else I have experienced ever has. When she collapses, I catch her, rest her head against my shoulder and listen to her sobs.

We cannot continue hurting one another like this.

I lift her hand in mine and look at the damage she has done to it. It is bitten to the bone, the flesh torn and jagged, blood freely running across her skin and onto my glove.

‘Your hand must be seen to,’ I tell her, ignoring the odd noises my vocoder is making as I force out the words.

‘Leave it,’ she manages to whisper to me. ‘Just leave it and leave me.’

There is an odd pause, a stillness in the Force while I consider how to respond. A choice must be made, one with long reaching implications. Should I set her aside, send her away to Vjun as she had asked, and take Leia as my Empress? Or shall I keep her as my wife, my Empress, and set Leia aside? I have two obvious options, and perhaps, a third, if she is willing to compromise and permit it.

‘No,’ I decide. ‘I cannot and I will not. You are my beloved merati, my wife, and my Empress.’

Her head twists until she can look into the lenses of my mask. She will see nothing and feel everything.

Anakin… I hear her call to me as my love for her floods across our bond, giving her what she needs from me at this moment.

I move my fingers to her wrist, find the points on the veins I need to exert pressure on, and clamp down hard on her skin with my prosthetic hand, slowing then stopping the bleeding. She must make a choice just as I have, and there is little I can say or do to help her decide other than state what her two options are.

‘I have made my choice to keep you as my wife, and you need to decide what your future will be, Maia,’ I finally tell her. ‘Either stay and be my wife or formally ask me to let you go into exile on Vjun. If you stay, you must submit to my will, just as Leia is required to do. I cannot have an Empress or a wife who opposes or disobeys me, and if you are to be my wife, you must let go of your anger. I will not let you tear me apart inside any longer.’

***

My hand throbs with pain at every heartbeat. Ani’s attempt to stop the bleeding does not affect that, and his compressive grip leaves large purple bruises under my skin.

He hasn’t repudiated me despite having good reason to do so.

Spots dance in my vision, my ears roar, and I feel my body start to slump against him as he begins to speak. Stay awake, I scold myself. He needs you to listen to him.

I find myself thrown into a vision.

I am in Bast Castle, on Vjun, old, frail, miserable, and alone. My husband left me decades ago, my children and grandchildren are with him on Coruscant, and there is no one here other than myself and the few staff who see to my needs, the needs of the ex-Empress in exile. The air is hot against my skin as I stand on the balcony, rest my hands on the railing, and stare out at the bleak and barren landscape, watching an electrical storm blowing in from a distance. It is a reflection of myself, I decide, the price of my anger and refusal to forgive. Nothing remains of my life, nothing at all, so I retreat back inside, to my bedroom, to sit down in front of a holo of my husband, and to grieve for all I have lost.

A hand tapping on my cheek snaps me out of it.

I am in the bed, in the bedroom, where Ani must have carried me. My hand and wrist have been seen to and bandaged, and the doctor has just straightened up from bending over me. She was the one trying to wake me. The Sith Lord is nowhere to be seen.

‘Anakin,’ I blurt out without thinking about it.

I need to go to my husband.

I toss back the sheets, somehow stand up, and push Leanan out of my way. Ani is somewhere on the ship and I must find him. My mad, headlong, Force-fueled flight startles Luke, who jumps backwards when I dash through the throne room. Thirsk’s posted guards do not stop me as I run out of the Emperor’s quarters into the corridor beyond, and I quickly leave them behind as they try to keep pace. No one other than a Jedi or Sith can match my speed now. The durasteel floor is hard and cold under my bare feet, but I don’t falter.

Please be where I think you are, I silently pray.

He is.

Ani is standing in his usual meditation spot, at the head of the Bridge, hands clasped behind his back, silent and staring outwards, and for once he does not seem to sense my approach. I slow to a walk, take that last step into his personal space, but instead of sneaking up behind him, I wait for him to realize I am there.

What has brought you to me, Maia? he asks me. Why have you chosen to disobey me?

A vision, I admit.

I wrap my arms around myself and shiver. It’s cold and I am becoming chilled. Running through a good part of the ship in only a light underdress and nothing on my feet was probably not the best of ideas.

A vision, I repeat when he stays silent, and forgiveness.

No response. I take a step back, turn around, and go to leave, only to find my way barred, blocked by two of Ani’s blue armoured personal guards. When I glance back over my shoulder at the Sith Lord, he is facing away from the viewports, his hand raised, beckoning me forward before he points his finger at the floor. I pivot to face him, swallow hard and obey his silent orders, walking to where he wants me to be and kneeling at his feet. The Emperor requires me to be a humble penitent, and I suppose this treatment from him is no more than I have earned for leaving our quarters unaccompanied and without his permission.

Ani says nothing to me and returns his attention to the hyperspace display, turning his back on me, while I wonder how long he intends to keep me on my knees. Staring at the fabric in his cloak is pointless, so I sit back on my heels, close my eyes and look inwards, at myself and my motivations.

I have been a selfish idiot, I quickly decide, and it took that bleak vision of my potential future to make me realize this.

My husband has done everything he can in an attempt to make amends, and my reaction has been to wallow in self-pity and self-inflicted misery. Instead of being forgiving and gracious, I have deliberately hurt him in return. Palpatine implied that I would make a good Sith. Maybe he was closer to the truth than I want to believe.

You would be a terrible Sith, Ani comments. Sith never ask to be forgiven for what they have done, and I forgave you the moment you fainted in my arms. You didn’t need to come to me for that.

That’s not why I came to you, I admit.

I risk opening my eyes, only to see a wall of densely woven black rycrit wool in front of me. He is not going to make this easy for me and I can’t blame him for that. Instead of letting me do this in private, he has chosen to force me to perform a formal, ritual apology to him in front of everyone on the Bridge. Perhaps a good dose of public humiliation is exactly what I need.

I take a few deep breaths to prepare myself. Mia, years ago, had instructed me on how this is to be done before the Emperor, just in case I offended Palpatine to the point where I would need to do it. First, I must be the humble petitioner until he allows me to speak. The durasteel decking is going to be cold, but there is no help for it. I bend over, set my forehead on the floor between my hands and wait for Ani to acknowledge me.

He ignores me.

The minutes go by as my muscles start to cramp up, but I stubbornly stay put and refuse to shift about to ease the pain. When I don’t think I can bear it any longer, he finally turns around, the hemmed edge of his cloak brushing over my hands as he spins, ending with a close up view of the toes of his boots.

Speak, Ani orders. I will hear you, now.

My husband knows this ritual, too, the motions and language of it, and I wonder if he had ever done it in front of his former master. Now that he has recognized me, I am to apologize to him and ask for his forgiveness, but if he expects fancy words from me, he is going to be disappointed. Elegant speeches are not my forte.

My Lord, my husband, I am truly sorry for my bad behaviour. I have been a horrible wife to you, I try to apologize to him, and I don’t know how or why you put up with me. I came here to forgive you and you forgave me instead. Whatever punishment you decide on, I will accept… I babble on, at times almost incoherently, just to get it out, just to say it him, and Ani lets me do it, making no attempt to stop me, until I finally shut up on my own, having run out of ways to tell him I am sorry.

Are you finished? he asks. Have you said what you need to say to me?

Yes, my Lord, I have, I confirm it with him.

You are a most disobedient wife, and I am disappointed by your attitude and behaviour, the Sith Lord scolds me. You will not leave our quarters again, not without my express permission to do so, and if I am not with you, you must be properly guarded.

Yes, my Lord, I concede.

That was the chastisement, the recognition of the offense. Next will be the punishment or the forgiveness for it, or a combination of those.

Why did you come to me? he asks me again.

All I could think about was finding you, I tell him. I saw something horrible in my future. It was ugly and so was I. I was a nasty, vicious person and I don’t want to be like that.

Vision driven panic, he decides. I may be your safe haven, but you cannot run around the ship on your own, half-dressed and barefoot, whenever you feel a need to be comforted by me. You must learn how to control your reactions, if you are beginning to experience foreseeing episodes, and you must act rationally after one occurs. The next time, call to me over our bond and if I am able, I will come to you. Now, Maia, you have told me what you saw, so do you feel any better?

Not really, I decide. In a way, I actually feel worse for embarrassing you by coming here.

Consider the walk back to our quarters your punishment, then. Get up and follow me, Ani orders. You will have to do this on your own. I cannot be seen helping you after you have humbled yourself at my feet.

He steps around me without offering me any aid. Somehow I push myself upright then to my feet. I weave unsteadily for a few steps as my legs complain about the position I had been in for so long. My husband is ahead of me and has at least slowed his pace to one I can manage, but he does not let me walk at his side as his equal. Instead, he strides before me as my superior. The Bridge crew do not look at me as I pass them, although whether that is out of pity for me or from fear of the Sith Lord, I cannot tell. I keep my eyes down, following the hem of his cloak as he moves in front of me. Ani will not offer any help or sympathy because he cannot afford to do so in public. Unlike my earlier trip, our return to his quarters seems to take forever, and not once does my husband say anything to me. He waits until he has led me into our bedroom, and closed and locked the door.

‘If you disobey me in public, Maia,’ he reminds me, ‘if you go out of our quarters without my permission and without appropriate security around you, I will do the same to you again as I did today. I will never harm you physically, but if you defy me, you will be made to obey and submit to me in public as an example to others.’

I bite my lip and nod my agreement to him. Today’s lesson from him is one I will not soon forget. He sets his hands on my shoulders and steers me backwards, to sit on the corner of the bed.

‘In private,’ he allows, ‘I will always be lenient.’

He tips my face up with a hand and looks at me. My husband has forgiven me, but I have no idea if he knows I have forgiven him.

‘Now?’ Ani suggests, hinting at his earlier desires. ‘Or tonight?’

‘Whichever you prefer, my Lord,’ I agree to both, knowing that is the answer he requires from me.

‘Good,’ he accepts my permission. ‘Tonight, then.’

‘As you wish, my Lord,’ I confirm it for him.

‘Yes, as I wish, Maia, but I will never force myself on you if you are unwilling,’ he replies. ‘You are my merati and my wife, not my slave.’

I cringe inside as I remember kneeling at his feet for over an hour. He did that to me on purpose, and I know he will make me do it again, if he decides it is necessary.

‘Now, there is the issue of Leia,’ he states. ‘She is my daughter-wife and will be the mother of my son. I will not divorce her or set her aside. You must accept that.’

‘I do accept it, Anakin,’ I tell him. ‘She is your wife.’

There is no point in fighting with him about Leia because nothing I say will ever change the status of their marriage.

‘Do you accept that I will need to treat her as my wife?’ he asks.

