Orienn leaned on a support beam. The jagged paint snagged his ratty uniform, adding character if he did say so himself; and he never missed an opportunity to add character to anything.
Lyra and Hux stood in the hall, their disagreement palpable with clipped movements and tense shoulders. Orienn blew on his nails, waving his hand like he'd painted them. Hux shook his head and Orienn spun on one leg, turning the corner to disappear.
It was easy to read Hux. As accomplished a man Hux may have been, his tells were enduring. He felt things too deeply to not show in minute ways. And at the moment he looked tilted. Clearly, Lyra had done a number on him after Sera did the same.
Hux walked past, waving a hand Orienn's direction.
The red dotting his cheeks burned bright against his hair. Orienn smiled wide, hoping Hux would comment to open the Sera conversation.
"Ensure she doesn't go in that room," Hux's coat billowed like a flag. "I don't care what it takes. Make sure it does not happen."
"Aye aye, Captain," Orienn feigned tipping his hat.
"General," Hux corrected.
"Do you not know colloquialisms now?" Orienn called at the fading figure before spinning back around the corner.
Throwing his hands wide, Orienn stood tall. A ringleader conducting his circus, he prepared the show as Lyra stepped in Sera's room.
"That bitch never rests," Orienn adjusted his fraying sleeves, pushing at the buttons hanging by threads along the arm.
Giving a wave reminiscent of a royal, Orienn motioned to the passing medics. Each offered varying levels of concern at everything about him; His clothes, his flyaway hair, his unshined shoes still ripe with the blood of battle. It was how he liked it; knowing what made someone tick before speaking a word stole the most natural reaction.
"And with that," Orienn threw open the doors to Sera's room. "I bid you leave, Lyra."
Lyra jumped and Sera smiled down at her hands in her lap, swallowing a budding chuckle.
"I have the right to speak with my patient," Lyra wiped an unplaced hair from her eyes. "And you are not authorized to be here. You are not designated as an emergency contact."
"Actually," Sera waved to Orienn. "I've made an amendment. Just now. Orienn is forever more my emergency contact. He clearly has better sense than you, knowing when he's wanted in a room."
Lyra pressed her tongue to her lower lip. Looking from Orienn to Sera, she shook her head.
"Fine," Lyra flicked him a dismissive hand and turned back to Sera. "Stay if you must, but keep out of my way."
"Actually," Orienn mimicked Sera's practiced impertinence. "Not only did Hux just tell you to stay away, he told me to make sure you do. Now get out before I cuff you to the medical bed and force you to stay until Hux returns to catch you in the act of defying a direct order."
"Hux told you to leave me be and you came anyway?" Sera scoffed. "Typical. It now looks like three people have asked you to leave me the hell alone and you still to refuse."
Orienn tapped his ear, feigning activating the headpiece under the skin.
"Hey, Hux! Sorry to bother you. I know you're so busy." Oreinn pulled a chair towards the bed, dropping into it like a drunk. "Lyra's being an insubordinate ass and decided she knows better than you how to handle your lady love -" Orienn's lips opened and eyes widened, pretending to listen. "Cuff her and drag her - where?" He covered his mouth, scandalized. "But that's so cruel."
"I get it," Lyra tossed Oreinn her clipboard. "You're insufferable."
"I don't care," Orienn bade her farewell with a pointed foot. He held the clipboard to his chest like it was precious cargo. "Now get out and follow your damn orders like the rest of us."
Lyra stalked from the room, looking back to meet Sera's eyes. Her gaze steely, Sera smirked rivaling Hux himself. The hospital gown and bandages marking her injured and incapable of action were no match for the intent in the curl of her lip.
Leaning in anticipation, Lyra awaited a response. But it never came. Sera readjusted in bed, settling into a lofty pile of pillows.
With a slam, Lyra disappeared, leaving Orienn and Sera alone for a chat.
Orienn planned the conversation a dozen different ways, noting every conceivable response. Twelve hours was more than enough time to construct a compelling narrative. But with Sera as the lead and Hux at her side, nothing was dull in her story.
"So," Orienn tossed his feet on the bed, rocking on the hind legs of his chair. The wooden legs slipped against the metal floor and he wobbled as he moved. "I've got some news."
"Oh," Sera stretched. "You aren't here to see how I am. Who would have guessed?"
"Of course I am," Orienn looked scandalized. "I am your emergency contact after all."
