The sabacc game played far friendlier than Lorash had anticipated. She'd even run out of chips once only to have Corr buy her back in. "It's not Hutta rules," the smuggler said when she'd blinked owlishly at him. "We're here for the love of the game."

It became clearer as the game went on, however, that Corr's generosity ended with Lorash. He was absolutely ruthless in his pursuit of Eso and Seia's chips, perhaps because he knew they knew how to play the game. Eso's luck was slowly turning around, but he'd had a bad few rounds to start and lagged behind them almost as far as Lorash had when she was baited into sinking her last chip.

The jedi padawan didn't have a lot of knowledge or skill to strategize with, but she could keep herself surprisingly calm. She knew it made her hard to read for Eso and Corr. This round, she'd blundered somehow into an Idiot's Array—the only unbeatable hand in the game. Players could go whole careers without seeing one crop up and Eso had only explained what one was for the sake of completeness.

"I must say I am surprised," Corr commented as he watched Eso confidently slide a few hundred credits' worth of chips into the pot.

"About?" Eso said.

"I know your reputation, Eso. Last I heard you were working with two-bit mercenaries based out of Hutt space. Seeing you here is unexpected, especially flush with cash."

"If it was two bit mercenaries, how did you know anything about him?" Lorash asked curiously, glancing over at Eso.

Corr smiled faintly. "I'm a betting man. A few years ago, there was a race along the Kessel Run, a smuggling route of considerable danger. I don't know if you're familiar with the Maw, but it's a cluster of black holes. Somehow, the winner of the little contest was a—and I mean no offense—nobody from Nar Shaddaa named Eso Jarr'ah with an old junker ship and a single astromech droid. I mean, he's no Han Solo, but that's undeniably talent worth keeping an eye on. I heard the prize money went to Jabba the Hutt, unfortunately."

Eso shrugged a little. "I, uh, didn't have a choice. The ship needed repairs when I inherited it, so I borrowed some money from a fixer who worked for Jabba."

Lorash stayed calm, even though she wanted to blanch. Everyone had heard stories of the perhaps most infamous crimelord to ever slither out of Hutta's polluted swamps. "Do you still owe him money?"

"Nah, I, uh, squared it. Took hocking everything but the kitchen sink to get the credits together, even including the payout, but I'm a, uh, free man," Eso promised, flashing Lorash a comforting smile. "Sorry I didn't say, uh, anything. Didn't figure it was important."

Corr leaned back in his seat, tossing in a few chips as he puffed on his cigar. He had the largest stack of chips, though Seia was barely less. "I knew you were a smart one. It's not wise to owe creatures like Jabba." Hisgaze seemed speculative. "Not to mix business and pleasure, but I have been looking for a junior partner for the business. Someone with a good head for deals and the right kind of principles. The Empire is strict and where there's rules, there's money to be made."

Eso almost dropped his cards. "Uh, r-really?" He looked down at his hand, no doubt focusing on the task at hand. "I'm, uh, honored, but I'd want to know where you stood. You saw the, uh, thing with the inquisitor's apprentice and Lorash's bounty. I'd rather not jump into bed with Imperial, uh, entanglements."

"Well, we might have more friends in common than you think," Corr said. "Arms are a more…flexible business these days, since the Empire has their own suppliers. If your crew would prefer to avoid them, we can just arrange different jobs."

Eso looked over at Seia. "Thoughts?"

"I think a tentative joint venture is a fine place to start." Seia slid her match in, then looked expectantly at Lorash.

Lorash knew she would never have this good of a chance again. "I raise," she said for the first time in the game, sliding in half her small pile of chips. It was a third the size of Corr's, but more than she'd started with.

Corr seemed amused and adjusted a neat stack of chips, sliding them into the center of the table. "I'll match. Eso?"

"Uhh…" Eso scratched behind one ear, staring down at his cards. "I'd have to go all in to match." He glanced between Seia and Lorash, then slid his chips forward. "Alright, I'm all in."

"Seia?" Lorash asked, heart hammering. This was her only chance of winning the bet.

Seia smiled faintly, golden eyes hooded slightly. "You lost all your chips once, Lorash."

Lorash felt a blush burning across her face at that reminder. "I probably will again," she admitted.

Seia seemed to evaluate that for a moment before looking back at Corr, who seemed supremely self-confident. "I fold." She placed her cards face down on the table. It would be a minor setback for her, but it robbed Lorash of her victory over the sith. She didn't think Seia was cheating, but it was very convenient.

Corr grinned wolfishly. "Let's make this more interesting, then," he said, sliding his entire stack in. "Match me or walk, Lorash."

Lorash hesitated, looking down at her cards for a long moment. She didn't know if there were more rules that Corr could use to beat her, but she had to try. "I…alright."