I know what he means by that and has left unsaid. It is one thing for theirs to be a marriage in name only, another for it to fully exist in reality, but I have no freedom to choose which it will be. In asking me this, Ani has made it very clear that he expects me to allow him to do whatever he wants with Leia, including having sex with her.

‘She is your wife, my Lord,’ I resort to formality to make it easier to say. ‘You may do with her as you please. It is not my place to tell you otherwise.’

My bandaged hand is shaking as I lift it to touch his. The Sith Lord wanted me to submit to him in all things and now I have, fully and completely. There is nothing more he can demand of me. I will just have to learn to live with what he does with Leia.

His hand catches my injured one but he does not squeeze it. Instead, he gently holds it between his and brushes the top of the bandages with his fingers.

‘I will always ask your permission if I need to have sex with her,’ he promises, ‘but I do not intend to do that, no matter how many times she demands it from me.’

‘She expects it of you, Ani,’ I quietly state. ‘She loves you as her husband and you should not hurt her by denying her what she needs from you. If you want to have peace between you, you will have to accommodate her.’

‘If I must then I will block what I do with Leia from our bond,’ he tells me. ‘I will not force you to participate in that way.’

A gloved hand is set against my forehead.

‘You are chilled and need to warm up. Go have a bath,’ he orders. ‘Put on something appropriate once you are finished and come to my office. You need to meet your handmaidens and begin working with them.’

***

I listen to Thirsk brief Maia and her new body guards on how he expects them to react to various situations. He starts with the simplest scenarios then makes them increasingly complex, forcing the six women sitting in my office to come up with as many different ways as they can to protect my wife and move her to safety.

‘What about swapping places?’ one of the Lieutenants finally proposes.

Thirsk smiles.

‘You will be dressed similarly, so yes, that would be possible,’ he admits.

Five heads along with Maia’s come together and there is a fair amount of whispering while they discuss that as a group.

‘We need reversible clothing for myself and my decoy,’ my wife states. ‘It should always be black on one side, something else on the other which matches the rest. It needs to be simple and quick to turn inside out, too.’

‘Clever,’ Thirsk decides. ‘Now, who will be the decoy?’

There is more collective murmuring.

I motion my Captain of the Guard over to my side.

‘Is this wise?’ I ask him.

‘It’s best to let them sort this out for themselves, my Lord,’ he quietly tells me. ‘The decoy will run the highest risks of them all, so far better for that position to be voluntary.’

I watch while two of the women and my wife stand up, and the two guards compare their height and appearance with Maia’s. When they sit down again, I can hear them debating which of them will be the best match for her. Eventually they come to an agreement and Thirsk continues to push them as a group, forcing them to work out tactics and strategies. My attention shifts back to what I need to accomplish in what is left of today. Luke will have to learn his new role, much as Maia is in the process of becoming my Empress, and I need to begin involving him in the politics and decision making his position as my heir will demand of him.

***

I finish settling the children in for the night and wander through our new quarters once I know they are asleep. Ani is in his office, working with Luke, so instead of bothering them, I choose to sit in what will be my command chair in the throne room and stare out into hyperspace.

Today has been a series of ups and downs, and dinner was one of the more stressful events.

It had started well enough, Luke and Leia joining us for the meal, as my husband insisted they do. My job had primarily been to keep Shmi in line, but the source of trouble was Ani’s eldest daughter, not his youngest. All through the meal Leia had flirted with our husband, and his response had been to ignore her every time she did that. By the time dessert was finished, she was frustrated and blaming me for his refusal to play along with her. As if I have that much control over what the Sith Lord decides to do or, in this case, not do.

In the end, Leia had stormed off to her rooms in a huff, like she had earlier in the day, leaving Luke and I to watch as Ani let her go. I know better than to give in to a tantrum and those don’t work on my husband, either. He will wait it out, allowing her to sulk, until she decides to approach him.

I hear footsteps behind me, but they do not belong to the Sith Lord.

‘Luke,’ I quietly acknowledge my stepson.

‘Shouldn’t you be sleeping?’ he asks me.

‘I think I’ve slept enough for a while,’ I answer him, ‘but thanks for your concern.’

He comes up the stairs and stops, standing next to me, once he reaches my side. His attitude is a combination of relaxed and tense, wary and peaceful. Luke is undecided about his future path.

‘You are conflicted about being the heir to the throne,’ I observe.

‘Worried,’ he admits. ‘I am a traitor to both the Alliance and the Empire, just like my sister.’

‘Your father doesn’t see it that way, Luke,’ I reassure him, ‘and neither do I. I know he has already laid the groundwork for you to be acknowledged as an Imperial hero and proclaimed as his heir, and the news of Leia’s marriage to him was released before we left Endor. He will always protect you and your sister.’

‘When he isn’t busy breeding his heirs on her,’ he bitterly states, ‘and that is my fault.’

I look up at him. Luke may have accepted his father’s marriage to Leia on the surface, but he doesn’t like it, and he still blames himself for not telling Ani the truth. This is something I have spent hours thinking about and considering, and perhaps my method for dealing with it might help him, too.

‘If anyone has the right to be upset with your father, it is me, his bondmate, and not you, but I have finally forgiven him for it,’ I tell him. ‘Dynastic marriages between close relatives were common in the royal houses on my home world, just as they were amoung the Sith, and I have decided to view Leia’s marriage in that way. Leia will fulfill her duty to the Emperor by giving him a son, and she will never bear another child of his. Don’t be angry with your sister, Luke, for wanting to have a real marriage with your father. She really does love him as her husband and he loves her in return. With time, it will be easier for you to accept how things will be.’

‘Father said as much to me already, and so has Leia,’ Luke admits, ‘but it still doesn’t help.’

I reach up and offer my hand to him in comfort. He takes it and looks down at me. Luke is having trouble adjusting to his new life, to his position in the Empire, and to his family.

‘Be patient,’ I suggest. ‘Give yourself the time you need to figure it out.’

His fingers squeeze mine and the oddest fleeting wisp of emotion crosses his face. Before I can stop him, he leans over and quickly kisses me on the cheek.

‘I love you, my dear sister,’ he teases me.

‘I am old enough, if barely, to be your mother,’ I correct him.

‘It’s easier to think of you as an older sister, like Leia does,’ he replies, ‘but I will call you stepmother, since you prefer it.’

The kiss he gives me this time is on my mouth, and it is intimate and slightly insistent, surprising me with his audacity in giving it to me. Curious to see what he will do, I allow him to draw me to my feet, pull me closer, and turn our chaste kiss of friends into a deep one of lovers. His lips are firm then soften as we open our mouths to one another, and he knows exactly what to do with his tongue. My stepson is almost as good at this as his father, I decide, as I relax in his arms and let him hold me tight to his body as my hands press his to mine in return. When I gently nip his lower lip, he moans softly into my mouth, and I do the same when he thrusts in and out of my mouth with his tongue. This is a form of unrequited torture for both of us. When we are finished our kiss, Luke steps away, holds my hands in his, and stares at me. I can feel an odd mix of emotions from him, thwarted desire combined with curiosity, happiness, and triumph.

‘I have wanted to steal a proper kiss from you ever since I first saw you on that rooftop on Coruscant,’ he admits, ‘and it was more than worth the risk of doing it. You didn’t slap me like father said you would if I kissed you on the mouth, so I have won our wager and he has to return Artoo and Threepio to me.’

I cover my mouth with my bandaged hand and start laughing. My husband forgot that slapping Luke would have hurt my injured hand, which I am not willing to do, not for something as harmless as Luke giving me a kiss. The pair of them set me up, though, so I am not the least bit sorry that Ani has lost his bet. It serves him right and I intend to pay him back as soon as the opportunity presents itself. In a way, I am grateful to them both. I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to kiss somebody other than my husband and now I know. Kissing Luke was an experience I will not forget, but I am not at all sexually attracted to him. The only man I want in my bed is my husband, and it sounds like he was the one who put Luke up to it.

‘Anakin told you to kiss me?’ I ask Luke.

‘I asked him what I had to do to get my ‘droids back,’ Luke replies. ‘He told me it had to be something that would be difficult for me to do, but I was the one who suggested trying to kiss you on the mouth as my challenge. He didn’t expect you to co-operate with me, otherwise I don’t think he would have agreed to it.’

I meet his eyes and shake my head. Luke wants to do more than just kiss me and this must be stopped before he decides to take it any further.

‘Luke, I am his merati, his soul bonded,’ I let him down as gently as I can. ‘I will never love another man and I will never betray him in the way you are thinking. What you want from me is impossible.’

‘I know that, and I only wanted a kiss from you,’ Luke admits. ‘I was curious what it would be like.’

‘Goodnight, Luke,’ I firmly tell him. ‘You are far too tired to think straight, and your father intends to start your training with him in the salle tomorrow. You will need to rest tonight. Go to bed.’

‘Goodnight, then,’ he concedes.

This time he kisses my forehead.

‘Goodnight, Luke,’ I repeat. ‘Go to bed.’

‘As my sweet stepmother, the Empress wishes, so shall it be,’ Luke states, bowing to me with a flourish, pressing his lips to the back of my hand as a courtier might, and then he is gone, laughing happily as he disappears into his assigned rooms.

I follow Luke’s path down the stairs and wait for the Sith Lord, who is just outside, to appear.

‘That was cruel and unnecessary, Anakin,’ I pointedly scold my husband as soon as he steps through the door.  I expect he heard every word Luke and I said to each other, and he probably watched us as well. ‘You don’t need to test my loyalty in that way and using Luke to do it was uncalled for.’

‘He wanted his ‘droids returned to him, and a kiss from you was the price I let him set for them,’ Ani reveals. ‘I knew you would refuse him any more than that. The test was for him, to see how far he would try to go, not for you.’

‘And he passed?’ I ask.

‘He passed and now that his curiosity has been satisfied, I doubt he will kiss you again,’ Ani tells me, ‘but the sooner I can find a suitable bride for him, the better. He is old enough to begin producing heirs of his own.’

Ani carefully lifts my injured hand and holds it over his heart. I move closer to him as he does that.

‘Could I be your bride tonight?’ I suggest.

‘Always, my love,’ he agrees. ‘Always.’

The Executor, Hyperspace Transfer Point, Kinyen System, Year 4, Month 2.

DAY 22

***

I rest my gloved hand on the back of my throne and stare out, into space, at the Gran home world of Kinyen. Wrapped in white clouds, its rugged mountain ranges and brilliant blue oceans clearly visible, it is truly a jewel to behold. Kinyen is renowned as one of the most beautiful places in the Empire, covered in silvery grasslands and dark forests, and filled with pristine lakes and rivers, but I do not have the time to stop and visit it, much as I might wish to show it to Maia. Unlike many planets, it is safe and peaceful, which is more than I am at the moment.

