Private Where Winter Keeps the Dead

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

Location: Carla c
Tags: Ellion Corsair

Cold. That was the first thing Katarine Ryiah became aware of. Not the dull ache pounding somewhere behind her eyes, nor the heaviness dragging at her limbs. Not even the strange emptiness where memory should have been.

Cold.

It seeped through the stone walls and crawled beneath her clothing, settling deep into her bones as consciousness slowly, reluctantly returned. Katarine shifted and immediately regretted it. A groan escaped her lips as every muscle in her body protested the movement. Her head throbbed viciously, and for several long seconds she remained perfectly still, breathing through the nausea that rolled through her.

Slowly, deep green eyes fluttered open. Darkness greeted her. Not complete darkness. A low fire burned somewhere across the room, its dying flames casting long shadows over stone walls and antique furnishings. Heavy drapes framed tall windows beyond which snow drifted endlessly through a black sky. What little light existed caught against polished wood, old paintings, and tarnished fixtures that looked as though they belonged to another century entirely.

A parlor. A very large, very old parlor, and she was lying on a black sofa in the middle of it. Katarine frowned. That seemed wrong. Carefully, she pushed herself upright. Pain lanced through her shoulders and back. "Ugh…" She stopped halfway, one hand pressing against her temple while the room tilted unpleasantly around her.

What the hell happened? More importantly, where the hell was she? Her gaze swept the unfamiliar surroundings again, searching desperately for anything that might trigger recognition. Nothing. No memory of arriving. No memory of the castle. Katarine closed her eyes. Think. There had to be something. A ship? A fight? Someone... The Force shifted.

Her eyes snapped open. A presence brushed against her senses. Dark.......Familiar....Impossible.

Katarine barely had time to register it before instinct took over. The Force surged through her muscles. She vanished from the sofa in a blur. A fraction of a second later something heavier slammed into her. The impact drove the breath from her lungs. Another burst of Force speed tore them across the parlor.

A table shattered beneath their combined weight. They disappeared again. A chair splintered. Glass exploded somewhere behind them.

To anyone watching, there would have been little more than streaks of movement tearing violently across the room, furniture overturning and centuries-old decorations crashing to the stone floor as the two Force users moved faster than ordinary eyes could follow.

Then Katarine's back slammed against the wall. Hard. Her breath caught. A hand closed around her throat. Everything stopped.

Daxium Ryiah towered over her. For one suspended moment, neither of them moved. His fingers remained wrapped around her throat, not quite crushing, but dangerously close, and his body crowded hers against the freezing stone. Darkness rolled from him in suffocating waves, thick enough that Katarine could nearly taste it.

His eyes had held hers. Yellow burned where familiar eyes should have been. They locked onto hers with an intensity that made something deep inside her twist. There had always been something wrong between them. Something volatile. Something neither of them had ever possessed the good sense to leave alone.

Katarine swallowed against his grip. Daxium growled. It wasn't a word. It was a low, guttural sound vibrating somewhere deep in his chest. A warning.

Katarine closed her eyes. The darkness radiating from him pressed against her senses until dizziness washed over her. She turned her face instinctively away from it, exposing the line of her jaw. Daxium leaned closer. His lips barely brushed the edge of her chin. Not quite a kiss. Something worse. They traced slowly along her jaw until his mouth hovered beside her ear. His voice came low and gravelly. Furious.

"Do you have any idea how difficult you make it to locate you?"

Despite the pounding in her skull, despite the fingers around her throat, despite the dark side pouring off him like smoke, Katarine almost smiled. "Not nearly enough, apparently."

His growl deepened. Then suddenly his hand released her. The Force slammed into Katarine and flung her forward. She twisted instinctively. Her boots hit the stone floor and skidded several feet before catching. Katarine dropped immediately into a defensive stance, one foot sliding behind the other, her body tense and ready as she turned toward him.

Daxium hadn't moved. He simply stood there. His yellow gaze remained fixed on her for several uncomfortable seconds. Katarine stared back. Neither moved. Then, as abruptly as the violence had begun, Daxium turned away.
Katarine blinked. He crossed the ruined parlor as though he hadn't just destroyed half of it trying to throttle her. Broken glass crunched beneath his boots as he reached an antique liquor cabinet and calmly selected a decanter. Apparently centuries-old furniture deserved his wrath, but the liquor was sacred.

He poured himself a drink. Katarine slowly straightened. Her arms dropped from their defensive position, though she didn't entirely relax. Not with him in the room. Certainly not with him looking like that. Her fingers lifted to rub the tender skin of her throat. She glanced toward the dark windows.

Snow.

Mountains.

Endless white disappearing into darkness.

Her attention returned to Daxium. He lifted the glass toward his lips, staring at her like a rabid animal. Katarine's eyes narrowed.

"What am I doing here, Daxium?"

