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The Sith Lord and the Scientist Section E - Part 8

Coruscant, Core Worlds, Year 4, Month 2.

DAY 26

Today, thus far, has gone as I had planned.

It started out with my fleet’s arrival and my shuttle being accompanied from the Executor to the planet’s surface by more fighters than Palpatine’s ever was. Rather than land in a public area, I chose to use the private facilities in my castle, and safely secured Maia within it. She is resting, with the Noghri keeping watch while she sleeps, and our children are there with her, out of the reach of my enemies. Luke and Leia are in residence as well. Before I allow them to be seen with me in public, there are matters to be settled and arrangements to be made.

I marched at the head of the 501st from my castle to the Imperial Palace, to the acclaim of the populace, and was treated as a returning hero, but I deliberately cut short most of the pointless ritual and ceremony.

I had far more important and pressing concerns.

My presence in the palace has prompted a flurry of activity, some of it expected, some of it not.

Palpatine’s advisors were quick to try to ingratiate themselves with me. I dismissed most of them immediately, having little use for their advice and no need to play the political games my former master was so fond of.

Sate Pestage soon learned that I will tolerate no interference from him, either, despite Palpatine having given his old aide the freedom to do as he pleased in most instances. He will remain in his position only as long as is necessary before meeting with an unforeseen ‘accident’.

The women of Palpatine’s harem, his concubines and courtesans, I have generously pensioned and arranged for their passage off world. Not one of them is of any interest to me and I would prefer all of them to be elsewhere.

Others have been harder to dispense with.

Palpatine’s Hands are divided into supporters and enemies of mine. I know which ones will readily transfer their loyalty to me, but several will probably not. The first of those I questioned refused to accept my offer and attacked, leaving me no choice other than to dispose of him. My suspicions are that the next one will be no more co-operative than her former lover just was.

When I hear the door to my office open, I do not move from where I am looking out the window, and instead force the woman who has entered the room to come to me.

‘My Emperor,’ she quietly calls to me, her voice as soft and harmless sounding as she can make it.

‘It is pointless to try ingratiating yourself with me, Roganda,’ I warn her. ‘I know who and what you really are.’

I turn to face her, noting that she has chosen to wear an expensive imitation of one of Maia’s gowns, with her dark hair unbound and falling down her back. This is her bid to win my approval, but the similarities with my wife end with her dress of choice. Beneath Roganda’s surface veneer of gentle naivety is a vicious and cold hearted killer. Her beauty and wiles, that have ensnared so many and led them to their deaths at her hands on my dead master’s orders, will have no effect on me. Behind her is her young son, who should not be here and whose presence I did not request.

‘Why have you brought your son here?’ I ask her.

Her mild mannered façade disappears instantly.

‘Irek is Palpatine’s son and heir,’ she claims. ‘You should be placing him on the throne, not snatching it for yourself.’

‘Irek is your bastard son with Sacev Quest,’ I remind her, ‘and has no legitimate right to the throne. Don’t lie to me about this or anything else.’

‘You should…’ she starts.

I cut her off with a gesture, brushing against her throat with the Force as a warning.

‘… take me…’ she tries again, only to have me silence her a second time in the same manner.

‘I should take you as a concubine?’ I complete her sentence. ‘Like Palpatine did?’

Rather than speak, she nods, having learned that there is no point in trying to give me an order.

‘I do not want you in any way, Roganda, and I am not at all attracted to you,’ I tell her the truth. ‘You are like an over ripe oomsh-fruit - still beautiful to look at on the outside, but completely rotten within.’

Fury darkens her pale face. She knows exactly what I meant by that.

‘You prefer plain, untouched, cloyingly-sweet jybbuk-fruit,’ she mocks me and insults my wives.

I step closer to her, lift her chin with my hand then release it. Without any warning, I slap her hard enough for it to sting without leaving any noticeable marks.

‘I prefer my concubines and consorts to be well-mannered and loyal,’ I snap at her, pointing my finger at her chest. ‘As both his concubine and mistress, you betrayed your oath to Palpatine with Sacev Quest, and at the first opportunity you would do the same to me.’

Roganda raises a hand to the cheek I just struck and glares at me. Her temper is about to push her into attacking me.

‘Irek,’ she calls to her son.

Her young son stares at me, his face a study in concentration. Rather than give him the opportunity to use the electronic converter implanted in his head, I reach into his brain and rip out the control leads. He falls to the floor instantly, his attempt to disrupt my life support controls thwarted.

‘You should not have brought him here,’ I tell Roganda as she drops to her knees beside her dying son. ‘Nor should you have corrupted your child and turned him into a weapon.’

A scream of rage erupts from her throat when she launches herself at me.

I give her a clean death, impaling her through the heart with my lightsaber before shutting it off and allowing her body to fall to the floor next to her son’s. Looking down at them both, I remind myself that killing them was my only option. I could not let either of them live. Roganda would plot against me continuously, and her son would be a potential rallying point for my enemies and a future threat to my own children.

‘See to it that they are dealt with appropriately,’ I order Thirsk over the comm.

I watch as he does as I have asked then go to my desk, pick up the holocube on it and stare at the image of Maia with an infant Mikal on her lap. My young son and his mother, my wife, both of whom I must protect at any cost, even that of the lives of another mother and child.

I am still standing there, thinking, when Lumiya arrives, accompanied by Tremayne and Stele, to swear their loyalty to me.

***

DAY 30

It has been a week since we arrived back at Coruscant. I have spent most of that time in bed, at my husband’s insistence that I rest, and bored out of my mind. There is only so much I have been able to do to entertain myself. Ani, on the other hand, has been busy, going to the Imperial Palace early every morning and returning to his castle late at night to crawl into bed with me and sleep. Luke and Leia have been with him, his son learning what he will be expected to do as his father’s heir, and Leia filling in for me, in a way, by organizing the clearing out, redecorating, and refurnishing of the public parts of the palace. I know our husband has kept me sheltered on purpose, using my illness as an excuse to raise Leia’s profile as his junior wife and to accustom people to seeing her in association with him.

All three of them have carefully shielded me from the firestorm of publicity which erupted after Anakin announced that Leia is his daughter. The controversy over that will take quite a while to settle down, but I expect that it will fade in time. People immediately approved of their marriage as a political match designed to end the rebellion; however, it will take longer for them to accept that it was an unknowing, but now unbreakable, marriage between parent and child. When the furore has quieted, Ani will reveal Leia’s pregnancy, truthfully calling it an unplanned accident due to his initial ignorance of their true genetic relationship.

I reach over and trickle some food into the pond for my fish. Today, I have opted to get out of bed and do a few things in an attempt to become more active. The conservatory in the Sith Lord’s castle is quiet, save for an occasional random coughing fit from me. It is a pleasant enough place to sort through my mail, a task Cyran is familiar with. I glance over at her as she works. She has been doing her best to adapt to her new role, but I can tell she preferred being the personal aide to the wife of the Supreme Military Commander to her new position as the Empress’ private secretary. My handmaidens are here, too, guarding me, and I am sure, figuring out how to cope with what they probably see as my personal quirks. At least they have been good company, if silent unless I address them directly.

Thirsk looks in through the door at me and nods, using his hands to signal that I have company. When Wynssa appears, I know that something is seriously wrong. Despite being an actress, and putting on a very convincing show of calm, she cannot hide her emotions from my empathy. My friend is deeply worried and afraid.

‘Wynssa?’ I question her when she draws closer, only to see she is almost in tears. ‘Come here, sit with me.’

Her problem does not need an audience.

‘The rest of you, out,’ I order.

I wait until we are alone, the door shut and sealed, before I say anything.

‘It’s secure in here,’ I reassure her. ‘No holocameras or listening devices. My husband wants us to have a few places which are completely private. You can tell me whatever you want and know it will go no farther than me.’

Wynssa drops the act immediately.

‘I need your help,’ she tells me.

‘Go on,’ I encourage her.

She refuses to look me in the eyes and instead stares at the flagstone floor between us.

‘I have a confession to make,’ my friend admits.

I stay silent and wait for her to finish

‘My brother is a rebel pilot,’ she reveals. ‘His name is Wedge Antilles and he has been captured. He is scheduled to be executed.’

Without her saying another word, I know exactly what she expects me to do.

‘I can’t do it, Wynssa,’ I warn her. ‘My husband will not tolerate any interference from me. If I ask him to pardon and free your brother, he will refuse.’

‘You are…’ she starts, but I stop her with a gesture.

‘I am his wife and only his wife. I have no power to change his decisions,’ I confess. ‘If I push him too hard, I will pay for it, in public and in private.’

It is my turn to look away while I remember how Anakin made me kneel at his feet for over an hour on the Executor’s Bridge, humbling and shaming me in public as a form of punishment. That was for a fairly minor offense, disobeying him in a relatively harmless manner in a secure location, not something like asking him to free a prisoner. What he might do to me for trying to interfere with his decisions about the rebels will be worse, far worse. My brother was right. Questioning my husband’s judgement and commands is a fool’s errand and not worth the risk or the price I would pay.

‘He won’t harm you ...’ she tries something else, so I silence her again.

‘The Emperor will make an example of me, like he has done before,’ I tell her, meeting her eyes with mine. ‘He won’t hurt me physically, true, but he will publically humiliate me in other ways, just to prove his point and to ensure that I don’t do it again. I am truly sorry, Wynssa, but I can’t help you.’

‘You mean you won’t help me,’ she states in response.

I try to placate her with a gesture of helplessness. There is nothing I can safely do to help her brother. Wynssa’s reaction is unconcealed anger, as she storms out of the conservatory, not saying another word to me.

I close my eyes and let out a ragged breath. She was the first, but I expect that there will be others who plan on coming to me, to ask me to intervene with Ani on their behalf.

‘Captain Thirsk,’ I call him over the comm. ‘I need to be alone for a while. Don’t let anyone in who isn’t family. I don’t care who they are or what they want from me.’

Dropping my comlink on the padded bench, I stand up and look around. My husband tried to make this place appear more like home for me, even asking one of the botanists at the Imperial Botanical Institute to show me holos and plant samples so I could identify what was closest to the flora I was familiar with. The plants are similar to ones from Earth, but off just enough to be not quite right. I take a slow walk along the paths, wandering around while I debate what to do. Wynssa has forced me to think about something I really don’t want to consider: how to help the captured rebels I know and owe a life debt to. If it were my brother who was to be executed along with the others my husband considers war criminals and traitors, I would not hesitate. I would crawl to Anakin on my hands and knees and beg for Michael’s life.

So, why am I afraid to be a voice for those who have no other option than coming to me for help?

I know the answer to that.

There was a time when I had no fear of my husband or what he might do to me, but that has changed. Anakin has changed. Assuming the role of Emperor has made him far less accepting of my views and opinions, especially when those do not match up with his own. He might patiently listen to what I have to say, and even allow me to engage in a private debate with him, yet nothing I tell him has any effect on his public actions. Defying him openly and in front of others, where he would be forced to publically respond to any petition or request I make of him, will only cause me grief and pain in the end because he has made it clear that he will not tolerate that from me.

When I eventually return to the bench, I sit down, bury my face in my hands, and start to cry. I really don’t know what I should do, and no matter what I decide, there will be consequences.

***

DAY 33

I am alone for the first time today, looking out the window of the private throne room atop the high spire, and debating what I should do next. In the past few days, I have concentrated on what must be done in the short term, addressing the immediate problems and crises, but there must be a game plan for the future.

‘If only…,’ I say to myself.

If only I felt comfortable risking another expedition into Maia’s memories, into the knowledge she has hidden in the depths of her mind. There is far more there than what I have seen. I sensed hints of the future she once knew when I took from her what I needed to survive and win at Endor, but to protect her from further harm I did not pursue it at that time. The risk of a second such foray, however, does not outweigh the potential gains. Injuring her purely to make my life easier is something I cannot bring myself to do. She has been hurt too much already by my choices and actions.

‘If only…,’ I repeat, curling my fist in frustration.

If only I had known Leia was my daughter. Revealing our relationship as parent and child has produced nothing but trouble. My marriage to her has become a scandal, the source of seemingly endless gossip and speculation about my sex life. The less reputable news channels have run with the story, inventing salacious details when no further information has been forthcoming, and even the more sympathetic reporters have pressed the boundaries of what I will tolerate. If they only knew the truth of it, that I have had sex with her on just five occasions, then perhaps there would be far less interest. I have managed to keep her pregnancy a secret, but that, too, must eventually be made public. Locking Leia away and out of sight for most of a year or trying to conceal her physical state in order to hide a birth is not a realistic solution, and secrets, inevitably, escape from their cages.

‘If only…,’ I snarl, hurling the datapad I had been using across the room.

If only I had not believed Palpatine’s lies.

If only I had not attempted to outmanoeuvre Obi-Wan on Mustafar.

If only I …

If only I could stop thinking about the past and the grief my choices have caused me.

‘Having a bad day, my brother-in-law the Sith?’ a familiar voice asks.

‘What do you want, Jedi pest?’ I snap at him without bothering to turn around.

‘Definitely having a bad day,’ he observes.

I let out a disgusted sigh, make my way to the throne and drop myself into it. Michael steps from the shadows and assumes the spot I had been standing in, looking out the window as I had, although I do not know if he is admiring the view or merely using it as an excuse to give me time to reply. When I say nothing, he turns to face me and shakes his head.

‘Being Emperor is not what you expected it to be,’ he states.

I resist laughing at his observation, tempting as it is. He is certainly correct about that. Four foiled assassination attempts in the past three days, endless boring meetings to attend, pointless petitions from petty sycophants to hear and dismiss, bumbling bureaucrats to threaten and cow, planetary governors to replace, time wasting ceremony and ritual I can’t be bothered with … at times I wish I had done as Maia had wanted, and taken her and our family back to her home world.

‘Being a Jedi ghost is probably not what you expected, either,’ I remind him in turn.

‘No, it isn’t,’ he admits.

‘So, my brother-in-law the Jedi, why are you here? Are you bored of spying on Jade for me?’ I question him. ‘Do you need another task from me to do?’

I stop myself from asking if Maia has sent him to me. My Empress has been quiet and withdrawn for days, not exactly distant, but she is not happy with the drastic changes to her life my new position has brought. We have spoken little about the upheavals she has experienced since returning to Coruscant. At night, when I have come to our bed, she has been sleeping soundly, and I have chosen not to wake her. The Tastiged flu has been hard on her, far harder than the doctor or her brother predicted, and she still needs to rest. Tomorrow, though, I must move her and our children to the palace, to the suite of rooms I have appropriated and had renovated to meet our needs, to the place which will be our home.

‘No, Anakin, I am not bored nor do I need something else to do, but I am worried,’ Michael reveals.

‘About?’ I prompt him.

There is an uncomfortable shifting from one foot to another on his part.

‘You,’ he blurts out.

‘Me?’ I question him, a bit puzzled by his admission. ‘Why are you worried about me?’

‘You have a bunch of rebel prisoners you will be executing,’ he abruptly changes the subject.

‘What of them?’ I ask. ‘They are all traitors and criminals, and have been duly judged and sentenced accordingly.’

‘Maia knows some of them,’ he tells me, ‘spent time with them, and owes them a life debt, in a sense.’

‘I know the ones you mean,’ I state. ‘You think she will try to persuade me to free them.’

‘Not think, Anakin, know,’ Michael declares. ‘She will come to you and ask for their lives. It is in her nature to do so, and I do not want you to become angry and hurt her when she does that.’

I stare at him and consider what I know of my wife. Her compassion will drive her to make her request of me in a situation where I cannot ignore or refuse her, and he thinks I will punish her for that. Given my past behaviour, I am not surprised that he expects the worst of me, but I will not hurt her if she does this. It is my sworn duty to protect her, the one who is my merati, my soul bonded mate.

‘After I declare myself Emperor, after the military swear loyalty to me, and after the military promotions are made,’ I detail the plans for what will happen in mere days. ‘Only then will the rebels be brought in and executed. Your sister will leave before she can see any of the deaths.’

He ponders my list of events for a few minutes. Making Maia watch the executions would be extremely cruel to do to an empath as sensitive as she is, and I would never harm her in that way. I had already decided that she will be escorted out once her presence is no longer required, but now I will be sure that she is taken to our quarters and a guard set on her to keep her there.

‘There is a centuries old ritual from Earth,’ Michael slowly says to me. ‘Queens have always had the right to ask for mercy for prisoners, and the King grants it to them. That is what I expect she will do.’

‘You know this ritual?’ I ask.

‘There are various versions of it, but the intent is the same in each,’ he replies.

‘Tell me all of them,’ I order, ‘and once we are done with that, I will decide what to do with you.’

He has information I need, and I must do something about him. I cannot have a Jedi ghost appearing whenever and wherever he pleases around the palace. It will raise far too many questions if he is seen. Maia’s brother will have to agree to a set of rules, whether he likes it or not.

***

DAY 34

I rest my head against Ani’s shoulder and hold myself tight to his body. He knew this would be hard for me to face and that I am still not feeling well. Instead of making me walk, he has opted to make it easier for me by carrying me from our bedroom in his castle to his shuttle and then from the Emperor’s private landing pad to our new home in the palace. Cyran and Daini have been trailing behind us as we go, doing their best to keep my three excited youngsters in hand.

Anakin carefully sets me down at the entrance to our suite of rooms. The blue armoured guards to either side are silent, but I recognize them both as men Thirsk had substituted for Palpatine’s Royal Guards on the Executor. They know me too, when I see one of them break his stern expression with a quickly hidden smile.

‘Palpatine had his living quarters deep in the palace complex, but I know that will make you claustrophobic and uncomfortable,’ my husband admits. ‘I selected this set of rooms because they are where you will have views of the palace grounds and gardens, but not from too great a height.’

‘Thank you,’ I tell him.

‘Luke’s suite is next to ours,’ he reveals, pointing to the guarded door in question. ‘Leia’s rooms are within our suite.’ When I stare at him he adds, ‘It was necessary for state and security purposes, given her status as my second wife, but the layout allows us to easily cut off her access to our private areas.’

