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“I’ll stay if you need me,” he said.

She shook her head. “I don’t need anyone, you big oaf.”

“I know that, Your Worship,” he said, grinning. Then he let the grin fade. “But I mean it. If you need me—”

“We’re better if we work as a team, Han.”

He knew that too. He’d been trying to say that all along.

“My only concern is the children.” She slipped a hand out from underneath his, and put the brush on her dressing table. “What if the next attack is on them? What if R’yet is right? What if the attack was meant for me or my family?”

“If it was meant for you, it was meant as a warning,” Han said.

“Like Jarril’s visit.”

He nodded.

“Winter says the base at Anoth has been rebuilt. Maybe we should send them there with her.”

“A visit to their babyhood homes?” He got off his haunches and stood. “Can you do without them, Leia? I’ll be gone, and they’ll be gone, and then you’ll have the political crisis to deal with.”

She took a deep breath. He could see the struggle in her face. He knew how much she relied on her family, how important it all was to her.

“I’ll work better if I know everyone is safe,” she said.

“That’s why you want me to stay, isn’t it?”

She didn’t look at him. He pulled her hair back and kissed the nape of her neck.

“I can take care of myself, Princess.”

“I know,” she said, still not looking at him.

“You’re the one in the greatest danger. Maybe you should go with Winter and the children to Anoth.”

She lifted her head, finally looking at him. “I can’t do that. I have duties here. I have to take the same risks as the rest of the government.”

He knew. He had to take risks too. Protecting him and forcing him to remain on Coruscant would be as bad as making Leia go to Anoth.

He waited, watched the realization dawn on her face as she understood what he had done.

“You’ve manipulated me,” she said.

He nodded.

She stood and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. In the last few days, she had lost weight. She felt thin and fragile. He held her tightly, knowing that more strength lay within her slender form than he would ever have. He had to trust in her abilities, just as she had to trust in his.

“Don’t you wish that, just once, we could live calmly and comfortably like normal people?” Her voice was soft, almost a whisper.

“No,” he said. He stepped back just far enough so that he could see her face. “Because if we had been normal people, we would never have met. Your Highness-ness.”

She laughed, and he kissed her. Deeply. Passionately.

As if he would never be able to kiss her again.

Ten

Jarril’s ship was a treasure trove of unusual junk. Lando had towed the Spicy Lady to Kessel, and had spent half a day exploring his old colleague’s cargo. The body remained in the cockpit. Lando wasn’t certain yet what to do with Jarril. He supposed he’d have to go through the records, looking for next of kin.

He wanted to save that until last.

Jarril hadn’t been carrying any cargo when he was killed. Or so it seemed. But someone could have cleaned out the cargo while the ship listed in space.

Still, Lando found numerous abandoned items. Taken separately, they were explicable. But together, they were inexplicable.

He found a blaster handle, a single stormtrooper glove, a laser cannon, and pieces of a Carbanti signal-augmented sensor jammer. He found power cells and the schematics for cannons designed for the all-terrain armored transports. He found bolts for a repulsorlift, and, most disturbing of all, a case of needles made specifically for an Imperial interrogator droid.

But no credits, no jewels, and no spice.

Either Jarril had been involved in something sinister, or he had stumbled on something.

Lando liked to believe Jarril had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But what Lando wanted to believe and what was true were probably two different things.

So he almost decided to take the Spicy Lady back into space and set her free. Lando was halfway back to his ship when he remembered Jarril