CHAPTER 6 - Desire

Aboard his private cruiser, Lord Skywalker keyed in coordinates to rendezvous with the Executor and sent advance instructions to be met by a medical team. Mara remained in a healing trance in his cabin. He approached her silently. Although he had strapped her limp form onto his bunk, her broken left arm had been dislodged during their departure and hung now at an awkward angle over the edge of the bed.

The cloak he had wrapped around her bare shoulders had fallen open, revealing the remnants of what had been her undergarments, now barely concealing the fair skin and feminine curves beneath. He had never seen anyone more beautiful…or desirable.

A violent ache of longing pierced his gut as hot as any sword. From somewhere inside him, a primal voice taunted …you could take her…she would never know…

He clenched his teeth. No. Not like that. He would not sink to such a depravity.

With trembling hands, he tucked the cloak around her and secured her arm with a temporary brace from the medical supply cabinet. Blood matted her hair to her forehead and he longed to brush it away.

Instead, he backed away from the cot, drawing on the Force to numb the miserable craving in his loins. The dark power answered him - his companion and his curse. Pain fueled his despair and, for once, he railed against it. There had to be a way…

Mara woke abruptly and attempted to sit up only to collapse back onto the bed. When the room finally stopped spinning, she looked around the sterile, familiar surroundings of her quarters on the Executor and wondering briefly if the attack had been a dream. The immobilizing brace on her left arm proved otherwise. The tattered remnants of her clothing had been replaced with one of her own sleep tunics and her various lacerations and bruises cleansed and covered with bacta patches.

The door slid open and Lord Skywalker entered, "You're awake." He approached quietly and she shifted to make room when he sat casually beside her on the bed, "I put you in a healing trance for the journey home. Some initial disorientation is normal."

Mara nodded, blinking her vision clear. "Here," he handed her a cup of strong-smelling liquid. "Drink this. It has a mild stimulant and analgesic for your arm, which should be healed in a few days according to the medic droid."

"Thank you," she sipped the tart liquid, trying to ignore the unappealing brown-green color. She glanced up at him cautiously; half-expecting to find reproof in his expression, but saw only concern.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I've felt worse," she fingered the edge of the cup hesitantly. "Thank you. For coming after me, I mean. What happened with the Karpeti?"

"They are no longer a threat," he stated coolly.

A spasm of pain caught her breath and she winced, pulling her left arm protectively to her side.

"Drink," he tapped the cup. "It will help the pain."

Mara took a dutiful swig as he rested his hand lightly on the brace, a feeling of warmth spreading up her arm. She looked down at his hand and, without thinking, carefully touched a swollen welt across his wrist, "You should put some bacta on that."

"It will heal," he murmured, staring at her hand as if it were a serpent about to strike.

Her hand lingered on his, though she knew it shouldn't. Seemingly of their own accord, her fingers laced themselves through his - a simple gesture of thanks to her rescuer, she rationalized.

A trickle of warmth tingled its way down her forehead and, before she could disengage, he pressed his fingers lightly against the wound. The healing warmth spread across her face. Her eyes met his, mesmerized by their intensity.

Slowly, hesitantly, his fingers drifted down from her forehead, tracing the outline of her cheek. Her skin came alive under his caress, flushing against her will.

His thumb brushed across her lips and they parted in response, her breaths becoming shallow, rapid. "Master?" she whispered.

"Shhh," he silenced her with a single finger to her mouth.

His soft touch trailed gently over her jaw then to the delicate softness of her neck. She closed her eyes when he reached the precipice of her collar bone, promising to travel further with her permission.

He leaned close, his lips barely a breath away from hers, "Do you want me to stop?"

She could not speak, though her body betrayed her desire, the soft fabric of her sleep tunic suddenly prominent against her breasts' hardened want. The air pulsed between them, tangible with mutual yearning. It would only take one word from her…

"But you'd have to kill me," she answered hoarsely.

"No," he slipped his hand behind her head, his fingers lightly stroking the delicate hairs on the back of her neck. "I would not kill you. You misunderstood - the bond itself is not fatal. But you could never leave me."

"Never leave?" Cold tentacles of doubt formed on the fringes of her mind.

"We would be joined in the Force with a constant connection, always aware of each other. You must understand that I cannot risk the betrayal that such communion could facilitate. Not even from you."

Mara studied him carefully, willing herself from under his spell. "I have never been disloyal to a master. I would not betray you."

"So you say now," he conceded with a slight nod. "But it is a risk I cannot take. You would be mine forever."

"What are you saying?" Resentment cooled the current of passion in her veins. She would be no man's possession. "That I would be your prisoner? Your slave?"

He jerked away as if stung, "I do not keep slaves!"

"Is that not what I am now?" she challenged.

"No."

"Then I am free to leave?"

Her master crossed his arms over his chest, "When your training is complete, yes. You will be accountable to my father and have your duties to the Empire, but it has never been my intention to keep you against your will. You could be free."

Free.

The word resonated through her soul, a siren call of hope. She had never been her own woman. Even when serving the Emperor she had been always subject to his demands. Her entire life had been nothing more than a series of subservience.

And she did not realize, until this moment, how much she wanted her freedom.

"Would life with me be so terrible?" he asked quietly.

Mara turned away, unable to meet his probing gaze, "You must understand, Master. I have never been free."

She bowed her head, dreading what she would see in his eyes. But when she looked up, he was gone.

to be continued...