He lifts my hand and sets it on the access screen. The door opens, my identity confirmed.

‘You can go, Lieutenants,’ Ani dismisses my aides and handmaidens. ‘When you are needed again, tomorrow morning, you will be called.’

Each woman snaps a salute to him and is gone, leaving us to enter the small reception area as a family and without an escort. My husband waits until the children are inside and the door closed behind us before he pulls me into his arms. I let myself relax in his embrace. There is no more audience to worry about.

‘Better?’ he asks.

‘Much,’ I reply.

‘Shall we explore our new home?’ he suggests when Mikal starts to head down the central corridor.

‘I will never turn down an adventure with you,’ I tease him.

Gloved fingers brush down my cheek before he releases me.

‘Leia’s rooms,’ Ani identifies the corridor to the left with a wave of his hand, ‘ours,’ he adds, pointing to the hall Mikal is following in front of us, ‘and a third suite which is empty, for the future,’ he finishes as his hand moves to the right. ‘Each has its own kitchen, office, living areas, bedrooms, and ‘freshers.’

‘No more wives,’ I growl at him.

I will tolerate Leia as a co-wife since I didn’t really have any choice in the matter, but I will put up a fight if he suggests acquiring another. His hand squeezes mine as he tugs me into the corridor ahead of us.

‘That possibility must always remain open for political reasons,’ Ani warns me. ‘Think of it as a bargaining tool in negotiating a treaty or trade agreement. I must appear to be willing to accept another wife if one is offered to me.’ He pauses at the expression on my face, and reminds me, ‘Your consent is required before I can wed again, but I promise that I will not propose any new marriages and I will decline any future offers made to me.’

I stop dead and look around the room he has brought me to. It’s spacious, elegantly decorated, and minimally and tastefully furnished. Mikal and the twins quickly spot the box of toys Ani must have had brought here for them and run for it. While they are occupied, I examine the room in detail. The colour scheme is in creams and earth tones and designed to be soothing. There are three steps down into a sunken sitting area surrounded by couches. In the end of the room where the children are playing is a holonet projector and wall screen. Two other corridors lead away from the entrance, and the door I open in the inside wall is to a small ‘fresher. Most of the outer wall is filled by a huge transparisteel window, and beyond that, through another door, is the small garden I remember from Ani’s visit with Palpatine before we went to Endor. He has had a table and chairs placed out there, and I expect that will become a favourite place for us to sit and relax.

‘I selected these rooms to give you direct access to the garden,’ the Sith Lord reveals. ‘Your fish are in the pond out there - moved at the same time you were packing this morning.’

Turning about, I find myself caught in his arms again. In his choices for where we will live and what it will look like, Ani has put a great deal of thought into what would make me feel happy and at home.

‘Thank you, my love,’ I tell him. ‘It’s perfect.’

‘You’re welcome,’ he answers. ‘You should have a look at the rest of it while the children are busy.’

***

DAY 35

She’s sitting beside the pool and peering into the water, presumably at her fish that live in it. I set my hand against the decorative rock wall at the entrance to what was once Palpatine’s, and is now my own, most private garden and watch her closely. Last night, she left my side and spent the evening kneeling on the floor, looking out the bedroom window at the palace’s garden complex. When I tried to persuade her to return to our bed, she refused, claiming she wanted to meditate alone. Something must be wrong, but Maia will not talk to me about it until she is ready. Pushing her too hard, too soon, won’t help and will only make her retreat further inwards. I suspect she is nervous and upset at how much her new role as my Empress will force her to be on public display. Today, however, and for the next week, neither of us will have the luxury of the solitude she so desperately desires.

I walk closer to her, stopping at a distance where I know she will hear me.

‘Maia,’ I call to her. ‘It’s time.’

It’s time to go, to leave for the largest of the palace’s audience chambers where I will officially take control of the Empire and be recognized as its master.

She lifts her head and looks in my direction, the black ice moon gemstones flashing in her crown as she moves. My wife is exquisite today, her hair falling down past her waist in thick curls, and gown laced tightly in back to emphasize her figure, her high, firm breasts, and slim waist. Her pregnancy, which is not yet physically obvious, makes her glow with health and vitality, and I cannot take my eyes off of her. There is a throbbing in my groin in reaction to what I see and feel. I want to make love to her, but there is no time for that now. Tonight, I decide, for the first time since we left Endor, I will make sure we are both thoroughly satisfied before we fall asleep.

‘My Lord,’ she addresses me once she reaches my side and slides her small hand into the gloved one I offer to her.

‘You are very beautiful today, my Empress,’ I compliment her.

Her formal gown is one she designed and made for herself in secret, refusing to let me see any of it, not even a drawing. This morning, she selected what I was to wear, not explaining why it had to be that particular cloak and surcoat, but now I understand her choice.

She meant for us to match.

‘And you are very handsome today, my Lord,’ she teases in return, tracing with a finger the gold embroidered Sith sigil on my heavy mothsilk cloak, the one she had made for me with the swirling design around its hem which matches the same one on her gown.

‘I have you to thank for that, my love,’ I remind her. ‘My Empress, I …’

I stop speaking when she shivers, closes her eyes, and raises her hand to her mouth. At that, I realize she is about to throw up, so I release her other hand from mine, freeing her from my grasp. Maia runs away from me, the gold embroidered hem and train of her mothsilk gown floating around her feet, as she flees for the door to our quarters. Today, of all days, her body has chosen not to co-operate.

‘Leanan,’ I comm the doctor. ‘The Empress is ill with pregnancy sickness. She’s in the ‘fresher in my personal quarters. See to her and bring her to the audience chamber’s robing room.’

***

Somehow I make it into the ‘fresher and bend over the sink before I throw up in it. The tears come as soon as I am sitting down in the chair next to the mirror, with a soft towel pressed to my mouth. My old friend, pregnancy sickness, has returned and I am sure that my anxiety has brought it on earlier than I had expected. I really don’t want to be put on public display like some prized and pampered pet Ani owns and intends to show off to the admiring crowds.

I hear footsteps behind me and I know who it is without looking. My husband has sent the doctor to drug me while he goes to make sure everything is in order, but he should have come to look after me himself.

‘You should be spending the day resting instead of having to go through the ascension rituals,’ she tells me, ‘but I have my orders and so do you. Let’s make you presentable. A fresh relaxant, and a set of anti-anxiety and anti-nausea patches should do it.’

She rummages about for the med patches she needs and I feel her hands slide the skirt of my gown up so she can place them on the outside of my thigh, next to my hidden lightsaber. The tight lacings make it impossible for her to stick them on my back.

‘I feel horrible and I want to go back to bed,’ I quietly say to her, forcing out the words.

The doctor seats herself in the chair beside me.

‘You need your husband to be a husband to you,’ she astutely observes. ‘And you really don’t want to watch the executions.’

I nod in answer. I am far too upset at what will happen today to speak.

‘I won’t lie to you and tell you that being his lordship’s Empress will be easy,’ Leanan warns me. ‘At the moment, he is focussed entirely on being the new Emperor and all that goes with it. Eventually, he will realize his first priority should really be with his family. You should tell him how sick you are and ask to be excused early.’

She brushes a tear from my cheek and frowns.

‘You need to fix your make up,’ she suggests. ‘I will help you.’

***

I pace impatiently while I wait for Maia to appear, measuring the robing room with my footsteps. She should have been here ten minutes ago. Luke and Leia are nearby, quietly talking to one another, and doing their best to ignore my restlessness. My son is in black, dressed as he was at Endor, lightsaber at his waist, and his status as my heir made obvious to all by the gold circlet I insisted he wear today. My daughter-wife pauses when she feels my eyes on her and blushes in reaction to what she must sense from me. Her gown is a deep, dark grey mothsilk velvet, edged with silver in the same pattern as the gold on my cloak, and sleeveless to show off her armbands which mark her as mine. A coronet of matching silver is keeping her hair away from her face as it flows freely down her back. Beneath my codpiece, the stirrings of an erection begin, so I force it back, using control to tame my desires temporarily. Both my wives are at their very best today, both are in love with me, and both are pregnant with sons for me. I want to make love to both of them and I wonder if they would consent to …

‘Father?’ Luke questions me, interrupting my thoughts.

‘Maia is unwell,’ I admit. ‘It’s pregnancy sickness, but the doctor should have commed me by now if she were too ill to be here.’

‘Husband,’ Leia calls me as she points to the door behind me.

Maia is there, surrounded by her handmaidens and being guided into the room by the doctor. My wife is pale and a bit unsteady on her feet, but that should pass quickly. I go to her rather than make her walk to me, and gather her into my arms.

Little goddess? I silently greet her.

I am really, really sick, Ani, she confirms what I can see and sense. Can I leave early? Please?

After I assume the title, after Luke is named my heir, you my Empress and Leia my second wife. I also want you to be there for Thrawn’s promotion, I decide. You can leave once that is finished. I do not want you to see what must follow.

I feel her head nod against me and hear her sigh of relief. She knows what will come after that - the public executions of the most important of the Rebel prisoners.

‘Time to go,’ I say aloud.

Maia sets her right hand on my left arm, and Leia does the same with Luke. There is procedure and precedence to follow here. First we will enter, myself in the lead, then my two eldest children behind us. Once the proclamation is read, the titles confirmed, we will take our places on the thrones, listen to the oaths of loyalty, and wait for those I am planning to promote to come into the hall. Later, the prisoners will be brought in. I will ask Thirsk to escort Maia out just before that, but Luke and Leia have not asked to be excused, choosing instead to witness the deaths of their former comrades in arms.

***

I lean on Ani’s arm and let him help me back into my throne before he takes his. Luke is seated next to his father and Leia opposite him, beside me. As the new Emperor waits for the prolonged cheering to stop, he reaches over to take my hand and gives it a light squeeze to reassure me. He is pleased that all has gone well so far. No one raised any protests when Ani proclaimed himself Emperor, just as his predecessor had, or when Leia and Luke renounced their ties to the Alliance and swore their fealty oaths to their father, or when Leia’s status as my junior co-wife and her father’s daughter-wife was confirmed. The loyalty oaths from the officers representing the various military branches required both Ani and I to stand again, but that is done now. Everything has gone exactly as my husband has planned and that usually means that something unexpected will happen.

‘Military promotions, next,’ my husband reminds me.

I can sense his anticipation and distinct feeling of satisfaction. This is his opportunity to properly reward those who have earned his favour and been successful under his command, and to repay long-standing loyalties in kind.

The first few ceremonies I pay close attention to because I am curious about the officers and what they have done to earn their promotions, but after a while, the repetitiveness of it begins to wear on me. I don’t know any of these women and men, but I do my best to nod and smile when I should, quietly congratulating them and putting on a show for each one in turn. This may be the only time they will see Ani or I in person, so it is best to make a good impression and help them remember it.

To my surprise, Admiral Piett comes through the doors to the audience chamber. I turn to look at my husband. He is smiling behind his mask in an almost childlike fashion, and I can sense his amusement at my reaction to his officer’s unexpected appearance here. While Palpatine was alive, there was no possible way for Ani to make this elevation in rank, for only the Emperor appoints his Grand Admirals. When Piett reaches us, my husband skips the usual preamble and goes directly to what he wants to say and do.

No one dares to stop or correct him.

‘Admiral Firmus Piett,’ Ani states, with none of his hidden glee evident in his voice, ‘I am promoting you to Grand Admiral for your obedient and outstanding service to the Empire. You will join my inner circle of twelve Grand Admirals, who command all my Imperial forces - for the glory of the Empire.’

There is a genuinely pleased expression on Piett’s face as he accepts the promotion he has been given. I know he has always worked hard under Ani’s command and that this is an advancement in rank which has been more than earned.

‘My Emperor, your faith in me is well placed,’ Piett responds. ‘I will do as you command - for the glory of the Empire.’

Ani stands and beckons his new Grand Admiral forward, quietly saying something to him which I cannot hear. Both men look over at me before Piett salutes my husband and retreats, making his way to where the others who have been promoted are waiting. Something is going on that I am being kept unaware of, but asking what it is will not give me any answers until my husband decides I need to know about it.

Next? I prod at Ani.

One more, he replies. Just one more.

The last to walk down the red cashmel carpet, come up the stairs, and stand before Ani is Thrawn, resplendent in his bright white uniform and stoic in demeanor as he makes his way to us.  I smile at him and the corner of his mouth twitches in answer, but he doesn’t change his neutral expression. The Grand Admiral was instrumental in winning the battle at Endor and has been involved in a number of my husband’s plots, too. It is no surprise to me that he has been singled out in this way.

‘We are here to honour one who has served the Empire well,’ the Sith Lord states. ‘Grand Admiral Thrawn.’

‘My Emperor,’ the appropriate response is given in return.

‘Your defense at Endor was masterful, as was your destruction of the traitor Zaarin, the capture of the war criminal Mon Mothma, and elimination of the Rebel fleet at Chardaan,’ the Sith Lord praises him. ‘Many of your victories are now taught at the academy as ideals of analysis and planning.’

‘I am humbled by your recognition of what was only my duty, my Lord,’ Thrawn accepts the accolades, inclining his head modestly.

‘The Empire’s forces require a new Supreme Commander,’ Ani declares, ‘and there is no one more qualified for that role.’

‘My Emperor, I am yours to command,’ Thrawn accepts his new position. ‘For the glory of the Empire.’

‘For the glory of the Empire,’ my husband echoes, as he allows Thrawn to clasp his arm, something I have seen them do before when confirming an agreement.

There is silence as those in attendance realize that a nonhuman has been promoted to one of the most powerful positions in the Empire’s military. Then, I see Piett begin to applaud and his actions prompt those around him to join in. It is not long before those who disapprove are in the minority and vastly outnumbered. From the way my husband is surveying the room, I know that he is noting who has chosen to criticize his choice, and that those individuals will probably regret it. The noise in the audience chamber soon subsides. When it is quiet again, Ani motions Thrawn to the side, walks to the front of the dais, and nods to Thirsk. I don’t protest when the Captain of the Guard approaches and offers me his arm.

‘My Empress is ill and must retire for the day,’ Anakin announces, proudly adding, ‘She is with child again, and will give me another son, another prince for the Empire.’

Cheers erupt at the first public revelation of my pregnancy. As I pass Ani, he stops me and brushes my cheek with his fingers.

‘Go and rest, little goddess,’ he softly instructs me.

Anakin, I call to him. I need to ask you …

Rest, my love, he insists, not letting me finish my thought to him.

I don’t resist the pressure Thirsk exerts on my hand with his arm, and allow myself to be led down the steps from the dais and along the red carpeted path to the large double doors to the chamber.

‘Captain Thirsk, I feel rather ill and need to sit down for a moment,’ I tell him once we are in the adjacent corridor.

He quickly settles me in a chair and motions for my handmaidens to surround me. These five women, all of whom he had selected specifically for this job, are dressed in identical black tunics and split skirts, with their weapons concealed where I cannot see them. They will not allow anyone to approach me unless they know who it is and I approve of it. There are blue armoured Royal Guards posted nearby as well, and my Noghri guardians are in the shadows of the pillars behind me. I am safe and completely secure.

‘I will go to the Emperor’s private suite in a few minutes,’ I reassure them all. ‘I just need to rest before I do that.’

Rest and decide what to do.

***

I watch Luke and Leia’s reactions closely as their previous allies are led in, past the mostly silent crowd. There is the occasional taunting remark from those in attendance, but nothing more than that until Mothma is marched in, brought before me, and made to kneel in front of the others. The room fills with hisses of disapproval and disgust. Leia flinches on seeing her former friend, the Rebellion’s captured leader, with Thrawn at her side as an escort. Luke’s eyes drop to the floor as he refuses to look at the disgraced, erstwhile senator. Neither Luke nor Leia says a word.

‘Vader,’ Mothma greets me.

I raise my hand to stop any negative reactions to her choice of address.

‘Mothma,’ I mockingly respond in kind. ‘You may speak.’

‘You have thoroughly corrupted your own daughter and taken her for a wife,’ she takes aim at Leia and Luke, ‘and converted a once honourable Jedi to your cause.’

‘They were each made generous offers of amnesty and have chosen wisely,’ I calmly reply. ‘You, unfortunately, did not - not even when you were given the chance to surrender yourself and save your friends and allies from certain death.’

I slowly approach her, silently descending the stairs.

‘Choice?’ she states, ‘What choice? Surrender and be killed sooner, or fight and perhaps survive - or win.’

‘There is only one victor, here,’ I remind her. ‘You have lost, Mon, along with your rebellion.’

‘There is always the long game,’ she taunts me.

I circle around her, using my presence as a form of intimidation.

‘I have taken all of your pieces,’ I tell her. ‘Your queen, Leia Organa, is mine, my second wife. Your sole knight, Luke Skywalker, is my apprentice and heir. Your ships - destroyed. Your allies - captured, dead, or fled. Only you, a mere advisor, are left, and you are at my mercy.’

I stop in front of her, grab her chin and tip her face up, forcing her to look at me.

‘Checkmate,’ I pronounce. ‘I win.’

She glares at me then looks past me, to where Luke is sitting.

‘Skywalker,’ Mothma softly says to herself. ‘You have a young son with your Empress, so why choose Skywalker?’

Her body stiffens in reaction as she stares up at me. I know what she has just realized.

‘You are Anakin Skywalker,’ she identifies me under her breath so that only I can hear it, ‘Padmé’s secret lover. Luke must be your son with her.’

‘Yes,’ I whisper back, confirming her suspicions with the truth. ‘I was once Anakin Skywalker, long ago. Luke is my son, and Padmé was my wife.’

I feel her preparing herself to say more, but I will not risk her revealing my secrets.

‘Silence,’ I order as I constrict her throat with my fingers, just enough so she can still breathe but not speak. ‘I have heard enough. Your own words and actions condemn you as a traitor. Be grateful I have chosen to quickly and painlessly execute you myself. My predecessor would not have been as kind or considerate.’