 

[Ellion Corsair]

The last time he had seen this cursed planet, he was nearly tortured to death by the woman he loved. And then he discovered it was all a manipulative scheme by her brother. Never again. He had sworn, never again. Looking out the viewport of the cockpit, he could see the beauty of the planet below. The silence of space echoed within the ship, and he closed his eyes, held in the embrace of silent memories.

The past was like a river eroding a mountain range. Slowly, the currents of water ate away at rock and stone, widening the initial passage of the river. But if you had not known what the valley looked like eons before, you would be unaware of the effects of the river on the mountain.

And the man sitting behind the controls of the Corellian ship remembered when he was merely a lonely mountain range. And then he met a woman who entered his life like a narrow river carving a path through everything he had known. And after centuries of existence, the realization that the river still existed frightened him more than he would ever admit.

Blue eyes glanced down at the scars raised on his wrists. The blades had driven deep, piercing either side, and the blood ran and mingled until he felt his soul blending with another. The only other time he had felt something similar was when Daxium had made a deal with Styx, who took over his body while his mind and soul were trapped in a loop of torment by the visage of Katarine Ryiah.

It was easy enough to remember the black veins that writhed upon his flesh from the infection of Darth Styx. And it all happened on the planet in his gaze. It would be no trouble to turn the ship and jump to hyperspace, leaving the past behind. But there were only two people he cared more than anything for. One was his older brother. And the other was down on the planet, in a castle that still haunted his restless nights.

But he wasn't the same man he used to be. Once, he was a force-trained mercenary and pilot. Then he became a Jedi. Then a rogue Jedi. Those identities were still a part of the man whose hands gripped the controls. Yet they were no longer the only defining aspects of who he was—the result of centuries of experience. And a deal with the devil.

The ship entered the atmosphere, the disc-shaped vessel cutting through the clouds and heading for the ominous castle that appeared on the horizon. Memories threatened to distract the man at the helm, but he refused the byways of ancient recollections. Shields and weapon systems remained offline. Perhaps it was foolish to approach as a benign visitor, but he wasn't sure what welcome he would receive from either of the Ryiah family. A switch was flipped, activating the repulsors as he throttled down the engines and settled onto a grassy knoll near the entrance of the castle. He ran a quick checklist of the power-down protocols before hitting the button for the landing ramp. Then he left the old seat and moved through the ship, snagging the old thigh-length leather coat and slipping it on.

When his feet hit the surface of the planet, he turned the collar of the duster up and pulled the jacket closed. Snow fell from the heavens in flurries, and the once snow-capped mountains were fully engulfed in white. His boots crunched across frozen grass as he walked toward the massive front doors. The familiar weight of his gunbelt and shoulder holsters held his weapons, which brought him comfort. Not that the hardware on his body was his only tool. As he neared the doors, his arms reached out, and he shoved them open as they rotated smoothly on oiled hinges. A small smile twisted his lips into a rueful grin as he commented on the complete lack of security. "Some things never change. And hubris grows with every decade."

The expansive antechamber echoed with his footfalls as he paused, flakes of snow drifting in with the breeze through the open entry. Sometimes slow deliberation and care were called for in such inflammatory settings. Other times, directness and straightforward action were the prudent course. A reintroduction with Daxium was fraught with peril. But Ravage would find the man known as Ellion Corsair had changed greatly since the last time they met. And how Katarine would react was another, completely different, question. Occasionally, ripping the band-aid off was the only path forward. He drew a deep breath before his voice boomed from the room.

"Daxium and Katarine!"

Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"​

Poisonous yellow eyes held her deep green ones for a long, unbroken moment as Daxium sipped his drink. Outwardly, he appeared perfectly composed. Almost bored. Katarine knew better. She saw the subtle flex of his forearms around the glass. Felt the anger beneath his stillness leaking across the Force dyad between them, hot and restless and barely contained. The connection had always been like an open wound neither of them could close, carrying emotions back and forth whether they wanted them or not.

She kept her guard up. The fact that the beast had stopped pacing did not mean it had stopped hunting. Poison rarely killed quickly, and Daxium Ryiah was as venomous as they came.

"You never should have left."

He finally spoke, swirling the glass lazily between his fingers. Ice clinked against the sides with a deceptively pleasant sound. Katarine's eyes narrowed before drifting toward the window again.

Carlec. Of course. The site of their miserable childhood. The place where so many ghosts had been born, and the castle where the final nail in Katarine's coffin had been driven.

Her expression faltered before she could stop it. Beyond the glass, snow swept across the darkness in furious white sheets, but Katarine barely saw it anymore. She was somewhere else. Sometime else. The last time she had been here, she had lost him.

Not Daxium.

Him.

This wasn't his final resting place, of course, but this was where everything between them had begun to unravel. Daxium and his precious Styx had seen to that. Ravage had taken the one pure thing Katarine still possessed and twisted it until the man who had once trusted her completely was afraid to even look at her.