My memories of Hapes have returned.

I know exactly what the Queen Mother ordered me to do and why I woke from that dream, two hours ago, in a towering fury. Images of that terrified young girl flash in my vision. She was a virgin and effectively raped by Ta’a Chume with myself being used as her instrument. I was the Queen Mother’s chosen stallion and Liora the carefully selected mare, the act purely a means to breed us together to produce a female heir. It is enough to make me, hardened as I am, cringe at the ruthlessness of it. No matter what I have done in my life, despite being a Sith Lord, I do have a code that I live by. I have never had sex without a clear invitation or obtaining consent from my partner, and that I was forced to deflower that innocent child, against her will and mine, infuriates me.

I must find her, I decide, find Lady Liora Galnay, and wrest her away from the Queen Mother’s grasp. Her innocence was stolen by me and as the Emperor I am honour bound to take her as my third wife, forging a political alliance between the Empire and Hapes, and at the same time ensuring that any child which may have resulted from what I was compelled to do with her will be properly raised as my own. Maia will understand this, forgive my forced infidelity, and will take that youngster under her wing, just as a mature female casting hawk guards and guides the male’s younger mates. It is in her compassionate nature to do exactly that.

Maia is curled up in our bed, asleep, but it has taken strong sedatives administered by me to keep her there. My rage frightened her because she did not understand its source and thought it was aimed at her. Her body shook as I held her, and she wept as I reassured her that my anger was not her fault. I eventually eased her back into a drugged slumber, staying with her, watching over her, until I was certain she would not stir at my absence. She does not need to know what I do, not yet, not before I have decided when and how I will act against the Hapan monarch. My poor wife has had enough upheaval in her life of late without my adding more to it.

A chime rings, signalling an important incoming transmission. I acknowledge it, opening the Holonet connection between myself and Thrawn’s flagship. This is what I have been waiting for, the one conversation I must have before we can proceed to Coruscant.

The Grand Admiral is kneeling on the terminal at his end. I step forward, onto the Holonet pad to the side of the command chairs, so he can see my hologram.

‘My Emperor,’ he greets me.

‘Grand Admiral Thrawn,’ I reply in kind. ‘I trust that your hunt went well.’

I rest my hands at my belt, hooking my thumbs over the top edge of it, relaxing in anticipation of hearing good news.

‘Well enough, my Lord,’ he tells me. ‘She led me on a merry chase, but I have caught my quarry after running her to ground.’

The view widens, showing a woman dressed in a white gown kneeling behind him. She is guarded by armed troopers, her wrists securely bound and her mouth sealed with tape so she cannot speak. Her eyes, in spite of her captivity, show no signs of defeat. There is anger and frustration to be seen, but no fear.

‘Mon Mothma,’ I acknowledge her.

‘Our victory was a decisive one,’ Thrawn states. ‘I will send you the details of the battle and her capture separately, along with the lists of casualties and prisoners, and destroyed and incapacitated ships.’

‘You have done well, Admiral. Bring her to me on Coruscant,’ I order. ‘She will stand trial there as a traitor and war criminal.’

Mothma attempts to drive an elbow into one of her guard’s legs, and is rewarded with a shove by the other one.

‘Gently, now,’ Thrawn scolds. ‘Treat our guest with the respect her position demands. The former senator wishes to speak to the Emperor.’

‘Move her to where I can better see her and let her say what she will,’ I allow.

She winces in pain as the tape is peeled away from her mouth and as she is dragged forward onto the Holonet pad Thrawn has just vacated.

‘You won’t win, Vader,’ she tells me, not bothering to be polite by using one of my titles.

‘I already have,’ I reply, amused by her statement. ‘Instead of wasting your breath with the irrelevant you should be begging me for clemency and pleading for your life. Unlike the previous Emperor, I can be persuaded to ensure your death is quick and painless.’

‘There will always be resistance to your rule,’ she taunts me. ‘They will rise up against you and you will fall, just as all tyrants do. It will happen. The people will rebel, if not now, then later. The Alliance will continue.’

‘And it will be led by whom?’ I ask. ‘You? You will soon be dead, executed for your crimes. Your Princess? I have pardoned Leia Organa, forgiven her for her misguided actions, and she is now my second wife by her own free choice. Your Jedi? Luke Skywalker was my most deeply embedded agent and is my trusted ally. Anyone else of importance is dead, or my prisoner and will soon share your fate. There is no one left to lead your pathetic Rebellion, and with the complete destruction of your fleet, little remains to be led.’

Each of my questions and answers hammers against her, making her visibly flinch, and by the end of it her shoulders have slumped in defeat. With the loss of Luke and Leia, and their fleet, the Alliance is finished, and Mothma knows this.

‘See that she is securely held, Grand Admiral,’ I instruct Thrawn. ‘I will be most disappointed if she is not present at my coronation and healthy enough to watch me take the throne.’

Mothma glares at me, but I ignore her as she is marched away, disappearing from the holographic projection. On the day I am officially installed as Emperor, I intend to execute her, by my own hand, if necessary, just to be sure she is dead. The Grand Admiral’s image reappears as he steps back onto the terminal.

‘She cannot escape from the detention cell, my Lord,’ Thrawn assures me, ‘and there is no one left to mount a rescue.’

‘Return to Coruscant as quickly as is practical,’ I order. ‘There is much which will need to be done.’

‘Yes, my Emperor,’ he accepts my dismissal, bowing his head as the transmission ends.

I stare at where his hologram was then shift my attention elsewhere, to Leia who is standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me. She is wearing a pale grey nightgown, with a blanket draped around her shoulders for warmth.

‘Leia,’ I call to her. ‘Why are you awake so early in the morning?’

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ she answers.

She comes towards me, one step at a time, only stopping when she is within an arm’s reach of me. Outwardly, she appears calm, but there is turmoil below the surface. When she stretches her hand in my direction, I catch it and pull her close, letting her wrap her arms around my waist and rest her head on my chest. My body heat will soon warm her.

‘What is it?’ I ask.

‘A bad dream woke me up, and I need you to hold me, Anakin,’ she admits.

Leia has been avoiding me for days while trying to sort out what she feels and wants. I have left her alone to do this, waiting patiently for her to accept her two roles, that of my daughter and my wife. Thus far, she has been content to think of herself only as my wife, while refusing to acknowledge that I am her father, and this cannot continue indefinitely.

I touch her face gently, run my fingers through her hair, and listen to her sigh. What she really wants is obvious, but whether she is ready to accept it from me is not.

‘Tonight,’ I suggest. ‘I will come to you.’

Maia will give her consent if I ask her to allow this, but Leia’s reaction is to step back from me and shake her head. I accept her unspoken refusal and do not pressure her. There are a few days, yet, before I will have to insist.

‘Come here, Leia,’ I tell her, beckoning her back. ‘You wanted to be held, so let me hold you.’

This offer she accepts, returning quickly to my embrace.

‘My tiny, little wife,’ I tease her. ‘You fit easily into my arms, and you belong in them.’

‘My tall husband,’ she labels me in return. ‘We are mismatched as a couple with our height difference.’

‘Your mother was small,’ I remember, ‘and that never mattered to us.’

Silence.

‘Luke takes after Padmé as well,’ I reveal. ‘There is more of her in both of you than me.’

I see her bite her lip. She is full of questions but is reluctant and afraid to ask them. Instead, she settles herself closer to my chest and shuts her eyes.

‘Why don’t we sit and enjoy the view?’ I suggest.

I release her from my arms, guide her over to my command chair, sit down, and pull her onto my knees. The Empress’ matching throne belongs to Maia and I will not allow Leia to usurp it.

‘Have you visited Kinyen, Leia?’ I ask, curious to find out her impressions of the place. ‘It is said to be very beautiful.’

I know she thinks I am merely making small talk, but I need to build a better relationship with my daughter-wife, and that has to start somewhere. Until Maia wakes in a few hours, Leia will have my undivided attention.

‘I haven’t been to that world, not yet,’ she admits.

‘After the coronation, once everything is more settled,’ I decide, ‘I want to take Maia and you on an official royal tour of the galaxy. She has seen very little of what exists, but I know you have travelled much more. Is there a system you would prefer to visit?’

‘Just one, but there is nothing left to see,’ she quietly states.

I know what she is referring to and that this is one of her painful, unhealed wounds she blames me for, one of the barriers standing between us which will be difficult to breach.

‘Alderaan,’ I name the world she was raised on.

I listen to her slow and careful breaths, giving her the time she needs to calm herself. If she weeps, I will understand, and do what I can to comfort her.

‘Leia, I did not know in advance what Tarkin had planned,’ I explain to her what really happened over four years ago. ‘If I had been told, I would have asked Palpatine to stop it, but Tarkin did not give me enough time to do that, and I could not over rule the Grand Moff on my own. I was as powerless to change the situation as you were when the order to fire on Alderaan was given.’

Leia’s hands are shaking, now, so I reach over to brush the tears from her face. She pushes herself off my knees, to her feet, and stands with her back to me. Her entire being is vibrating with the emotions she is trying to hold in. I don’t hesitate and go to her, only to feel her impact against me as she throws herself at me in a fury. The fists which hit my chest cannot do any damage, so I let her work through her grief and anger by beating her hands harmlessly against my armour. Eventually, she exhausts herself and leans on me instead, sobbing uncontrollably, but allowing me to hold her in my arms once again. I run my fingers through her hair and wait patiently for her to calm herself and become more settled. 

‘The death of a world and all of those on it is a terrible thing to feel through the Force,’ I reveal. ‘It is not something I want to experience again. I have decided that the second Death Star is to be decommissioned and dismantled, Leia.’ I pause then promise her, ‘No other planet will suffer Alderaan’s fate.’

‘I have always hated you for that, for standing there, holding me back, and letting my home be destroyed while I was made to watch,’ she tells me, turning her head to rest her cheek on my chest. ‘I assumed you had told Tarkin what to do, that you were the one who had chosen Alderaan for his demonstration. It never occurred to me, until you just admitted it now, that you had no power or authority over him.’

‘I had far less power, at that time, than what many thought,’ I own up to the truth of it. ‘Palpatine was angry with me for what he saw as my personal failures, most of which were the fault of others or beyond my control. He placed Tarkin in command of the first Death Star, not I.’

‘I can forgive you for Alderann,’ Leia generously allows as she tips her face up to look into my mask, ‘because that was not your decision or order. Other things, I cannot, not now, not yet.’

