Star Wars_ Darth Bane 03_ Dynasty of Evil - Drew Karpyshyn [80]
Not that it mattered; she didn’t dare say anything with Serra and the Huntress standing right there. The princess was obsessed with the prisoner; she was gripped by some madness that had driven her to previously unthinkable acts. If she discovered that Lucia and Des knew each other, there was no telling what she would do. Or what she might order the Iktotchi to do.
And so Lucia was forced to just stand there, helpless to do anything to help Des. Just like the day the enforcers had dragged him away. Serra instantly recognized the face from her nightmares. He was older, but his features were unmistakable: the bald head; the thick, heavy brow; the cruel set of his eyes and jaw.
Beside her Lucia gasped loudly as the prisoner fixed the three women with his cold, merciless gaze. Serra glanced over and saw a strange expression on the ex-soldier’s face; something had obviously upset her.
Lucia was the bravest person the princess had ever met, yet she was clearly distraught. Was it possible she was actually afraid of this man, even while he was chained? Or did she feel sympathy for him? She knew Lucia disapproved of what she was doing. Did her friend think she was a monster now? Or was it something else?
Her friend’s unexpected reaction unsettled Serra, and she fought the instinct to turn and flee from the man in the cell. She had nothing to fear from her prisoner this time. This time he was the victim, not her.
No matter what Lucia thinks, I have to do this.
“Do you know who I am?” she demanded.
His answer came slowly. The stimulant she had given him only countered the physical effect of the senflax; the toxin still clouded his mind, dulling his focus and concentration.
“An enemy from my past.”
The words were slightly slurred, and it was impossible to read anything into the flat, emotionless tone. She couldn’t tell if he actually recognized her, or if he was just making a generalization based on the fact that she had taken him prisoner.
“My name is Serra. Caleb was my father,” she told him. She wanted him to know. She wanted him to understand who had done this to him.
“Is this revenge for him,” he asked after a long moment, the senflax making his mind lethargic, “or for what I did to you?”
“Both,” she replied, picking up a needle marked with a black sticker. Again, she injected it into his neck. This time, however, the effects were markedly different.
His eyes rolled back in his head and his teeth slammed shut, narrowly missing his tongue. Then his body began to convulse, causing his chains to rattle madly.
Lucia turned away in disgust, unable to watch. The Huntress leaned in closer, enthralled by his chemical-induced torment. Serra let the seizure continue for a full ten seconds before injecting him with one of the yellow needles to counter the effects.
“Do you see the kind of punishment I can inflict on you?” she asked. “Now do you understand what it is like to be at the helpless mercy of another?”
He didn’t answer right away. His breathing was ragged, his face and bare scalp covered in sweat from the pain he had just endured. A spastic tremble had seized his left hand, causing it to twitch and flex madly in its iron cuff.
“You have no lessons to teach me,” he gasped. “I understand suffering in ways you will never comprehend.”
“Why did you kill my father?” Serra asked, picking up another black needle and holding it up for him to see.
“Caleb did not die by my hand.”
She stabbed the needle into his neck, inducing another seizure. She let this one continue nearly twice as long before administering the antidote. She expected him to pass out from the pain, but somehow he managed to stay conscious.
“Lies will be punished,” she warned him.
“I did not kill your father,” he insisted, though his voice was so weak she could barely hear him.
“I told you that I saw another in my visions,” the Huntress reminded her. “A young woman with blond hair. Perhaps she was