"Just talk, Selys," Sera turned to douse the smile, but Orienn saw it. Her feigned disinterest was no matter, her body language spoke every time.
"Good news, Princess," Orienn pushed a fist under his chin. "You started a revolution."
"What?" Sera flew up in bed, shoving covers to rush closer. "How? I need every detail. Who's involved? Who's instigating?"
"Bad news," Orienn wagged a finger, urging Sera wait. She was impatient, but not even the Princess could curb the dramatics required of a well-executed conversation. "Your lovely ex-fiancee is running rampant in the open and dozens of people have already died."
"It's only been a few hours. How is this possible?" Sera was on him, legs dangling off the bed, debating her own strength to stand. The bite in her tone built the tension of the tale. Medical machines beep merrily, an excellent contrast to the thick air.
"I don't have much at the moment because as you said, it's only been a few hours," Orienn stretched, cracking his back like a wave. "But it looks like two factions have surfaced. The Loyalists - and The Loyalists."
"I don't need your jokes right now," Sera pulled her displaced covers back to herself, feeling the chill against her exposed legs.
"No jokes here," Orienn placed a hand over his heart. "One faction is loyal to you and the current crown. The other is loyal to Stiva, claiming you abdicated. They both call themselves Loyalists."
"That's unbelievable," Sera said, staring past Orienn.
"It's unimaginative, really," Orienn rocked in his chair. "I'm disappointed they didn't call me first. I could have spun something far catchier."
"You know I have to leave," Sera ignored Orienn's self-indulgent ramblings. Face limp with exhaustion, she rested her head against her palm. The numbing narcotics made outbursts short and unfruitful. After just moments of excitement, something dragged her back down to a chronic numbness. "Just get on with it and tell me I'm being held against my will."
"You're being held against your will," Orienn snapped from glazed eye to glazed eye. Sera blinked but showed no recognition.
"Why didn't Hux tell me?"
"Because, in his infinite wisdom," Orienn rolled his eyes at his own declaration, "He believed it detrimental to your healing. Apparently, you'll burn the galaxy down and rebuilt it only to burn it again. His words, not mine." Orienn filed such a lovely sentiment in the back of his mind. He could use that someday.
"I don't care about my healing when my people are dying and Stiva wields the weapon." Sera slipped from the bed, toes testing the floor.
"Damn it," Orienn tsked. "Hux was right. I should not have told you that."
"No," Sera rested a hand on Orienn's shoulder, tendons straining her knees as she wobbled. "You absolutely should have told me. And you're going to tell me everything you know."
"I absolutely will," Orienn pat her hand and guided her back to sit on the bed. "But before that, there is somebody being held captive on this ship you may be very interested in."
"Who?" Sera mumbled.
"Somebody close enough to Stiva to make it worth your time to stay a bit longer before your inevitable desertion." Orienn picked at his nails, watching Sera from under his lashes. The cut of his jaw moved with the light as he held back a smirk. "Why don't you come next week when golden boy interrogates him? You can get some good information."
"Where?" Sera's heart pulsed with excitement that didn't register in hear mind. "Tell me and I'll - I'll be there."
"Glad to hear it," Orienn wiped her shoulders.
"But after -" Sera mustered the energy to pull her legs back into the bed. Knees pressed to her chest, her head rolled forward between her legs.
"I know," Orienn sighed. "I expect nothing less of you."
"Good." Sera fell sideways like a ragdoll, head hitting her mountain of pillows just before her eyes closed.
"Now I need to go have a fun conversation with Lyra about her drugging you into submission just to spite us." Orienn smacked his thighs, ensuring Sera was safely in a heap on the bed before slipping into the hall for a unpleasant encounter.
The interrogation room walls were simplistic and sinister. Blinding silver glistened every direction, moving with the light as paint in the sun. A floor-to-ceiling, two-way mirror obstructed the wall opposite the door, giving a full view of anybody unfortunate enough to find themselves strapped in the chair on the other side. But what caught Sera's eye was the mural above her told a brilliant story unbefitting of the First Order's utilitarian standards.
Sera moved her fingers with the paths of the whizzing circles. Distant galaxies dotted the pitch black ceiling. Specks moved through the stars at varying speeds, all a variety of colors. Some were erratic, coursing star to star as they raced against time, others lingered around planets before speeding away. Some routes looked familiar, the paths freighter and transport ships took consistently, others were foreign and Sera guessed something she had no clearance to know.