One barrier, Alderaan’s fate, has been successfully removed as an impediment between us. I brush a finger along the line of her lips and wish I was not wearing my helmet. After her weeping spell, she needs a kiss and comfort sex from me, and now would be the ideal time to do it.

‘I want you,’ I whisper to her, to see how she responds.

‘And I want you, Anakin,’ she agrees. ‘I want you to help me forget the past and make me feel alive.’

She needs me to make love to her, and right now, too. This will be my apology for Alderaan and to recognize her forgiveness.

Maia, wake up, I call to my senior wife, prodding her sharply with my thought.

Anakin? she groggily responds, her mind still held in the grasp of the sedatives.

May I have your permission to have sex with Leia? I ask this of her for the first time.

You want her now? This early in the morning? Really? is her surprised response.

Yes, I reply. She wants and needs me, and I am truly sorry for disturbing your sleep yet again.

Go ahead, Anakin, Maia gives her consent. Just let me go back to sleep, and be sure to have a shower after you are finished, before you come back to me.

‘You may have me, my beautiful and gracious little wife,’ I tease Leia as I pick her up in my arms and carry her down the stairs towards her quarters. ‘I will make mad and passionate love to you this morning for as long as you want me to do it.’

***

I feel an arm about my waist and a kiss on my neck when Ani settles himself beside me. He has come to me expecting to make love to me, but after his session with Leia, he reeks of sweat and sex, and her sweet perfume, which is more than enough to deter me from letting him have what he wants.

‘You obviously had some fun,’ I prod at him.

He stiffens.

‘Yes, I did,’ is his short reply.

‘Good, I am glad you enjoyed yourself,’ I tell him, ‘but you forgot to do something.’

He rolls away from me.

‘My apologies, my Empress,’ he says to me. ‘It won’t happen again. I won’t be long.’

The bed shifts as he sits up then stands, and I hear him go into the ‘fresher to have the shower I had asked him to take. While I might be willing to allow my husband to do as he pleases with Leia, I draw the line at having to see or smell the aftermath of it. It might take a few instances where I deliberately embarrass him to settle him into a routine where he automatically cleans himself up before coming back to me.

When Ani returns, his hair wet and dripping, I reach a hand out to him in invitation. A slow smile appears on his face, but he doesn’t come to me or climb into our bed. Instead, he vanishes into the garbing room, what I think of as our walk in closet, and begins putting his armour on for the second time today.

‘Shmi being sick has kept both of us awake and occupied the past few nights, and I owe you some of my time,’ the Sith Lord admits.

‘But?’ I prompt him.

‘But nothing,’ he completes that thought. ‘I owe you private time.’

Ani comes back into the bedroom and sets his vocoder, mask and helmet on the desk. He must have other things to do this morning which require him to be in armour and fooling around with me is not on that list. I toss back the covers intending to go have my morning bath and dress for the day, but he stops me with a gesture.

‘I want my bride,’ he teases me.

‘A little late for that,’ I retort. ‘She had a sick child to nurse and fell asleep on you three nights ago, and two nights ago, and last night, too.’

He walks over to me, sets his hands around my face and slowly sits beside me on the bed. I don’t resist when he kisses me and eases both of us backwards, ending with me on my back and him on his side. His fingers trace circles on my stomach as he checks on our son.

‘I still want my beautiful wife,’ he whispers to me. ‘So, tonight I am yours. You have my promise on that.’

The Executor, Hyperspace en route to Coruscant, Year 4, Month 2

DAY 24

I curl up on my side, close my eyes, and try not to have another coughing fit. Shmi was a generous child and has shared her Tastiged flu bug with me. Yesterday morning, I started to run a fever and today I woke up much earlier than usual with trouble breathing. Ani dragged Leanan out of bed once he realized there was a problem, but all she could do was give me something to make me more comfortable temporarily and reassure me that my illness would not affect the son I am carrying. The Sith Lord, fortunately, is immune, having suffered through this as a child. He won’t do anything to cure me, either. My body needs to learn how to fight this off on its own or the next time I am exposed, I will be sick again.

A gloved hand is set against my forehead then replaced by a cool cloth. It feels good so I let out a sigh, which only triggers another horrible feeling cough.

‘You should be working, Anakin,’ I manage to say something to him, ‘not fussing over me.’

‘There is nothing pressing for me to do, and you need me to be here,’ he decides. ‘Mikal is sick now, too, and so is Cat. Your aides will see to them and I will look after you. The member of the transport crew who brought the virus on board is still in quarantine and so are the others who were exposed to him. It was simply bad luck that ‘Mi happened to be in the same corridor when they were unloading the supplies from Kinyen.’

‘The Emperor is playing nursemaid to his wife,’ I tease him. ‘I wonder what people would think of that.’

‘I do not care what anyone thinks, Maia,’ he states. ‘You need me.’

‘Stubborn Sith Lord,’ I tease him.

‘Cranky Jedi wife,’ he responds in kind.

‘Sick Jedi wife,’ I correct him.

‘This flu is harder on adults, so you will be ill for longer than the children,’ he reminds me. ‘You need to rest and behave yourself, and if I must, I will make you stay in bed.’

‘I think I need to be propped up, Ani,’ I tell him. ‘It will be easier for me to breathe.’

He very quickly has me in a nest of pillows and blankets, resting in a semi-upright position which is better for me to be in. I beckon him to my side, and my husband humours me, choosing to sit next to me and hold my hand. His presence is a calming one, so I shut my eyes and concentrate on not coughing.

‘Rest, love,’ he quiets me, his voice low and almost hypnotic. ‘I will stay with you. You won’t be left alone and I will keep any bad dreams away. It is perfectly safe for you to sleep.’

Fingers brush my cheek and I feel myself drifting off. I don’t fight it or the sleep his light touch and use of the Force is bringing to me. On Earth, I had the flu several times, so I know I need to rest as much as I can or I will end up in Medical with pneumonia. Anakin has promised to watch over me. There is nothing for me to worry about.

***

I wait until she is asleep then gently set her hand on her chest and stand up. My poor wife will be sick until we reach Coruscant, and there is little I can do to help her other than offer her my company and sympathy. This is something she has to fight through on her own. While she rests, I will work at the data terminal in our bedroom, keeping myself busy, yet close at hand.

‘Rest and healing she needs,’ observes a familiar voice, one I last heard over two decades ago. ‘Peace she should have.’

I ball my hands into fists and turn around to stare at the figure perched on my desk. Having the pest hang about in ghostly form I will tolerate, since he has been of use to me and is Maia’s brother. Others, however, I have little patience for and no desire to speak to.

‘Master Yoda,’ I identify my unwanted guest. ‘You are not welcome, here.’

‘Welcome or not, wanted or not, here I am,’ he tells me, patting his hand on the top of my desk.

There is no point in attempting to attack him physically or with the Force. Neither of those will have any effect on him. He will stay until he has finished tormenting me or delivered whatever lecture he sees fit.

‘Love you she does and love her you do,’ he reminds me, pointing a finger directly at my chest. ‘You must care for her, Anakin, for need her you will. On this, all depends.’

‘Out,’ I growl at him, waving my hand towards the door. ‘I will not risk waking my sick wife with your nonsense.’

Yoda jumps from his spot on my desk to the floor and makes his way slowly to the bedroom doorway, pausing in it to look back to make sure I am following him. I check on Maia before going after him into the living area. Her fever has broken at last and she is sleeping soundly, her breathing less laboured than it was when she first woke. It should be safe enough to leave her side for a few minutes. Once I am out of the bedroom, I cross my arms over my chest and glare at the Jedi Master’s ghost. His ears droop at my open hostility.

‘Failed you I did,’ he admits. ‘Failed you we all did and paid the price for that, you have. Apologize I would but accept it you will not. Help you I cannot unless you ask it of me.’

‘Jedi do not help Sith,’ I state the obvious.

‘Oh, oh,’ Yoda croons, his expression changing to one of amusement. ‘So certain are you of what you are?’

‘I am a Sith Lord,’ I tell him. ‘No Jedi would have done what I have.’

‘Killed many you have, guilty of terrible deeds are you, but enslaved by the dark side you have been,’ he says as he points a finger at me again. ‘Yet a Sith Lord you are no longer. You have freed yourself from that and from your master. Fulfilled the prophecy you have, Chosen One’

‘Go away, Master Yoda,’ I growl at him. ‘I do not want to talk to you.’

He slaps his now solid walking stick against my left greave, soundly rapping my armoured ankle.

‘Listen to me, you must,’ he insists as he smacks my leg with his cane a second time.

I set my hands on my hips and stare down at him. His advice was annoying and of little use to me when he was alive, and it has not improved with his ghostly form. Hopefully, he will not make a habit of visiting me.

‘Speak, then,’ I allow just to be rid of him.

Yoda chooses to waddle over to one of the chairs and pull himself up onto it. Patience, I remind myself, when he indicates I am to take the one facing him.

‘Proper training she needs,’ he tells me. ‘A powerful empath and strong with the Force is she. Her aid you will require and teach her those skills you cannot.’

‘Qui-Gon…’ I start only to fall silent at the disapproving look I receive for interrupting him.

‘Know of this, I did not, but approve of it, I do,’ Yoda decides. ‘Trust him you do, so her teacher he shall be.’

Her teacher but not her master. Yoda is being careful with the words he is using. He stares intently at me, a frown on his face then surprise and, for the first time I have ever seen it from him, distinct anger.

‘Trapped you are by your choices, by your son’s choices, by your daughter’s choices,’ he states. ‘Unexpected this is, and unfortunate, most unfortunate, that your daughter is now your wife and will give you a child. Make the best of this you must.’

My own anger surges forth as I shove myself out of the chair to stalk towards him and jab my finger at his ghostly form.

‘Padmé and my children with her were stolen from me by Obi-Wan, and no one told me the truth,’ I snap at him. ‘If I had known Leia was my daughter, I would never have touched her.’

‘Anakin?’ Maia’s quiet voice calls to me.

I turn to see her standing in the bedroom doorway, her hand resting on the wall in an attempt to hold herself steady. She is pale, almost as white as the nightgown she is wearing, and visibly shaking. Yoda and I have disturbed her sleep, and my anger has roused her from our bed.

‘You are a menace!’ I snarl at the dead Jedi Master as I go to her. ‘I want you to leave, now.’

Maia begins to fall to the floor so I wrap my arms around her. Yoda watches as I lift her up and cradle her carefully, holding her tight against my body. She nestles into my surcoat, her hands held to her chest like a child would, when she begins coughing again.

‘Anakin Skywalker,’ he tells me. ‘Hear the truth you must. Love her you do, and fear her loss you do, but protect her completely you cannot. The tighter you hold her, the more you will suffer and the greater your pain will be when harm comes to her. You must free her from your chains of ownership and the cage you have built around her.’