Her apprentice.

Her lover.

Her home.

The aftermath had shattered something inside her that had never truly healed. She had known heartbreak before. James Terran had taught her the death of naive fairytales after their wedding night. There had been other men after him, dark, broken things tangled in lust, obsession, and Katarine's desperate need to escape whatever mutation of herself she was becoming.

But that had been different. Those had been storms.

He had been home. What she had found with him had been real. True love, not fairytales, not lust, not twisted mutated darkness. Not flawless. Not some childish storybook romance where two perfect people rode away beneath shining stars. They had been damaged, both of them, yet somehow, impossibly, they had found one another among all those broken pieces. They had gathered them carefully and started putting something together. Something good. Something theirs, and this was where it had been taken from her.

Katarine blinked quickly, refusing the tears threatening her eyes. Behind her came the heavy thunk of glass against wood. Her spine stiffened. She felt Daxium reaching for her through the dyad. Not physically, something worse. His awareness slipped against hers, crawling toward the memories she had been trying desperately not to touch.

She hated that he could do that. Hated that there had never been a wall thick enough to keep him out. The instant he realized where her thoughts had wandered, Katarine felt no remorse from him.

No guilt. No sympathy. Only irritation. Only Frustration. Only complete possession. His footsteps thundered against the old floorboards as he began closing the distance between them.

"The mercenary…"

"Don't."

The word came from her like the edge of a blade. Daxium stopped. For once, Katarine sounded every bit as dangerous as her brother. Slowly she turned from the window. Her green eyes burned across the room at him. Her hands had curled into fists at her sides without her realizing it.

"Don't you dare."

Something ugly and violent moved through her. Part of her wanted to cross the room and tear him apart. Perhaps, for the first time, she could. The biot rested within her body now, carrying the blood of that vile Dark Lord of the Sith through its mechanisms. If the demon who had given it to her had told the truth, then the dark side would no longer overwhelm her the way it once had.

Daxium wouldn't be able to drown her in it. The thought was intoxicating, terrifyingly so. Yet she hadn't tested the device yet, and choosing the one man who had been stronger than her since the moment they entered this galaxy seemed a spectacularly stupid experiment. Daxium had always beaten her at this game. Tonight was probably not the night to roll those particular dice.

Escape, that was the intelligent choice. Wait and watch. Let him believe he controlled the board until an opening appeared. Then she would run. As long as he kept his distance, she could manage the darkness churning between them. As long as he didn't touch her…

The Force surged.

Katarine moved.

So did Daxium.

They vanished from ordinary sight, twin blurs streaking toward opposite ends of the room, Katarine desperate to evade him, Daxium equally determined to catch her. She was faster. She had always been faster, but Daxium was a predator, and predators did not need to outrun their prey. They only needed to know where it would go.

He intercepted her near the ruined fireplace. She twisted away. A chair exploded beneath the impact of his shoulder. Katarine vaulted over the remains of a table, boots barely touching the floor before another burst of Force speed carried her toward the opposite wall. Daxium was there almost immediately. They collided. Wood cracked. Glass shattered. What little antique furniture had survived their first confrontation quickly surrendered to the second.

They fought like animals trapped inside too small a cage. Too fast, too close, and too familiar with one another. Every feint was anticipated. Every movement answered. He knew how she fought because some part of him had always been there. and she knew him for exactly the same reason.

Finally, the room went still.

Katarine's back struck the wall hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Daxium stood pressed close before her. Triumphant. His lightsaber hilt rested beneath her jaw, angled against the soft flesh of her throat. One finger hovered over the activation switch. His yellow eyes gleamed.

For one glorious second, Daxium Ryiah looked immensely pleased with himself. Then his expression changed.

Katarine smile, very slightly. His gaze lowered. Somewhere during their struggle, her hand had slipped between them. Her own lightsaber hilt was pressed firmly beneath his belt, directly between his legs. Her thumb rested comfortably over the ignition.

The triumph vanished from his face. Daxium hissed through his teeth.

Katarine raised one eyebrow. "Go ahead." His eyes snapped back to hers. "See which one of us regrets it more."

Neither moved. His blade would sever the arteries in her throat before she could blink. Hers would do something equally catastrophic to the anatomy currently within her reach.

A stalemate, and judging from the furious pulse of frustration hammering through the dyad, Daxium absolutely hated stalemates.

Then a sound echoed through the castle. Both of them froze. The ancient door creaked open somewhere beyond the parlor. Their heads turned toward the noise at exactly the same moment.

Katarine's brow furrowed. "Are you expecting company?"

Daxium stared toward the doorway. "No."

They looked at each other. For one long second, neither lowered their weapon. Katarine finally withdrew hers first. Not because she trusted him. Because whatever had just entered the castle might actually be worse.

