*Thanks to go DarthIshtar, whose Amne Selrieen appears here with permission. Amne appears in the Wife of Deceit series by Ish, all about Palpatine's wife and marriage during the tumultuous events of the Naboo invasion and the galactic civil war. We are combining the sagas into a shared Palpatineverse. The shared universe has a thread o and it's own Substack, Garden of Deceit, which has artwork and links to the story thread and is always free. The Wife of Deceit series is posting here: (You have to add the htt … prefix and boards. Theforce .net) /threads/wife-of-deceit-in-love-and-truth—lady-palpatine's-love-story—untruncated-repost.50060337/
Three days later Sereine sat at her desk when a sudden flurry of activity in the lobby surprised her. She looked up-and immediately tucked her hair in and put her hood up.
One problem with this transparent little office space was that, if Palpatine's young First Lady showed up, Sereine had no convenient means to get out of her way.
She had no way of knowing whether Amne Selrieen Palpatine even knew who she was, or anything about her personal history with Palpatine at all. But, if she did, Sereine would just as soon exist beneath her notice.
"... in the small office, Madam First Lady," one of Palpatine's guard was saying. Lady Palpatine paused in the Red Office anyway, and glanced about. Sereine bent her head to her work, using her hood to hide her face. Eyes raised, she watched the First Lady pass down the corridor. Simple red blouse with a satiny gleam, black skirt that rustled as she walked, and a pair of natty red boots. Her own red hair swept gracefully back in single twists on each side of her face that met in a pair of double rolls over the nape of her neck. A beautiful jeweled comb finished off her hairstyle, flowers done in crystal and what looked like rubies.
Rather good, Sereine thought. She wondered if the piece was a gift from Sheev. He had never been particularly demonstrative with gifts when she was with him, and she hadn't minded it, but somehow the idea of this woman dripping in jewels Sheev gave her hurt her heart.
And then she thought of Finis, and the guilt and the sensation of being pulled in two ate at her.
Palpatine did not love her, anyway. Why did she care? She looked down at her own engagement and wedding rings, and turned them on her finger.
She heard Palpatine's voice raised in a greeting at the end of the hall, and Lady Palpatine's murmurs in reply. The tone in his voice registered to her ears as light, sweet, surprised. Then their voices lowered, and she could hear them no more.
Sereine bent to her work, attempting concentration, but her ears remained primed, perked for any snatch of conversation. And she realized, of course, that Sheev knew she was sitting here. That irked her no end.
Thank all that was, Amne Selrieen didn't visit these offices that often.
At length, she heard footsteps coming up the corridor, and the two of them passed, Amne closest to her and Sheev on the far wall. Amne's arm hugged her husband's waist, and Sheev was saying, "... apologize, my dear one, again. I hadn't anticipated being detained this much after the war ended, either. It seems the Petitioners dog my every step."
So he was blaming Padme and Bail Organa for all these nights she and Anakin were trapping him here. Sereine smirked. Even his bearing and diction was more formal with her than it was with Sereine and Anakin. And what was my dear one? In the few visits Amne had made since Sereine had been here, she never heard an endearment like ederra, or eder chikia-in the Naboo, beautiful little thing, or some of his other names for her she had no translation for: madiya, ulka, journi.
Of course, she had only ever heard the last two in bed, but still. The thought occurred that the names might be ur-Kittat, and in that case, Anakin might know them now. She should ask him.
As he passed, Palpatine glanced over at her, and Sereine could not decipher his look. She wondered if Amne knew he kissed her here, put his hands on her, ran his hand across her bottom just three nights ago. More than likely not.
If seducing her could get him out of this, Palpatine would do it. Padme and Anakin were right. It meant nothing more.
And yet, these little visits were excruciating.
They stopped at the entrance to the Red Office, right in Sereine's line of sight. Amne gazed up at her husband with a fondness that made Sereine's heart ache. "It's just that Vali had an extra ticket," she said. "It will be a lovely concert, and if you will not be home ..."
"You should go," he said. "I'm sorry I will be detained here. Yet again."
And that was about the first time Sereine could ever remember the words I'm sorry coming from Palpatine.
Amne's voice grew softer. "I wish you could come with us. I am sure you would enjoy it, beloved."
Her tone certainly implied a good rapport between them, and yet Sheev's eyes drifted over his wife's head to Sereine. She met his gaze, thinking, What in blazes?
Amne stretched up on the toes of her natty red boots, wordlessly asking for a kiss. She was much shorter than Sheev, he had to bend, and as he did so Sereine saw those blue eyes flicker her way again.
Palpatine leaned down to give her a quick, soft kiss on the lips. Amne caught his cleft chin with one hand. He paused, and her lips brushed his cheek. "I will see you ..." she said gently, "sometime tonight."
"Sometime," Palpatine said. "The weekend is coming, my dear. Thank the Force."
