he’d carry it the rest of his life and the weight would never diminish. He’d killed men before, but not like that, not like he’d killed Vrath.
For the first time, he understood, really understood, why Aryn had returned to Coruscant.
He prayed to gods he did not believe in that she reconsidered what she had come to do. She felt things too keenly to feel what he felt. She could never carry it. It would destroy her. Better she should die.
All of a sudden, he just wanted to sleep.
He overrode the navicomp’s random course and plugged in the coordinates to Vulta. His hands shook the whole time.
In moments, Razor jumped into hyperspace.
He had always flown alone, but he’d never felt alone in the cockpit, not until that moment.
Sitting back in the chair, he tried to sleep.
And tried not to dream.
MALGUS WATCHED THE SHUTTLE piloted by Aryn Leneer rise on its thrusters. He raised Jard on the comm.
“A shuttle is lifting off from Liston,” he said. “It is also clear to leave Coruscant’s space.”
“Yes, my lord,” Jard answered.
Malgus could have broken his word to the Jedi, could have shot Aryn Leneer from the sky. But he would not. He kept his promises.
But he realized, more than ever, that the Jedi were too dangerous for him to allow them to exist. They were to the Sith what Eleena was to him—an example of peace, of comfort, and therefore a temptation to weakness. Angral did not see it. The Emperor did not see it. But Malgus saw it. And he knew what he must do. He must destroy the Jedi utterly.
He knelt beside Eleena, cradled her head in his left arm. He studied her face, its symmetry, the line of her jaw, the deep-set eyes, the perfectly formed nose. He remembered the first time he had seen her, a cowed, beaten slave barely out of her teens. He’d killed her owner for his brutality, taken her into his house, trained her in combat. She had been his companion, his lover, his conscience ever since.
Her eyes fluttered open, focused. She smiled. “Veradun, you are my rescuer.”
“Yes,” he said.
“Where is the woman?” Eleena asked. “The Jedi?”
“She is gone. She will never hurt you again.”
She leaned her head back into his arm, closed her eyes, and sighed contentedly. “I knew you loved me.”
“I do,” he acknowledged, and her smile widened. He felt tears forming in his eyes, his weakness made manifest.
She opened her eyes, saw the tears, reached up an arm to put a hand on his cheek. “What is wrong, my love?”
“That I love you is what is wrong, Eleena.”
“Veradun—”
He steeled himself, stood, ignited his lightsaber, and drove it through her heart.
Her eyes widened, never left his face, pierced him. Her mouth opened in a surprised gasp. She seemed as if she wanted to say something, but no sound emerged from her mouth.
And then it was over and she was gone.
He deactivated his blade.
He could no longer afford a conscience, or a weakness, not if he was to do what must be done. He could serve only one master.
He stood over her body until his tears dried.
He resolved that he’d never shed another. He’d had to destroy what he loved. And he knew he would have to do it again. First the Jedi, then …
Behind him, Kerse and his soldiers were worrying at the landing bay doors, trying to cut their way in.
Malgus knelt and picked up her limp body. She felt as light as gauze in his arms. He would give her a funeral with honor, and then he would begin.
His vision on Korriban had shown him a galaxy in flames. But it was not just the Republic that required cleansing by fire.
NIGHT, and controlled rage, wrapped Malgus. His anger smoldered always now, and his thoughts mirrored the caliginous air. He had taken a ship in secret from the Unknown Regions, where he was currently stationed, and made his way to the planet. No one knew he had come.
He focused on keeping his Force signature suppressed. He did not want anyone to learn of his presence prematurely.
A sliver of moon cut a narrow slit in the dark sky, painted everything in grays and blacks.
The stone wall of the compound, eight meters tall, rose before him, its surface as rough and pitted as Malgus’s mien. Drawing on the Force, he augmented a leap that carried him up and over the wall. He landed in a well-tended garden courtyard. Sculpted dwarf trees and bushes cast strange, malformed