"You think I came to kill you!?"
"It's what you are."
She stepped forward, at once confused and offended , "Why!? Why the hell would I kill you now?"
"I don't know- you don't generally seem to need a reason." he charged, unrepentant. "You just do as you're told."
"You son of a sauron..." Incensed, she raised her hand and he turned on her, hand lifting, finger out in blunt warning,
"Don't!"
Mara swung a tight, powerful blow intended to connect with his face and his hand shot out to catch it, stopping her dead, twisting her hand behind her and yanking her forward in one fast move with enough force to send her barrelling into him, her arm twisted behind her back.
Caught, she glanced up, free hand pulling back, a curse on her lips-
And he leaned in and kissed her. Fervently; passionately, his hand to her arched neck, pulling her to him.
Her balled fist fell lax as she leaned in to the kiss, all else forgotten, all differences and reservations abandoned before this greater desire, finally seeming as much his as hers. Still held captive, she pushed him forwards and he backstepped through the doorway with her, their bodies never breaking contact as she leaned her weight against him and he fell back onto the bed, arms wrapping about her waist, pulling her with him.
She smiled, grinned in the muted starlight as she kissed him fiercely, eagerly, fingers in his hair, distantly feeling his hand slide smoothly from her hip to the small of her back to pull free the vibroblade she kept there, its dull double-thud as he flung it to the side and it hit the floor unheeded in the heat of all-encompassing passion...
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Chapter 18
Mara woke suddenly, aware of being watched, and glanced about the darkened room, momentarily thrown by her sleepy state as to where she was. Lit by the cold light of distant stars reaching in through the viewport, Luke was sat on a chair to the far side of the room, a long linen dressing gown wrapped loosely about him, unfastened. He stared at her without blinking for long moments, making her uneasy before those piercing mismatched eyes.
"You need to learn to hide your thoughts." He said at last, "And you need to learn to do it tonight. Tomorrow we'll be at Coruscant."
She sat up, holding the sheet about her, pushing her long red hair back from her face to cascade down her bare back, intense red against pale skin. "I already know how to shield."
"From Palpatine." he corrected, making her glance down uneasily.
"It's a little too late for second thoughts." He said, cooly, but without judgement.
Luke had spent the last hour sat in the chair watching her sleep, giving their... situation serious consideration. If he did this, if he taught her how to hide specific thoughts from Palpatine as he could - and how to hide the fact that she was hiding anything - then he was also teaching her to do the same from himself. A serious consideration when in truth he trusted her so little.
He'd also considered the implications of teaching her a technique which she could very easily take back to Palpatine, providing him with a breakdown of the methods Luke employed and a willing accomplice on whom his Master could practice breaking those same shields which Luke applied, presently with such success.
But he'd also considered that, like him, she had simply made a foolish, impetuous mistake last night, which in the cold, mercilessly logical light of day, she was already beginning to regret.
One which she was determined never to repeat- just as he was. The costs were just too high.
Either way, he couldn't in all good conscience send her back to Palpatine unprotected. Not when he knew, as they both did, how outraged their master would be at this... incident. He frowned; good conscience. An interesting choice of words for a Sith, he reflected.
Or was it that at all? Wasn't the truth far more damning-
He had wanted something to control her, something to test her loyalties and pry her away from Palpatine. She would never admit this tryst to the Emperor, Luke knew that; had tested that theory repeatedly in the last few months - if on a much smaller scale. Which meant that in order to maintain this secret, she would now have to lie to Palpatine. And she would have to rely on Luke to do the same. She would have to trust him. Which limited how much she could inform on him; it was difficult to betray someone who had equally damning information on you.
A reasonable, logical course of action to control a spy he couldn't remove... or was this simply a rationaization to cover a moment of weakness? Why did it feel like he had gone too far and it had all become very, very complicated?
Because there was of course, one problem with letting someone past one's shields; they were within striking distance. And now, suddenly, that made him very uncomfortable. He'd sworn he'd never be vulnerable again - he'd paid the price too often, and he wouldn't give Palpatine another weakness to control him with.
He had to push her back; for her own safety as much as his own sanity, he couldn't afford this weakness. He had to stop this now. He'd let her closer only to control her, nothing more. Nothing more. The fault was his not hers; he'd thought he could ignore her feelings, remain removed from them, use them to control her, at least partially. And it had worked... at least partially. But to control her, he'd had to let her close...
He sat back, running his fingers through long, tangled hair, pointedly not following that thought any further.
.
Mara watched him fall back against the chair, running his fingers through his wild hair, which fell smoothly back about his face and halfway to his shoulders, its loose curl twisting into disarray, dark tone reflecting the starlight. The memory of running her fingers through it, soft as silk, lit a twist of heat in her stomach and curled the edges of her lips up in appreciation.
And still he just sat, looking at her.
"You think we made a mistake." she said at last.
"Don't you?" he countered, no answer at all. He always did that, when he wished to avoid; answered a question with a question.
"I asked first."
"It's not a competition."
"Ohhh..." She grinned, tilting her head to the side, amused. "You're never gonna answer that are you?"
"Are you?" he asked quietly.
"When you do."
He rose, not bothering to close his gown as he walked past her into the fresher. "Ah - then apparently it is a competition."
The door slid closed behind him, leaving her completely in the dark.
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Luke walked across the long, wide expanse of the Attendants Hall, the antechamber to the main Throne Room where the Emperor held Court nightly. He looked neither left nor right in the always-crowded space, meeting no-one's eye though that would have been difficult anyway; with his entrance, the Hall had stilled to silence, everyone now bowing in a wave of polite deference as he walked on.
Much as he disliked it, he was a familiar figure here, generally ordered to attend Court with his Master whenever he was in residence at the Palace, often summoned on the night of his return as he had been tonight, without even the opportunity to return to his apartments first.
He'd always hated the Throne Rooms; despised the petty machinations of greedy men willing to sell their own soul or their brother's head for even the opportunity to further their personal goals. But slowly, over time, forced again and again to attend and to deal with petty bureaucrats and power-hungry Royals, he had learned the conventions of Court- the rules and regulations, the customs and traditions.