Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 06_ Vortex - Denning Troy [75]
After a moment, Khai shook his head. “It’s certainly clear she’s been beaten, but will that fool the Jedi? We need something disfiguring—a broken nose, perhaps, or a burst eyeball.”
Vestara tried not to show her fear as Taalon studied her face and contemplated her father’s suggestion. The nose could be repaired by any competent surgeon, but the eye would be a handicap forever. To the discerning taste of the Keshiri, even the best prosthetic would be evident and considered a blemish worse than the scar at the corner of her mouth.
Instead of raising his hand to strike, though, Taalon shook his head. “Skywalker is clever. A serious injury, he would view as an effort to win sympathy and reinforce Vestara’s story.”
Khai nodded. “Yet this will be enough to play the boy’s sympathy,” he observed. “He’s still very naïve.”
“Indeed. We also avoid the question of how a mere apprentice managed to escape from us without injury.” Taalon grabbed Vestara beneath the jaw and turned her head to inspect his handiwork more closely. “Has the Skywalker boy fallen in love with you?”
Vestara felt the heat rising to her cheeks, but she answered honestly. “I’m not sure it’s love yet,” she replied. “But I do know he entertains fantasies of turning me to the light side.”
Taalon’s brow cocked. “Does he?” He glanced over at Khai. “How would you feel about a Jedi daughter, Saber Khai?”
Khai’s smile was quick and cynical. “Nothing would make me prouder, High Lord … as long as she remains Sith on the inside.”
“Yes, that would be necessary,” Taalon confirmed. He continued to hold Vestara by the jaw. “And you, child? What are your feelings about the Skywalker boy?”
Vestara let her eyes drop, then admitted, “I’m not sure, my lord.” She did not even consider trying to lie; any attempt was doomed to fail, and it would only make Taalon suspicious of her motives. “I think I may be falling in love with him, but …”
She let the sentence trail off, not sure what else she had intended to add.
“But?” Her father’s voice was stern. “You’re not sure?”
Knowing better than to take the opening her father was trying to make for her, Vestara glanced up and shook her head. “No. I just don’t want to.”
To her surprise, this drew a sympathetic smile from Taalon. “But you must, my dear,” he said. “If young Skywalker senses that you are falling in love with him, then he will fall in love with you.”
Vestara’s eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t forbid it?”
“Forbid young love?” A snort of amusement escaped Taalon’s broken nose, sending a spray of blood down Vestara’s ripped tunic. “My dear, there are some things even a High Lord cannot forbid. All I demand is that you use what you feel—just as you would use your anger or your pain. Can you do that?”
Vestara nodded, eager and relieved. “Of course.”
“Good.” Taalon continued to hold her by the jaw, bending down and moving in close. “You understand what we require?”
Vestara nodded. “I’m to learn the identity of the Jedi queen,” she said. “The one you saw in the Pool of Knowledge.”
“No!” Taalon squeezed her chin so hard that Vestara feared he intended to break her jaw after all. “You are to learn everything about her—not just her identity.”
“Yyy-ee-sss.” Vestara could barely squeeze out her reply. “I understand.”
“I doubt that.” Taalon continued to squeeze, the black emptiness of his gaze drawing Vestara in, making her feel dizzy and hollow inside, as though she were falling, tumbling down into the dark wells of his eyes. “This is an important assignment, Vestara—more important than slaying the Skywalkers, or discovering the truth of what became of Abeloth. It may be the most important assignment I have ever given any Sith.”
“My lord, I’m honored,” Vestara said, feeling truly flattered. “May I know why?”
Taalon glanced back toward