I ignore him, choosing instead to carry Maia back to our bed. She clings to me, seeking my support and comfort.

‘My poor little goddess,’ I soothe.

‘Who was that?’ she asks.

‘An exceedingly annoying Jedi ghost,’ I answer. ‘Forget him. You need to sleep and I will stay here with you.’

I climb into the center of the bed and settle her in my arms, keeping her propped up and comfortable, with her head resting on my chest armour and my cloak over top of us. Yoda shakes his head and sighs before gradually fading away. Good riddance, I think to myself. He can go bother someone else for a while.

His words, however, ring in my ears and resonate in my mind long after he has left.

***

DAY 25

Another cough escapes from me, so I make a disgusted face and take a sip from my glass of juice. Yesterday and last night, when I wasn’t propped up and sleeping in Anakin’s arms, I was trying my best to not cough up a lung. Every time a coughing fit happened, Ani fussed, and tried to be sympathetic and supportive, but there was not that much he could do to help me. I hate being sick and I will have to put up with this for another two days.

The door chime to Ani’s private quarters rings. He glances at me then goes to answer it, not bothering to put on his helmet. Obviously he knows who it is and is not concerned with them seeing his face. When Luke comes back to the kitchen with his father, I use control to stop myself from coughing again. I let out a sigh and set my head in my hands, with my elbows resting on the table. Shutting my eyes doesn’t help much with how sick I feel, either.

I still feel sick, I tell Ani. I should go lie down.

He rests his hand on my shoulder before going to the storage compartment containing the dishes and selecting one of the large glasses.

In a few days, once we are back on Coruscant, you should be fully recovered, my husband promises. Until then, I will see that you rest and do not have too many worries.

Luke pulls his breakfast out of the autochef and sits beside me. When we both reach for the jug of neema fruit juice, our hands make contact and he yanks his back. Luke must be feeling a bit awkward after sharing that kiss with me a few days ago. I add more juice to my glass and pass the jug to Luke so he can fill his. Food is not at all tempting to me, so I have been making my way through the various types of juice stored in the kitchen. Some of those I definitely do not like, and the containers of Ky-Lessian have been shoved, out of sight, to the back of the storage compartment the juices are kept in.

My husband retrieves his supplement drink from the cooler and joins Luke and me at the table. Leia has taken to having her morning meal alone, in her suite of rooms, rather than sharing it with us, and my children are still sleeping. A gloved hand is set over mine and squeezes it. I have no idea what the Sith Lord has planned for today, but I suspect Luke and I are about to find out.

‘Luke will be working with me in the salle this morning,’ Ani reveals, ‘and your brother will be bringing Master Qui-Gon to you, Maia, after you finish your breakfast and have had a short rest.’

I blink at him.

‘You need to learn skills I cannot teach you, and Qui-Gon has agreed to help you with those,’ he admits. ‘One of them is Battle Meditation, the ability to co-ordinate large numbers of troops, have them act effectively in concert with one another, and influence the outcome of a battle. I can do this on a small scale, with my fleet of five ships, using Sith Battle Co-ordination, but with your powerful empathy, you should be able to manage an engagement the size of the one fought at Endor on your own.’

Luke turns and stares at me.

‘Alright,’ I slowly say.

‘When you have recovered from the flu I will have you spar with Luke,’ Ani decides. ‘He needs to test himself against someone who uses an entirely different lightsaber form than what he has been taught.’

‘Father?’ Luke asks.

‘Your stepmother is the only living Makashi master I know of,’ my husband reveals. ‘Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda were as proficient at that form as she is, and she is far better at it than I am, too. You have not sparred against someone with her skill in it before.’

Ani drains his glass and leans over, placing a kiss on my cheek before he stands up.

‘Rest, for you, my wife, for an hour,’ he teases me. ‘I am sure Qui-Gon will keep you busy with your lesson once you wake up from your nap. The Lieutenants will see to the children this morning.’

I let him pull me to my feet with his hand and guide me back to our bedroom with an arm around my waist. Once we are out of Luke’s sight he stops, kisses me on the mouth, and holds me close.

‘You are going to catch the flu if you keep doing that,’ I warn him.

‘Immune,’ he reminds me. ‘I can kiss you as much as I like.’

I push up on my toes and return his kiss.

‘Go put your helmet on,’ I suggest. ‘Luke will be waiting for you.’

‘Into bed with you, first,’ he insists.

I don’t argue. A nap sounds like a very good idea if I will be learning something new when I wake up.

***

Luke and Artoo are waiting for me in the throne room when I leave my private quarters. That old astromech unit and I have experienced much together, but I have no idea what he remembers of our shared past.

‘Artoo?’ Luke asks when the ‘droid rolls in front of me.

Artoo stops, surveys me up and down with his optical sensor and lets out a string of disgusted noises, scolding me thoroughly and in no uncertain terms about what I have done to Luke and his friends. From Artoo’s point of view, I have earned this. I let him continue his electronic tirade for a few minutes before deciding I have heard enough.

‘Stop that Artoo,’ I growl, ‘or I will use the override command and order you to behave yourself.’

He responds to that threat by rocking from one side to the other before trundling right up to my feet and butting his dome against my legs. There is a sad whistle and mournful noise or two. He always was loyal to me and is now fighting his programming, caught between wanting to return to me and staying with Luke.

‘I don’t understand why he is behaving this way,’ Luke admits.

‘I do,’ I reveal.

I drop to one knee and rest a hand on Artoo’s dome, stilling the ‘droids motions.

‘You know who I am,’ I state.

A beep of confirmation.

‘No one has ever bothered to wipe your memory,’ I tell Artoo.

Another affirmative beep.

‘Artoo, show Luke who I really am,’ I risk the request.

A hologram appears, grows larger, showing myself, garbed as a Jedi when I was fighting in the Clone Wars. Other images rapidly follow. Battles recorded from Artoo’s perspective with me in the cockpit ahead of him. Myself and Obi-Wan sparring, a recording I had long forgotten asking Artoo to make.

Luke watches, silent, and fascinated by what he sees.

‘How did he know who you are?’ my son asks.

‘Only two people knew Artoo’s hardwired command codes, myself and your mother,’ I admit. ‘I used them on Mimban to shut him down, so he has been aware of exactly who I am since at least then. He was my astromech for many years and … a good friend.’

Artoo shows images of Padmé and then Ahsoka, so I tap his dome, signalling that he should stop. At the moment, I do not need to be reminded of my first wife or my former padawan, nor am I ready to answer the questions Luke might ask about their fates.

‘Enough, Artoo,’ I decide. ‘Luke needs to spend time training with me today.’

A sad whistle.

‘You may come along, Artoo,’ I allow, ‘but stay out of our way.’

‘If he was yours, then I should give him back to you,’ Luke generously offers.

‘No, Luke,’ I decline as I rise to my feet. ‘He is yours, now, won fairly from me, so you should keep him.’

‘Threepio is with Leia,’ Luke tells me. ‘He is not happy being on your flagship and is afraid you will turn him into scrap metal, but I think she will be able to keep him from getting into too much trouble.’

Artoo rolls back to Luke’s side, but trails after Luke and I as we walk down the corridor towards the salle. The astromech’s contented chirps and beeps amuse me. He is still talkative and not afraid to give his opinion, and being back with me has made him happy. I debate whether or not I should let my son know that I was the one who built Threepio, but perhaps I should leave that for now. We can discuss it another day.

***

‘Wake up, little sister,’ I hear my brother’s disgustingly cheerful voice.

I reach out, sense where he is, and fling a pillow in that direction, only to hear it smack against the wall. He probably dodged it or let it pass right through him.

‘You don’t have to be so happy about waking me up,’ I grumble at him.

When I sit up, I start coughing. Michael is standing next to the bed, wearing his usual Sith robes, but the grin on his face shifts to a look of concern and then worry. He knows just how sick the flu has made me in the past. I feel his hand on my forehead and the strangest sensation as he somehow sweeps over and through my body with the Force.

‘You’ll survive,’ he makes a pronouncement. ‘Another day and the worst of it will be finished with.’

‘Too bad you can’t catch it,’ I complain at him. ‘I was having a nice nap.’

‘You can have another nap, later,’ he decides. ‘Qui-Gon will be here soon and there are skills you need to learn and work on. I don’t mind if you practice your empathy on me while we wait for him.’

I pull myself around to sit cross-legged on the bed and slip into a meditative trance. My brother joins me, copying my pose and closing his eyes. If Michael wants me to practice on him, I will, but he won’t be expecting the emotions I intend to use. Lightly, sneakily, I project what I want him to feel, and am rewarded when he begins to twitch and squirm.

‘Itchiness is evil when you have no means to scratch,’ he tells me.

I smile at him and switch to something else. His reaction this time is one of hysterical laughter.

‘Are you two enjoying yourselves?’ I hear Qui-Gon ask as he slowly appears.

‘He asked for it,’ I admit with a smirk.

‘You are as full of mischief as a certain youngling I once knew,’ Qui-Gon teases me.

‘A youngling named Anakin?’ I guess.

From his amused expression I suspect I am correct about that. Ani has never told me what his connection to the Jedi Master was, but they obviously knew one another well enough for my husband to trust him with me.

‘Don’t bother moving,’ Qui-Gon tells me. ‘You need to be comfortable for this. Your brother can listen, watch, and learn.’

I nod at him and shove a couple pillows behind my back.

‘We will start with a simple empathic exercise,’ he instructs. ‘You have done that before. Let yourself sense those around you, their state of mind, their feelings. Don’t rush. Be patient.’

I do as I am told, slipping back into a trance-like state and extending my awareness outwards. Mikal and Cat are sleeping, and still suffering with the flu. Cyran is keeping ‘Mi busy playing in the living area. Moving farther away, I brush against Leia, who has secluded herself in her quarters and is brooding, worrying about what will happen once we arrive at Coruscant. Further still, and I discover Anakin and Luke, in the large salle, running through set sequences of parries and attacks as father trains son. My light touch produces a ripple of amusement from the Sith Lord, but he does not pause or miss a move in what he is doing. When I reach the Bridge, I find Piett busily checking on the crew, ensuring all is running at peak efficiency. He is slightly anxious, fussing about what he needs to finish before the end of the day.

‘Next, see if you can sense who is a friend and who is not,’ Qui-Gon makes it more complicated for me. ‘In a battle, you will want to support only those who are your allies.’

I stare at him. There shouldn’t be anyone hostile on Ani’s flagship.

Prisoners, my brother reminds me.