Amne turned on her heel. Her hand lingered on her husband's waist, slipping off at last as she made for the door. Palpatine stood and watched her go. Then he turned and met Sereine's gaze with a guarded look, and something else, she knew not what.
Sereine shifted her gaze to the wall behind him. Of all Amne's few visits here, this one seemed the most painful yet. She tried to think of Finis, and that only made it worse.
A red-robed guard crossed in front of Palpatine and came into her office, bearing something in a plastic envelope. "This came for you, my lady."
"Thank you," she said. When the man turned to leave, Palpatine was gone.
She opened the message to read her husband's handwriting:
I need to show you something important. Come as quickly as possible.
Padme, still delegating as many of her duties as possible to Jar Jar Binks, had taken her children out for an afternoon with her visiting parents and sister. Valorum met her at the door, his blue eyes fairly snapping at her.
"What took you so long? Did I not tell you it was important?" His eyes rose to take in her hair, and although she saw the added anger, he said nothing more.
"I didn't want Palpatine to know something urgent had come up. We were supposed to break for lunch in an hour anyway. I decided to wait."
"Come here," said Finis. He led the way to the computer terminal in Padmé's home office and punched in a code. Bail Organa appeared on the screen.
"You broke into Padmé's mail?" said Sereine.
"No," said Finis. "I was sitting over there when Dormé screened it." He shrugged. "Now we're breaking into Padmé's mail."
Bail's recorded image spoke. "Padmé, I'm sorry to disturb you at home, but I thought you should know. Darth Sidious has resurfaced in the Works. Master Windu's team has tracked him to the basement under our Arms Committee meeting chamber."
Sereine snorted. "Sidious!" she snapped. "I can't believe he went back there! What is he trying to do, kill himself?" She looked up at her husband. "What do you think it means?"
"I think it sheds some light on what he was trying to do in that self-effacing meeting with to the Council. He's trying to deflect suspicion from himself and widen the circle of suspects." Finis took a datapad, plugged it into a jack on Padmé's computer, and punched several buttons. Then he unplugged it and took Sereine's arm.
"You need to eat, and I haven't seen you in days," he said. "Why don't we talk about it...over some lunch?"
He laid the datapad on the table in the kitchen and set about putting together sandwiches while they discussed this baffling move by Palpatine. At length he put two sandwiches and two steaming mugs of kaffe on the table and settled himself across from her.
"Why did you decide to change your hair all of a sudden?" he asked cautiously.
A red light went on on the datapad in front of them, and the screen crackled to life. Bail Organa once again.
"Padmé, more news. Master Windu's team has found a hyperwave tranceiver of the type used by Lord Sidious to communicate with the Separatist leadership - in our committee chamber basement," he reported. "They have Master Yoda by teleconference, and are discussing our next move. I'm really not supposed to inform anyone else, but I thought especially considering my last message that you would want to be apprised. I'll let you know more as I am able to. Organa out."
Finis put his mug down in mid-sip with an angry frown. "Well, no need to wonder any more, is there?" he snarled. "Obviously, 'Lord Sidious' is attempting to frame a member of the Senate Arms Committee!"
Sereine sipped from her mug of kaffe, watching her husband's face redden with anger.
Suddenly she nearly choked.
She set her mug down, Finis's eyes met hers, and they said it at the same time.
"Padmé!"
"He couldn't have," said Finis. "He couldn't have planted one of those things in here! I know he was here when the babies came, but you were with him the entire time!"
Sereine gulped and looked away. "I wasn't...with him the entire time," she admitted.
Finis went pale and had to steady himself with both palms on the table. "What are we going to do?" he breathed. He looked up at Sereine. "No one could possibly ever believe that Padmé is the Sith lord!" he said. "She isn't even Force-sensitive!"
"Yes, she is," Sereine said glumly. "Remember, Palpatine's already emphasized that to Bail - to Bail! Look how Force-sensitive Palpatine appears to the Jedi. I imagine that out of anyone in the Capitol with any authority to command the army, Padmé is the most Force-sensitive, not the least."
Her mind raced ahead. "The Jedi already know they're looking for someone small. Think about all the other suspects - Mas Amedda, Bail Organa, everybody else on the Arms Committee - they're all tall people," she said. "Compared to them, Padmé and Palpatine are of a size."
"He has to know there's no way it will ever stick!" argued Finis.
Sereine got short of breath as Palpatine's true motives became clear. "It won't matter," she said. "It's Anakin who matters - only Anakin. If he resists when the Jedi try to take her away - or if - or if - "
She could scarely bear to say it. "Or if some trap's been arranged, some melee breaks out as they escort her to the Temple - Finis, you know he doesn't mean for her to live long enough to reach the Temple! If she does, she has to tell them the truth, and this whole thing breaks wide open!"
Finis stared across the table at her, looking physically ill. "And look what happened the last time the Jedi escorted him somewhere. 'Killed while resisting arrest,'" he quoted thickly.
