He stepped forward, grating voice lowered to a wheedling tone, "You must trust my judgement child..."
"I do master- I always have."
"I fear that without intervention this situation may escalate beyond any retrieval - I fear we may both lose him..."
Panic lit her eyes... and he knew that he had her-
.
".......... Vader." she said, voice a breathless whisper.
"Vader?"
"He's been speaking with Vader; meeting with him. Vader's manipulating him, trying to use Luke to accomplish what he can't; push him to disobey..." She absolutely believed this; Luke wouldn't do more, not of his own choice. He was being manipulated; he was. "Luke just... wanted to speak to his father. He didn't intend any greater defiance."
"No... he wouldn't...." Palpatine shook his head, tone darkening. After all he had done, surely the boy knew there were some laws never to be disobeyed; and why would he choose to anyway? He hated his father. Palpatine had invested long hours of scheming to ensure that, to be sure that when he'd first faced his father as a Sith, the boy would want only to kill him
And he had; Skywalker almost had killed Vader when they duelled- in fact Palpatine had thought he would, had been sure that the boy had entered into that duel with his own agenda regardless of Palpatine's order. That had been the test; the ultimate confirmation of Palpatine's control over the boy even in the most dire of circumstances; the ability to make him pull back in the heat of battle.
"...The duel- he tried to kill Vader-"
Mara's eyes turned down, words almost lost in shallow breaths, "But he couldn't."
"He couldn't..." and finally Palpatine understood; saw with crystal clarity all that had transpired... He had intended to disobey- to kill Vader anyway... but he couldn't.
And if, in the event, he couldn't do it... then the choice had been his, not Palpatine's.
But he'd allowed Palpatine to believe that he had controlled his Jedi- used Palpatine's conviction that he'd contained Luke to his own advantage.
As, apparently, had his father.
The tie that Palpatine had thought irrevocably broken was evidently still intact. They hadn't moved against him, so the boy was still wary of his father, the bond tattered and torn- but there nonetheless.
And that was too much to tolerate.
Everything that Palpatine had built since had been dependent on that one fact; on his ability to control the boy in the heat of unreserved rage or cold, calculating fury.
Control was everything- and Palpatine had been certain that he had held it unconditionally... but he'd been deceived, intentionally deceived time and again by the boy... Which meant that he had lied... lied to Palpatine's face. Deliberately and repeatedly in order to conceal his treachery and maintain his deception.
Outrage burned through Palpatine at the boy's brazen treachery. Indignation that he had believed he could disguise such a damning deceit, fury at the extent and duration that he had done so.
"Insolent, intractable, scheming creature..." There could only be one punishment for this- for putting another before his Master. He had always told his Jedi that if he did not resolve his own weaknesses, then Palpatine would do it for him.
Mara hesitated, "You said.."
Palpatine tensed as he turned on her and she flinched back instantly... he paused-
Yes, he had intended to lash out at her- but then this link would be lost.
"That was your argument on the landing platform today." he observed, grating voice hard and calculating now, bitter fury already cooling to reserved, hostile vehemence.
"I told him to stop." she said, voice earnest- pleading almost.
So he had known within hours of Jade finding out. A valuable arrangement then, one that should perhaps be maintained- for now. Her replacement was not yet entirely established, and he had not gained all he wanted from their association yet.
He turned cold eyes to her, voice dismissive, "You may go, Jade."
.
Mara hesitated, terrified at the change that had overcome her master but needing to know, driven by something greater than fear, "You won't..."
"I said you are dismissed."
There was a power to it which bore no refusal, and she turned and almost ran from the room, her eyes blurring.
.
.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
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A Lambda-class shuttle with Palace markings came to a slow descent on the roof below, Mara watching blankly from the window of her apartments to the rear of the North Tower. For long seconds she stared without really seeing, worried thoughts elsewhere, then the escort flew by overhead and she realized the shuttle designation and leaned forward, heart in her throat...
Vader strode smoothly forward from the shuttle toward the South Tower entrance, unaware of her eyes on him, and Mara felt the air go from her lungs in a rush.
Vader! Palpatine had summoned Vader to the Palace... her mind raced, searching to fill in the blanks; Vader had agreed to Reece that he would remain at Tingarn tonight, which meant that he must have been summoned back here by Palpatine personally. Only the Emperor's summons would have changed his plans.
Would he hold Vader accountable- make him answer all accusations? He knew that he had far greater control over Vader than Luke; expected more of him- would that be enough to stay his hand?
She saw again the look in her master's eyes when she'd told him the truth and shook her head imperceptibly; no. Not this time. She glanced again the the comlink on the table nearby. She'd picked it up intending to contact Luke a dozen times now... more. But she always replaced it unused. She turned, resisting the urge to pace up and down, aware that she had committed an irreversible act, hoping desperately that she had done the right thing.
She had potentially betrayed Luke to the Emperor- if he chose to act on her information.
Court had been deferred and its members dismissed- for days, the Emperor had indicated, rumours already circulating. Hardly the act of someone intending to disperse the situation.
Mara shook her head, hand to her mouth; of course he'd act on it, why had she believed otherwise? What had she been thinking- how could she have been so easily led?
Because she was trying to help him! Trying to diffuse the disaster. How could it have got this far... how could the absence of one stupid, insignificant comlink have escalated this fast? And there was no way to hide her part in this; if Palpatine punished Vader... whilst Mara didn't give a damn for the man who had dragged his own son to near-destruction to feed his own political ambitions, she doubted that Luke would share her low opinion, considering what he was risking simply to speak to him.
How could he have thought to cross Palpatine?! How could...
"Don't cross me..." Where had she heard that before?
Her mind was drawn to that night on the Patriot, horrified at the realisation... when they'd been curled about each-other in the safe cloak of a distant night; "Don't cross me..." Luke had whispered those words to her with such feeling. She'd opened her mouth to deny it and Luke had stopped her; didn't want the empty words.
He'd known even then; known that he was laid beside his eventual betrayer.