The detention cells. My husband will have the most important of the surviving rebels confined there, but I really don’t want to go looking. Qui-Gon folds his arms across his chest and raises an eyebrow. This is something he won’t let me avoid. Reluctantly, I do as I have been told, sending my awareness downward in the ship to where the detention blocks are located.

Who and what I find deeply disturbs me. Lando is there, brooding and nursing a grudge against my husband. The wookiee, Chewbacca, is sleeping, but even in an unconscious state, his grief at the loss of his friend is obvious. Others range from being resigned to their fates to angry at their defeat and capture. For all of them, their antipathy towards the Empire bleeds into the Force, marking them as opponents rather than allies. I pull my senses back to myself and open my eyes. From what Anakin has said to me, he will execute them all as traitors.

‘Lando and Chewie are prisoners,’ I tell my brother and the Jedi Master.

‘There is nothing you can do for them,’ my brother states. ‘Their fates are sealed.’

‘Are they?’ I ask in return.

‘Don’t do it, Maia,’ he warns me. ‘Don’t even consider it. Your husband will tolerate many things from you, but interfering in politics and his decisions is not one of them. Provoking him over this is a very bad idea.’

I narrow my eyes. Michael knows me all too well.

‘Lesson,’ Qui-Gon interrupts before I can come up with a response.

Rather than fight with my brother, I let out a sigh and nod. Figuring out how to help Chewie will have to wait.

‘Now, you will be using your empathy in an active manner, so be very delicate,’ he adds next. ‘First, add a layer of confidence. Let that wash over everyone on the ship, except those you have identified as hostiles.’

‘But..,’ I start a protest.

‘I know you don’t like manipulating people with your empathy,’ the Jedi Master reminds me. ‘This will not harm anyone nor will it make them do anything against their wills. It will encourage them, give them an incentive to work better as a team. Don’t aim it at anyone in particular. Think of it as a protective blanket or shield.’

I give him my best skeptical look, but don’t argue. Instead, I relax and center myself. Do what you did with the Imperial guards, only on a larger scale and with a different emotion. Raising my hand, I imagine confidence rippling out from it, out from me, and envision it settling over top of everyone except those in the detention block.

Maia? Ani prods at me.

You felt it? I ask.

We both did, my husband responds, but I was expecting it and warned Luke. I don’t think anyone on the crew will have sensed it.

‘I want you to maintain that for as long as you safely can,’ Qui-Gon tells me. ‘It’s important to know what your limits are and to not exceed them.’

This sounds easy enough to do. I concentrate on simply being in the moment, keeping the level steady, but eventually, inevitably, I tire, let it go, and nearly fall over onto my face.

Two strong, leather covered arms catch me before my head hits the bed.

‘Almost an hour,’ I hear Ani say.

‘Impressive, for a complete beginner,’ Qui-Gon replies. ‘She needs to practice, but not every day, not for that long, and never without supervision. It is far too easy for her to over extend and exhaust herself, and that is too risky with her pregnancy. Once she has mastered this first step, I will teach her the next.’

‘Anakin?’ I start to question my husband.

‘You need to rest. Sleep, Maia,’ he orders. ‘I will hold you in my arms so you can breathe more easily.’

I lean against him and try to stay awake. My tired mind catches bits and pieces of his conversation with my teacher. They know one another from when Ani was a child, but as I drift into sleep the details of what they say to one another become fuzzy and then fade completely.

***

‘Sound asleep at last,’ I tell Qui-Gon.

‘I do not want to push her too hard,’ he advises me. ‘Her pregnancy mandates that her training must be done slowly, gently, and carefully.’

‘She will not like it when you ask her to disrupt what an enemy might do and sow confusion amongst them,’ I warn him. ‘I expect an outright refusal and fight over that.’

‘It would be wisest to train her as a healer,’ he suggests. ‘She is far better suited for that than this.’

‘Necessity forces it to be otherwise,’ I admit. ‘I cannot do what she eventually will be able to, and I know of no other who could replace her in that way. Neither Luke nor Leia have her peculiar combination of empathy, patience, and stubbornness, all paired with the strength in the Force required.’

I shift my wife slightly and hear her breathing ease.

‘There is something else you need to consider, Anakin,’ Qui-Gon adds. ‘She loves you and will do whatever you ask of her, even to the point of sacrificing herself to protect you. Don’t put her in a situation where that might happen.’

‘I have no intentions of ever doing so,’ I tell him.

‘The best of intentions can lead to unforeseen and tragic consequences,’ he reminds me.

I stare at him. From his expression it is not my past choices he is thinking of, but his own. For a moment, I wonder what path my life might have taken had he not chosen to free me from slavery as a child and then brought me to the Jedi temple. I give myself a mental shake. There is no point in speculating about what might have been.

‘For the next few weeks,’ he states, ‘what she needs to practice the most is identifying and separating ally from foe.’

‘There will be plenty of opportunities to do that once we reach Coruscant,’ I tell him. ‘If she thinks of it as a way to flag potential threats to me, she will have more incentive to work on it.’

Maia stirs in my arms so I gently quiet her with a touch to her cheek.

‘I will go,’ Qui-Gon decides. ‘She needs to rest. When she is ready for another lesson, send for me.’

He fades away and vanishes, only to be replaced by Michael, who had disappeared when I returned from the salle with Luke. I suspect I know what he intends to scold me about, and have no interest in entering that sort of debate.

‘Don’t say it,’ I warn him. ‘You have done your best to avoid speaking to me and I know why. Leia is my daughter-wife by Sith law and will bear me a son as that ancient tradition requires of her, so leave it alone. It is not your business.’

Michael raises his hands in a gesture of surrender and sits on the bed next to me and his sister.

‘At the moment, my concerns are for my sister,’ he tells me. ‘She had a similar type of flu before, on Earth, and developed pneumonia by pushing herself too hard before she was fully recovered from it.’

He sets the back of his hand on her forehead, and checks on her in a way my wife’s doctor cannot. I don’t try to stop him because his worries match those of Leanan.

‘Rest, for at least the next four days, and longer than that would be even better,’ he advises. ‘She won’t like it, but that is what she must do.’

‘I will ensure she obeys me in this,’ I promise him.

His hand is withdrawn from Maia’s face while he regards me carefully. A debate is being waged behind his blue eyes. In the end, he chooses to shake his head, rather than state his opinion, gradually becomes transparent, and slowly vanishes.

***

Lunch today is in bed, with me on my own.

I stir the nuna soup Ani had made for me with a spoon and make a half-hearted effort to finish it. Food still holds no appeal for me, but I know my husband will scold me if I don’t at least try some of it. Finally, I give up, let out a sigh, and set what is left on the floor. Bed rest is boring, so to entertain myself, I have been listening carefully to what is happening in the kitchen. Anakin is in there, with Luke and Leia, and their conversation has ranged from amusing to serious and back again. None of them have kept their voices down and all of them seem to have assumed that I am either asleep or not paying attention to them if I am awake.

‘Father,’ I hear Luke make a request. ‘I would like my X-wing returned to me.’

‘I would prefer you to fly something else,’ Ani admits.

‘What’s wrong with his X-wing?’ Leia jumps in.

‘It is too well known as a rebel ship type,’ the Sith Lord states, ‘and it’s inadvisable and risky for Luke to fly one, even if it is identified as his.’

‘I could borrow your fighter,’ Luke suggests.

‘If you like, I will have an identical one built for you, as a gift,’ his father offers.

‘Yes!’ Luke happily agrees.

‘You will need time in the sim today to accustom yourself to the controls and how it handles,’ Ani advises him. ‘If Maia agrees, you could borrow her fighter and we could fly together, once we drop out of hyperspace.’

‘She has a fighter and can fly it?’ Leia asks, sounding a bit skeptical.

I hear an amused laugh from my husband.

‘It was a birthday present from me, years ago,’ he reveals. ‘Hers is identical to mine, save for its Grey One call sign and corresponding markings, and yes, Leia, she knows how to pilot it and has flown as my wingman.’

‘Could I go to the sim, now?’ Luke asks, his eagerness all too apparent.

‘Of course,’ Ani tells him, before comming his guard Captain, ‘Thirsk, escort Luke to the flight simulators and have one of them configured to match my TIE Advanced. He needs to practice.’ His attention returns to his son. ‘Off with you, now, Luke. Enjoy your time in the sim. Thirsk will meet you in the entry room and take you there.’

Luke emerges from the kitchen, walks through the end of the living area closest to it and exits Ani’s private quarters. There is silence for a moment. Father and daughter are alone now.

‘Luke has a purpose, a role, as your heir, and I don’t,’ Leia complains.

‘You are my daughter and my wife, and will be the mother of my son,’ Ani reminds her. ‘Those are and will be your only roles.’

‘I am your wife,’ she repeats.

‘You are my daughter-wife,’ her father states. ‘You need to accept that fact.’

‘No, I don’t,’ she defies him.

This does not bode well. It sounds like Anakin is attempting to make Leia recognize him as her father, and she has refused to do that.

‘Come here, then, my wife,’ he orders. ‘I want to kiss you.’

‘I would rather kiss a wookiee!’ Leia snaps at him.

‘I can easily arrange that!’ Ani growls at her.

‘You wouldn’t dare!’ she yells back at him.

‘I will do what I must,’ he warns her. ‘You won’t win in a battle against me.’

There is a pause and I concentrate hard to hear what they are doing. From the sounds they are making, Ani has managed to secure Leia in his arms and is busy kissing her on the mouth. She is returning his kiss in kind and not resisting him.

‘You enjoyed that, Leia,’ Ani quietly says to her. ‘There was no reason to put up a fight over it.’

‘Fathers don’t want to kiss their daughters in that way,’ she tells him.

‘But husbands do,’ he suggests.

I hear another kiss between them, this time a shorter one.

‘I want to make love to you, my feisty wife,’ Anakin teases her.

‘No,’ Leia refuses him. ‘You are my father and we shouldn’t be doing this.’

‘So, when you want me I am your husband, and when you don’t want me I am your father,’ he observes. ‘You need to accept that I am both of those to you.’

‘I…’ Leia starts, pauses just long enough to quickly kiss him, and finishes. ‘I love you, Anakin…’

There is a strangled sob from her then the sound of her running from the kitchen. I see her pass through the living area and bolt for the main door to Ani’s quarters, a hand held to her mouth and tears on her face. He follows, but makes no move to stop her. Instead, he watches her go and allows Leia to escape to the safety of her quarters before he closes and seals the door once again.

My co-wife loves our shared husband but is still conflicted about her relationship with him, and he wants her to finally resolve that.

***

Maia is quiet, curled up on her side in our bed and partially propped up with several pillows. Her eyes are open so she is not sleeping, and she probably overheard some of what just happened between Leia and me.