I can sense her feelings of betrayal and grief at what the young Jedi she once knew has become. Her eyes never leave my mask as I reach into her brain with the Force and sever an artery, killing her instantly. When I release her, let go of her with my hand, her body slumps lifelessly to the floor.

***

I look through the doorway into the audience chamber, and see Ani leave his throne and approach Mon Mothma. At this distance, I cannot hear what they say to one another. As I watch, the Sith Lord grabs her by the throat, only to release her and let her fall bodily to the floor. She doesn’t move after that, so he must have killed her.

My hands begin to shake.

He is going to do that to all of the prisoners and the only person who can intervene is me.

***

I stare at the body at my feet and debate what to do next. It would be simplest to have the rest of the rebels taken outside, to the nearest large public square to be executed there, rather than dispose of them here individually or as a group.

My internal argument is interrupted by the sound of feet running and sight of Maia coming rapidly towards me, her handmaidens behind her attempting to keep pace. Rather than have my wife approach too close to Mothma’s body, I step away and block her view of it.

Something must be seriously wrong if she is here and not resting in our quarters.

***

I reach Ani and let myself fall at his feet, my gown spread in a fan around me and face hidden by my hair. To keep him from moving, I wrap my arms around his armoured ankles, effectively pinning him in place with my forehead resting on the toes of his boots. If he tries to take a step, he will drag me across the floor. For a few seconds, we stay like that, with the only sounds I can hear being his regulated breathing and the panicked pounding of my own heart.

Breathe, I remind myself. Try to calm down and remember how to do this. At home, it hasn’t been done in hundreds of years and I have no idea if there is an equivalent here.

‘Why have you come back to me, my Empress?’ Ani asks me. ‘You are ill and should be resting.’

Be like Queen Philippa, I tell myself. Be brave.

‘My Lord, I have stayed at your side through great dangers and not once have I asked a favour of you,’ I resort to using similar words to those that the medieval Queen had. ‘Now, I most humbly ask of you, out of your love for me, for you to be merciful to those you have condemned and I owe a life debt to.’

I can sense Ani’s eyes on me and rather than being angry with me, all I can feel from him is relief that there is nothing wrong with me and a touch of amusement at my request.

‘A life debt, once incurred, must always be paid,’ he states. ‘Select those six you owe or others to represent them, and I will pardon and free them. Your debt will be paid in full.’

He bends down and touches the top of my head with his fingers to let me know I have been forgiven for being disobedient in public and to indicate that there will be no punishment from him for it. When I try to move from where I threw myself, he helps me to my feet.

‘Go, chose, Maia,’ he orders, steering me away from him with his hand at my waist. ‘You may select three others to represent those who have been killed or have sworn allegiance to me.’

He means I can replace Han, Luke, and Leia with other people, but won’t say that out loud. I look back and forth at the rows of kneeling rebels. How am I supposed to find the ones I want? Inhaling deeply, I close my eyes and try to locate them with the Force, searching for any presences which are familiar. There, I decide. My feet take me across the room, to where I stop in front of Ira, the man who helped spirit me away from Coruscant.

‘Ira,’ I identify him, touching his shoulder.

I wait until the binders have been removed from his wrists, he has been allowed to stand up, and he is being led to Ani before heading farther back, to where the nonhuman captives are grouped together.

‘Chewbacca,’ I select the wookiee next. ‘I am truly sorry about your friend, Han.’

He lets out a roar of grief once he is on his feet, startling those around us. His guards move to pull him back when steps towards me, but I stop them.

‘It’s alright,’ I warn them away as I let Chewie embrace me. ‘He won’t harm me.’

Chewie barks and says something out loud.

‘I don’t understand you, Chewie,’ I admit.

‘Chewbacca has transferred the life debt you owed him onto himself,’ Threepio, who is up on the dais behind Leia, interprets for me. ‘He has just sworn to stay with you, and to protect you and your children.’

I hug the wookiee tight, release him, and watch Chewie join Ira before repeating the process again, this time stopping in front of a young man I don’t recognize but who the Force has led me to.

‘Your name?’ I ask, curious who he is.

‘Wedge Antilles,’ he answers, ‘and thanks.’

‘You’re welcome,’ I reply, realizing immediately that this must be Wynssa’s brother.

Three more must be chosen out of the many remaining here.

My next selection is a woman with pale hair named Winter, and my fifth choice is Shas, the socialite whose speeder I fell into. I look around desperately at those who remain.

One more, I am allowed only one more.

I glance over at Ani. He is in a relaxed stance, his thumbs hooked into his belt as he patiently watches me. So far, he has not said anything to me about those I have chosen. Surely he must recognize some of them.

Two rows back, in the center, he suggests once he realizes I don’t know what to do next.

Ani’s instructions take me to Lando. The smooth talking gambler turned rebel is surprised to see me stop in front of him. I had little contact with him on Cloud City, but at least he is someone I have talked to. He winks at me, grabs my hand to kiss the back of it, and makes his way to the front to join the others.

Come back to me, now, and kneel, Ani orders.

I do as I am told, lowering myself directly in front of him, at his feet, my head bowed and eyes focussed on the toes of his boots. The prisoners I have picked are made to do the same behind me.

Ask for my mercy for them, he prompts me.

‘My Lord, my husband, will you be merciful to these six I have chosen?’ I do as I am told.

‘My Lady, my beloved Empress, I wish you were anywhere but here, for I cannot refuse you,’ my husband replies. ‘Do as you please with them. They are pardoned of all their crimes and free to stay in your service or leave as they choose.’

I forget his instructions, tip my head up with a startled jerk, and look up at him. What he just said was almost identical to Edward’s words to his Queen. Anakin somehow knows this medieval ritual from Earth, but he shouldn’t.

Your brother warned me that you might do something like this, Ani admits. He was afraid I might become angry and hurt you if I didn’t know in advance, so he told me what the traditional requests and responses are. I did not want you to become upset at their executions, so I let you free your friends and those you owed a debt to.

Oh, is the only response I can come up with.

Don’t do it again, he warns me as his hands gently cup my face.

Thank you, Ani. I will try not to, I promise him.

‘Out of love for my Empress, because she has asked this of me, only those who were in upper level command positions will be executed,’ he announces, commuting many of the rebel’s sentences. ‘The rest shall serve the appropriate time in prison.’

Now, go to our quarters, stay there, and rest, he orders. I will return to you later.

***

I dismiss my guards and wave Luke aside, into his suite of rooms next to mine, then continue to my own, Leia at my side. Maia returned to our living quarters many hours beforehand, to rest and to remove herself from public view. Letting her ask for mercy and pardoning her friends has proven to be a wise decision. It has reduced her anxiety levels and raised her spirits. The fact that she will soon have a loyal wookiee amoung her body guards will make Luke and Leia happy, too. Their friend will have a place here where Thirsk can keep watch over him.

Leia catches my hand in hers and squeezes it. Maia’s selection of Winter, her former aide and friend, was no accident. The Force led her to that woman, and while I cannot allow her to be on my daughter-wife’s staff, it should be possible to find her a position in the palace where she can do no harm. The others I released opted to leave Coruscant and will hopefully stay out of trouble.

‘Is she alright?’ Leia asks once we are inside my secure, personal quarters.

‘She will have felt the deaths,’ I reveal, ‘but since she knew none of them personally, it will have been easier for her than it would have been had I not freed those six this morning and reduced the sentences to prison for most of the rest.’

Leia stops outside of her rooms, the second wife’s suite within my own, and turns to face me. I reach over to caress her cheek.

‘Come with me, Leia,’ I offer. ‘I want you.’

‘Tonight?’ she questions me.

‘I want both of my wives in my bed tonight,’ I admit.

She laughs at what I am implying.

‘We would wear you out, Anakin,’ Leia teases me.

‘Would you?’ I ask. ‘I doubt either of you could keep up with me unless I allow it.’

‘The prospect of participating in a threesome with you is not as appealing as you think it is, and your potential performance in that is not enough to convince me to consent to it,’ she bluntly states. ‘I do not want to share you with her in that way, and I do not think my sister-wife will want to share you with me, either.’

‘Why don’t we go ask her?’ I suggest.

There is another laugh from her at my suggestion and a slow shake of her head.

‘If I insist on this, neither of you can refuse me. It is my right, as your husband, to have you both whenever I chose to,’ I remind her. ‘And my commands to you, as the Emperor, must be obeyed.’

An amused smile is bestowed on me, but she does not object when I grab her hand and pull her along after me. Maia will consent to this. Rarely has she refused me when it comes to sex. I am curious, too, about what I might do with the both of them and how their bonds with me might work with us as a threesome.

Maia is dressed in a flowing white mothsilk nightgown when we find her, seated on the window bench, looking out over the palace grounds like she did last night, watching the celebratory fireworks explode in the sky above. Her crown and lightsaber are on the table, her face has been scrubbed clean of make-up, and her hair is in a long, thick braid which is draped over her shoulder. My Empress is beautiful in her self-imposed isolation.

‘Anakin,’ she calls to me, but says nothing more when she sees Leia.

This is the first time I have brought Leia into our new bedroom and Maia is wondering what my intentions are. I release Leia’s hand and go to my first wife, taking her hand in mine and kneeling beside her once I reach her. This will require great tact on my part. My two wives are possessive of their time with me and asking them to share me between them, to sexually interact with each other with us as a threesome, will be awkward.

‘I want you, tonight,’ I tell her, ‘and I want Leia, tonight, too. I want to make love to both my wives, with all of us together, as a way to mark my first official night as Emperor.’

Maia freezes in place and turns her face away from me, back towards the window. I cannot tell if she is shocked, upset, or angry with me for daring to propose such a thing, and the reflection I see in the polished transparisteel gives me no hints as to her true feelings on the matter. Her control over her emotions is tightly held tonight, a direct result of the deaths she felt earlier. I squeeze her hand to reassure her, and lightly touch her mind, letting her feel my desire for both her and Leia.

Today, I have wanted you both equally, I confess to her, and I cannot decide between you tonight.

You should have chosen Leia, then, Maia tells me. I do not want to do this with her.

This is the only way I can be fair to both of you, I try to persuade her, the only way to not disappoint one of you.

Silence.

Maia? I prompt her for an answer when none is forthcoming.

I will do as you wish, Ani, she gives in to my desires, but I can sense her reluctance.

‘Yes, you may have us both,’ she quietly agrees aloud so Leia can hear it. ‘You know I will always give my consent and do whatever you want me to.’

No, Maia, I reply. It is what you want that matters.

I need her to be an active and willing participant if all of us are to enjoy this. She shifts about, her eyes brushing over my mask to seek out Leia’s face.

‘Anakin asked me, first,’ Leia admits. ‘I didn’t give him an answer, but I am willing if you are, and rather curious as to exactly what he intends us to do.’

Maia’s hand reaches up to touch the cheek of my mask. She will do this for me, but only because I want it and have asked it of her, not because she is really willing to do it.

***

Lifting Ani’s arm from my waist, I carefully slip out of the bed to avoid waking him. Thankfully, the Sith Lord doesn’t move and neither does Leia, who is curled up on her side behind his back. Grabbing his robe from the floor, I wrap myself in it and retreat from the bedroom into the ‘fresher, only turning on the lights once the door is shut and locked. Ani’s semen runs down the inside of my leg as I go to sit down, and there is a distinct ache between my thighs from what they did to me. Between Ani thrusting into me too hard and for too long, and Leia using her mouth aggressively on me before that, I am torn and bruised, and not just physically.  

I look in the mirror, open the robe to reveal my chest, and examine the vicious bite Ani left on my right breast. He did that at the height of his last climax, when he was losing control over himself, as Leia’s mutual orgasm with us flooded his mind and mine. Setting a cloth soaked in cold water against it, I try my best not to cry when flesh torn by his teeth stings at the pressure I apply to it.

Is this why Palpatine kept so many concubines? Did he entertain and amuse himself by tormenting them?

I am still shocked by what Anakin asked me to do with Leia, and feel appalled and disgusted with myself for agreeing to it. It was not worth it on my part to give in to him, despite the exquisite ecstasy we shared when all of us finally climaxed together. Ani’s curiosity was thoroughly answered tonight, but he can barely control himself when he is feeling both Leia and I at the same time through our bonds with him. I really don’t want to share my husband in that way ever again, with Leia or anyone else.

Before I return to bed, I need to see to myself properly. I soak a fresh cloth with warm water and wipe myself clean, noting the blood on it which is a sign that Ani was far too rough with me. After dropping that cloth in the sink, I retrieve the ointment I need and carefully apply it to my injuries. The pain quickly disappears and the bruises should be healed by morning. Leia, luckily, does not have a mark on her. Our husband made love to her only once, and ignored her repeated requests for more. Instead, he used his mouth and fingers on her, drawing a firm line for what he would do with her when I am present…

You are awake, Ani notes, disrupting my thoughts.

I am sore and bruised, and just wanted to be alone for a while, I tell him.

There is no response to that, but a minute later the ‘fresher door opens, revealing my husband in another one of his black Sith Lord robes. A hand tips up my chin and he brushes my wet cheek with the fingers of his other one.

‘You have been crying,’ he notes, ‘and are upset and unhappy when I wanted this to be an enjoyable night for all three of us.’

Anakin’s eyes meet mine then drift lower, to my chest. He lifts away the cloth I had placed on it and I watch him flinch when he sees the bite mark. My husband looks disgusted with himself when he picks up and drops the bloody cloths back in the sink.

‘I have hurt you in order to satisfy Leia’s petty voyeurism and my own juvenile curiosity,’ Ani states. ‘I should have severed my bond with her immediately, when it would have been simple to do. Now, I am stuck with it. All I can do is permanently block it, ensuring that I will feel nothing from her and she will feel nothing more from me.’

He slides an arm under my knees and wraps the other one around my back. I rest my forehead against his cheek as he lifts me up and holds me close. There is an odd silence in his mind, then echoes of loss at what he is doing to his bond with Leia. Through the open doorway, I hear Leia cry out in her sleep at what is no longer hers, the most intimate of all possible connections she could have with the man who is her husband, her father, and her lover.

‘She will hate you for what you have taken from her,’ I warn him.

‘Leia has already accepted the fact that our bond must be blocked most of the time,’ he admits, ‘but after seeing what happened to you tonight, I do not think she will ask me to unblock it again. If she does, I will refuse her.’

FIRST HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR

***

I stare out the window, into my private garden, and continue to carefully consider my choices. Maia is my merati, my soul bonded, and Leia is my daughter-wife. Each of them I love deeply, passionately, but last night has shown me quite clearly that regardless of how I feel for them both, I must decide between them. I must decide which one of them I will keep as a sexual partner and which one, out of necessity, I will be abstinent with, although she will still remain my wife in all other aspects. My mind has run unending circles around what to do because I do not want to pick between them.

Choose, Anakin, I demand of myself, and then abide by your decision.

‘Anakin,’ I hear Leia quietly call my name, interrupting my early morning meditation.

I don’t move from where I am kneeling and motion her forward with my hand. Hours ago, I left my bed, with both of my wives still sleeping in it. Maia was exhausted by yesterday and last night, and unlikely to awaken at my absence from her side. She needed solitude to deal with what Leia and I did to her, and I required the same to make my choice and to determine how to tell one of my wives that our sexual relationship has to end.

‘Maia is still sleeping,’ my daughter-wife informs me. ‘She has a terrible bruise on her chest…’

‘We need to discuss that, Leia,’ I cut her off.

She sits down in front of me and silences me with a finger across my lips and a shake of her head.

‘No, Anakin, I need to speak and you need to listen to me,’ Leia states. ‘You love both of us and we both love you, but you were hers, first, and I need to respect her prior claim on you regardless of our marriage, what I want, or how I feel for you.’

‘Leia …,’ I start an objection, but she stops me again.

‘Don’t,’ she warns me. ‘Don’t make this any harder for me. Last night, you were out of line in what you demanded from us and she was injured by you as a result. I don’t want her to be hurt because of me, and the only way to prevent that and to protect her is for our marriage to exist in name only.’

I let out a sigh. This means I do not have to tell her or Maia which one of them I had chosen. That Leia has voluntarily come to this decision herself will make all of our lives much easier. Leia leans over, sets her mouth against mine and kisses me. I pull her into my arms as I respond in kind, taking the invitation her parted lips give to me, and meeting her tongue with mine. Curious to see how far she will let me go, I slip my hand under her robe and gently caress her breast, only to have her grab my wrist and shove my arm back.

‘Only kisses and no more,’ Leia warns me after she pushes me away and tugs her robe closed. ‘You may not do anything beyond that.’

‘As you wish, my wife,’ I tease her, taking her hand and moving it to my lips to kiss. ‘In public, we will still need to keep up appearances. Maia dislikes being ‘put on display’ as she calls it, so there will be times when you must be her substitute. I know you are trained in how to handle that type of role where she is not.’

‘I will do that for her, not for you, Anakin,’ she replies. ‘But now it is time for us to part. I must prepare myself for the day and you need to go care for her before your children are awake.’

***

I feel my husband’s fingers on my cheek and sense his concern before I open my eyes.

‘Little goddess,’ he calls me by his favourite nickname for me as he sits at my side.

Anakin leans over and kisses my forehead.

‘Leia has asked me to treat my marriage to her as if it were in name only,’ he reveals. ‘I have agreed to this as a way to protect you from future harm.’

His hand slowly pulls back the cover before he takes a look at my chest and the bite mark he left on it. Ani goes into the ‘fresher after that, returning with the bacta ointment which he carefully applies to my injury.

‘Stay in bed and rest for a little longer,’ he tells me as he returns the blanket to where it was. ‘I will see to the children and make breakfast for all of us. They will be excited to be going with us and full of mischief.’

I watch him go, and once he is gone from the bedroom, I touch my bruise. The bacta I put on it last night only partially healed it, but at least it doesn’t hurt any longer. Whichever gown I select for today will have to cover it because I don’t want to be the subject of stares, gossip, or anyone’s pity.