"And if the Jedi kill Padmé - if it even looks like the Jedi kill Padmé - "
"Anakin turns, and we've lost him. And the babies," he finished for her.
"And Palpatine's in the clear," said Sereine.
"My Gods, Sereine, what will we do? How are we going to get this apartment scanned for a hyperwave transceiver without the entire Jedi Temple knowing about it? Or - or Palpatine?" He reached forward suddenly and grabbed her hands. "Tell me exactly where you left Palpatine unattended that day."
Sereine elected to go back to the office and pretend nothing was wrong. Surely Master Yoda or some senator had informed Palpatine by now. "I'll let you know what's going on there," she said, giving Finis a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll comm Padmé and explain to her."
Upon her arrival Mas Amedda met her at the door to the Chancellor's complex with a box of old records and a busy-work pretext guaranteed to keep her in the basement all afternoon. Fortunately, however, she had her friends among Amedda's staff.
Within a half hour Rajoul, a small Mon Cal, one of Amedda's assistant secretaries, opened the door to the Records Room and stuck her head in.
"The Jedi are keeping it low-key," she reported. "There's nothing in the press yet. They're waiting for each committee member to arrive home, and then they're searching their premises."
"Don't want anybody getting away, huh?" said Sereine. "Thanks, Rajoul."
She called Padmé on her personal comm.
"Sereine," said Padmé.
"Padmé, where are you?"
"We're at the Museum of Modern Art, why?"
"Has Bail Organa reached you?"
"No. What's going on?"
"Hmm..." said Sereine. "Padmé, don't worry, because we're all right, and you and your family are safe. But there's something I want you to do. Go in the ladies' 'fresher and change clothes with your mother or sister, and let them take the children for now. I'll meet you in the gift shop in - " she checked her chrono - "twenty minutes. It'd be best if you were alone."
"Okay..." Padmé said slowly, sounding as if she were about to object."
"Padmé. Do this for me, please. Don't argue. I'll explain when I see you."
"All right."
Finis Valorum was halfway through taking the workings of Padmé's bedroom suite toilet apart when he was interrupted by mincing footsteps and a familiar clicking and whirring.
"Master Valorum, whatever are you doing?" said a slightly shocked-sounding See Threepio.
"Looking for a very small hyperwave transceiver, Threepio," said Valorum, not bothering to look up.
"If I may say, sir, that location appears a most...unusual place to find such an article."
"Yes, it is," Valorum agreed as thought he were speaking to a six year old.
Threepio regarded him in silence for a few moments, then he said, "Master Valorum, if I may suggest...my counterpart Artoo Detoo is capable of performing a scan for these devices much more quickly, and without the need for such inconvenience."
Finis Valorum sat up and slapped himself on the side of the head.
Sereine and Padmé huddled on a bench in the plaza outside the museum, their hair covered in long wraps.
"...so you can see why it's important that you not go home until we've located this and gotten it out of your apartment, somehow," Sereine was saying. "I don't know what you want to do about your family, but I think it's crucial that once you do go home, you stay there. Don't let them take you anywhere."
"Kind of like being robbed at blasterpoint." Padmé put her hand to her forehead. "Sometimes I wish the Queen had relieved me of my duties. Wait," she said. "You said Finis is doing this all by himself?"
"We didn't know what else to do."
Padmé activated her comlink. "Anakin," she said.
Anakin's voice came back to them. "Hi, love. Are you okay?"
"Sure I am - but there's something wrong with the comjack on my computer. Do you think you can send Artoo over to fix it? I'm going to need it to read my official correspondence."
Anakin said, "I thought you were taking everyone sightseeing today."
"Oh, we are. I'm at the Museum of Modern Art. But I didn't read my mail last night, and when I tried to look at it after you left, it wouldn't play the messages properly."
"That's not the comjack, that's the - look, I'll have someone bring Artoo over and drop him off. Palpatine's got me down in the lower levels today looking for a - it's ridiculous. I'll tell you about it later. See you tonight?"
"Tonight," said Padmé. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
She turned the comlink off and looked at Sereine. "Fortunately, I really didn't read my mail last night. We were all up too late visiting. Oh, Sereine, when Anakin hears this...And Finis! Five moons!" She jumped. "They're going to bring a scanning crew over, and find Finis Valorum in my house!"
"I think I've got that worked out," said Sereine. "Let's just find the thing first. And comm Dormé to let Finis know Artoo is coming over."
Some time later Sereine answered her comlink from the basement of the Senate Office Building.
"I just heard from Dormé," said Padmé. "They found it - it was in the water fountain, can you believe it? What were you thinking for our next move?"
"I'm thinking that when you get home, we've got maybe ten minutes before Mace Windu shows up with scanning and tracking equipment and a squad of clonetroopers, so we've got to be ready. Comm Anakin, and this is what you tell him..."