She scoffed at Hux's unrealized dramatics. "They're just ships."
"They are," Hux closed to door behind him.
Sera slipped twisting to face Hux head-on. Her uniform constricted her movement enough to make her spin mildly dignified.
Hux squinted, highlighting the puffy circles against his eyes. His faint amusement lingered in the twitch of his lips.
"You will never get tired of startling me." Somehow she forgot how tall he stood. Sitting beside him felt different than straining her neck to meet his conflicted stare. "Do you want a broken nose?"
"Do you want a tribunal?" Hux's chin fell low to speak quietly and controlled.
"I'd make it look like an accident," Sera stiffened as Hux ran his thumb down the side of her hand. The leather of his gloves caught against hers. "But if it got that far, I'd just kill you. It would be cleaner."
"Then it would be an execution," Hux tugged at her pinky. "It appears you only play high-stakes."
"I don't know anything else," Sera's chest wavered with a sigh as she looked back up to the moving ceiling. A ship blinked and disintegrated in a distant system. Hux frowned at the red sprinkling above them like snow. "Why have this here?"
"I'm not here often, but when I am, it's for inadvisable periods of time," Hux's shoes clicked against the floor as he paced the room; circling Sera like a ticking clock. Sera wavered between fascination in the ceiling and Hux as he circled. "The bridge is a ways away so this is more convenient."
"I think it's more spectacle than anything," Sera twisted one foot over the other as she spun with Hux. As casual as their relationship grew, the twinge in her gut urged her to never turn her back on him. "You live for the spectacular and dramatic."
"I beg your pardon?" Hux's legs clicked together with the precision of a career officer. Though he focused on the ceiling, he concentrated on Sera's response.
Sera laughed through her nose before locking her lips to cover her indiscretion. Hux's clasped hands moved with her laughter. He rubbed one thumb over the other in a nervous tic Sera was unfamiliar with.
"You build order in chaos and foster loyalty from distrust," Sera stepped closer as Hux remained still in place. "And illicit passion from disinterest. I think this room suits you well."
"Passion?" Hux continued his practiced path as Sera got close enough to touch. "Passion is unproductive and I don't partake."
"You're a liar," Sera stepped in his path.
Hux grabbed Sera's forearm, jerking her close. In his outburst, he still moved carefully around her wounds. Sera scowled at the sudden change in tone. Moments before he'd shied away but he changed his demeanor the moment she insulted him.
"Did you hit your head on Skopje?" Hux searched for bumps along his hairline. "Or are you seeking a fight?"
"Do you not see it in yourself? I've watched you command an army with officers desperate to usurp you. I stood behind you when you destroyed the Hosnian system with a speech that plagues my subconscious. I watched you brazenly defy Snoke and Ren." Sera grit her teeth as Hux pulled her against him, forcing her to stare up towards his chin. "I saw the fire in your eyes when you pulled me from Stiva's grasp, and I see you now. You of all people should know passion."
"Is that what this is?" Hux's breath tingled Sera's lips. He spoke no louder than a whisper but anything more would appear shouting with their close proximity.
"Is it?" Sera shook her head in disbelief as Hux retreated.
"A question for a question yields nothing," Hux answered without meeting her eyes. Instead, his face settled into a relaxed concern.
"No," Sera agreed. "It doesn't."
"I was unaware you were properly healed," Hux grazed a finger over her injured shoulder, raw with the dregs of injury. The same didn't hold true for her wrists and ankles, but she was skeptical his hands would drift there. Hux's mouth opened in uncertainty and he removed his hand. "You never alerted me."
"I -" Sera drooped her shoulders at his disappointment. This snub was unintentional but blatant. She swallowed at the realization how cold she must look to him. If she explained her focus on the unnamed captive, she'd look dismissive of him. But if she threw herself at him, she'd look disrespectful to the severity of what would transpire.
"If you've changed your mind-" Hux failed to finish his thought.
Sera watched the tick in his jaw. He was so naive. And she was ruined.
"I haven't changed my mind," Sera's quiet voice felt louder than necessary in the empty room. "What could possibly make you think I'd change my mind?"
"What?" Hux grabbed her chin, his fingers alien against the cut of her jaw. It wasn't a hard hold, but it was enduring. "You standing here is proof you have no interest in our discussion. I apologize for burdening you."
"Hux," Sera grabbed his wrist. Slick, white bandaging popped from under her gear. Hux shut his eyes at the sight. "Don't put words in my mouth; especially when they're lies."