Eso looked nervous. If Lorash lost, they would both be out of the game. "You, uh, sure about this?"

"Yeah," Lorash said with quiet certainty. She slid all of her chips in. The pot was now bigger than Corr's stack.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Show your hands," the dealer said calmly.

Seia flipped over her cards first: absolute trash that would have bombed out anyway. Eso's was much better, close to the goal without going over. Corr revealed his next: a Perfect Sabacc, which should have by all rights been the winning hand. No wonder he'd met her challenge so confidently.

"Let's, uh, see 'em," Eso said, looking over at Lorash despairingly. "Might as well rip the bandage off."

Lorash flipped over her cards. There, innocent as a newborn, was the Idiot's Array. Corr's composure cracked in astonishment. "Did I do alright?"

"That's—" Corr blinked hard, sitting back in his chair and chewing thoughtfully on his cigar. "Well, I suppose beginner's luck is a real thing after all. Congratulations, my dear, you've taken me for all that I am willing to part with."

Lorash beamed triumphantly, but a soft rasping clearing of a throat stopped her in her tracks. "Does this not mean I win?"

"Seia still has chips," Corr said with a chuckle. "I think you're in hot water now, Lorash. It's just the two of you."

"I'm not afraid," Lorash said as bravely as she could when she felt the competitive rush of Seia's conflict surge around them both.

Seia smiled, catlike and entrancing. "No?"

Under the table, Lorash felt a foot brush up the inside of her calf. She understood immediately: Seia had no intention of letting her win, and would play dirty if necessary. The jedi padawan swallowed hard, playing with her hair and looking away like she hadn't felt Seia's touch. "Maybe a little," she admitted, earning a hoot of laughter from Corr.

The arms dealer crossed his arms. "I'm sure someone has some wise words to give you about focusing. Right, Eso?"

The remainder of the game was short and utterly savage. No matter how conservatively Lorash tried to play, Seia refused to let her lose by inches. The sith demanded by miles, or at least so it felt to Lorash. All of the sweetness and cordial banter remained in the sith's outward demeanor, but her strategies were ruthless. At the end, Lorash looked down at her last trash hand and sighed. "You win."

There went her dinner and starlilies, not to mention the dishes.

"That was evil of you," Corr said with a chuckle to Seia, though he clearly seemed to approve. "Shall we drink to a valiant struggle by Lorash and discuss business in the morning?"

Seia smiled, looking altogether too pleased with herself. "Certainly. Shall we meet at Eso's ship tomorrow? I would prefer later in the day."

"Of course," Corr said, standing up. He raised his glass to the disappointed Lorash. "You fought well, my young friend. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

"I'll try," Lorash said, clinking her glass against his. She needed the alcohol's courage to even think about what Seia might have planned. She wanted the sith's touch, but she wasn't certain if she was ready for the full seductive effect Seia could wield more dangerously than a lightsaber. Besides, her own inexperience felt glaring.

"I'll, uh, get the room?" Eso said once Corr and his guards had left alongside the dealer. It was just them behind curtains at an empty table now.

Seia waved a hand dismissively. "Already taken care of. Say hello to Yyrfh for us, Eso. Can you make it back alone?"

"I know how to, uh, dodge people," he promised as he stood up, undoing his holster and passing it to Seia so she would have her lightsaber, albeit in pieces. "Don't have too much fun. You'll, uh, break poor Lorash."

Seia rose to her feet with that same self-assured smile, extending a hand to Lorash. "I mean, only if she says please."

Lorash tried to say something in response, but it came out as a squeak of embarrassment, her cheeks flaming as Eso scurried out. "Do you have to be so—"

Seia cut her off with a biting kiss in the privacy of the curtained area, pushing Lorash back against the table. The younger woman made the mistake of gasping slightly, allowing Seia to deepen the kiss. The sith gripped the edge of the table on either side of Lorash's hips.

Lorash knew she should probably pull away, especially since they'd be found if anyone so much as twitched the curtains aside, but her senses and body burned with the heat of desire. She slid her hands into Seia's hair and arched slightly into the sith's body, a soft sound tearing out of her when she felt teeth catch her lower lip in a light bite.

The sith's hands stayed on the table, however. Through her sense of the Force, Lorash could almost see Seia as a maelstrom of passion about to break loose from her chains.

Seia pulled away abruptly, lips brushing against Lorash's almost chastely for a moment before she took a step back.

"What was that?" Lorash said breathily.

"Just something I've wanted since I first saw you in that dress," Seia said. She smiled, golden eyes flashing and flickering like coals with that orange smolder of Dark Side energy. "I have a surprise for you."

"Don't I owe you a dance?" Lorash said, interlacing their fingers so Seia could pull her back out into the open, blushing and restless. She felt envious eyes on her immediately, mostly from the ones who had tried for Seia and been shut down.

