Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 05_ Allies - Christie Golden [7]
Vestara nodded. “I am glad they are proving useful.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “The apprentices … how are they doing?”
He looked confused for a moment. “Apprentices?”
“The ones that Abeloth is turning mad,” Vestara said.
Khai chuckled. Warm affection spread from him in the Force. “Dearest daughter, there is not a single thing wrong with any of the Tribe Sith apprentices that a good beating will not rectify.”
“But—”
“I know what Taalon told Skywalker. It is an utter fabrication. We got the idea from you, my clever girl. We needed a good reason for the Skywalkers to ally with us, and it made sense to claim that our apprentices were suffering the same fate as the Jedi Knights.”
“I see,” Vestara said. It was an excellent plan, one that played well upon the idealistic natures of both Skywalker men. It was sound enough that she herself, who ought to have known better, had believed it. “So … what is the true reason we are allying with them?”
Gavar gazed at her shrewdly. “You have held your tongue and guarded your feelings well thus far. But I think perhaps that information should come later.”
For an instant, a dark flicker of resentment welled up in Vestara, but she extinguished it almost as soon as it came. She was fairly certain her father hadn’t noticed. “Of course. As you see fit.”
“I share your grief about Lady Rhea and Ahri Raas,” Gavar continued, changing the subject. Vestara’s brow furrowed slightly as she worked on the sketch, smudging out an inaccurate line with her fingers. She would have to remember to clean them before she left Luke’s cabin.
She had respected and had a healthy fear of Lady Olaris Rhea. She had been devoted to her, as befit a proper Sith apprentice to her master. But there had been no affection between them. Vestara did grieve for Ahri, although at one point, she had been willing to kill him herself if need be. Lady Rhea’s words came back to her: Want everything you wish—hunger, burn for it, if that fuels you. But never love anyone or anything so much that you cannot bear to lose it.
“They died well, at the hands of the Skywalkers,” was all she said to her father. “You have met them. You know that there is no dishonor in falling against them.”
“True,” said Gavar Khai, stepping beside her and squeezing her shoulder affectionately as he peered at the sketch. “But I would just as soon neither of us fell against them.”
Vestara grinned. “I agree.”
“My decision to come here was sound. I learned a great deal about them just from the little exposure I had a few moments ago. The journey before us will give us ample opportunity to learn more.”
Vestara examined the sketch critically. She added a few more notes. “I will continue to share with you everything I learn.”
“You might be able to learn even more … or perhaps insinuate yourself better with them.”
Finished, Vestara handed the sketch to her father and cleaned her hands at the sink. “I will do what I can, but I am a Sith, and their prisoner. What they have let me learn is only what they want me to know or the occasional accidental slip.”
Khai turned her around to face him, his hands on her shoulders. “I am willing to wager that the slips have not come from Master Luke Skywalker.”
There was something in the tone of his voice that made Vestara instantly alert. “No,” she said. “It is Ben who has told me the most.”
“You are attracted to the Skywalker boy.”
It was a statement, not a question, and Vestara’s stomach clenched. She wanted to deny it, but this was her father, who knew her better than anyone. Even without the use of the Force he would know if she lied to him about this.
“Yes, I am,” she said softly, not meeting his eyes. “He is appealing to me. I am sorry. I will do my best to—”
Khai tilted her chin up with a finger. “No, you will not.”
“I—” Vestara floundered. She had not felt this off guard since the first time she had killed, when she had been surprised at how hard it had