Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [186]
She is more, now, than Anakin Skywalker’s wife.
She is the mother of Anakin Skywalker’s unborn child.
After an all-too-brief eternity, the kiss finally ended.
She clung to him, just breathing in the presence of him after so long, murmuring love against his broad strong chest while he murmured love into the coils of her softly scented hair.
Some time later, she found words again. “Anakin, Anakin, oh my Anakin, I—I can’t believe you’re home. They told me …” She almost choked on the memory. “There were whispers … that you’d been killed. I couldn’t—every day—”
“Never believe stories like that,” he whispered. “Never. I will always come back to you, Padmé.”
“I’ve lived a year for every hour you were away—”
“It’s been a lifetime. Two.”
She reached up to the burn-scar high on his cheek. “You were hurt …”
“Nothing serious,” he said with half a smile. “Just an unfriendly reminder to keep up with my lightsaber practice.”
“Five months.” It was almost a moan. “Five months—how could they do that to us?”
He rested his cheek lightly on the crown of her head. “If the Chancellor hadn’t been kidnapped, I’d still be out there. I’m almost—it’s terrible to say it, but I’m grateful. I’m glad he was kidnapped. It’s like it was all arranged just to bring me home again …”
His arms were so strong, and so warm, and his hand touched her hair in the softest caress, as though he was afraid she were as fragile as a dream, and he bent down for another kiss, a new kiss, a kiss that would wipe away every dark dream and all the days and hours and minutes of unbearable dread—
But only steps away, the main vault of the Atrium still held Senators and HoloNet crews, and the knowledge of the price Anakin would pay when their love became known made her turn her face aside, and put her hands on his chest to hold him away. “Anakin, not here. It’s too risky.”
“No, here! Exactly here.” He drew her against him again, effortlessly overpowering her halfhearted resistance. “I’m tired of the deception. Of the sneaking and the lying. We have nothing to be ashamed of! We love each other, and we are married. Just like trillions of beings across the galaxy. This is something we should shout, not whisper—”
“No, Anakin. Not like all those others. They are not Jedi. We can’t let our love force you out of the Order—”
“Force me out of the Order?” He smiled down at her fondly. “Was that a pun?”
“Anakin—” He could still make her angry without even trying. “Listen to me. We have a duty to the Republic. Both of us—but yours is now so much more important. You are the face of the Jedi, Anakin. Even after these years of war, many people still love the Jedi, and it’s mostly because they love you, do you understand that? They love the story of you. You’re like something out of a bedtime tale, the secret prince, hidden among the peasants, growing up without ever a clue of his special destiny—except for you it’s all true. Sometimes I think that the only reason the people of the Republic still believe we can win the war is because you’re fighting it for them—”
“And it always comes back to politics for you,” Anakin said. His smile had gone now. “I’m barely even home, and you’re already trying to talk me into going back to the war—”
“This isn’t about politics, Anakin, it’s about you.”
“Something has changed, hasn’t it?” Thunder gathered in his voice. “I felt it, even outside. Something has changed.”
She lowered her head. “Everything has changed.”
“What is it? What?” He took her by the shoulders now, his hands hard and irresistibly powerful. “There’s someone else. I can feel it in the Force! There is someone coming between us—”
“Not the way you think,” she said. “Anakin, listen—”
“Who is it? Who?”
“Stop it. Anakin, stop. You’ll hurt us.”
His hands