"Lies?"
"I can't change my mind. You don't see I've already tried?" Sera let go as he dropped arms like the weight of holding them to her was painful. The feel of his skin against her burned like ice. "I've spent every day since we met trying and it's harder every time I see you. I'm affected."
"Affected?" The lingering question remained in the air as Hux froze. Everything shut off inside him. The only thing alive was his eyes darting between her own as he thought.
"Is that enough for you?" Sera looked to the star systems above her. Eyes closing, her exhausted muscles pulled at her neck as she stared past Hux. His hair in her periphery was her only reminder he stood with her still. "Don't make me repeat it,"
"Sera," Hux was against her, filling the available space with his image. His features were dark in the muted light. The blinking ships caught his face at odd angles, alighting bits and pieces unevenly.
"Yes?" Sera frowned against the dark backdrop above them. She must look as strange to him as he did her in the unsettling light.
Hux reached for the back of her arms where he didn't recall her experiencing extensive wounds. Dragging his hands from shoulder to elbow, he watched his hands move against her like it was a new sensation.
"I'm besotted."
"Besotted?" Sera's tasted the word in her drying throat. This was nothing like the time in her quarters. It wasn't demanding. It was pleading.
"With you," Hux clarified and Sera relaxed into a laugh of disbelief. The tightness in her spine dissipated and her face burned in its place. Hux tensed at her shift but didn't release his hold on her elbows.
Sera rested her palms against his chest, enjoying the soft pressure of his figure under his uniform. Pressing her thumbs into his uniform, she ran them over the length of his collarbone. The tender, satin of the uniform felt wrong against the toughness of his skin. Sera bit inside her cheek imagining the scars mirroring hers on his own skin. Somebody like him would have hundreds; physical and otherwise.
"Is that more or less than affected?" Sera's muscles strained to look up at his lips. Vertical divots split his skin like craters. For somebody so immaculate, he either gave no care to his lips or bit them unconsciously.
Hux focused on her touch. She was lost in him. He bent towards her lips when the door slid open. A rush of cool air swooped in, breaking the trapped heat in the room.
"Way more," Orienn wiped his hands together as the glass door whistled and shut with a bang. "Also - not the place. I don't need to see you two on each other every time I step into my very serious and professional place of work."
"I appreciate your sudden regard for protocol," Hux said. "I assume you told Landal about what I'd be doing. I see no other reason she'd be here."
"Guilty as charged," Orienn swept a leg behind him, bowing like the star at curtain call. His ratty buttons swung around his arms like rabid pendulums.
"Guilty, indeed," Hux raised a brow and pointed at the camouflaged door on the side of the glass. "Now go get him before I put you in there instead."
"But I would be nowhere as fun to play with," Orienn waggled a finger and spun like he was drunk.
"Are you calling torture 'playing?'" Sera stood straighter and scowled. Orienn was giddy with excitement.
"They're one in the same to me," Orienn shrugged. Even in the dark, the glistening hint of mischief in his eyes shone.
"Just get him so we can get this over with," Sera looked away, rubbing her aching wrists.
"Your wish is my command, Princess," Orienn skipped to the exit. Pulling his glove from his hands, he placed his warm palm on the glass. Fog from the hand spread like a dissipating cloud, morphing into unimaginable shapes.
The door hissed and opened.
"I've never seen this technology," Sera looked to Hux, mouth wide. "It's not a scanning pad. The prints are embedded directly into the glass. How many people have this kind of access?"
"Enough," Hux widened his eyes at Sera's casual demeanor. She was back in her element, thriving in the midst of chaos.
A yell erupted from the interrogation room. Sera spun with a gasp. She knew that man better than she'd care to admit. Sera stormed to Hux after seeing who Orienn collected. Grabbing Hux's coat, pleading, Sera's voice wavered with fury.
"Marvet" Sera held tight but craned her neck to look back at the figure locked in the other room.
Marvet lost a dangerous amount weight in the past few days. His pudgy stomach hung low and the wrinkles on his face sagged. The soiled, bombastic clothing was the same as the night they met. They were ruined with dirt and ripped from the scuffle. His head hung low on his thin neck like he would fall without the metal clasps binding his arms and legs to the interrogation chair.
If Marvet heard Sera scream his name through the glass, he didn't acknowledge her.