***

Maia shifts in the command chair beside me and I see her trying to hide the nausea she is still feeling. After her bath, she spent ten minutes in the toilet cubicle, throwing up in private while I had my morning shower. Leia, seated to her left, beckons one of the handmaidens over, motioning to her to bring my Empress a fresh glass of water. My junior wife is looking after the senior, and I can see the concern on Leia’s face. Hopefully she will be spared the pregnancy sickness which is making Maia so miserable.

‘Maia?’ I hear Leia’s quiet question.

‘I’ll survive, Leia,’ Maia answers. ‘It will pass, eventually.’

She takes slow, careful sips from the crystal glass.

I continue to watch them both as we wait for the first audience to begin. My two wives came to a private agreement this morning about who will accompany me to the various public events I must attend, but they have not told me what it is yet. All I know is that my nights will always be spent in my bed with Maia, and the rest of the day will be split between them somehow. Be patient, I scold myself. Let who you will be with be a surprise. If I am to be with Maia this evening, the anticipation and uncertainty of the prologue will be as enjoyable as the final act, if I play it right.

Maia? I gently touch her mind.

When I reach over to her, she takes my hand, so I hold it briefly before giving it a light squeeze to reassure her. Yesterday was difficult for her, and last night, Leia and I hurt her emotionally and physically. Maia has already forgiven us for that, and she knows that I will never have sex with Leia again. I rub the back of her hand with my thumb and feel her relax at my touch. This evening there is a formal reception, dinner, and dancing as part of today’s holiday celebrations, but if she is unwell or unwilling, I will not insist on her attending any of it.

My love, I soothe her. If you are too sick to stay, tell me, and I will allow you to go.

She glances over at me and smiles. My Empress wants to see some of the ‘show’ as she called it, so will wait until later to retire to our rooms.

Anakin, she answers me, I want to dance a waltz with you.

Is it to be you at the banquet, then? I ask. We can dance in our private garden, afterwards, if you wish it.

The corner of her mouth twitches at my attempt to avoid dancing with her in public and to elicit the answer I tried to obtain earlier.

Perhaps a waltz with me, she teases, or perhaps a minuet with Leia, or perhaps an estampida with us both. Leia told me how that one is performed, with you between us holding our hands, but I would probably step on you anyway.

My youngest daughter, Shmi, bored with behaving herself, hops out of her chair next to her mother and comes over to me. I let go of Maia’s hand and laugh at ‘Mi’s fearlessness as she climbs up onto my lap, bringing her favourite toy figure of me with her. Today should be entertaining for her as the various ambassadors and delegations pledge their allegiance to me and present their gifts, some of which will be for my younger children.

‘Daddy,’ she calls to me as she settles herself against my chest.

‘My little princess,’ I gently tease her. ‘You may stay with me until just before the large doors open.’

A few of Palpatine’s advisors, the ones I have not yet dismissed from their positions, look on with disapproving expressions. Their attitude irritates me, so I take note of who appears the most condescending and file it away for the future.

A resounding knock echoes through the room. The first delegation has arrived, and they are asking for permission to enter. I set Shmi down and push her gently towards her mother with my hand. Maia doesn’t know who is behind those doors, but I do. Before indicating my consent, I glance over at her and smile. She loved playing pranks on her home world…

***

I feel Ani’s eyes on me, so I turn to look at him instead of the now open doors. The most important of the delegations will meet us today, and the order they will come in is strictly determined by precedence, with those representing the oldest, most politically connected systems, first. My husband motions to me with his hand, letting me know that I should be paying attention to whomever is making their way to us.

My mouth drops open when I quickly identify the sole member of what I expected to be a large group from Coruscant.

It’s my brother, Michael.

He is dressed in his usual dark coloured Jedi robes, a black cloak falling from his shoulders to the floor, and one of Ani’s lightsabers at his waist. Somehow my brother has managed to damp down his blue aura so that it is not noticeable unless one is knows it is there and is carefully looking for it.

‘Lord Michael, brother to the Empress and the Ambassador representing Gaea,’ the herald announces him.

You two… , I start to growl at my brother and husband.

Don’t blame me - blame Anakin. This was his idea and he made me do it, Michael admits as he reaches the bottom of the dais and starts to come up the steps.

It is the simplest solution in case he is seen, Anakin tells me. He will live, as an ambassador and my guest, in the palace where I can keep an eye on him.

My brother stops in front of Ani and tips his head in greeting, but he doesn’t kneel or bow.

‘You are still stubborn as ever, brother-in-law,’ the Sith Lord comments as he leaves his throne to greet Michael, ‘but I expect your duelling skills have improved since we last met.’

Michael raises an eyebrow at him, and clasps Ani’s arm when it is offered to him.

‘There will be time for you to find out, brother-in-law, since you insisted that I take up residence with you,’ my brother responds. ‘I will be here for a while, too. My flagship has already cloaked itself and left the system with the rest of my fleet. They were needed elsewhere.’

I keep my mouth shut just to see what these two pranksters are up to. Both of them are blocking me out of their private telepathic conversation, so I have no idea what they have planned.

‘Elsewhere?’ my husband pounces on that.

Michael freezes as he realizes that he has slipped up and said far too much. Ani begins to pace a circle around my brother.

‘Are there problems in your remote corner of the universe that you have not shared with me?’ he prods. ‘Why did your ships leave with such haste and under cloak?’

My brother’s eyes meet mine, but all I can do is stare back at him. I have no idea what either one of them is talking about. The only ships Earth has are the space shuttles, and those are not capable of intergalactic travel. While Ani waits for the answers he wants, Michael takes a deep, if completely unnecessary, breath.

‘My home world is under threat,’ he finally replies.

I dig my fingers into the arms of my command chair and bite my lip to keep myself from demanding an explanation from him. Ani stops in front of Michael, but says nothing for a moment.

‘Do you require the Empire’s aid?’ my husband finally makes an offer.

‘They haven’t found us because we are well hidden from them,’ my brother admits, ‘but you are not. An invasion will soon be upon us all.’

The audience chamber erupts in a cacophony of noise as most of those in it begin to talk about what Michael has just revealed.

‘Silence!’ Ani orders, his voice slicing through the hubbub.

He waits for the room to become quiet.

‘We will discuss this with Grand Admiral Thrawn, during lunch, and in private,’ the Sith Lord decides. ‘For now, go greet your sister properly.’

I don’t hesitate when Michael comes over to me.

‘Maia,’ he calls to me.

I throw myself into his embrace and let him hold me until I stop shaking.

***

‘Well?’ I prod at Michael. ‘You have revealed publically what I already knew was in the future, and far sooner than I had planned.’

Instead of answering, he chooses to continue pacing back and forth, throwing concerned looks at his sister each time he passes by her. Maia ignores her lunch until I pour her another glass of water to encourage her to eat something. Finally, Michael stops, rests his hands on the back of the chair he should be sitting in and sighs.

‘I know what is to come,’ he admits. ‘Some of it, anyway.’

‘Given how you have withheld information in the past,’ I growl at him, ‘do you really expect me to believe that this time you are willing to tell me all that you know?’

The door opens, admitting Thrawn before Michael can reply. I wave the Admiral towards a chair, but don’t bother taking mine.

‘My Emperor,’ I am greeted. ‘From the urgency of your summons, it appears that there is a situation requiring my presence.’

‘Unfortunately, yes,’ I agree as Thrawn takes the seat I had indicated. ‘The invasion Palpatine predicted long ago and you have anticipated for years will soon be upon us.’

Luke’s eyes are jumping back and forth between Thrawn, Michael, and I. My son needs to be involved in this strategy session, but he is not sure what his role will be beyond that of an observer. The Jedi pest sits down at last, leaving me the only one still standing.

‘Michael,’ Maia prompts her brother, ‘you must tell us what you know.’

He looks over at Thrawn.

‘The Chiss call them the Far Outsiders, but that is not what they call themselves,’ Michael reveals. ‘The Yuuzhan Vong are not from this galaxy, nor from mine. Long ago, they were driven from their home world, caught in a conflict between two ‘droid civilizations, and forced to flee. They use organic technology and cannot be sensed through the Force.’

‘Far Outsiders,’ I repeat. ‘The Jedi encountered them, decades ago, and the Sith, also. These are not the aliens who were recently routed at Bakura by Grand Admiral Teshik.’

Thrawn’s eyes narrow as he stares at Michael.

‘Not from your galaxy?’ he pounces on the pest’s slip up.

Rather than allow our discussion to become side tracked, I decide to reveal the truth about that.

‘His home world, my Empress’ home world is in our neighbouring galaxy,’ I admit. ‘I falsified the records to protect them.’

My Supreme Commander gives no indication that this is a surprise to him. He knows the Unknown Regions far better than anyone else and may have discovered the truth before now.

‘If the Far Outsiders are the Yuuzhan Vong, as you believe them to be, then it would be best to seek out what allies can be had,’ Thrawn voices my thoughts. ‘A united and cohesive defense will be far more effective than trying to stand alone. I might be able to persuade my wife’s family to use what influence they have, but all the ships the Chiss can muster will still not be enough.’

‘The Corporate Sector’s military forces are thin and unreliable,’ I eliminate that possibility. ‘Perhaps they could be pressured to increase their arms production, instead. Most certainly the shipyards will need to …’

The comm chimes.

‘Yes? What is it?’ I snap, irritated by the interruption.

‘My Emperor,’ Sate Pestage uses his most soothing tones to try placating me, ‘The delegation from Hapes has arrived ahead of schedule and are demanding an immediate meeting.’

Hapes.

A potential ally, but I have a personal score to settle with Ta’a Chume.

‘Send them to my office. I will be there momentarily,’ I order before shutting off the comm.

Maia stares at me and I feel her sudden heart ache. She has no fond memories of Hapes or any of those on it, and neither do I. I step to her side and rest a hand on her shoulder. When she turns her head to look up at me, I stroke her cheek with my finger. Since I do not know who will be there, or what their reasons are for such urgency, it would be best if I go alone.

‘Stay here and see what information you can extract from your brother,’ I tell her. ‘I will find out why the Hapans have arrived early.’

Look after your sister, pest, and try to be useful, I scold Michael.

‘Father?’ Luke questions me.

‘You need to stay here, Luke,’ I decide. ‘What you know of the rebel’s contacts and assets could be of some help.’

I nod at Thrawn then leave the room, Thirsk following at my heels with three others from my security team. Their places outside the meeting room are immediately occupied by four others and Maia’s handmaidens are waiting nearby. Efficient, I note, amused. As soon as he heard I was headed elsewhere, my old friend made the appropriate arrangements to keep my wife and son safe.

There are no Chume’doro guarding the area when I arrive at my office. Perhaps they are already inside, although the lack of heavy security strikes me as a bit odd, given the Hapan Queen Mother’s habits. However, her last visit to Coruscant was in the guise of an ambassador and perhaps she has chosen to play that game again. I step into my office expecting to see Ta’a Chume, but instead it is her son, Isolder, who is waiting for me. He is accompanied by his body guard Astarta and a young woman, dressed in pale blue shimmersilk with a matching veil covering her face. Whatever has brought him here, given his lack of a large entourage, it probably does not require an audience.

‘Leave us,’ I send Thirsk and my own guards out.

Isolder dismisses Astarta in turn, and from her reaction, she is not pleased that he has done so.

‘So, Chume’da, why have you sought a meeting with me?’ I ask once there is just myself, the Prince, and the woman he brought with him in the room.

‘If I waited for my mother to arrive,’ he replies, ‘I would have no opportunity to speak with you in private, and this matter requires discretion and haste.’

I stare at him. Has he discovered the identity of Maia’s attacker, the one who cost us our son and killed Isolder’s betrothed?

‘Go on,’ I encourage him to continue.

He turns to face his female companion, says something to her in Hapan and slowly lifts the veil from her face. I stop myself from showing any signs of my reaction, the surprise and uncertainty I am feeling. Under the veil is a beautiful teenager, although by Hapan standards she would be considered rather plain. Her hair is the same as I remember it, but her blue eyes are downcast, fixed on the floor between us.

‘Liora,’ I quietly name her.

Her eyes dart between Isolder and I after I identify her, and there is a trace of fear on her face. I offer my hand to her as I did on Hapes, not really expecting her to take it. For a few, long minutes the three of us stand motionless, Liora staring at my extended hand, and Isolder watching us both. Then, she raises her own trembling hand and sets it in mine. I gently close my fingers over hers and draw her closer to me. Her panic is obvious and palpable. The poor girl is terrified, but I can sense that her fear is centered on what her future might hold and is related to the Queen Mother rather than myself.

‘I will not harm you,’ I reassure her. ‘I did not want to harm you, then, and I will not hurt you, now. I do not blame you for what happened on Hapes and there is no reason for you to be afraid of me.’

She pulls our hands down, holds mine firmly against her stomach. Within her, I sense our child, our Force-gifted daughter, the one the Queen Mother forced us to produce. My withdrawal from her was not fast enough and obviously failed to prevent her pregnancy.

‘My daughter,’ I acknowledge her as my own. ‘Our daughter.’

‘Our daughter,’ Liora softly repeats.

Her eyes are shining with unshed tears.

‘You are willing to freely admit that you mated with her and that her child was sired by you?’ Isolder asks.

‘Liora is pregnant with my daughter,’ I admit. ‘She was conceived under duress. Neither of us was in a position where we could refuse your mother’s commands.’

Isolder’s cheek twitches when Liora begins to quietly cry. She must be remembering that afternoon and the pain she experienced from what I did to her. I brush aside her tears with a finger and feel some of her fear subside. My acceptance of her and our child has alleviated some of her concerns.  

‘I mated with him and he is my daughter’s sire,’ Liora confirms what I have said.

‘There is little time. My mother’s ship will arrive very soon,’ Isolder reminds us.

‘Then we should settle this matter immediately,’ I decide. ‘She will bear my daughter and I want her to be my wife.’

‘That is not your decision or mine to make, but hers,’ he tells me. ‘She is sixteen of your standard years old, twenty-four by our reckoning, and under Hapan law, old enough to freely choose who and what she wants.’

I look down at the woman whose hand I am still holding. She is so very young to be married, permanently and irrevocably, to me. My fingers tighten on hers as I realize what I must do, first, before I break a promise I made to Maia.

Maia, I call to my wife. There is something you need to know.

***

Anakin? I respond immediately.

I sense his hesitation. Something has just happened in his meeting with the Hapans and he is not sure how I will react to what that was.

Do you remember that afternoon on Hapes when you left me alone with the Queen Mother? he asks. Tell me what you can about it.

Thrawn says something to Michael and Luke poses another question, but I ignore all three of them. I am too busy digging through my memories to see if I can figure out why Ani wants to know about that particular day on Hapes.

I went for a walk with Isolder and you kept talking to the Queen Mother, I finally reply. You finished the treaty negotiations with her while I was being shown around the palace art collection.

I don’t bother mentioning that it was the same day I made those careless remarks about opals.

That’s not what actually happened, he admits, and only recently have I been able to clearly recall all of the details. After you left, Ta’a Chume used the Gun of Command on me then ordered me to do something against my will and to forget it afterwards. I tried, my love, I really tried to prevent myself from doing as she wanted, but I had no choice in it.

Stay calm, I warn myself. Whatever he did, whatever the Queen Mother made him do, he could not avoid it, and it must be something he expects will upset me.

She made you have sex with her, I take a guess at what he is about to say, although the mental image of the two of them together in that way makes me cringe inside.

No, not with her, Anakin reveals, with Ducha Galnay’s youngest daughter, and neither of us was a willing participant in it.

I make myself exhale the breath I had started to hold. That same Ducha had tried to talk me into mating Ani to her daughter and I had refused to allow it. She must have gone to Ta’a Chume, who instead used force and coercion to get what she wanted, since neither Ani nor I would co-operate. What the Queen Mother did to my husband and that girl was a terrible violation to both of them.

‘Maia?’ Michael asks. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Fine,’ I reply automatically, without enlightening him as to what the problem is.

Is there more? I gently prod my husband.

Silence in response.

There is more and it is worse.

Isolder has brought her here, he finally, reluctantly adds. Her name is Liora and she is pregnant with my daughter.  

I close my eyes, set my elbows on the table, and rest my head in my hands. My emotions are swinging between anger at what was done to him and Liora, and an almost uncontrollable need to laugh hysterically at the situation. We need a military alliance with Hapes and the means to cement that agreement through a strategic political marriage has fallen right into Ani’s hands. He will not be willing to let any child of his slip through his fingers, either. In this case, I have about as much choice as Ani and Liora did that afternoon on Hapes. The third wife’s suite within the Emperor’s living quarters will soon be put to use.

Go ahead and marry her, and do what you must with her, I tell him, giving him my permission before he can ask for it, and not bothering to put up a fight about him having another wife. Just promise me that after today you will stay out of her bed.

I have no interest in her as a sexual partner, Ani agrees to my terms, and no need to visit her bed since she is already pregnant with our daughter. Today, if she insists on it, I will have to oblige her, just the once.

Anakin, I growl at him.

I had no choice, then, he reminds me, just as I don’t have a choice, now. As her husband and the Emperor, I can protect her and our child. Ta’a Chume will not start a war she cannot win over this.

Ani, I ask him, there is more to this, isn’t there?

Liora is only sixteen years old, Maia. She has been traumatized by what the Queen Mother has done to her and is frightened of what might happen now that she is here, he admits. I expect that she will need your guidance because you know how to help her adjust to a completely different culture than her own, having had to do that yourself. I need you to teach her what she must know.

I feel Michael’s hand on my shoulder, so I turn my head and look over at him.

‘Something is wrong,’ he states the obvious. ‘I can tell that from your face.’

Yes, there is something wrong, but Anakin is doing what he can to make it right, I admit to my brother. He is marrying the daughter of Ducha Galnay, and Liora is already two months pregnant by him. Don’t ask, Michael. It is a long and rather unhappy story.

