Anakin's Fortress - Book II (temporary cover)

Forty-eight - Desideration

Our love is not a game of hide and seek; we seek each other and there, we find salvation.
Year 14

—————

Anakin

I enter the fairly lavish quarters Annie led me to, but I barely register them. It is just a sleeping room with a sitting area, fairly small but expertly designed. What has my attention is the woman, her skin as bare as the day she was born, stretched out leisurely on the creamy sheets. It conjures images of a large feline-like beast, all elegant curves and sharp angles, giving me a lackadaisical slow blink.

I grin with my own predatory satisfaction and kick off my shoes. "You were meant for a throne, Kitten."

Her brows raise and for a breath, her instincts drive her response. Shock and fear, mostly. I watch her take in my smirk, then practically see the wheels turning in her mind, telling her to shut it off and accept the compliment for what it is. I won't tell her that was precisely what I meant: She has the personality and looks of someone meant to be on a throne.

People stop to listen when she speaks. She's patient (sometimes) and good at listening but also isn't afraid to make a command when she sees a need to. People would follow her; people do follow her. My two remaining Inquisitors, though they would never admit it, like Kitten a lot. On the rare occasions I see them, one of them always asks where my shadow is. Beneath the disguised dig, I know they're actually asking how she is. It's more than just Kitten sparing their lives—which she certainly did. I would have killed them without a second thought upon learning they survived—that is, if they survived being buried without Kitten's rescue efforts.

Even that damned Yoda likes her. According to Obi-Wan, the ghost of Qui-Gon Jin told him about Kitten and urged him to find us.

Totally plausible.

But, this divine woman before me has my loyalty, and she has people willing to die for her. That's all that really matters to me.

"Only if you're on it next to me," she purrs.

I smirk and lean down, keeping my lips just out of reach of hers. "Do you know what Thrawn said to you on Coruscant? The night we were married?"

"When he spoke his language?" she asks, cocking her head and almost forgetting her need to kiss me.

I nod. "No," she says extra sweetly.

"I had to look back and relisten to it on my mask's recordings. I slowed it down and had Yoda tell me what it said."

"And?" she asks, leaning up to try to kiss me, apparently losing interest.

"He said: 'My Empress.'"

Her attention snaps back to the conversation, eyes widening in disbelief. "Anakin," she starts. I smile before pressing my lips to hers. She looks deeply disturbed by the thought but doesn't hesitate to kiss me back, almost losing herself to it.

"I cannot tell you why he said that, Kitten. I don't even know if I will keep the title of Emperor when we succeed. Regardless, I will never make you take a title." Her hair brushes the bed when she cocks her head, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"You've forced every title I've ever had on me." Well, that's because I've given her endless titles, some she may not even be aware of. She probably doesn't know she's my financial advisor, for one, which gives her full access to all of my assets. She also may or may not be the captain of my newest project, Operation Intelligence, which I created based on the fantastic droids she designed for High Command—which were approved almost unanimously. I suppose I haven't told her either of those things.