Star Wars_ Darth Bane 03_ Dynasty of Evil - Drew Karpyshyn [50]
And so Lucia had made the trip to Paradise. A few discreet inquiries, along with significant sums of credits changing hands, led her to the Huntress. Two weeks later, Gelba was dead. Now Serra wanted her to hire the assassin again … though Lucia had no idea why.
Something had happened to Serra during their visit to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She had seen something upsetting, something she hadn’t wanted to talk about. Lucia knew there were secrets in the princess’s past, but she had always respected her right to privacy. After all, there were things in her own past she didn’t want people poking their noses into, either.
Yet even though she had agreed to help, she was worried about her mistress. Serra was basically a kind and gentle person, but there was another side to her as well. She had nightmares, and sometimes she would go into dark depressions. Lucia suspected she had been scarred by some traumatic event in her childhood—a memory so intense, it had damaged her in a deep and fundamental way.
The sight of the Huntress seated at one of the viewing tables near the edge of the casino refocused her thoughts on the task at hand. The Stolen Fortune, like all the casinos on Paradise, overlooked the arena built at the center of the orbital platform. Through the large transparisteel windows patrons could watch combatants—typically beasts or slaves—fight to the death.
While it was common for bettors to wager on the outcome of each battle, Lucia realized that couldn’t be the case with the Huntress. Iktotchi were rumored to have telepathic and precognitive powers, and as a result they were barred from gambling at virtually every casino in the galaxy. Lucia realized she had to be enjoying it purely for the brutality of the kill.
The Huntress was seated in the farthest corner, her back to one wall. She was dressed in the same black cloak she had worn during their previous encounter. Her heavy hood was thrown back to reveal the horns that curled down to her shoulders, framing her sharp features.
Lucia could only see her in profile, the black tattoos tracing down from her lips hidden by the angle and the shadows in the corner. From this perspective there was something striking about the red-skinned Iktotchi, a grace and elegance she had never noticed before.
She could have been beautiful, she thought with some surprise. But she chose to turn herself into a demon.
The Huntress glanced up as she approached, and Lucia froze—fixed in place by her piercing yellow eyes.
“I’ve been expecting you,” the Iktotchi said, her voice barely audible over the music and crowd.
“Expecting me?” Lucia replied, too stunned to say anything else. Maybe she really could read minds and see the future.
“There was collateral damage during my mission on your world,” the Huntress explained. “The Jedi. I expect your mistress was displeased.”
Lucia shook her head. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Good. Because I don’t give refunds.”
“I want to hire you again.”
The Iktotchi tilted her head, considering for a second before nodding. Lucia took a seat at the table across from her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see into the arena, where two monstrosities covered in fur and blood tore at each other with claws, tusks, and teeth. One appeared to be an Endorian boarwolf; the other was some type of three-headed canine abomination.
“A terbeast,” the Huntress explained, though whether she read Lucia’s mind or simply the confusion on her face wasn’t clear.
Lucia turned her head away in disgust.
“You have other rebels you want me to eliminate?” the assassin guessed.
“No.” At least I don’t think so. “My mistress wishes to meet with you in person. On a world called Ambria.”
The assassin’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why Ambria?”
“I don’t know,” Lucia answered honestly. “She wouldn’t tell me. She only