"You had Marvet and you didn't tell me?" Her words brimmed with imminent fury but she buried it down, determined to adhere to the decision she and Hux had made to amend the way they interacted. Yelling at his misstep and assuming mal-intent would cause unneeded strife. This was the man that risked himself to find her when he had no reason to at all beyond wanting to. She had to try for him.
"Correct," The lines in Hux's face constricted as his face darkened at her challenge.
"I told you this isn't your domain but you acted anyways. Why?" Sera shoved her fist against her mouth, still feeling the tingle from Hux's breath near his lips.
"I don't owe you -"
"Don't," Sera clipped her voice, "do that to me anymore. This is my system you're interfering with. I thought you'd disengaged entirely after were evacuated. What changed?"
"Do you believe I owe you an explanation of why I act the way I do as your General because I kissed you?" Hux breathed carefully as he attempted keeping his temper in check. "Ought I show you every classified document if you decide you'd like to see?"
"That is unreasonable and you know it," Sera ran her palms over her eyes, feeling the softened cuts sting as she dragged her skin. "You know I don't. I am useful in this. I just want to understand why. Can you tell me that? Please just tell me. Have I not proven I won't shatter at the slightest provocation?"
Hux tugged at the collar of his greatcoat.
"Marvet directly caused the death of my men," Hux held up a wary hand to halt Sera's tirade, feeling the habit to command her silence. But he could not and somehow did not want to. Though, the restraint felt like needles on his skin. He dragged his fingers along her shoulder and down the location of the scar on her arm. His thumb pressed in to the wound, reminding himself of the reality before him. "And most dire of all, he nearly caused yours. I will not let such crimes go unpunished."
"Attempting to assassinate me isn't a crime in the eyes of the First Order," Sera pressed her head into his chest. His heart stuttered and Sera smiled at the effect she had on him. With her head against him, he wouldn't see her grin as they argued. The soft tufts of broken baby hair at her temple caught the static of his uniform, tickling her face.
"Perhaps not," Hux gazed down at her pale hair spread across his jacket. Unsure how to proceed with Landal sprawled against him and Selys close by, he turned his head so his chest wouldn't fall on her hair. "But it is to me."
His last words were nearly inaudible but the implication of his words lingered heavy in the air like perfume clogging the lungs of its inhabitants.
Sera gripped the fabric at his wrists, wanting to be closer. Soft but structured, they crumpled in her fingers. It was as close to his hands she would to venture at the moment.
"You weren't planning on telling me at all, were you? I wouldn't be here if Orienn hadn't-" Sera swallowed, pushing away and standing tall as Hux's brows sank in concentration. His sudden shift from indignation towards warry tenderness constricted her heart like a snake strangling its victim.
"I - always intended to inform you of his presence, though I planned on waiting until you were well." Hux sighed, rubbing the wrinkles from the fabric at his wrists. "I never intended to deceive you or hurt you any further than I already have."
Orienn slunk back in the room, slipping through the door and closing it behind him. His shiny shoes squeaked against the metal floor and he cringed at the sound.
Hux sneered at Orienn who waved his hands in defeat. He still looked pleased with informing Sera of the current prisoner. "Explain to me why you thought it necessary to tell her before she had the time to heal."
Sera rolled her shoulders and rubbed the tension from her back. If she were soon to see Marvet, she needed to appear her absolute best, as if everything he'd done to her was trivial.
Hux starred at Orienn, his gaze promising something Sera didn't want to contemplate. The tick in Hux's cheek drove her to reach and place her palm on his arm to calm him. It worked. His breathing slowed and the tightness in his jaw beside his lips disappeared.
"I don't usually dabble in lovers quarrels," Orienn said, stepping back towards the door separating them from Marvet, "But I figured she ought to know since Marvet tried to kill her and all."
"Hux," Sera fell back into her standard way of speaking, immediately drawing his attention from Orienn. "I have valuable insight into the Remidian System. If you're interrogating Marvet, the information I have could be vital. I understand why you didn't tell me but my value in this situation outweighs my comfort. I'm staying."
"No," Hux countered. "You're leaving. You're going to heal and I want to hear nothing of this until you're well. I won't have you interrogating him while you're still wavering where you stand."
"I'm not -" Sera shook her head, suddenly feeling what Hux explained. Planting her feet, she relaxed her knees and tightened her core, ensuring she'd stay on two feet. "If I can't interrogate him, I'll watch."
"Just watch?"
"I swear," Sera squeezed him arm.