She turned toward the doorway, lightsaber still firmly in hand. As footsteps echoed through the darkness beyond, Katarine tried prepared herself for whatever fresh hell had just arrived on Carlec.

There was absolutely no way to prepare for something like this.

"Daxium and Katarine!"

Katarine froze, her deep green eyes wide and her mouth literally dropping open in surprise. Daxium on the other hand snarled, a guttural loud hissing noise that bounced off the stone room around them.

"Impossible!"

Katarine took one step forward and then froze again. She wanted to run over there, but the agonizing memory of him flinching every time she tried to touch him kept her rooted to the spot almost as much as the pure shock did.

"Ellion?" She whispered.


Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

The footsteps echoed from the second floor, drawing his gaze up to the balcony overlooking the atrium. Snowflakes blew in through the open entrance, and several dusted his jacket shoulders. Elegant stairways wrapped upward on either side of the room, where the railing met in a mahogany sheen where the twins stood. Night and day. Male and female. Opposite pieces of a yin-yang made of flesh. Daxium was everything a male alpha predator was supposed to be. Imposing, violent, and aggressive. Some things never changed. Katarine was the embodiment of female. Lithe, strong, tenacious, and unrelenting in her protective nature.

A toothy grin met the other man. "Impossible? Not impossible. I'm just as charming and pretty as ever. Come on, Daxy baby. Did you really think we would never meet again? Now that is impossible." Eli gave the bigger man a wink as he raised his right hand and waggled his fingers at him. Then he clenched his fist and the great double doors of ancient oak and iron shattered into splinters behind him. Shards of iron slammed into the marbled floor and stone walls as the rogue grinned upwards. Hatred burned inside his heart for Dax, but what was lacking was anger and rage. Or fear. Instead, a cold confidence radiated with the weight of experience. The last time they had met, Eli was a powerful yet untrained Force-user. Now, he was not the same man as he was before.

His hand lowered while the ferocity of his gaze melted as he looked upon Katarine. She looked the same. Beautiful and strong. However, there were differences. Her typical lithe build was thinner, and wisps of white intermingled with her dark chestnut hair. His blue eyes met her green ones, and he offered her a small smile. "Hello, princess. The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. The one thing that hasn't changed? You're still sexy as hell." The small smile grew into a lopsided grin before he looked back at Dax. "And you're still an ass. Would you like a drink, Eli? I'd love one. Then come on into my study. Why, thanks, I appreciate it."

He walked forward, and underneath the balcony to the hall he remembered led to a study where Daxium kept an abundance of liquors, wines, and other types of liquid refreshments. On either side of the corridor lay massive paintings ages old. The Ryiah line went back in time, etched into canvas with paint and blood. His boots reverberated as he found the right turn, and he shoved the oak sliding door open, letting it slam into the alcove in the wall. He moved to a table holding many decanters, lifted one and sniffed. A wince escaped as he bottled it and tossed it over his shoulder.

"I'm doing you a favor, Daxy. That one was soured." He quickly found one more to his liking, claimed it along with a glass, and moved to one of the leather armchairs around a cold, barren fireplace. He sat, letting the coat fan open to make reaching a weapon easier. Then he poured himself a drink and crossed one leg, waiting for his hosts to catch up

Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"​

Katarine felt as though her mind were still scrambling to catch up with everything happening around her, but when Eli looked at her and smiled, some of the tension finally eased from her shoulders.

It certainly looked like the same old Ellion she remembered.

Perhaps a little too much like him.

A faint grin tugged at the corner of her mouth, but Daxium watched the entire exchange without even the shadow of amusement.

Then he moved.

Katarine was immediately on his heels, racing after him with the same instinctive urgency she had possessed when they were children and Daxium was marching off to start some inevitable fight.

His boots struck the stone stairs with heavy, angry steps. Within moments he had reached the damaged doorway, filling most of the frame with the intimidating breadth of his shoulders.

Katarine slipped beneath one of his arms before he could stop her and started toward the occupied chair.

She didn't make it far.

Daxium's hand snapped around her wrist. Pain shot through her arm as his fingers tightened hard enough to make her whimper. He twisted her wrist sharply to the side, poisonous yellow eyes dropping to hers with a warning that required no words.

Push him, and he would break it.

Katarine immediately stopped struggling. Not because she was frightened of him. Well, not entirely at least. Mostly because as long as Daxium was standing here, focused on her, he wasn't anywhere near Eli.

That small comfort vanished the instant she saw his other hand rise.

Blue-white lightning began to crawl between his fingertips, snapping hungrily through the air.

"Stop!"

Daxium froze.

Slowly, his gaze shifted toward her.He glowered.

"Please." Katarine softened her voice despite the pain in her wrist. "Try talking to him."

His jaw flexed.

For several long seconds the lightning continued to dance between his fingers before finally fading. His hand lowered by degrees.