Aloud, I state, ‘I feel ill, and I need to go lie down and rest.’

Anakin, I am going to our rooms so I can rest, I decide. Do what you must. I can meet her later, and I will help her in whatever way she needs.

‘I have enough information to begin planning our next moves,’ Thrawn says. ‘Once I have had some time to determine what else I need to know, I will meet with you again.’

‘I will be here,’ Michael replies.

‘So will I,’ Luke adds.

‘My Empress,’ the Admiral takes his leave.

‘Grand Admiral,’ I respond in kind. ‘Until next time.’

Michael waits until Thrawn and Luke have left the room. He doesn’t say a word, only opens his arms in an invitation for me to be held.

‘You are upset,’ he states.

I nod my head against his chest. There is no need for me to explain.

***

Isolder and I are waiting, him less patiently than I, for Liora to tell us what she has decided to do. For ten minutes, she has been silent, staring out my office window, twisting her fingers and hands about as a way to express her anxiety. Under Hapan law, I cannot force her into a marriage and despite Isolder’s status as the Chume’da, neither can he. On Hapes, the women choose their husbands, and the men ask permission of their mothers before they are allowed to wed.

‘What will happen to her if she refuses me?’ I ask Isolder.

‘My mother will take her back to Hapes and securely lock her away until the birth,’ he answers. ‘There won’t be another opportunity for her to escape, and the child will become my mother’s property, as Ducha Galnay has already agreed. Under our laws, even as her father and the Emperor, you will have no claim to your daughter.’

‘And your mother expects she will have a means to control me from that?’ I add. ‘Threatening harm to my daughter and her mother as a way to force me to do her will?’

‘Yes,’ he replies. ‘That is probably what she intends to be the result of this.’

I hesitate for a moment then go to Liora and stop her frantic hand movements by taking hers in my own. The Queen Mother forced us to have sex and I suspect that is what is bothering Liora. She is afraid that I will insist on being intimate with her, but I intend for ours to be a marriage of convenience and no more than that. Ignoring Isolder, I decide to do what I can to persuade my reluctant potential bride.

‘Liora, ours will be a political union, a consortship in name only,’ I reassure her in terms she, as a Hapan, will be familiar with. ‘I do not force myself on my consorts, and I always ask for their consent before I mate with them. If you agree to our marriage and decline to mate with me afterwards, I will understand and respect that.’

She freezes in reaction to my words.

‘Under those conditions, that you will always have the right of refusal, will you agree to be my consort?’ I ask her directly.

The comm chimes but I ignore it, as does Isolder when his comlink begins beeping at him.

A hand is pulled from mine to allow her fingers to touch the cheek of my mask.

‘Yes,’ she answers with a single word.

‘I do not know your wedding customs or rituals,’ I admit.

‘Use yours, if it is brief, and quickly, to make it official,’ Isolder tells me. ‘Our time has run out. My mother’s flagship has arrived.’

I go to my desk, open a drawer and pull out the necessary arm bands, a plain, gold set Maia once wore, but I swapped during the binding ritual for the ones she now has. Liora does not resist when I seal them around the required places on her arms, nor flinch when I etch my sigil onto each one in turn with the Force.

‘I have taken you as my third wife, my junior wife, Liora Galnay,’ I say to her, abbreviating the ritual to its absolute minimum. ‘Simply agree that I am your husband.’

‘I agree to have you as my husband,’ she repeats back to me.

‘Now, it is done and cannot be broken,’ I complete the short ceremony, holding her small hands gently in mine. ‘You are now my wife, Liora, no longer a subject of Hapes but an Imperial citizen, and a member of my family. No one can take you or our daughter from here or from me.’

I turn my attention to Isolder.

‘You secretly freed Liora and brought her to me, without the Queen Mother’s knowledge,’ I state.

‘Consider it my full repayment of the debt I owe you,’ he responds.

‘Your mother will be most displeased to learn that I have wed her,’ I remind him.

Liora’s hand tightens on mine. She is afraid of the Queen Mother and I am still furious about what was done to us, but removing Liora and our daughter from Ta’a Chume’s grasp pleases me. Spoiling her plans is one way I can have my revenge on her, if not as satisfying as killing that woman myself. A flicker of emotion spikes from Isolder, one I can sense but he prevents from appearing on his face. There is more going on between him and his mother than he is willing to admit. He did not free Liora solely out of a sense of altruism or in payment for my aid in finding Lady Elliar’s body.

‘I see no reason to enlighten your mother about my marriage to Liora - not until it becomes necessary,’ I decide then pause and point a finger at Isolder’s chest, ‘however, I do not appreciate being dragged into Hapan court politics. See to it that it does not happen again.’

***

I sink down onto the bench in the garden and stare into the fish pond, my mind wandering all over the place in an attempt to avoid thinking about today’s events. Leia is busy with my children, teaching them some of the games she once played as a child on Alderaan. Mikal’s laughter echoes off of the flagstones and easily reaches me, but my thoughts are with Anakin, my other son.

‘Leia, could you keep the children busy for a while?’ I ask my co-wife when I walk past her. ‘Later, I will see to it that they have their afternoon naps.’

‘Of course, sister-wife,’ she agrees. ‘I need the practice.’

Her eyes follow me as I go back inside and I can feel her concern for me.

I cross the living room, follow the hallway I need, and go into Ani’s private office. In a niche in the wall is the golden jar my son’s ashes are kept in. The metal is cool to my touch as I rest my hand on it, and I don’t make any effort to stop my tears from falling.

My husband lost a son on Hapes, and a Hapan will be giving him a daughter.

There is a strange, almost ironic, symmetry in that, I decide, a debt owed and repaid.

That thought does not make my grief any easier to bear.

***

After Isolder has taken his leave, returning to his ship to prepare to meet his mother, I reach over to Liora and gently pull her veil back into place.

‘I need to protect your identity,’ I tell her as I smooth the fabric over her face. ‘You will need a proper wardrobe, one suited for your new position as my wife.’

‘Emperor,’ she whispers to me.

I take her hand, lift it to my chest and hold it close. My office is secure. We can speak in here without fear of being overheard.

‘Anakin,’ I firmly state. ‘My name is Anakin. You may only use that name in private, with me, or in front of my wives and children. It is never to be said in public. In public, you will call me ‘My Lord’ or ‘my husband’.’

She takes a step back and I silently curse myself for being too stern. Gently, I chide myself, you must go gently with her. Treat her as a shy and wounded creature and she will respond to your kindness.

‘Liora,’ I call her name and soften my tone. ‘Come here, little one, and let me hold you. You do not need to fear me.’

Her body is rigid against mine when she eventually gives in, overcomes her wariness, and does as I have asked. I don’t hold her tightly, simply keep my arms loose around her and wait to see what she does. The minutes pass but I don’t move. This will take patience on my part and I need to give that to her. After a considerable amount of time has gone by, she finally begins to relax, so I let my posture shift slightly in response to hers. That prompts her to rest her head on my chest and move her hands, which had been held tight to her body, to around my waist.

How tiny she is, I note as she settles herself comfortably in my arms. Smaller, even, than Leia, but Liora is still very much a teenager, not finished growing yet and not at her full height, where my daughter is an adult.

‘Mate with me,’ she suddenly states, to my complete surprise.

‘No,’ I just as quickly answer.

‘You must,’ she insists.

‘No,’ I repeat.

‘The Queen Mother will require physical proof that you are my husband,’ Liora tells me.

‘She will simply have to accept my word on it,’ I decide. ‘I will not mate with you unless I am certain that your agreement to do it is made freely and willingly, and that you truly wish it of me.’

Silence.

I stop myself from laughing at her obvious attempt to push my boundaries. Liora is testing me, checking to make sure I will keep my word to her. As a Hapan woman who is used to men being subordinate, learning to defer to me will take time. It should be interesting to see how hard and for how long she will push me as she struggles to get her own way and then loses.

‘I want you,’ she tries next.

‘As my wife, you should want me,’ I reply.

‘Do you want me?’ she questions.

‘Yes, I want you to be my wife,’ I reassure her.

Silence again. My answer was not what she expected to hear.

‘On Hapes,’ she admits, ‘when a political match is arranged, love is said to come afterwards, if one is fortunate.’

‘The same is said here,’ I confirm her suspicions.

Her head tips up to look into my mask. She cannot see my smile, but my amusement must be creeping into my voice.

‘Do you really want me?’ she asks again.

There is more to this than what she wants to know at this moment. I think about Hapan culture and how to answer her. Liora is plain in comparison to most Hapan women. In a society where appearance is critical, what is labelled as ugly is shunned, and all are judged on their beauty, she must have had a difficult childhood. She is afraid I might reject her, although I have given her no reason to think that of me.

‘I really do want you as my wife,’ I assure her.

‘Mate with me, then,’ she tries again, almost pleading in tone as she implores me to do it.

‘No,’ I refuse her once more.

‘Anakin, please,’ Liora resorts to begging.

With anyone else, I would end our conversation with a sharp rebuke, but perhaps that is what she anticipates I will do. How many times has she been hurt by someone rejecting her? Has she only been valued for her appearance and ability to reproduce?

I lift her veil from her face and tip her chin up with my hand. She is close to tears again, but I can sense that there is no subterfuge in her. Unlike most Hapans, Liora seems to be incapable of duplicity.

‘Why?’ I ask, curious to hear her reasons. ‘Why do you want to mate with me?’

‘You were kind to me when it was my first time,’ she softly admits, ‘and I think you will be gentle with me again. You know we need to do this, Anakin.’

‘You truly wish this of me?’ I try to confirm it.

‘Yes,’ a single word in response.

I pull her tight against my chest, but there is no struggle or attempt to escape on her part. Unlike my other wives, I feel no love or strong attraction for her, and little desire to have sex with her. This will be an exercise in control for me, a challenge to see how much pleasure I can give to her while we consummate our marriage, and nothing more.

‘Come with me,’ I tell her after I let her go.

Palpatine’s old office has a suite of hidden rooms off of it. I had all of them cleared out and modified to suit my tastes and needs, anticipating that I might have some use for them. Today, the bedroom will serve as a bridal chamber for us. The concealed door near my desk opens at my touch, so I pull Liora along after me, leading her through the small apartment to the room I want. Once at its door, I stop. She needs to be certain of her decision and so do I.

‘Liora, will you allow me to mate with you as your consort would?’ I put the question to her formally.

There is a moment of hesitation on her part then her small hands are in mine again.

‘You may mate with me, Anakin,’ she decides, ‘because I want my husband to make love to me.’

Her answer is a completely honest one.

I open the door and motion her into the room beyond.

***

I feel the change in the bond with my husband as he blocks out most of what I would normally share with him, and know instantly that he and Liora are busy consummating their marriage. She must have asked him to do that, since he was rather reluctant to initiate sex with her when he communicated with me earlier. It’s necessary, I remind myself, and Liora and Ani both know that. Do not be upset with either one of them for this. My husband must be able to truthfully tell the Queen Mother that his new wife has been intimate with him, but that stark fact does not bring me much comfort.

I pull his cloak closer to my chest, rub the soft fabric against my cheek, and shut my eyes. The children are napping, Leia has returned to her quarters, and I should try to sleep for a little while myself. Later, I will need to prepare for the audience with the Hapan Queen Mother.

***

Despite her stated willingness, Liora is proving to be a frustrating sexual partner. She is rather naïve about what is involved, besides the act of penetration, and wants to go straight to that without any of the preliminaries. I run my fingers down her arm, avoiding her swollen and tender breasts as I try to ease the tension in her body. She is still nervous, but this time, I can be as slow and patient as I need to be with her.

‘Lean back and relax,’ I tell her again. ‘I need to properly prepare you.’

She slowly does as I want, but tries to bat my hands away when I go to touch her between her legs.

‘Liora,’ I finally decide I have had enough. ‘I know your breasts are sore from your pregnancy so I will not touch them, but you must let me help you with this. If you are not ready for me when I enter you, I will hurt you, and I do not want to do that to you.’

That warning has the desired effect. I am finally allowed to part her knees and take a look at her. Since I took her virginity from her, she has healed a bit, which is something I know can occur naturally. Hopefully it won’t be a problem. Teasing her with light touches, I move my fingers closer in, eventually reaching the point where I can actually check to see how small she is.

‘Take a deep breath,’ I suggest.

When she lets it out, I slide a finger inside of her, producing a gasp of surprise from her, a small smear of blood, and an answering throb in my groin. She is rather small, I conclude, so I need to be careful with how deep I thrust into her. Leaving my finger where it is, I start to rub against her with my thumb, noting what produces a reaction and what does not as I feel her body tense and flinch. As I continue with that, Liora’s soft moans mix with my name and unintelligible words in both Hapan and Basic. Restrained only by my bodysuit, the erection my anticipation has fuelled presses hard within its confines, seeking an escape from its prison.

‘Liora,’ I softly call to her as I feel her muscles clamp down around my finger.

She is too wrapped up in what her body is doing to answer me, but from how slick she is inside, I know she is almost ready for me. I push her legs wider apart as I position myself, not pausing in what I am doing with my hand until I must, out of necessity, remove it. With my other hand I free my erection and guide myself towards and then into my new wife, swapping my finger for something considerably larger.

Liora immediately feels the difference and cries out to me, her hands pushing against my chest to stop me from moving. I freeze my forward motion, as she has silently requested me to with that gesture.

‘It’s alright, my little one,’ I soothe her. ‘Do you want me to stop? I will, if you ask me to. It is uncomfortable for you because you are very small in comparison to me, but if you relax it will be easier for both of us.’

I don’t tell her that her insistence on haste is probably why she is so tight. She will learn that foreplay is important from this experience. Rather than move from where I am, I stay in place, and wait for her to settle herself. Beneath me, she shifts her hips, trying to find a more comfortable position. When her hands slide around to my back and pull me forward, I let her draw me fully into her arms. Her answer is obviously an affirmative one.

‘Do not stop, Anakin,’ she orders.

For the next few minutes, I concentrate on holding myself back as I thrust gently and slowly into her, keeping each one shallow, barely inside of her at times, and being careful to ensure she has another orgasm. Use control, be attentive to her pleasure, I remind myself as I ride out her climax within her. Only then do I allow myself to push slightly deeper and give in to having my own. I keep my weight on my hands, my body above hers, as I finish.

‘Are we done?’ Liora asks me when I pull out of her.

‘We are done, now, and you are fully my wife,’ I confirm it for her.

‘That felt good,’ she tells me.

‘Yes, it did,’ I admit to her. ‘I enjoyed making love to you.’

‘Again, please, Anakin?’ she suggests.

Be tactful, I tell myself. This was necessary today as a part of our marriage rites, but she is still a child in my opinion, and far too young to be my lover. Today, she doesn’t need to hear that this will be the last time we will make love. That can wait for later.

‘Not now,’ I decide to tell her instead, ‘not until after our daughter is born and you have healed from that. You must be patient and wait for me to ask it of you again.’

I sit back on my heels, roll her onto her side with my hands, and stretch out on the bed next to her. Liora rests her forehead against my chest and sighs contentedly. She is happy and completely relaxed at last, so I will hold her for a while. I slide one arm under her, pull her close, and caress her stomach with my other hand. Her pregnancy is just barely starting to show in a thickening midsection and fuller breasts. Within her, I can sense our daughter, who will have some talent with the Force, unlike her mother.

‘I am very pleased that you agreed to be my wife, Liora,’ I admit.

I bring my hand up and run a finger along her mouth, tracing its gentle curves as she smiles at me.

‘Yes, very pleased,’ I reinforce my statement to her, ‘and I hope you are satisfied with me as your husband.’

‘I think I love you,’ she bursts out, without any hints in advance that she would say that.

‘Love takes time to develop, little one, and you know nothing about me,’ I caution her. ‘You haven’t seen my face nor spent any time in my company.’

‘You have been kind to me and are a man of honour,’ she tells me. ‘The Chume’da spoke well of you, too, and I know you will protect our daughter from harm. Nothing else matters.’

One of her fingers traces the angles of my mask before she rests it at the front of my breathscreen.

‘You should take it off so I can see you,’ Liora suggests.

‘Are you certain you want to see my face?’ I ask her. ‘I am a warrior, Liora, and the many battles I have fought have left me scarred.’

No response.

I let out a sigh and sit up. Sooner or later, she will see me, so it is probably simplest to do it now and be done with it. My fingers find the release mechanisms and I quickly remove my helmet’s dome, setting it aside on the floor next to my gloves, the mask and vocoder soon following it. Then, I turn to face her.

Liora’s eyes open wide and she moves away from me to the other side of the bed. Be patient, let her look at you. Give her some time. By Hapan standards I would be consider rather ugly and my pale skin and scarred face is not what she expected. I force myself to stay silent and where I am while I watch the internal argument she is having with herself play out through her expressions.

‘I did warn you,’ I finally, quietly say to her when her eyes leave my face and stare at her hands instead.

Maia never spurned me in this way and neither did Leia, Both of them accepted my appearance immediately and did not let it affect our relationships as husband and wives. Having Liora reject me for what I look like, right after I have made love to her, hurts far more than I thought it might, but I don’t let that show on my face or in my voice.

‘I will leave you to dress and meet you in the other room,’ I decide. ‘From there, I will take you to greet my Empress and daughter-wife, and show you to what will be your living quarters.’

As I replace my codpiece and belt, and pick up my gloves, vocoder, mask, and helmet, I glance repeatedly at her. Liora refuses to look at me. This is one wife I will not have to make an effort to keep out of my bed. It is painfully obvious that she wants nothing more to do with me.

I exit the bedroom, set the armour I haven’t donned on the table by the window, and stare out over Coruscant’s skyline, thinking about what the future holds for my private life. I have three wives, each one very different from the others, two who are bound to me, and one who is not. All three are pregnant and due at roughly the same time. The nursery will be full, soon, with the last of my eight children. Soft footsteps eventually approach me from behind, interrupting my thoughts.