Hux looked to Orienn. "Stay with her and make sure she behaves. Alert me if anything changes."
"Aye aye, General," Orienn gave Hux an exaggerated salute and offered a hand to Sera. "Let's go Cupcake, time to watch the show."
Hux nodded to Sera and stepped into the interrogation room. Hux cleared his throat and Marvet's head flew up with a creak. Sweat coated ringlets covered his eyes and he shook his head for a better view of Hux.
"You," Marvet hissed the accusal of an unspeakable crime.
Sera fumbled forward, pressing her hands against the glass, holding desperately to every word. Her fingerprints stained the glass, forming unique, entwined ringlets circling the outline of her hands.
Orienn scoffed in the background, accosted by her refusal of his hand. He mumbled something about chivalry being dead and ambled towards Sera at the glass, ready to catch her if she fell.
Sera leaned her head into the glass. Anything Marvet said could be immeasurably important. Or Hux could miss something Sera didn't if Marvet spoke of things The First Order wouldn't understand. Warm fog obscured the glass as Sera breathed against it. Her fingers shook, sending lines of smeared glass through the foggy mirror. Rabid with anticipation, her mind emptied of everything around her. Only Marvet mattered.
"Me," Hux adjusted his gloves in full view of Marvet's wandering gaze. "Would you like to talk or shall we have fun with this instead?"
"Fun," Marvet spat at Hux's feet. It was a feeble attempt at dissent.
Hux raised a brow, chin moving to acknowledge the wetness on the floor. "I'm far more intrigued with this method than you talking with no provocation."
Marvet wracked a cough at the dryness in his mouth. White gunk coated his tongue from dehydration. "You'll kill me either way so why should I speak?"
"Fascinating opinion," Hux ambled to the rolling table, layered with a myriad of devices. "But unimaginative."
Sera pushed an eye against the glass to examine the tools. On pick sparkled with electricity, a second displayed jagged and uneven spikes down the side. But Hux went for something seemingly less sinister; a shiny metal globe glowing molten red in the core.
"I have somebody of interest to you on the other side of the glass," Hux spun the sphere in his gloves like a God manipulating a planet. As he worked, the red seeped out in veins, staining the entire piece. Smoke rose from his gloves like an extinguished candle at the growing heat. "She will make the final determination of your fate. You're a relatively intelligent man. I'm certain you know who it is."
Hux tossed the ball in the air and it landed with a hiss back in his palm.
"You got the Princess out?" Marvet coughed again, leaning to gauge the nature of the item in Hux's position.
"You thought we wouldn't?" Hux tsked, swaggering towards Marvet, but careful to leave him in view of Orienn and Sera watching on the other side of the wall.
"I thought Stiva was smarter than that," Marvet tugged against his restraints as Hux came closer, wielding the burning sphere like a weapon. Grease coated his hair, sticking to his face as he struggled.
"You misplaced your trust," Hux towered over Marvet hissing, feeling the sudden heat against his shoulder, "fatally."
Hux dropped the circle and Marvet yelled the moment it met his skin. Ripping it away, Hux smirked, holding it between himself and Marvet. He'd made his point showing what the sphere did.
"Would you like to explain to me what this does?" Hux traced the side of Marvet's face with the sphere, so close to the skin it tickled with heat.
"Burns?" Marvet feigned confidence but the waver in his voice and the quiver of his lip gave him away.
"Something like that," Hux rubbed the device and stepped back. "Now let's begin."
Marvet swallowed but it caught in his throat, his adam's apple bobbing to no avail. He tugged his restraints which tightened with each attempt. The blue of his veins pressed from his wrists where the ties were strangling his blood flow. He looked more a mess than Sera had ever seen him.
"Tell me how you came to associate with Stiva," Hux wanted to properly label Stiva scum, but insulting the man Marvet somehow revered would set him back farther.
"No," Marvet hissed.
Hux shrugged and tossed the sphere into Marvet's lap. He screamed and writhed as his flesh boiled under his disintegrated slacks. Hux crossed his arms, a smirk of disbelief and enjoyment consuming his face.
Sera laughed an empty laugh at his undeniable satisfaction. Hux was embroiled in his absolute power.
"Fine, I'll talk!" Marvet screeched.
Hux scoffed and removed the sphere. Burning flesh, red and black with decay, shone through an enormous hole in the fabric of Marvet's pants. Hux sniffed at the scent of charred skin and remembered why he only used this particular device on those truly deserving. Unfortunately, Marvet was one, so he would endure.