"Mmm, such a good memory," Seia praised teasingly. "Good. I want this to be a night you recall."

Lorash shivered slightly at the suggestive darkness underlying that tone. "And what should I be remembering?"

Seia pulled her along to the elevators and punched in a number. "Patience is a virtue among your people, I hear."

Lorash tried to calm her racing heart. "What are you up to, Seia?"

The sith laughed. "You'll see," she promised.

The elevator ride up to the hotel part of the casino was absolutely torturous, wrapped in Seia's burning conflict and desire. Well-behaved considering her past behavior, the sith stood almost against Lorash, one arm curled around the jedi padawan's waist. Long fingers traced circles around Lorash's hip, a whisper of fabric that tantalized with the possibility of more.

The elevator dinged at their floor and opened with a soft chime. "Do you trust me, Lorash?"

"Why?" Lorash asked, a hint of nerves hitting her at Seia's question.

Seia's lips touched her temple. "I cannot blame you if the answer is no," she murmured. "I know it is not as simple a question as it appears." The sith stepped out of the elevator, gently drawing Lorash along with her towards the doors to a suite.

Lorash felt the out that Seia was giving her. It seemed absolutely sincere, a flash of sparks of light in the aura of conflict. She pulled in a deep breath and met the sith's eyes, almost immediately entranced by the flickering, flame-like orange. "I trust you, Seia. I know you won't hurt me."

"I want you to tell me if there is ever anything you do not wish…or something that you do." Seia reached out, tucking some of Lorash's hair back behind her ear. "There is nothing if there is not trust. Nothing without your consent. I promise I will honor your feelings, but if I do not know them, I cannot. Is that fair?"

The jedi padawan nodded slowly. "What about you?"

Seia smiled, a hint of that predatory, self-assured edge creeping into the expression. "I assure you, I have no difficulty speaking what I want."

"Then we have a deal," Lorash said, trying to ignore her hammering heart. "I'll tell you and you'll tell me."

The sith stepped in closer, eyes hooded as she lifted Lorash's chin with two fingers. "Sealed with a kiss?"

Lorash leaned in, surprised by the sweetness of the kiss that Seia met her with. It was what she'd suggested: a promise, asking no more than Lorash was willing to give. There was something fundamentally intoxicating about being this close to Seia, emotionally as well as physically. After their last talk, it was hard to think of things the same way as she had when the sith had first brought up their connection. I want you until the end.

They were heavy words, sitting on Lorash's heart, but they didn't feel like claws.

Seia gently pulled away, stepping back and letting her free hand rest on the door's knob. "Close your eyes," she murmured.

Instead of asking why again, Lorash let her eyes flutter closed, senses humming with anticipation. She heard the door creak softly as it opened and felt the gentle guiding of Seia's hands, first on her own hand, before moving to her hips as the sith stepped behind her and closed the door. A sweet, clean smell lingered in the air, the only thing distracting her from the heat of Seia behind her. "Can I open my eyes?" Lorash asked once the door was closed.

"Mmm…I suppose ," Seia drawled, a hint of play in her tone along with dark promises. "If you say please."

"Please?" Lorash said, shivering when she felt hot breath against her ear.

"I do love finding new ways to hear you say that word." Seia's smile was felt against the soft skin of Lorash's neck as much as heard. "You may open your eyes."

The younger woman opened her eyes and felt a smile burst across her face. " Seia ," she breathed out, enchanted by the sight of softly bioluminescent starlilies shedding candle-like amber light from dozens of bouquets around the room. "When did you plan all of this?"

"The Diadem has very obliging staff and the flowers grow here on Cantonica," Seia murmured near her ear. "Say my name that way again."

Lorash's blush came back, fiercely enough that she felt like she might spontaneously combust. She looked over her shoulder all the same, catching Seia's gaze with her own. "It just slipped out. It wasn't on purpose. I mean, I don't know if I even can."

Seia smiled, her hands sliding forward and splaying across Lorash's midsection. "Perhaps it would motivate you if I told you what I wanted?" she said almost innocently, but the undercurrent of desire Lorash felt through the aura of conflict made it anything but.

Lorash knew she could probably use her mastery of sense to see what Seia was planning, but found herself stopping short of trying. There was something altogether too enrapturing about the rasping voice so close she could feel it like a caress. "Seia, I…" She gasped when she felt teeth gently on the lobe of her ear. Instead of pulling away, she reached back and up, sliding her hands into Seia's loose hair. It was hard not to completely melt into the sensation.

"How attached are you to that dress, Lorash?" Seia whispered.

"Not at all," Lorash promised. The idea of something happening to it made goosebumps rise all over her body, but she knew she wanted this more than anything.

She felt Seia's smile become a grin and the nip moved to her neck, earning a shudder from Lorash. "Perfect."