‘You will need this, Anakin,’ I hear her say to me. ‘The Queen Mother will ask you for it, and she will not accept anything else as proof.’

I turn, to see Liora holding a blood stained white mothsilk cloth in her extended hand. The Hapan royal crest is embroidered in one corner of it and my personal Sith sigil in another. Tradition, I remind myself. This marriage is an alliance between two empires and two royal houses, now physically manifested on that cloth in the mixture of my semen and her blood that she must have wiped from her body.

‘You came to Coruscant prepared for a marriage to me,’ I dryly observe. ‘What else do you have planned?’

‘No, Anakin, I did not come to you expecting marriage,’ she admits. ‘I longed for you to return to Hapes, to challenge Ta’a Chume and free me, and I dreamed of you, like a child would about her rescuer. Thinking about you and embroidering this cloth helped me to cope when I was confined within a few rooms of the palace. Sanctuary and protection, not marriage, were the best I hoped to obtain from you, here.’

She lifts up my hand and wraps my fingers around that fragile piece of fabric, the evidence she made sure we would have, but would lack if I had not given in to her persistent requests to make love to her. Liora has the face and body of a teenager but is more mature and wiser than she looks.

‘You remembered that I was a frightened and innocent child on Hapes, and were very gentle with me today in your words and during our mating,’ she tells me. ‘I am thankful and grateful to you for that.’

She turns her face away from me and I see her try to compose herself.

‘I am ashamed of how I made you leave the room immediately afterwards,’ she confesses, ‘but I was too embarrassed to mark the cloth with my blood in front of you and afraid you would take offense if I directly asked you to go. Please forgive me for that, Anakin.’

‘Liora,’ I call to her quietly as I turn her about and draw her close. ‘You do not need to fear me. I will never harm you, no matter what you say or do.’

‘Anakin,’ she softly answers me. ‘I love you.’

A hand wraps around my neck, pulls my head down, and I feel her lips contact mine. I don’t resist when her mouth opens to me, and I find myself kissing her as deeply and passionately as I have my other wives, Liora held tight to my body by my arms.

‘I love you,’ she whispers in my ear when I give us both a chance to breathe.

I can sense that this is another truth she has spoken, but I don’t repeat it back to her.

When I say it to her, if I ever say it to her, I must feel it for her as she feels it for me. My love for her will grow, if we are fortunate enough to be given the time together I will need.

Instead of telling her the comforting lie she wants to hear from me, I kiss her again.

***

I throw another of my gowns on the bed and glare at what I have selected. None of them suit my mood or the message I want to send to the Hapan Queen Mother. In her case, fancy finery and expensive jewellery simply will not do. I go back into the robing room, pull out my ‘working clothes’ and put those on instead, shrugging the chest armour into place and hanging both of my lightsabers from my belt before I toss a cloak around my shoulders. There is no way I can out glamourize Ta’a Chume and I see no reason to try. For this, I will be the imperatrix militans rather than Ani’s sweet and gentle trophy wife. Leia will be the elegant one of us. I have yet to see her make a mistake when it comes to what to wear for any given occasion.

The children are still napping and Leia must be occupied with her preparations, so I decide to go out into the garden and amuse myself by practicing my levitation skills. No one is around to distract me and this is something I need to work on. I find a comfortable spot amidst the balls and sticks Mikal was playing with earlier, drop into a cross-legged sitting position and close my eyes. As I slow my breathing and relax, I slip into a meditation and envision myself lifting from the ground when I move the Force about. To make it a bit more difficult, I call a few of the balls to my hand, toss them into the air, and send them into orbit around me. Other than my empathy, telekinesis is the one Force skill I truly excel at.

I am busily adding a few more balls and sticks to those I am already working with when Ani, Leia, and a teenager who must be Liora walk towards me. My two co-wives stop behind our husband and let him continue on to me alone. He rests his hands on his hips when he halts outside the range of my orbiting collection of toys.

‘Are you done playing?’ he asks when I send all of balls and sticks over and into their storage bin, effectively tidying up the mess Leia and the children had left.

I look up at him. From how he is standing, Ani is not in the best of moods and he is still restricting what I can feel from him through our bond. Is he annoyed with me for wanting to practice? The steady hand he extends to me gives no clue as to what his thoughts are, so I take it and allow him to pull me to my feet.

‘Come and meet your new co-wife, and try not to scare her too much,’ he warns me. ‘She is rather shy and unsure of herself around strangers at first, and you know that the Hapans distrust Force users.’ He pauses to wave his free hand towards my clothes, and continues, ‘I was expecting you to be dressed in a manner more suited for the court.’

‘For this audience, Ani, this is suitable,’ I tell him. ‘If you are going to insist that I change my clothes, I will stay here.’

He stops in place and turns to face me.

‘You will not attack the Queen Mother,’ he decides, shaking a finger at me in warning, ‘not verbally, not physically, and not with the Force. I need a mutual defence treaty from her and I do not want you to interfere with that, no matter how justified you feel it is to go after her on my behalf.’

‘Anakin,’ I growl at him.

‘No, Maia,’ he orders, ‘No stubbornness and no disobedience, either. You will obey me in this. Wear your armour, if you feel you must, but leave Ta’a Chume to me.’

***

The expression on her face speaks to me when my wife remains silent. Maia is not happy with my orders, but she will follow them. I rest my hand against her cheek to reassure her that I can handle the Queen Mother without her aid.

‘I know that you want to defend me, but that is unnecessary,’ I tell her in a softer tone. ‘The ones I need you to shield from harm are Liora and our daughter.’

Her eyes leave my mask and move to my newest wife. Just as I expected, Maia’s maternal instincts are immediately triggered upon seeing just how young and uncertain Liora is with her new situation.

‘From you, she needs understanding and guidance,’ I admit.

‘You and her …’ Maia starts but I stop her by setting a finger across her lips.

‘I care for her as the mother of my child, and they both require my personal and political protection,’ I reveal what she must have sensed. ‘Liora, however, is in love with me, or thinks that she is, for the moment. It is a teenager’s infatuation which will not last.’

Maia smiles at me and rests her hand over my heart. Her lips contact the cheek of my mask before she steps back from me.

‘How little you know of women’s hearts where you are concerned,’ she teases me. ‘With time, Liora’s love for you will deepen and so will yours for her.’

I watch her walk away from me and make her way over to Leia and Liora, not knowing how to respond to her last comment. Has she sensed something in me that I am not yet consciously aware of myself, or is she merely teasing me?

Leia handles the introductions and soon my three wives have vanished into my quarters. There is little time for them to become acquainted with one another before I must meet the Hapan monarch, but I will give them what I can while I clean up from earlier and quickly have the noon meal I was forced to postpone.

***

Liora needs something more appropriate to wear than her Hapan clothing, and Leia is far closer to her in size than I am. By the time we go to the audience chamber, I expect that both of them will be elegantly and stylishly dressed, in direct contrast to me in my armour. Rather than be underfoot and in their way, I leave my two co-wives in Leia’s quarters to let them sort out what each of them will wear.

Anakin is partially undressed and changing from one body suit into another when I return to our bedroom. I slide my arms around his waist from behind and rest my cheek between his shoulder blades.

‘Well, husband,’ I tease him, ‘I sincerely hope you are not planning to add anymore wives to those you have now. There won’t be enough hours in the day to fairly share you between more than the three of us.’

He turns about in my arms and kisses my forehead.

‘Three wives are two more than I ever intended to have, and there will never be another,’ he admits. ‘My nights, as I have promised you, will always be yours. For a few months, I expect Liora will spend most of her time in here, in our shared living quarters. That will change once she is more comfortable and adapted to her new home, but if she chooses to remain secluded, I will not force her to go out in public.’

Ani leans over and briefly kisses my mouth.

‘Now, my stubborn one, I will require your help with this,’ he warns me. ‘You will be monitoring the emotions of the Hapans so that if the Queen Mother intends to be a problem or lies to me I will know.’

‘Anakin,’ I growl at him.

His answer for that is another quick kiss.

‘Think of it as practice for you and a way to protect Liora,’ he adds, ‘because she will be there, veiled, and in Leia’s place until I must reveal her identity.’

‘What are you up to, Sith Lord?’ I prod at him.

‘I will be negotiating a mutual defence treaty and my marriage to Liora will be used to bind the Empire and Hapes together,’ he tells me. ‘Ta’a Chume will not be pleased once she realizes that, so be ready for her reaction.’

I step closer to him, rest my head on his chest, and feel his arms wrap around my waist. Ani is probably understating what he expects will be the equivalent of a royal temper tantrum on the part of the Hapan ruler.

‘And if she won’t agree to a treaty?’ I ask.

‘Then she doesn’t agree to a treaty and I will still be married to Liora,’ he replies. ‘The Queen Mother’s consent is not necessary for that to be valid, only Liora’s and mine.’

His lips brush my forehead again. He needs to finish dressing and have his lunch, and I am delaying that.

‘I’ll go see how Leia and Liora are managing,’ I decide as I slip out of Ani’s arms.

He catches my left hand in his, lifts it to his mouth, and kisses my wedding ring.

‘Off you go, then,’ he encourages me to leave. ‘I must speak to your brother before we meet with the Hapans. He is supposed to report to me what has been happening on the Queen Mother’s flagship. Come to me in my private office in about twenty minutes.’

I wonder why he needs to talk to my brother about that, but don’t bother asking. Sooner or later, I will find out.

When I reach the door to Leia’s quarters, I push the door chime button, letting her know I am there. Being polite to one another is how all three of us, as Ani’s wives, will have to be, since we will be living in close proximity for the rest of our lives. The door slides open, revealing Leia and Liora in Leia’s sitting area. Liora is wearing one of Leia’s simpler grey velvet gowns and I can sense that she is more comfortable than she was earlier.

‘Elder sister-wife,’ Leia greets me, waving her hand to indicate she wants me to sit to the other side of Liora.

‘Younger sister-wives,’ I respond in kind as I settle myself in the chair.

‘Empress,’ Liora calls me.

‘In here, Liora, you may address me as sister-wife or Maia,’ I gently remind her. ‘Formality is for at court, outside our private quarters.’

I tip my head in thanks when Leia pours out the fragrant tea which was steeping in the pot on the table in front of us.

‘We have much to discuss,’ I tell them as I accept the cup Leia hands to me, ‘but at the moment, this afternoon is what is most important.’

‘The audience with Ta’a Chume,’ Leia notes.

She fills two more cups with tea, hands one to Liora, and takes the other for herself.

‘Yes,’ I admit. ‘Anakin has told me what he needs us to do.’

I turn to face my new co-wife. Confronting the person who forced her to have sex with our husband and imprisoned her after that will be hard for Liora to do, and I will not blame her if she refuses to co-operate.

‘Anakin needs a mutual defence treaty with Hapes, Liora,’ I reveal. ‘The Queen Mother won’t learn of your marriage to him until he has the agreement he requires. He wants you to come to the audience, in Leia’s place. You will be veiled to conceal your identity, and I will keep you close to me so that I can protect you.’

Her hands begin to shake so I set my tea cup down and take Liora’s from her before she spills it. She is still afraid of the Hapan ruler, but regardless of that, Ani expects me to persuade her that this is what she must do. Hiding and running from her past will not help her in the long term, and she needs to make a clean break from her old life on Hapes.

‘You will be safe,’ I reassure her. ‘I will be at your side, Anakin will be there, and so will Luke. None of us will allow any harm to come to you.’

‘Be brave, Liora,’ Leia encourages her. ‘You will have three powerful champions protecting you.’

I wait for a few minutes, while Liora is silent, giving her some time to think about it. Pressuring her is a bad idea. She has had little choice in what has happened to her, and the last thing I want to do is take away any more of her already limited freedom to make decisions for herself.

‘I know what Anakin is asking of you and so does he,’ I admit. ‘If you need to be alone for a while, you can go to your rooms to rest and think, before we must leave for the audience.’

‘I would appreciate that,’ Liora decides.

She pushes herself up and out of the chair, and pauses in the doorway to look back at Leia and me. I let her go without trying to stop her.

‘You could have manipulated her into co-operating,’ Leia notes once we are alone.

I pick up my cup and swallow a mouthful of the tea.

‘Temporarily, yes,’ I confirm, ‘but she would quickly realize that I had done that, and resent me for it in the long run. She needs to learn that she can trust us to protect her and that we trust her in return.’

My tea has cooled a little, so I add some more from the teapot to warm it up.

‘You are taking Anakin’s acquisition of another wife rather well,’ I observe.

‘I could say the same of you,’ Leia replies.

‘He told me immediately what the circumstances were,’ I admit. ‘There were few choices he could make and marriage to her was the best of the available options. I think he feels responsible for looking after her and their child, too.’

I give Leia a chance to answer me by taking another sip of tea.

‘Anakin has a habit of trying to do the right thing after the fact where his wives are concerned,’ she dryly states. ‘He refused to lie about our marriage or consider divorcing me once he realized I was his daughter, and now he has married her because she will bear him a child. I suspect he did something similar with you, too.’

Slowly, carefully, I set my cup down on the table. Leia’s statement has struck home. Anakin must have felt obligated to marry me after I swore that oath to him and made him accept it from me.

‘Are you alright?’ Leia asks.

I shake my head.

She puts her cup down beside mine and reaches over to grab my hand.

‘Sister-wife, I did not mean to upset you,’ she apologizes. ‘I am sometimes rather undiplomatic in what I say. Unlike you, I was raised with an understanding of how political marriages work and I have reconciled myself to the fact that our husband will have multiple wives. There is no point in fighting with my co-wives or trying to prevent our husband’s marriages. It is better for all of us to live in harmony and co-operate.’

I let out a sigh. Leia is taking the addition of Liora to Ani’s ‘harem’ far better than I expected her to, given how she used to resent having to share him with me.

‘He has no …,’ I start to reply to her then stop and snap my head around, staring through the wall towards the Sith Lord’s office.

Anakin is furious, enraged to the point where I cannot avoid feeling it. Leia’s eyes are wide when I turn back to face her. With what little training I have given her, she can sense it, too.

‘Stay here, Leia,’ I order. ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

When I round the corner of the hallway, I see part of Ani’s desk fly out the door of his office and smash against the wall, sending splinters of wood everywhere. Ten seconds later, another piece joins the first, hurtling through the air powered by the Force. After it is quiet for a few minutes, I tip my head and cautiously reach out to see what I can sense. There is no trace of my brother and my husband’s anger, while still simmering, is at least under his control now.

Slowly, carefully, I approach the open door, peering in once I am close enough to have a look.

Ani’s office is a mess.

Flimsies are scattered everywhere, what remains of his desk is in fragments, and the frame of his command chair, which is in a corner and upside down, has been twisted about so that it is unusable. The other two chairs that were in the room are in no better condition. Thousands of small nuna feathers, the soft stuffing of the cushions that once graced the destroyed divan, are floating down from where they had been thrown up into the air and are gently landing all over the wreckage and my husband.

The Sith Lord is standing in front of our son’s funerary urn, resting his right hand against it, with his head bowed.

Anakin? I tentatively call to him as I take a few steps towards him.

He doesn’t answer me nor does he move.

I hear light footsteps running down the corridor. Mikal stops in the office doorway behind me and is probably staring at his father. Ani’s tantrum has roused our son from his nap.

‘Daddy?’ he quietly asks.

There is a slow, deliberate inhalation from Ani as he pulls his hand off of the golden jar and slowly turns to face me. His mask moves as his attention shifts from me to Mikal. When our son runs to him, he drops to one knee and opens his arms, catching Mikal in them and holding him close.

‘My little son,’ the Sith Lord says to him, ‘I must go to a meeting soon, but I will read you a story before I leave.’

Anakin? I try a second time.

I will explain later, little goddess, he promises.

Ani picks Mikal up, balances our son on his hip, and carries him out of the office and away from the mess. I don’t follow them. They need some father-son time together and I am rather confused by my husband’s behaviour. Something set him off. He rarely becomes as enraged as he just was, and I have no idea what might have triggered him. Surveying his office gives me no hints. The only object which remained intact and undisturbed is in the niche in the wall in front of me.

I reach over and touch the metal urn just as Ani had done.

I am still there when he finally returns. The nuna feathers that had settled on his cloak and armour are gone. He must have taken the time to clean up. I feel the Force swirl around me as he uses it to sweep the feathers in his office away from me and into a corner. Removing and replacing the ruined furniture will have to wait.

‘The Lieutenants have arrived and will be watching the children, so shall we go?’ he asks, offering me his arm.

My husband has obviously decided to avoid discussing whatever prompted him to turn his office into a shambles. I touch his breathscreen with a finger, only to have him catch my hand in his and draw me tight against his chest. He holds me securely in his arms for a minute before letting me go and moving my hand to rest on his arm.

‘No questions,’ he warns as he pulls me along. ‘We will speak of it later.’

‘Liora is in her quarters,’ I tell him. ‘I thought it best to let her make her own decision to come with us or not.’

‘She will come,’ Ani replies.

‘I am not so sure,’ I admit. ‘She is still frightened of the Queen Mother.’

‘Ask Leia for a veil to match the dress she loaned to Liora and wait for me while I fetch her,’ he orders, leaving me standing by the main entrance to our suite of rooms.

I watch him let Liora know he is outside her rooms by using the door chime, and see him vanish once she allows him inside. Perhaps he will be able to persuade her to co-operate. For a moment, I close my eyes and prepare myself for what will come. This audience will start out polite, with the formal, traditional greetings and exchanges, then quickly devolve into a verbal game of cat and mouse as Anakin and Ta’a Chume try to get the better of one another. I remember what their negotiations were like back on Hapes. Today will not be any different from that - only the stakes will be higher.

***

I step into Liora’s rather bare living area and hold her in my arms when she throws herself at me. She is trembling, scared and uncertain of what the immediate future holds for her. My youngest wife requires reassurance from me, and I cannot effectively give that to her in my current mood. With an effort, I push my anger aside, firmly restraining my fury for later, for when I will need to unleash my rage.