"Wonderful," Hux said, coming to stand directly over him. His knees pressed into Marvet's as he leaned forward. "Tell me everything."
"Stiva wanted to change the status quo." Marvet whimpered. "The Princess abandoned us. He was all we had left."
"I'd advise you not speak ill of the Princess," Hux reveled in Marvet's flinch, expecting a burn. But Hux wouldn't give him what he expected. Sometimes withholding the pain was more effective as giving it.
"Of course," Marvet said among hacking tears. "Stiva was supposed to be different. Our planet would prosper. The taxes destroyed us. All we were was a colony. A money drain for the Royal Family."
"I'm sure Stiva promised you the universe," Hux's voice chilly with indifference.
"Yes," Marvet hung his head. "But he mostly disappeared when the child came. By then it was too late."
"A child?" Hux's voice brightened at the admission.
Sera stumbled back from the glass like it seared her. Ayla never mentioned a child in their sparse communication. Stomach roiling and heart shattering, Sera stepped up towards the glass for a closer look at Marvet.
He was lying. He had to be. It was nothing but a clever manipulation tactic to keep Hux distracted from valuable information.
"Yes," Marvet whimpered, eyes watering like a dam ready to burst. "I swear."
"He's not lying." Sera yelled at the glass, banging her fist hard enough to jiggle the wall. Marvet heard this time. He looked past Hux towards the two-way mirror. Hux noticed too, looking back at his own reflection, frowning his disapproval. "Fuck."
Marvet somehow found Sera's eyes in his own. She spun to press her back against the glass, dreading Marvet's eyes on her own. Panting, Sera searched from ceiling to floor. There had to be a way into the room.
Orienn stood still, awaiting her next move. The wild look on her face compelled him to step back.
"Sera," Orienn said. "Just let Hux do his thing. I promise he'll get the answers you need."
Sera leaped for him and grabbed his wrist tight enough to pop his veins. Caging his other hand behind his back like a wing, Sera shoved him forward. The tumbled forward in an uncoordinated jumble of limbs.
"Hey!" Orienn fumbled against her as she pushed him to the invisible door. "Don't lose your head now."
"Shut up," Sera forced his palm against the glass. It hissed and opened with a cold sweep of air.
Throwing Orienn aside, he tumbled and crashed into the wall. Sera stood rabid in the doorway. Loose bandages, dislodged from the scuffle, hung from her uniform like deflated parachutes. Her hair fell to one side, knotted as it slipped from her tie.
The room was chillier than the waiting space but the heat of anger covered her skin, blocking the cold.
"Really?" Orienn rubbed his temple where his head had met glass. "You could have just asked me to open the damn door."
"Marvet!" Sera stormed forward, ripping a random interrogation tool from the table. The other devices rattled from the shock of her hand hitting the stand.
"Princess," Marvet's mouth fell open as he stared at her healed from head to toe. Nothing looked different in her from when he met her at the house, other than her shaking, angry stance and mangled bandages.
Sera stood beside Hux who looked to her with mild interest. Waving a knife with serrated edges, Sera grazed the skin of Marvet's face with the dull side. He recoiled and pressed his cheek into his shoulder to hide.
"Sera," Hux warned as she threw her arms on either side of the chair.
"Look at me," Sera smacked Marvet the moment he looked up. His gaze fell to his burned lap instead of her eyes. She shoved her forehead against his in retaliation. The staleness in his breath permeated her senses but the throb of disgust went deeper than the physical.
"Your Princess made a request," Hux watched Marvet over Sera's shoulder. "I advise you obey."
Marvet nodded and looked up at Sera through his scorched lashes. The whites of his eyes were stained red with shattered vessels. He looked wild and broken simultaneously.
"What child?" Sera's voice rose from deep in her throat. A guttural plea wrought with promises of pain.
"Your sister's."
"Which one?" Sera gripped his throat, slipping her nails into his exposed skin. Thin slits of skin peeled from his neck and Marvet wriggled at the discomfort. "Which sister?"
"Ayla's," Marvet gasped as she pressed into his vocal chords. "And Stiva's."
"Don't lie." Sera dug in deeper, words inadequate at expressing her disgust. The urge to ruin seeped through her veins, culminating in her strangling hold on Marvet.
"I offer my sincere congratulations." Marvet's voice cracked with strain. "Don't you love when the innocent suffer?"