Daxium Ryiah was not, by any definition, a reasonable man. Whatever fragments of softness still survived inside him were few and carefully guarded. Nearly all of them belonged to his sister.

His grip on her wrist loosened, though he did not release her entirely.

Then those venomous yellow eyes settled on Eli.

"Why are you here, Corsair?"

His gaze moved deliberately around the room.

Broken glass glittered across the stone floor. The old tapestry depicting the Ryiah bloodline hung crooked along the wall, disturbed from whatever had happened before their arrival.

Then his attention dropped to Eli's boots. Snow still clung to them. Fresh snow.

A muscle jumped in Daxium's jaw. A vein had begun to pulse visibly along his neck, the only outward sign of just how much effort it was costing him not to tear the other man apart where he sat.

Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

His eyes narrowed when Dax grabbed his twin's wrist. The hatred was finally joined by wrath. He watched and listened to their interactions, cold and controlled, fighting his impulses. Eli wanted nothing more than to murder the Sith, then burn his house down around his dedicated corpse. The thoughts cooled his rage enough for him to recognize that while he appeared to be the same man Katarine once loved, he was not. And that affected him.

Dax questioned his purpose before starting at Eli's boots, the muscle in his jaw most likely jumping in beat with clenching teeth. A smirk pulled one side of Eli's lips upward. "Like my boots? You probably can't see the details. Hold on ..." He stomped them against the ground, sending snow and mud scattering from the tread. "Better. Now you can see the details you are clearly missing." He tossed back the glass and swallowed the whiskey before pouring another two fingers of amber liquid into the crystal.

"Why am I here? For one of two reasons. One, I'm not entirely convinced your sister wants to remain here. So, I'm here to be her driver to wherever she wants to go." His eyes flickered to her face, tracing the jawline he had memorized with his hands and lips. He shook his head slightly, casting out the thoughts that threatened to pull him into memory.

She wasn't his anymore.

When he first heard whispers of her return, Eli had searched her out. And he found her. What he discovered both made his heart leap and die at the same time. She walked in a garden at one of the Jedi enclaves. Alive and smiling. And then a man joined her, and she took his hand. Bittersweet. She lived, and he died. Perhaps that was the way of love.

His attention returned to Dax. "Or two, I owe you a debt—a pound of flesh. I owe you for the hell you put me through when you joined with Styx. Maybe that means that if you refuse to let Katarine have her freedom, I'll kill her and let you live a life bereft of her, for all of time. I might not be able to kill you, but I'll take the one thing you desire to possess away from you. And before you think to call my bluff, you testosterone-filled, testicle-shrunken, bag of hot air, look into my eyes and tell me I'm not capable of trying such a thing."

Ellion Corsair leaned forward and stared at Dax, his blue eyes slowly beginning to glow. Blue flames leaped to life in the fireplace, erupting along the length of the stacked logs within the stone hearth. A presence of madness seemed to seethe from the Corellian as he allowed a large grin to cross his face.

"I'm not the man you once knew. I actually want this fight. Or, we can let cooler heads prevail- Katarine's, specifically- and we can find a cordial path through this ... Moment of tension."
Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

The atmosphere in the room had grown so thick it was almost suffocating, but when Eli mentioned taking her wherever she wanted to go, Katarine felt the faintest flutter in her stomach.

He remembered.

He remembered that she didn't know how to pilot.

Of all the things that had been lost to time, somehow he had held onto that insignificant little detail for centuries. It shouldn't have mattered. It shouldn't have warmed something inside her the way it did.

The feeling lasted all of a heartbeat.

Because the very next thing out of his mouth was a death threat.

Not directed at Daxium.

At her.

The warmth vanished so quickly it was almost dizzying. Katarine stared at him as though he had physically struck her, disbelief flashing across her features before something colder began to take its place.

Then she saw the blue fire. Her deep green eyes narrowed. Recognition came first. Then hatred.

She knew those eyes.

Daxium must have felt the violent shift in her emotions through the dyad because his grip on her wrist loosened. He released her completely and folded his arms across his chest, settling into that maddeningly familiar posture of cold appraisal as he studied the man seated before them.

"It appears we have reached an impasse, Mercenary." His voice was remarkably calm considering the tension crackling through the room. "I am not handing Katarine over to someone who has just threatened to kill her. Nor, I suspect, would she particularly like me to."

His gaze slid sideways toward her. Beside her, Daxium regarded Katarine in silence.

Then she felt him. A subtle pressure against her consciousness as he reached for her through the dyad, brushing against the anger burning beneath her skin and the far more dangerous hurt tangled beneath it.

He could feel both. He simply didn't understand where either had come from.

Not yet.

"Fine," Daxium said at last. His attention returned to Eli. "We all stay here. Nobody dies."

His yellow eyes flicked briefly toward Katarine.

"Until the lady makes her choice."



Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

The madness felt good. No, it felt great. The power. The freedom. The ... and then he saw the pain in Katarine's eyes, and the blue flames flickered out, leaving only the natural hue of fire in the hearth. The glow left his pupils as he slowly stood, setting aside the glass and bottle of whiskey. He wanted to say something, anything, to take away the hurt he could see.

And then Dax agreed to a ceasefire, at least until the lady decided what, or who, she wanted to be with. For one brief moment, Eli's eyes almost glistened from emotion. His hand almost rose to stretch out for her. And then he remembered. Katarine wasn't his. She had chosen someone other than him.

Instantly, his eyes cleared and grew guarded, and he turned to Dax. "Great. No one dies. And we wait until Katarine decides... who she wants to travel with. Not stay with."

In the atrium, shards of splintered wood and iron crunched beneath another set of armored boots. A figure moved down the hall, hands outstretched to brush against every frame on the long corridor, knocking them askew. A laugh of amusement traveled before him, resounding along the hall until the figure appeared to lean against the doorjamb of the study, one leg cocked against the other. Arms folded against his chest, the long sleeves of the tan tunic rolled to his elbows to reveal the blue Sith runes etched from his left hand, across his forearm, and ending at his elbow. The brown pants were tucked into the armored boots, and a single curved knife hung from his belt in its sheath.

One hand was raised to absently scratch at the stubble of his chin as glowing blue eyes took in the tension mounting in the three figures of the room. "This is the sorriest excuse for a party I've ever seen. It looked like it started well enough by the condition of the doors. But now? Just sad." A rueful grin crossed his face as he looked between the three.

"Eli, I thought you were trying to return her to the Jedi. Threatening to kill her just to force her twin into an impasse only holds weight if you're willing to kill the woman you love. Still." His gaze turned to Katarine, and his grin widened. "Long time no see, Kit Kat. Now, now, don't get excited. I'm here as an impartial observer." His eyes finally turned to Daxium, and he gave a slight nod. "Lord Ravage, your reputation precedes you. I'm Muad. Maybe you and I should talk about... things and let these two errant and doomed lovebirds have a chat. I find you quite intriguing. Perhaps we can find an acceptable compromise during a parlay. What do you say, big fella?"
Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

The flames in his eyes seemed to extinguish, and for one fleeting moment Ellion looked as though he might reach for her. Whatever impulse had moved through him disappeared almost as quickly as it had come, buried beneath that careful mask of control. Katarine winced. Was this still Syx? Some lingering scar left behind by the torment he had endured across all those false years?

The thought made something inside her ache.

She remembered this feeling. Walking on pins and needles around someone she cherished, forever searching for the right words, the right gesture, some impossible way to bridge a distance that shouldn't have existed between them. It had broken something inside her then, the helplessness of standing so close to someone she cared for and somehow being unable to reach them.

She didn't know if she could live through it a second time.

The ceasefire was agreed upon, and Katarine released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. For the first time since waking in this frozen nightmare, the knot in her chest loosened slightly.

If she could just talk to Ellion, maybe she could make sense of all this. Assuming, of course, it was really Ellion and not some crazy psychopath in disguise.

Before she could dwell too long on that troubling possibility, they were interrupted for a third time. Katarine felt irritation flicker through her.

Seriously? Hadn't Daxium bothered to lock the damn door after kidnapping her? Apparently abduction etiquette wasn't what it used to be. She turned toward the newcomer, and immediately felt her teeth grind together.

Daxium regarded the stranger with a cold, calculating stare, the sort that quietly measured distance, threat, and all the different ways a person might die. Katarine's reaction was considerably less subtle. Her entire face lit up like a Wookiee Life Day tree.

"Muad Dib." Daxium spoke the name evenly, his voice controlled despite the obvious displeasure tightening his features. Of course he knew who the man was. Daxium Ryiah preferred to know his enemies, his allies, his enemies' allies, and, perhaps most importantly, the enemies of his enemies. Information was just another weapon to him, and he collected it with the same meticulous care others might collect blades. He had never personally met Muad Dib, but that hardly meant the man was unknown to Dax.

Still, the repeated procession of strangers wandering freely into his home was clearly beginning to test whatever patience Daxium possessed. He had moved to lean against the wall, adopting an almost casual posture, arms relaxed and expression unreadable. Almost. Katarine knew him too well. There was nothing casual about the tension behind those poisonous yellow eyes.

That is, until his sister crossed the room and slapped Muad Dib as hard as she could across the face. For the first time in centuries, Daxium laughed, a loud bark of a laugh. Perhaps it was because Katarine looked so foolish slapping someone taller and wider than she was, or maybe it was just surprise that his sister would act so brazenly. Either way, the dark man found it amusing.

"I believe that is violating the spirit of our impasse, dearest." He was still chuckling, clearly happy that at least someone got to hit someone today. It was the lightest she had ever seen her twin, and that made her anger flare higher.