‘Little goddess,’ I quietly name her as I sit down beside her.

Her fingers move to meet mine. I hold her hand, raise it to rest over my heart and sigh. At least my relationship with my first wife, my Empress, has settled into a peaceable state of co-existence. Leia is far more volatile than her elder co-wife, and has many more reasons to resist and fight with me. Today, I need Leia to accept I am her father and husband, both, and I can think of only one way to push her into doing that.

I lean over and kiss Maia’s cheek.

‘I would like to spend some time with Leia tonight,’ I decide, ‘and she must accept her role as my daughter-wife before we reach Coruscant. Will you allow me to make love to her?’

‘Anakin,’ she softly replies. ‘Leia is your wife. You do not need to ask my permission.’

‘But I do,’ I remind her, squeezing her hand held over my heart. ‘I swore an oath to you and I will always keep it.’

This time I kiss her on the mouth.

‘I will need to use my bond with her as well,’ I tell her. ‘You will feel what we do because I cannot block you out when I do that, not without causing damage to our soul bond. If it helps, I will let your brother visit you, to distract you, and keep you busy. After tonight, I intend to limit how often I am with Leia in that way to protect you, but my hope is that she will decide on her own that this will be the last time we are intimate with one another in that way.’

I look down at the half-empty bowl of soup she has set on the floor. My wife needs to eat and look after herself, but forcing her to do that or scolding her about it will not help. Other tactics must be applied here.

‘Would you try to eat something and drink some of your favourite tea if I made it for you?’ I ask.

‘I will try,’ Maia answers.

‘Trying will please me,’ I encourage her.

Brushing a hand across her forehead, I note that her temperature is normal, but she is still having trouble breathing. Michael warned me about this and so has Leanan. My wife needs to stay in bed and behave herself. I kiss her cheek again before going to the kitchen.

***

Ani returns quickly, carrying a tray with a plate of goodies, two teacups, and a pot of steaming millaflower tea on it. He sets it on the table in the corner. The fragrant and strong smell of the tea barely makes an impression on me today, but the presence of the second teacup puzzles me.

‘Up with you, now,’ he orders. ‘I will have some tea with you.’

He helps me out of bed, wraps his old robe around me, and guides me to one of the chairs before sitting in its counterpart. I examine the treats he has assembled for me to pick from and select one. Ani chooses one as well and puts in in front of him. When he pours tea into both cups, I realize that he really does intend to drink it.

I lift my cup and take a cautious sip. It’s too hot for me and needs to cool a bit. Setting it down, I shift my attention to the treat I selected, a nut cake similar to the Mandalorian treat I like to make, and take a bite. Ani waves his hand over his teacup and the steam disappears. He has chosen to use the Force to lower the temperature instead of waiting. When he actually raises it to his lips and swallows a mouthful of it, I stare at him. I keep staring as he smiles at me and takes the smallest of bites from his treat, savouring it as he chews and swallows it. This is the first time I have seen him drink anything other than his supplement or favourite Corellian brandy, and I have never seen him eat anything solid before.

‘Your turn,’ he reminds me when I don’t touch my tea.

Feeling rather sheepish, I do as I am told. I now know why he is having tea with me. He wants to make sure that I drink all of mine and eat something more substantial than soup. When I set my cup down, he places his hand over mine and gives it a gentle squeeze.

‘I want you to rest for the next week, Maia,’ he tells me. ‘There is no need for you to do more than that. When we arrive at Coruscant, we will go to my castle, and stay there until I am satisfied that the Imperial Palace is secure and our rooms in it have been suitably furnished.’

‘I don’t want to live in the palace,’ I decide. ‘The old coot’s presence will be everywhere. Why don’t we stay in one of your residences, instead? We could alternate between your castle and the seaside house.’

‘We have no choice,’ he reminds me, ‘but I will have Palpatine’s quarters cleared out and completely redecorated and refurnished. To make sure there is nothing left of his to disturb you, I will personally remove anything he has hidden away. The public areas can wait for later.’

‘Another fancy cage for me to live in,’ I softly say to myself.

Save for my adventure to Garqi with Luke and his friends, shopping by myself on Aargau, and the trip on my own to Rhinnal, Ani has always kept me securely locked up in one of his castles or on his flagship, or at his side where he can guard me himself. I know he just wants to make sure I am safe, but I need to have more to my life than what I can see in my future as his trophy Jedi Empress.

The Sith Lord leans back in his chair and stares at me, a measuring expression on his face.

***

She wants her freedom, and now, more than ever, I must deny that to her. I cannot risk her being harmed. As my Empress, she will be a target, a way for my enemies to reach me, but for her sake, I must give her some leeway, some means to do more than be my wife, the mother of my children, and a beautiful face sitting beside me in the throne room. I consider what I should do and how to manage her security then reach across the table and take her hand.

‘You miss having a research project to keep yourself occupied with,’ I tell her, ‘and having students around you to mentor and teach.’

Maia bites her lip, shifts her eyes from me to her tea cup, and does not answer. She is afraid that whatever she says to me will be met with a negative reaction and anger.

‘I cannot let you loose on the university campus,’ I reveal. ‘It is far too difficult to protect you there, and having students come to you will create headaches for Thirsk and your security team.’

I feel her disappointment, so I squeeze her hand, letting her know I have more to tell her.

‘There is no reason why you cannot do some private research,’ I decide. ‘What you need can be brought to you, and whatever information you require will be yours. Just don’t fill our living quarters with a rock collection.’

Her face lights up with joy, only to be followed by an expression of concern and almost wariness. She suspects that this offer from me is an attempt to placate her in the short term which will be withdrawn later.

‘No tricks, I promise you,’ I reassure her, raising her hand to my lips to kiss it. ‘Choose a project and I will see to it that it is yours to work on.’

‘Kyber crystals,’ she suggests. ‘I want to learn about those.’

‘Already thoroughly studied, years ago,’ I discourage that idea. ‘Pick something else.’

Maia shakes her head, refusing to give me any other suggestions. I let go of her hand, stand up and leave the bedroom for a moment. When I have retrieved what I want from a hidden compartment in my new workshop, I return to her side and resume my seat.

‘Close your eyes, Maia,’ I instruct.

Once she has done as I wish, I set the mineral shard in her hand and bend her fingers securely over it. She promptly drops it on feeling the Force channeling through it.

‘What is it?’ she asks, poking at the glowing red crystal on the table.

‘I found it on Mimban,’ I admit. ‘It’s a fragment from a larger gemstone which Luke and Leia removed from the planet.’

Her eyes leave the shard and meet mine.

‘I have no idea what it is or where it originally came from,’ I tell her. ‘It has healing properties and is not the same mineral as the kyber crystals used in our lightsabers.’

‘A mystery,’ she decides.

‘One for you to solve,’ I tease her.

She touches the crystal with her fingertip again, and I feel the faintest ripple through the Force at that contact. The smile on her face mirrors my own. I have given her a puzzle which should keep her happy and occupied for quite some time.

***

I watch Ani strip off his armour and head into the ‘fresher for a shower. He has plans for tonight and I am not part of them. Rather than think about what he will be doing with Leia, I make myself comfortable, prop myself up with a few pillows, and debate how to distract myself. My husband had suggested having my brother visit me, but I really don’t expect Michael will be of much help in this case. The Sith Lord eventually emerges, dressed in his black Jedi Master robes with his hair still damp and clinging to his forehead. There are two medpatches in his hand. He has obviously opted to drug me and I won’t win an argument with him about this.

‘A sedative and the relaxant Leanan prescribed,’ he reminds me.

‘I know,’ I give in to the inevitable.

I lean forward and let him remove the relaxant patch from this morning from my back and apply the new ones in its place. His touch is light, gentle, as he pulls my nightgown up over my shoulders.

‘Your breathing sounds better tonight,’ he makes small talk.

‘I am still coughing a bit,’ I admit.

Ani sits down beside me and holds my hand. His other one he sets on my middle as he uses the Force to check on our son.

‘He is doing well,’ my husband notes. ‘You are one month along, now, and soon I will ask Leanan to monitor both of you on a daily basis. I won’t risk either of you by letting you carry him one day longer than is necessary.’

‘You should be glad my early pregnancy sickness has subsided,’ I tell him.

‘It will be back soon enough,’ he predicts.

I make a face at him. The prospect of being constantly sick, again, for two or three months is not at all appealing to me.

‘You need to rest,’ he suggests.

I blink at him. My eyes are fighting my efforts to keep them open. He has used something far stronger than the mild sedative designed to help me fall asleep.

‘Sneaky Sith Lord,’ I accuse him.

His mouth meets mine as he pulls me in close and kisses me, taking his time to make sure it is a passionate one I won’t forget.

‘I used the strongest sedative that was safe for you because I don’t want you to feel or experience what I must do with Leia tonight,’ my husband tells me. ‘It will be easier and less stressful for you if you sleep through it all and don’t remember it. Your brother will watch over you after I leave. I will return to you later, to spend the night with you as I have promised to always do. Go to sleep, now, little goddess.’

Hands ease me back against my pillows and fingers brush my cheek. I don’t fight the sedative or Ani’s Force suggestion, and let myself drift into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Jump Ahead

***

I touch Leia’s face, trace her cheekbone with a fingertip, and draw her close to me. This will be the last quiet evening we will have before the Executor arrives at Coruscant. Tonight, I must push her into accepting me as both her father and husband.

‘I want you,’ I tell her, to see how she reacts, ‘and I need your consent, my wife.’

She shakes her head, denying me yet again.

This defiance from her cannot continue.

‘Stop playing games, Leia,’ I scold her, ‘and be honest with yourself and with me. You want me to make love to you, so just admit it.’

‘I want you and you may have me,’ she whispers, ‘but ...’

‘I am your husband and you are my wife,’ I firmly state, interrupting her, ‘and we love each other. Nothing else matters.’

I lift her up, carry her through her quarters to her bedroom, set her on down on her feet once we are there, and hold her in my arms again. When there are no further objections, I kiss her, lightly, delicately, my lips barely touching hers, and wait for her to respond to me. Eventually, she does, her mouth opening, and her tongue meeting mine while we slowly explore one another’s mouths. Leia is sweet tasting and responsive to my every move and touch.

I bring my hands up to her shoulders, holding her still as my fingers find the clasps on her dress and release them, letting the fabric fall around her feet. She has chosen to wear nothing beneath it, leaving her body completely exposed to my view and touch, so I cup her breasts, caress them, making her shiver in reaction. Her hands move to my waist, loosen the belt securing my robes in place, and quickly drag them from my body to join her gown on the floor. I choose to explore her further, my fingers slipping between her legs, to probe within her, feel the slickness which is there, and hear her moan in response to my touch. Leia is ready and wants me despite her earlier words in the day to the contrary. She grabs my hand, leads me over to her bed, and sits down on it.