‘My little one,’ I soothe her. ‘Do not be afraid, Liora.’

‘Anakin,’ she whispers my name to me.

‘I will always keep you safe,’ I swear to her.

‘I don’t want to go,’ she admits. ‘I don’t want to see her again.’

‘I will not force you to go,’ I assure her. ‘You may stay here, if that is your wish.’

Liora’s fingers dig into my quilted leather body armour as she clings to me.

‘Stay with me,’ she suggests.

‘I cannot,’ I firmly state.

‘We could…,’ she starts.

I stop her from finishing what she was about to propose by lifting her chin with my hand.

‘I will kiss you goodnight, before you go to sleep,’ I promise her. ‘There is no time to do anything now.’

Her eyes close and she nods her acceptance of that.

‘I love you, Anakin,’ she tells me.

‘I know you do,’ I reply, humouring her.

‘Do you…?,’ she begins a question.

‘Yes, I love you,’ I say it to her quickly, confessing  to her and myself what Maia had sensed earlier, and hoping to prevent her from delaying our departure any longer.

She promptly pulls me close to her again, rests her head on my chest, and sighs contentedly. I remember going through this with Maia. First love, young love - teenage love, in this case. Liora’s blossoming emotional attachment to me is going to be a nuisance to deal with.

‘Are you ready to go with me?’ I ask.

There is another nod of acquiescence from her. Admitting my feelings for her has bolstered her confidence. She will do as I require of her.

I slide my arm to her waist and steer her towards the door. Her happiness at hearing her love for me is returned in kind is percolating out of her into the Force and surrounding her with an almost effervescent glow.

Maia sees it instantly and smiles at us.

***

I cannot stop myself from smiling at Ani and Liora. The Force swirls around them and shines most brightly nearest to her, reflecting her emotions. She is in love with him and is making no effort to conceal it.

Did I look like that when I was first in love with you? I ask him. All giddy and glowing?

You still look like that, my love, he answers.

Flatterer, I tease him.

They stop in front of me. I need to talk to her, I decide, so that she does not become uncomfortable asking me questions.

‘Let me help you with your veil,’ I offer.

‘I will comm Luke,’ Ani states as he walks back into our private rooms.

Liora doesn’t move as I arrange the fine, grey fabric Leia had given me to use and secure it in place. The pattern the mothsilk is woven in obscures the face but allows the wearer to see clearly through it.

‘He’s yours and I know I shouldn’t,’ Liora blurts out, ‘but I can’t help it.’

I weave a hairpin through the fabric and her hair, using it to firmly affix one to the other.

‘You love him,’ I say to her what she is afraid to admit to me, ‘and he loves all three of us, his wives, if in slightly different ways.’

The second hairpin I put on the other side of her head keeps sliding out of place, so I remove and replace it with a new one.

‘He will always be the one to initiate anything intimate. It is your choice to accept it or not,’ I tell her, keeping my voice even and matter of fact in tone, ‘but if you decide to refuse him, be kind and polite about it.’

I continue adding pins to hold the veil to her hair while she stays silent.

‘If you have any questions, go ahead and ask them. I won’t be offended,’ I reassure her.

She is quiet as I finish my task and let my hands fall away from her hair. Not knowing what else to do with them, I stuff the handful of extra hairpins Leia had given me into my pocket. I walk around Liora, adjusting how the fabric cascades down her back.

‘How often does he want it from you?’ she finally works up the nerve to take up my offer.

‘It varies,’ I answer truthfully while I drape the mothsilk in folds over her shoulders. Honesty is important here, if she is to trust me. ‘Sometimes, it is every night, but when he is busy, it can be days or weeks between, and towards the end of my pregnancies and afterwards, he has waited for several months. He will always follow the doctor’s orders.’

I move to face her again and fuss with how her veil is laying over her chest. Anakin tends to think of Liora as a child, but to the Hapans she is an adult and I intend to speak to and treat her as one.

‘Liora, I am his merati, his soul mate. Leia is his daughter-wife. We are both bound to him by Sith tradition and laws in ways that you will never be,’ I tell her. ‘I expect that he will wait until you are much older before he mates with you again.’ I feel her tense up, but she should hear the truth of it. ‘However,’ I add, ‘I could be wrong about that.’

‘How can you not be jealous of us?’ she asks.

I stop adjusting her veil and look at her.

Accepting and learning to live with Leia as my co-wife was a struggle, but I had no choice in that just as I have no choice in doing the same with Liora. The only difference will be in what Ani does with each of them. He will never have sex with Leia again, but I suspect that he will ask me to allow him to have Liora as a sexual partner at some point, especially if I am unavailable to him in that way for a prolonged period of time. Sex has become his way of releasing himself from the pressures and hold of the dark side. Without a bond of some sort with Liora, what Ani does with her should not affect me as long as he is careful to block me from what he feels personally.

‘It is better to live peacefully with one another than to deal with constant conflict,’ I decide. ‘The Imperial court can be a dangerous and deadly place, too, so having one’s co-wives as allies, and protecting one another and our children from common enemies is preferable to the alternative.’

The outer door opens, revealing Luke. It’s time for all of us to go.

***

‘Check your ‘sabers,’ I remind Maia and Luke, interrupting their conversation with Liora.

I ignite my own, noting how Liora flinches at the sight and sound of four lightsabers, two red, one green, and one purple, snapping to life around her.

‘Good,’ I decide as the weapons are turned off and returned to their owners’ belts. ‘We are all ready for what may come.’

I take Liora’s hands in mine to reassure her.

‘Luke will escort you from here to the audience chamber,’ I tell her. ‘You will sit to the left of the Empress. If anything happens to warrant it, she and Luke will protect you while I deal with the source of the problem. Follow their instructions.’ To Luke, I add, ‘Liora is your first priority. If possible, extract her from the room and to safety before you do anything else. Maia will cover you.’ 

There is no argument at my orders. If all goes as I have planned, they will prove to be unnecessary. I guide Liora to Luke’s side and set her hand on his arm. Maia wraps hers around mine, squeezing me with her fingers to ground herself.

I don’t waste any time walking from my suite to the audience chamber, or in taking up my throne within it.

The next few hours will not be very pleasant ones.

***

‘Read back the details of that again,’ Ani snaps at Luke.

I do my best not to fidget or show any sign of boredom. At first, I was diligent in telling my husband what the Hapans were feeling, but they have been so consistent and transparent in their lying that he really hasn’t needed my help in that way. The Queen Mother and my husband have been arguing for almost an hour about how many ships each will send to the other if they are called upon for aid. At least my husband has abandoned any pretext at remaining calm and detached. He has been pacing, back and forth, in front of us, as he picks away at the Hapan ruler’s terms.

‘Oh, very well,’ he finally agrees to some minor detail which had been irritating him. ‘Leave it, then, but I reserve the right to choose who it will be.’

Isolder hands his datapad to his mother. I know she is checking to make sure everything is recorded correctly. Luke, who has been acting as his father’s secretary, hands his device to the Sith Lord to do the same. The two rulers then exchange those for a third confirmation that all is in order.

‘We are finally in agreement and can declare this treaty as ratified, once you have chosen and married the bride you want,’ Ta’a Chume states.

‘Yes, it will be done after that,’ Ani confirms.

I breathe in slowly and keep my eyes on my husband.

‘Now, my choice for a Hapan wife,’ Ani says slowly, as if he is thinking carefully about it.

‘The candidates you may select from are listed here, and you can view their holos,’ the Queen Mother notes, offering him the datapad. ‘All are from leading families, young, beautiful …’

‘No need,’ he brushes her off. ‘I have already decided.’

He takes a step towards her and I see Isolder and his mother exchange a quick look. They must be thinking that the Sith Lord means to marry the Queen Mother. I can feel a wicked sense of glee building in my husband, and the anger he had suppressed is beginning to slowly simmer once again.

‘No, it is not you,’ Ani reveals as he spins about on his heel and approaches Liora. ‘I prefer my wives to be more like newly blossomed millaflowers than withered roses with venomous thorns.’

Liora is frozen in place when he reaches for her veil and throws it up and over her head, uncovering her face. Despite Ani being right there, she is still scared, but doing her best to hide it. I reach out to her with the Force, sending delicate tendrils of confidence and support to her. She relaxes a little in response to that.

‘This is my choice,’ he announces. ‘Lady Liora Galnay, late of Hapes, now a citizen of the Empire, and my third wife.’

‘You cannot..,’ Ta’a Chume begins a protest.

‘I already have,’ I hear Ani state. He walks back to the Hapan ruler, pulls a blood stained white cloth from inside his surcoat, and drops it on the floor at her feet. ‘She is of legal age and freely consented to our marriage earlier today. Here is the physical proof, if you require it.’

The Queen Mother stares at him and picks up that bit of fabric.

‘Liora’s blood and your semen, I assume,’ she dryly observes. ‘The evidence you have taken her to your bed and mated successfully with her. At least you have followed tradition in that. I cannot fault you for choosing her, given that I arranged for her to be pregnant with your child, but I demand to know how she came into your possession.’

Ani looms over the Hapan monarch, coming as close to her as he can, using his physical presence to intimidate and send a warning.

‘You are in no position to demand anything of me, Queen Mother,’ he hisses at her.

I briefly glance over at Luke. It sounds like Liora is not the only source of conflict between those two. My stepson shifts slightly in his throne, readying himself to move quickly and to defend Liora if needed.

‘You will…’ Ta’a Chume’s words are abruptly cut off and her left hand moves to her throat.

‘I will do nothing for you,’ Ani growls.

The person he walks over to this time is me. His fingers find mine as he gently holds my left hand in his, and he brushes my cheek with his other. When he turns back to face the Hapan delegation, his body language has changed. Anakin’s fury is close to the surface. I let his hand go, allowing him to do what he feels he must, although I have no idea what that might be.

‘On Hapes, what is the punishment for attacking a pregnant woman?’ Ani quietly asks in that deadly tone of his, abruptly changing the topic.

Silence from the Queen Mother. Is she trying to protect someone by not answering him? I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The tension in the room is palpable.

‘What is the punishment for someone who attacks a pregnant woman?’ my husband repeats his question, but slightly louder this time.

Everyone knows exactly what he is referring to.

‘Since you refuse to answer me, I will choose the punishment and deal with the offender myself,’ he decides.

Liora is staring at him, pale faced and appearing slightly ill, as he raises his hand and begins to bring his finger and thumb together. Anakin ignores her reaction to his open use of the Force. Instead, he goes back to the Queen Mother and stands in front of her. I can hear her fighting for each breath she takes, as she ineffectively pulls at her throat with her hands in an attempt to free herself from the Sith Lord’s invisible grasp.

‘You will return what was stolen from me, immediately, or your life is forfeit,’ he announces.

Isolder physically jerks back at that threat and Astarta reaches for her blaster. With a flick of his wrist, my husband sends Isolder’s body guard backwards, slamming her into the closest wall, leaving her in a heap on the floor and stunned from the impact.

‘Don’t,’ Ani warns the rest of the Hapans. ‘I can kill all of you with a thought.’ His attention shifts back to Ta’a Chume. ‘It will be his life for yours, Queen Mother. You may send your son to your ship to bring him to me, but I don’t recommend taking too long. My concentration has been known to occasionally slip, with predictable consequences.’

The Queen Mother nods at Isolder and waves him towards the door. His last look at Anakin is a wary one tinged with surprise.

She’s trying to figure out a way to thwart what you want, Ani, I warn my husband of what I can sense of her emotions.

Let her, he snarls. She will receive what she deserves for harming you.

I withdraw my mental touch from him to avoid being affected by his anger. The Force is an invisible storm around my husband - red, pulsing, and throbbing with darkness. His rage is such that he is barely restraining himself from killing the Queen Mother. The only thing holding him back is what he wants from her.

My eyes focus on the woman seated in the ornate chair in front of him. She has dropped her hands from her throat and is resting them in her lap, having given up on freeing herself physically from the tight grip Ani is holding her in. Ta’a Chume’s gaze meets mine. I calmly return it, not letting her know how much her predicament disturbs me. Anakin’s reaction is a rather extreme one and I don’t understand why he is doing this. If the Queen Mother was the one who harmed me on Hapes, why hasn’t he executed her already?

***

I let my hand fall and turn my back on Ta’a Chume, using that motion to indicate my contempt for her. Liora and Maia are both unmoving in their thrones, silent and staring at me. My son, Luke, is watching the Hapans, noting their every gesture and whisper. Isolder will return soon. He will not risk his mother’s life and his own precarious political position with delaying tactics.

To make a point to the Hapans, I go to Maia, kneel in front of her and take her hands in mine. I am doing this for her, for my merati, although she has not realized why as yet.

‘It will not be long, now, my Empress,’ I say to her.

I feel her confusion at my actions and words but choose not to enlighten her.

‘Soon,’ I tell her as I hear Thirsk clear Isolder to re-enter the audience chamber. ‘Soon.’

***

‘Soon,’ Ani tells me.

I look up when Isolder enters the room. In his arms he is holding an infant, and one whose Force presence I instantly recognize.

I don’t wait.

I push past my husband, bolt from the throne, and run to where the Chume’da is standing. He hands me the child, the son I had believed to be dead and gone.

‘Anakin,’ I name him between sobs.

***

I slowly rise from where I had been kneeling, turn to face the Hapans, and walk to Maia’s side. She is too emotionally wrapped up in the reappearance of our son to pay any attention to her own security, so I grab her elbow with my hand and pull her back, making her return to her throne and sit in it.

‘I have done as you asked, Emperor Vader,’ Isolder reminds me.

‘So you have, Chume’da,’ I admit.

I release the Queen Mother’s throat and listen to her breathe in deeply to cover the frantic gasps I know she would prefer to be taking.

‘Know this,’ I warn them all, shaking a finger in Ta’a Chume’s face. ‘If you violate our treaty, if you harm any of my family, your life is forfeit to me.’

She doesn’t answer, but I can sense her fury at having all of her plans to control me destroyed in the course of a single day. Isolder looks at his mother. Has he realized that Lady Elliar’s death was her doing as well? The thin set of his mouth and hardness in his eyes suggests that he does.

‘Go, now,’ I order them out. ‘You will be escorted from Imperial space and will not enter it again without my express permission to do so.’

Ta’a Chume pushes herself out of her chair and glares at me. She has been bested by a man, and a crippled one at that, and her resentment is rather obvious.

‘Remember, Queen Mother,’ I state, quoting a Sith proverb to her. ‘A leader is judged not by the length of their reign but by the decisions they make.’

The Hapans will not judge her kindly once word of what has happened here spreads.

Isolder waits until the others have left then steps closer to me.

‘Say what you wish to me, Prince Isolder,’ I grant him that freedom.

‘I had no part in this,’ he admits, waving his hand towards Maia and our infant son. ‘I learned only recently of her agreement with the previous Emperor, and how she had him ripped from your wife and one swapped for the other at his behest. Your son was too well guarded for me to free him as I did Liora.’

I curl my fists in anger and hurl an expensive vase across the room with the Force, smashing it into fragments. My rage burns, but I let it go since the one I would aim it at is dead. He knew I would never willingly let him have my son, so arranged to have him torn from Maia’s body instead.

‘He is telling the truth,’ Maia confirms his words.

A truth, if only from one point of view.

‘You know she engineered the circumstances,’ I prod at him.

‘I will deal with my mother in my own way and in my own time,’ he firmly states. ‘Leave her to me.’

‘I will, then,’ I allow, ‘unless she does something to provoke me.’

‘Until we meet again, Emperor,’ Isolder says before he steps from the room.

The nod he gives to me is stiff and minimally polite. I wave him out in dismissal.  There is no point in prolonging our exchange. He will neutralize his mother’s influence, and I fully expect changes to occur on Hapes once they have returned there.

***

I hold Anakin close to my chest, refusing to let go of him until we are safe in Ani’s private quarters. He appears to be unharmed and healthy, and he knows who I am by the happy cooing noises he is making. His father embraces us both, keeping us firm in his arms for a moment.

‘Thank you,’ I tell him.

‘You’re welcome,’ he replies.  ‘Could I?’

I hand Anakin to him and watch the Sith Lord carefully cradle our second son. A gloved fingertip rests against his forehead while Ani checks on something.

‘So very strong,’ he murmurs to himself. ‘My future Sith apprentice, I think.’

The doctor comms her presence before I can react to that, so I go to let her in. Ani has repeatedly promised me that none of our children would become a Sith, and I intend to hold him to that, whether he likes it or not.

‘I should have checked the DNA against yours,’ Leanan admits when I walk her from the main door to my bedroom. ‘I assumed - we all assumed, it was him, and that was a big mistake.’

‘You had no reason to question what we were told,’ Ani says to her.

He hands Anakin back to me. I lay him on the bed, sit beside him, and try to occupy him by singing to him while the doctor examines him and administers the necessary vaccinations.

‘Healthy, if a bit small, and doing well, given his premature birth,’ she proclaims him fit. ‘They must have swapped them right after he was removed from you.’

‘That poor child,’ I whisper to myself.

Some Hapan mother must have had her son taken from her, to act as a substitute for mine, and what was done to that infant after that, to ensure he could not survive, makes me feel ill. Ani closes his hands into fists. He is pleased we have our son back, but still furious with the Queen Mother.

‘Now, do you want to nurse him?’ the doctor asks me.

‘Yes, but I don’t think I can,’ I admit. ‘It has been too long since…’

‘Give me your arm,’ she orders. ‘When your milk dried up doesn’t matter as long as you are willing to have it come in again.’

I feel the pressure of a hypospray against the skin above my elbow.

‘Hormones to quickly bring in your milk supply,’ Leanan reveals. ‘Let him nurse as much as he wants over the next few hours. He won’t get anything at first, but his demands for it will make your milk come in much faster. You will need to wean him in about five months, unless you intend to nurse him alongside his younger brother.’

‘I was able to manage the twins,’ I remind her. ‘Doing the same with him and his brother won’t be that much different.’