She was still glaring at Muad. "What the frak is going on? I saw you kill Ellion Corsair." Even as she spoke, her face twisted into a look of anguish, and she had to clutch her stomach, as if holding a hole inside her from growing larger.

"If that is true, then you deserve a drink, Muad Dib."

Kat spared her twin a disgusted look before she glanced back over her shoulder at Ellion, confusion on her face, and hugged her torso more tightly.




Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

He saw the confusion, the hurt, and the shadow of memories on her face, and he wanted to cross the distance and take her hand to reassure her that he was, in fact, Ellion Corsair. His hands tightened, and he remained where he was. The space between them was more than a mere few steps. It was centuries deep, layered by pain that started here, in this castle. He could still remember screaming beneath the knife in her hand. But that wasn't real. What they had built was. It just took time for him to come to grips with it. Eli remembered the look of hurt on her face every time he flinched when she came close. He never wanted to do that to her again. Cause her pain.

When Muad entered, Eli knew it would be explosive. And Kat didn't disappoint. She marched over with fury and slapped the hell out of Muad. While the madman merely grinned and opened his mouth, working his jaw with an amused expression, it was Eli's nose that flowed with blood, down over his lip, where he tasted the copper of his own blood. Muad deserved it; there was no doubt. And Eli figured he did too. A hand pulled a white handkerchief from his vest pocket, and he pressed it to his nose as his gaze flickered between Dax and Muad before finally settling back on the woman in the room.

Muad's laughter intermingled with Dax's as glowing blue eyes met the sulpheric eyes of the Sith Lord. "Then you owe me a drink, Lord Ravage. The event the catamount is talking about is when I gutshot her lover, then kicked him off the roof. It seems she still harbors some emotions over it." Muad looked at Kat and grinned. "You know, you might need to seek some professional help. It's unhealthy holding on to things that happened so long ago. Now, how about that drink? And we can let the children talk while the adults discuss an acceptable outcome, eh?"

Eli had moved closer to Katarine, finally lowering the handkerchief. "Can we talk? I figure you probably have questions. And, uh, I'm sorry." His face tightened while he pocketed the stained cloth before absently rubbing the scars at his wrists. Her arms were wrapped around her midsection as the emotional trauma of the past came alive anew. His posture grew rigid as he saw the effect his presence had on Kat. His clenched fist drew semicircles of blood as his nails dug into his palm. Eli felt helpless to stem the echo of her hurt. But if she were willing to listen, despite what he perceived as her deep-seated hatred for him, he would try to give her the closure she so obviously desired.
Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

Katarine felt like a splinter of driftwood caught in a raging sea, tossed from one emotion to the next without any hope of finding solid ground. Even Daxium seemed more in control of himself than she was, which was saying something.

Some Jedi Master.

She couldn't tell if it was simply the weight of everything crashing down around her at once, or if the demon's blood running through her veins had something to do with it. At this point, she wasn't certain which possibility frightened her more.

Dax pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning against and headed toward the door. He stopped beside his sister just long enough to lean close, his voice dropping to a whisper against her ear.

"If I have to look for you again, I won't be as tolerant."

Katarine flinched away from the warmth of his breath, glaring after him as he motioned for Muad to follow him into the other room for that drink.

Daxium saw little purpose in allowing Katarine and Ellion time alone. As far as he was concerned, she shouldn't be wasting her attention on mortals who had nothing to do with the prophecy. The only reason he tolerated the conversation at all was the faint hope that her anger might finally burn through whatever attachment remained.

If she chose to stay willingly, everything would be considerably easier.

The door shut behind them.

For a long moment, Katarine simply stared at Ellion.

Her gaze dropped to the scars around his wrists, and something twisted painfully inside her. Had he done that to himself? Had someone else? Then she noticed the blood beneath his nose and flinched, knowing all too well what that meant.

The emotions came too quickly to separate. Guilt for the pain he'd suffered. Anger at Muad for causing more of it. A cold, vicious fury toward Daxium for setting any of this into motion. Beneath all of it, perhaps worst of all, the crushing shame of knowing that she had eventually allowed herself to believe Ellion was gone. That she had mourned him. That some part of her had started trying to learn how to live in a galaxy without him.

Then, as suddenly as everything else had shifted inside her lately, the anger vanished. Katarine crossed the room. There was no hesitation this time. No Jedi discipline. No careful consideration of what was appropriate or what Ellion might think.

She simply threw her arms around him. The first sob escaped before she could stop it. He was real, warm, and solid. He felt tangible beneath her hands in a way she had convinced herself she would never experience again.

Katarine buried her face against his chest as centuries of grief and fear finally tore free. She clung to him harder than she meant to, crying before she could remember to be embarrassed, before she could wonder whether he even wanted her this close.

"I thought you were dead."