‘Anakin, we shouldn’t,’ she says to me, ‘but I want you anyway.’

‘And I want you, Leia,’ I whisper in her ear when I join her, telling her what she needs to hear from me at this moment. ‘I want to make love to you as much as you want to make love to me.’

I lie down next to her, pull her into my arms, and flip one of the blankets over top of us. She’s cold and the heat from my body will warm her. After a few minutes, I kiss her neck then her shoulder, moving my hands lower to caress her. When I replace my fingers with my mouth, she begins to make quiet, pleasurable noises as I cover her with gentle kisses. Finally, bored with teasing her in this way, I slide my mouth down between her legs. That produces a gasp and a half-hearted attempt to escape.

‘Yes,’ she moans softly to me as I slide a finger inside her. ‘Yes, Anakin, yes.’

Leia is now completely at my mercy. I listen carefully to her vocal responses, varying what I do with my tongue and mouth, using my finger to thrust in and out of her, as she continues to alternately gasp and cry out to me, sometimes demanding more, sometimes in protest when I pause what I am doing to her. Her orgasm, when it comes, is long and intense, like the rolling of waves within her. I see her hands grab at the sheet beneath us, twisting and pulling on it as her climax peaks then wanes.

I sit back and caress her breasts, gradually moving my hands lower again and stopping once I reach her middle. My fingers stroke her stomach, as I check on our son within her. He has implanted himself and is secure, her pregnancy progressing as it naturally should. Leia is strong and healthy, and all is going well with our son, despite my being both his father and grandfather. I smile at her and give my wife a quick kiss.

‘You have fulfilled your duty to me as my daughter-wife, and I am very pleased that you will give me a Force-strong son,’ I reveal to her. ‘He will be a handsome and gentle boy, too, and will grow into a man you will be proud of.’

She rolls away from me, onto her side, and curls up in a protective ball, her arms across her stomach and back to me. A tear slides down her cheek, so I lean over and kiss it away, surprised that her response to my praise is grief rather than happiness at the prospect of having such a son.

‘I will give birth to your child, and all I feel is shame that you are his father,’ Leia tells me. ‘I constantly crave your touch, desperately need you to make love to me, and I know I shouldn’t want you in those ways. You were my sworn enemy, and sometimes, I wish you had killed me as a traitor instead of letting me live and taking me as your wife. People hate me for what I did when I was a Rebel and are already saying our marriage is a mistake.’

Her emotional turmoil is fighting the compulsions I embedded in her mind. I touch her shoulder and use that contact to channel the Force through her, reinforcing her recognition of me as her husband, nudging it just a little. It would be best if she decided to accept me as both her husband and father tonight, without the aid of my manipulations.

‘Leia, I am a Sith Emperor and you are my daughter. Our marriage is dynastically sanctioned. It is a great honour for you to be my wife, bear my son, and continue my bloodline as ancient traditions and Sith law requires of you. No one can question it,’ I reassure her, pulling her hair back from where it had fallen in her face. ‘We love each other, my daughter-wife, and that is all that really matters to me. You should forget the ignorant opinions of uneducated fools. If I don’t care that you were once a Rebel leader then no one else should, either.’

I shift her over, into my arms, and hold her close. Leia is uncertain of what I feel for her and what she feels for me. As I had anticipated, she needs to experience my love for her in a way which cannot be falsified and understand why she is irresistibly drawn to me. Carefully, gently, I remove some of the barriers I had set up in my mind, not wanting her to be shocked or afraid when our bond becomes suddenly active. The blocks I leave in place will keep anything negative from her, and allow only my love for her and our son to reach her.

‘Look deep in your mind, Leia,’ I suggest. ‘Relax, feel, see what you discover.’

There is a startled inhalation once she finds our bond in her mind and feels the love I send to her through it.

‘What?’ she asks.

‘A link between our minds,’ I tell her. ‘You are bound to me in a different way than my Empress is.’

She lies quietly in my arms while she considers that.

‘Once, a life-bond is recognized…,’ she begins, so I finish the sentence for her, ‘…it cannot be denied, but this is not a life-bond, Leia. It is a simple lover’s link connecting us together.’

I caress her cheek.

‘Still, no one can deny what we are to one another,’ I confirm for her. ‘Father, daughter, Rebel Princess, Emperor; none of that matters. We are bound to each other as lovers, and that is why you want me and I want you.’

I watch her roll onto her back and look up at me.

‘Am I allowed to make love to you even though you are my father?’ she questions me, her voice laden with uncertainty and desperation at what she feels.

This will require great sensitivity. She has denied our full, true relationship until now, and I must be careful what I say. I take her hand in mine and twist my fingers amongst hers. The truth, mixed with slight exaggeration where needed, is required.

‘Leia,’ I remind her, ‘we could only become bonded as lovers if we are truly meant to be with one another.’ I pause and squeeze her hand to reassure her. ‘We became linked in the detention cell, and it deepened when I made love to you for the first time. Remember on our wedding day, when you started having feelings of love for me, and were confused by that? That is when I began to love you, too, and is also when our son was conceived.’

When she starts to cry, I pull her close and kiss the salty tears from her face. Gently, now, I warn myself. She is close to accepting you as father, husband, and lover.

‘Love me, Leia,’ I ask of her. ‘Love me as your husband and father just as I will always love you as my wife and daughter. I want to hold you, to always protect you, and to never let you go.’

‘You are my husband … and … my father. I am married to my … father,’ she whispers to herself, pausing to correct her thoughts as she speaks. ‘I am pregnant with my husband’s child… my father’s child … your child.’ She stops and adds, ‘My father is my husband, I love him, and I will give birth to his son.’

I stay silent and let her work this through for herself.

‘I love you, Anakin Skywalker,’ she finally tells me. ‘You are my father but I have never known you as my father, and you have never known me as your daughter. We are both mature adults and we will have a relationship as husband and wife, not one as parent and child.’

She has fully accepted what she feels for me, our marriage, and that I am her father. Thankfully, she has also chosen to think of our relationship in the same way as I do - that of two married adults.

Raising Leia’s hand to my mouth, I gently brush the back of it with my lips, letting her be the one to pull me in and set her mouth on mine, and to also be the one to end our kiss.

‘Is it true?’ Leia asks, almost shyly. ‘I have heard what is said about those who are bound to one another.’

She is intensely curious about this, and wants to find out if the stories are accurate, which I know they are from my experiences with Maia.

‘Do you want to find out for yourself?’ I offer in reply.

‘Make love to me, Anakin,’ she requests of me. ‘Teach me how bondmates make love to one another.’

I move her with my hands, positioning her on her back beneath me. Leia shivers with nervousness and anticipation.

‘Relax, Leia,’ I soothe her, caressing her face until she is calmer. ‘This is the safest position for you to be in when you experience sex through our bond for the first time. I can help you if you need me to and immediately stop making love to you, if I must. You can choose what we do next, after you understand what will happen between us and know how it will affect you.’

Tonight will be special for both of us, so I decide to be slow and gentle with her, to maximize how long our minds and bodies will be as one. Excitement at the thought of openly sharing the bond I have with Leia fuels my curiosity and erection. There is no need for much preparation tonight. Rubbing myself lightly against her, I use the fluid I am leaking to lubricate her, and once she is relaxed and ready, I carefully push into her. She calls out my name when I enter her and at the sensations she is feeling from me, but that doesn’t stop my slow rhythmic thrusts. I let everything flow freely to her through our bond, noting how she gasps when I do as my orgasm approaches, and my own cries of pleasure at what I receive in turn from her. It is as intense and deeply shared an experience as I had hoped it would be. Somehow, I manage to hold off until she is at the edge, and we both climax together, for the first time sharing that sweet ecstasy as one being, united briefly and completely by our bond.

Once I am finished, I lean forward and kiss her deeply, keeping myself fully inside her and continuing to thrust into her while her own lengthy climax resonates between us. Leia is completely immersed in what she is experiencing and only partially aware of my actions.

‘Rest, now, Leia,’ I suggest, kissing her shoulder once her body relaxes and her moans finally cease.

‘Again?’ she requests, to my amusement, sounding like a child who has just discovered a new toy.

‘If you wish it and how you wish it,’ I offer, laughing at her eagerness, ‘but let yourself recover, first, and give me a few minutes to ready myself for you.’

Two more times I make love to her, using the positions she prefers, and when we are finished at last, we are entwined in one another’s arms, her head tucked under my chin and my nose stuffed into her hair. Both of us are spent by our love making and thoroughly satisfied with what we did.

‘I must block our bond again, Leia,’ I warn her. ‘It can only be open when I make love to you, and from now on, that will only be when I chose to do so and rarely, at that.’

I replace the barriers I had earlier removed, cutting her off from me again. If Maia were stronger this would not be necessary, but she is too emotionally fragile to share me in that way and I will not risk causing her any pain. Leia will have to accept that sex with me will be when I decide, if at all, and be content with that.

Leia nods her head, moving it against my chest, agreeing to what must always be.

‘You want to protect my sister-wife from sharing what we do,’ she tells me, ‘and so do I. What we do is between us alone. If we never make love like this again, Anakin, my memories of tonight will be enough.’

I kiss her cheek, surprised and grateful that she understands my reasons.

‘Thank you,’ I softly reply.

‘I love you, Anakin,’ Leia mumbles sleepily into my chest.

‘I love you, too,’ I affirm my feelings for her, kissing the top of her head. ‘Sleep, now, my wife. I will hold you in my arms for a while, but I cannot stay with you through the night.’

I drag two warm blankets over top of us and settle in beside her after turning out the lights with a wave of my hand. For an hour I stay with Leia, listening to her soft breathing and quieting her whenever she stirs in her sleep. Finally, I sit up beside her and grab my robes from the floor. I need another shower, I decide as I stand up and tug my belt closed. Maia won’t appreciate my going from Leia’s bed to ours without one.

Before I leave, I bend down and kiss my daughter on her forehead, pleased that she has finally accepted me as both her husband and father, and has willingly agreed to forego our sex life. There won’t be any more resistance to me from her and she should now co-operate with anything I ask her to do. My curiosity about the bond I have with Leia has been satisfied, too. Unlike a life-bond or soul bond, it is far more limited in scope, relatively shallow, and can be severed, if rather painfully, should I need to do that. This evening has been most informative and productive.

Soon, we will be at Coruscant.

Soon, I will have to reveal our relationship to everyone.

Soon, everyone will know my daughter is my wife.

My life is about to become far more complicated than it has ever been before.

Part 8

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