‘If you need anything, comm me,’ the doctor offers. ‘Don’t worry about waking me up. I am used to late night calls from his lordship.’

That was a jab at my husband for the last time he dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night. I ignore her as she packs up her bag and makes her way out to the main door with Ani. Before he comes back, I open my tunic, unhook my bra’s front closure, and set my son’s mouth to my right breast. He latches on immediately and sucks hard, but lets it go once he discovers there is nothing to be had. I swap him to my other breast and this time he stays there, nursing eagerly at it for a minute before I break the suction.

‘You can try again, later,’ I tell him as I lay him down next to the bed, in the cradle I had the Lieutenants move in here for me.

‘Why don’t I try?’ my husband suggests.

‘Go ahead,’ I agree with a laugh. ‘I am willing to try just about anything to help bring in my milk. Our son will be unhappy and cranky if he has nothing to drink in a few hours.’

The bedroom door slides shut behind him. Ani removes his helmet and mask, looks at me as he detaches the vocoder, and comes over to sit beside me. His gloved fingers caress my breasts and he smiles at me before he leans over and does exactly as he had said he would.

***

She’s perfectly content, happy, and sated, I decide.

I trace a slow circle on Maia’s stomach, waiting for her to tell me what she wants us to do next. There is time for us to make love once more, before the evening’s festivities will start.

‘You choose,’ she suggests.

I roll her over, onto her stomach and pull her up onto her hands and knees. She doesn’t protest my choice, but I know that this is her least preferred position. It’s one we rarely use and only when I want it. Reaching around her, I cup her breasts and thrust into her from behind. Maia meets my forward motion with a backwards push of her hips. I hold her hard against me, and with my gloved hands make circular movements on her breasts until she begs me to continue. At that, I pull out completely then push forward again, but into the wrong location.

I freeze in place. This is a first for both of us.

There is a quickly inhaled breath from her.  I stroke her buttocks, parting them, my curiosity driving my examination. I am definitely deep inside her and not where either of us expected me to be.

‘It’s tight, but manageable,’ I reassure her.

‘It’s… different,’ she tells me. ‘It doesn’t hurt to have you there, it just feels… odd.’

‘Should we try it, then?’ I ask for her permission.

‘Be gentle with me, Ani,’ she warns me. ‘We haven’t done this before.’

I wait until she is ready then slowly thrust in and out, moving deeper within her each time. She is rather tight, here, but once I have my rhythm established, I shift my hands to her front. Fingers from my left hand stroke her and two from my right plunge into her other opening, thrusting in time to what I am doing behind and with my left hand. I tease her, never letting us fall off the edge we are both poised on but driving us there, holding us there, before backing off a little and repeating it.

It is a maddening, excruciating, and exquisitely unbearable mix of pleasure and pain I am sharing with her and from three parts of her body all at once. She trembles and shakes as we repeatedly come close to and are cruelly denied by me the orgasms we both want and need.

‘Anakin,’ she cries out to me. ‘Anakin, please, you must let me climax.’

She is desperate for me to give her the release we both want.

‘Anakin, please,’ she begs. ‘Give me what I need.’

I pull out of her then drive myself back in again, replacing my fingers with something else as I arch my back and thrust deeply into her. This one action of mine triggers the strongest, longest, best feeling orgasm I have felt in my life and does the same for her. I stay motionless inside her after I finish, waiting, as her climax continues to pulse around me, while she screams out to me, moans, and sobs with the pleasure of it, finally collapsing under me once she is done, leaving me on my knees above her.

‘Maia,’ I softly say her name when she curls up in a ball and starts to shiver.

I lie down beside her, coax her into my arms and watch as she closes her eyes and begins to cry. What we just experienced and shared was incredible, and something I will never, ever forget.

‘Maia,’ I tell her, ‘I love you, my little goddess.’

***

‘If you wish to stay here with Anakin, you may,’ Ani tells me. ‘I will understand if you prefer that to accompanying me to the dinner and ball. Leia can come with me instead.’

I tug his old robe tight around me, stretch my legs and look up at him. After an hour of making love with him, staying in bed, having more sex, and missing the public spectacle sounds like a much better plan.

‘Why don’t you cancel your appearance and stay here with me?’ I suggest. ‘We could have some more fun.’

He sits beside me, rests his hands to either side of my head, leans over, and passionately kisses me. I try to pull him over onto the bed, but he is far too strong and doesn’t budge an inch.

‘I need to be there,’ he denies my request of him. ‘There are some events I cannot afford to miss, and Leia needs to be seen at my side as my wife.’ Ani hesitates. ‘I will need to give the impression she is still intimate with me. May I do what I need to with her for that?

‘I trust you to do what you need to,’ I give my consent. ‘I just don’t want to know about it.’

‘Very well,’ he agrees to my conditions. ‘You won’t sense any of it and I won’t break the terms I agreed to with her: kisses only, and no other intimate contact.’

‘Kiss me before you go, Sith Lord,’ I order. ‘Don’t stay too late, and try to have some fun.’

‘Fun is a relative term, and I prefer your definition of it to any other,’ he wryly states. ‘I need to keep an eye on the court and the reactions to today’s events should be most interesting.’

He pushes himself up and away from me. When he opens his arms, I sit up and accept the kiss I had demanded from him. His lips brush my hair and I am held close to his chest for quite a long time. I listen to his even breathing and wait patiently. Ani needs to say something to me and is working out how to do that.

‘You have been very accepting of Liora,’ he finally brings up that subject.

I sit back a little and kiss his cheek. He wants to hear my thoughts and feelings about his newest wife.

‘She did not choose what has happened to her and neither did you,’ I tell him. ‘Both of you are blameless in this. You did the right thing, Ani, in marrying her to protect her and your child.’

‘I am not bound to her by the same Sith laws and traditions as I am with you and Leia,’ he admits. ‘I can divorce her, if you wish me to….’

‘…but you will not,’ I interrupt him and firmly squash that idea. ‘You will keep her as your wife and treat her fairly because you love her.’

He blinks at me in surprise.

‘She loves you, too,’ I remind him, ‘and she will bear you a daughter.’

I pause. Should I tell him my thoughts from earlier in the day or not?

‘Ani, if you need to and I cannot,’ I start to make him an offer.

He stops me from completing what I intended to say by setting his mouth on mine.

‘Thank you, my love,’ he accepts my proposal, without my having to say more. ‘She is too young, now, but later, if it should become necessary, I might consider it.’

‘You should leave, soon,’ I remind him of his obligations.

His eyes leave mine and move to our second son, who is sleeping soundly nearby. I will keep him close to us at night so that nursing him is easier and more convenient. Later, he will have his own room, next to Mikal’s and the twins’.

‘I will depart from tonight’s nonsense as soon as I am able,’ he promises. ‘Once I am back, I must keep my word to Liora. I owe her a kiss for agreeing to come to the audience with us today.’

I bring a hand to my mouth and start to laugh. He had to resort to bribery.

‘Oh, Ani,’ I tease him. ‘If I had known you were giving out kisses in exchange for co-operation, I would be much more stubborn than I am.’

‘If kisses are all I need to persuade you then you may have as many of those from me as you desire,’ he decides, ‘but starting tomorrow, not tonight. I must go, now.’

I tackle him, shoving him over onto his back. He has let me do that, instead of preventing it, but I don’t care.

‘Kiss me, Sith Lord,’ I demand. ‘That is the price for your freedom.’

He rolls me over and pins me beneath him.

‘Foolish Jedi,’ he replies. ‘Have you so quickly forgotten that you are my prisoner?’

Ani kisses me.

I don’t resist him.

***

I leave Maia to let her see to Anakin, who has woken up and needs her attention. She tried nursing him again, but there is no milk for him yet. Hopefully, that will come in soon. The prospect of listening to the cries of a hungry, unhappy infant is not an appealing one.

Leia opens her door as soon as she is ready. I step into her sitting room, look down at her and smile. My daughter-wife is impeccably dressed, her hair flowing down to her waist, and make-up perfectly applied. She is beautiful and tempting, but I need to have her looking another way, too.

‘Leia,’ I call her name.

I pull her close to me and kiss her. She doesn’t fight me so I open my mouth to her and slide my tongue over hers. When she begins to moan and dig her fingers into my back, I move my hands to her waist and slowly move my hips against hers. Let her feel a bit of what she has decided to forego, I decide. It might make her a bit more sociable tonight. Her breathing slows, deepens as she reacts to what I am doing to her, but Leia pulls away from me after that and spits out a few curses at me.

‘You stuck up nerf-herder!’ she growls at the end of it, after running out of nastier epithets to use.

‘I didn’t do anything you forbade to me,’ I scold her, waving my finger in her face, ‘and you enjoyed every bit of it. Perhaps I should kiss you again.’

‘Anakin, you are incorrigible,’ she snaps at me.

‘You need to fix your make-up and hair,’ I tell her, touching her lips with my thumb before I pull her to me and quickly kiss her again.

Leia glares at me after I let her go. Her lip paint is smudged, hair dishevelled, and gown in slight disarray. She looks like a woman who has just been thoroughly bedded and relished every minute of it, which is what my intentions were. Anyone seeing her will assume that I was the one responsible for that.

‘I won’t be long,’ I remind her. ‘Be ready to go when I return.’

I let my laughter escape as I close the door to her quarters. Leia still wants me, despite anything she might say to the contrary. Smiling at how I was so easily able to manipulate her, I quickly put on my helmet. My daughter-wife is at the main door, waiting for me, after I am finished.

‘Husband,’ she acknowledges me when she sets her hand on my arm.

‘Shall we go, my wife?’ I suggest to her.

Her lips are slightly bruised and eyes dilated. The sexual aura around her and her desire for me are rather apparent. As we head to the banquet room, she flirts shamelessly with me, openly playing the game of courtly love as I respond in kind to her.

Attending the festivities tonight might prove to be more amusing and entertaining than I had anticipated.

***

Ani and Leia have been gone for hours, and I am walking around the garden with Anakin in my arms. I don’t want to let him out of my sight and whenever I am more than a few feet away, he begins to cry. My poor little boy. You missed feeling my presence in the Force during the time we were separated.

My breasts are aching, stretched tight and full, but each time I have tried nursing him there has been no milk. The doctor had no real advice for me when I commed her, only a reminder to be patient and give it time, and to use hot compresses rather than pain meds to relieve the discomfort.

I sit down beside the pool with the fish, open my tunic again, and set Anakin’s mouth to my breast. He is reluctant at first, after so many failures, but too hungry to refuse entirely. His mouth finally latches on, sucking hard, almost desperately on me. There is a sharp pain with how he does that, and then the blessed sensation and warmth of release as my milk starts to flow.

‘Finally,’ I say aloud to the empty garden.

I let him nurse for a few minutes then switch him to the other side. With a contented sigh, I close my eyes as I enjoy having him drain my sore, aching breasts. For an hour, I move him back and forth, letting him take as much as he needs, knowing that the more he demands from my body, the more it will produce for him.

I smile when I see the light go on in our living room. Ani has returned. He spots me through the transparisteel window and nods in greeting, but I know that he has a few things to do before he can come to me. My attention returns to our son. He is asleep against my chest, content and snoring, his stomach full at last.

***

‘Leia,’ I say to my daughter-wife. ‘I came to see that all is well with you.’

She bestows a tired smile on me. It has been a very long and stressful day for all of us.

‘Anakin,’ she calls me as she extends her hand and slides it into my own.

I move both of them lower, caress her stomach, and check on our son. He is secure and I can sense no problems with him, so I raise my hand to her face and cup her cheek with it.

‘Leia,’ I repeat her name before I set my lips on hers and kiss her.

I keep it short, gentle, chaste - a good night kiss to remind her of how I feel for her.

‘Beloved daughter-wife of mine,’ I whisper into her ear, ‘sleep well.’

‘Sleep well, father,’ she replies in kind.

She doesn’t try to prevent me from leaving.

My next stop is Liora’s rooms.

I find my newest wife sitting up in her bed, her eyes wide and staring at me. She must be wondering at my changed appearance, since this is the first time she has seen me in my robes, without any of my armour.

‘In here, in my private quarters,’ I reveal, ‘I can take all of it off, save for the life support controls.’

I sit beside her and wait for her to make the first move.

Fingers slowly creep across the blankets to touch my hand. She will find that it is warm and natural feeling. When I lace her fingers amoung mine, there is no attempt to pull hers back. Be patient with her, I remind myself. Do not rush this.

‘I wanted to make sure you were happy and settled in,’ I tell her.

‘Stay with me?’ she asks.

‘I can, for a little while,’ I decide.

I intend to reward her with a kiss for her co-operation today. My new wife shifts her position on the bed, sits next to me and facing me. The fingers of her free hand are tentatively lifted to my face.

‘Go ahead,’ I offer. ‘You may touch me.’

I close my eyes and relax at the patterns she traces across my face, letting her explore my features and scars as she chooses to. Allowing her to do this is one way she will learn to trust me. As she moves her hands lower, pushes my robes down from my shoulders and pulls my belt loose, I do not stop her. Soon, she returns her attention upwards, runs her cool fingers through my short hair and kisses my forehead. Her mouth opens to mine as our lips meet, and I keep the promise I had made to her earlier, kissing her deeply and passionately, not holding myself back from what she is encouraging me to do.

An erection stirs between my thighs. I choose to act on impulse, surrender to my desires, and give Liora the sex she wants from me.

‘Mate with me, my wife,’ I suggest when she pulls away to breathe.

‘Yes, husband,’ she agrees to my request.

I ease her back, against the pillows, and slide my hand under her nightdress, keeping my mouth on hers as a distraction. Tonight, I will be in charge and she will learn to yield to me. My fingers caress her, stroke her, gently penetrate her, as I ready her body and give her pleasure. Her soft moans fill the room when I tug open the top of her nightgown, move my mouth to her breasts and delicately nurse on their tender nipples. With my unoccupied hand I pull fabric out of my way so that I can swap hand for mouth and taste her there.

She gasps, shocked at what I am doing to her, and I feel her hands attempting to push me away. I catch them in mine, hold them firm on her stomach, only releasing them after her orgasm begins. Now, I use my fingers again, thrusting gently with them, opening her up fully, and measuring how deep I can go. Her cries change from pleasure to those of begging and need when I stop touching her.

‘Do you want me, Liora?’ I ask her.

‘Yes, Anakin,’ she admits. ‘I want you.’

I slowly slide into her, savouring that motion and the sensations which go with it. She is naturally tight, almost virginal, still, and must be feeling rather stretched around me. After tonight, there will be no more sex with me until she is a few years older.

‘Hold onto me,’ I order, resting my hands to either side of her to control my depth.

I rock my hips in a careful rhythm, and feel her muscles tense and pulse around me. An electric tingling seizes my own body. Now, now, now, it demands from me. No more waiting. I thrust into her as hard and deep as I dare, only to have her arch up in reaction to her own climax, driving me fully inside her.

Her cry, this time, is one of considerable pain as my hard tip slams directly into her cervix.

I pull out of her immediately, gather her into my arms, and settle her against my chest. That hurt both of us, and I am starting to throb, but I am better able to ignore the pain than she is. Her tears soak my bare skin as she begins to cry.

‘Hurts,’ she whispers to me.

‘Hush, little one,’ I soothe her. ‘Let me help you.’

I slide a hand down, rest it over her pubic bone and reach inside her with the Force to dull her pain. Tomorrow, the doctor will be examining her and if there is still a problem, Leanan will fix it.

‘You are too small to have all of me inside you,’ I softly remind her. ‘We must always be careful with you, and I must now insist that we wait until you are older.’

I brush the tears away and kiss her damp cheek. Denying her sex in this way will make it easier for her to accept our necessary abstinence.

‘Stay with me?’ she asks of me again before kissing my mouth.

I reach out to Maia and find that she is still seated in the garden with our son in her arms, relaxing and enjoying his mouth on her breast as he nurses. Her contentment ripples through the Force to me.

Little goddess? I lightly touch her mind.

Anakin, she sleepily responds.

Liora wanted me, I admit, and she needs me to spend the night with her.

As soon as I tell Maia that, I realize my foolhardy mistakes. I forgot to ask for permission from her, and my nights are the one thing I have repeatedly said were hers alone. Now, I am breaking that promise I made to her, right after I have violated the blood oath I had sworn, and I have done both of those tonight, of all nights.

There is silence, for many long minutes, while I wonder how my merati will respond.

You may do as you wish, my Emperor, she answers me at last.

Behind her words releasing me from my obligations to her are resignation, heartache, and pain, but before I can reply she abruptly pulls away from me telepathically and does not respond when I reach out to her.

‘Anakin?’ Liora prods me, returning my attention to the woman next to me.

I kiss her automatically, without giving it any thought. My new wife does not hesitate in returning it. Once she is more accustomed to love making, she should prove to be a most accommodating partner.

‘Turn onto your side and let me hold you in my arms while we sleep,’ I instruct her after I end our good night kiss.

I help Liora settle in beside me and watch her gradually drift off into a deep and dreamless sleep. It is not until I am almost in the same state myself that realization hits.

Something is wrong, very, very wrong.

Maia addressed me as Emperor, not by my name or any other title.

‘Sithspit,’ I growl to myself when I cannot sense Maia’s presence nearby. ‘I am a thrice-damned idiot and a fool.’

Every single oath, vow, and promise I have made to her I have now broken, even one as simple to keep as spending my sleeping time at night with her. While I was building trust of me in Liora, I have destroyed it elsewhere.

I feel Liora stir at my absence as I lift my arm from her waist and pull the other from under her head, so I briefly kiss her shoulder.

‘I must leave you, little one,’ I tell her. ‘Go back to sleep.’

I grab my robes from the floor, quickly wrap them around me and run from Liora’s bedroom back to my own quarters.

The garden is deserted.

My bedroom is empty, as is the cradle beside our bed.

I stand there, staring at that vacant space, feeling physically ill at what my actions have wrought.

Maia has left me and taken Anakin with her.

***

Part 9

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