​

Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

He watched as Daxium spoke to his sister before the Sith Lord and the Mad Master departed for their drink. The heavy door of the study closed behind them, leaving Katarine and Eli alone. She stared openly at the Corellian, and his gaze lowered, unable to meet hers. He'd seen enough of her emotions in the brief glimpse. The rage was palpable. Her pain could be felt rolling off her in waves that threatened to drown him in self-loathing. And hints of shame. No doubt, shame that she ever allowed herself to feel anything for him. She was a Jedi, and he was what he had always been—a rogue, mercenary, smuggler, hunter, pilot, and scoundrel.

Someone undeserving of her time, let alone her love.

This was why angels cried. Because of devils like him. Then she crossed the room, and Eli figured she meant to punch him this time. No matter how many times he'd dodged an attack, he dropped his defenses and let her crowd his space and release whatever she needed to find closure. Even if it meant his death, he would give her whatever she wanted, whatever she needed.

What he could never have fathomed was what she did.

Her arms wrapped around him and her face buried in his chest as the first sob escaped. With a familiarity that he thought forgotten, his arms encircled her shaking body and pressed her even closer. One arm wrapped around her narrow waist, resting on her hip, as his other arm crossed up her back where his hand gently stroked her hair.

His own eyes closed as tears threatened to fall before finally slipping from his clenched eyelids. He pressed his lips against her forehead before lowering his face into the thickness of her hair. Her words tore at his heart.

"I thought you were dead."

His throat thickened while he tried to swallow the emotion her words brought out. But he couldn't. Instead, he stroked her hair and held her as though this was a dream he would wake from and find her gone. "Shh ... It's okay now. You're okay. I was dead. Without you, princess ... I was." His hand in her hair slipped around to tilt her chin upwards so he could find her emerald eyes.

"I'm sorry. For going along with Muad's plan, after the fact, for staying away, for not returning to you fast enough. And I'm sorry I couldn't let you be happy, thinking I was long gone and out of your life. I know me showing up doesn't change the fact that you moved on... to more appropriate suitors. But when Muad told me you were taken ... I couldn't just let it be. I've been searching for a way through the Blackwall to find you. And I never would have stopped until you were free."

A weak attempt at a lopsided smile tried to appear as he gazed into her eyes. "But now that I know you're free, I won't bother you again. You can live your life knowing I will honor what you want, and the life you want with someone else. Although I will stab Dax in the face if you choose him."
Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

He didn't pull away. Relief swept through Katarine so sharply that it nearly buckled her. Then she felt his lips brush against her forehead, and whatever fragile hold she still had on herself shattered completely. She trembled against him, sobbing with shame, regret, happiness, despair, and a dozen other emotions she couldn't begin to name. They crashed over her one after another like waves against a cliff face, each impact threatening to break something loose until there was nothing left but rubble.

Then Ellion started apologizing.

The words came quickly, tumbling over one another while Katarine struggled to follow them through the roar inside her head. Muad's name cut through everything. Anger flared hot and immediate.

Of course. Of course the madman had a plan. Worse, Ellion had somehow become part of it.

But then Ellion mentioned other suitors, and the anger vanished beneath a fresh surge of guilt. He knew. Or at least he knew enough. He had to know about Christan Draclau and the way she had used his presence to fill a void she refused to acknowledge. And Mikhail... Her stomach twisted. Surely he knew about Mikhail too. How could Ellion even stand to look at her after that? How could he hold her like this when she had betrayed what they had been so completely?

"Ellion Corsair, I don't want a life without you. I never did."

The confession broke out of her in a trembling voice. Tears continued to spill from her deep green eyes as she forced herself to hold his blue gaze. For a moment, everything else disappeared. Daxium. Muad. The prophecy. The centuries she had lost. There was only Ellion. And then, inexplicably, she became aware of her hair.

Katarine nearly laughed through the tears. Why hadn't she dyed the white out? Centuries of frozen hell had left pale streaks threaded through it, and now, of all possible moments, she found herself wondering if she looked ancient. Haggard. Some miserable old hag clinging desperately to a man who remembered her as someone else.

The absurdity of it almost became funny. It was the first time in centuries that she had cared how she looked. The humor vanished as quickly as it had come, swallowed again by shame.

What was wrong with her?

Katarine drew in a slow, uneven breath and tried to calm the storm inside her. "I never wanted to live without you," she said again, softer this time. "I still don't." Her gaze dropped. "But you might not feel the same when you know what I've done."

She couldn't look at him anymore. Katarine eased back slightly, creating just enough distance to breathe, but her hands remained against him.

She still wasn't ready to let him go.


Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

"Ellion Corsair, I don't want a life without you. I never did."

Those words, heard oft enough in his dreams, were never expected in the waking world. His eyes closed while he struggled to accept the honesty in her voice. It was how he felt about her. With Kat in his arms, her hands on his chest, he let everything that once was, everything he once thought, drift away until all that remained was the simple, yet achingly haunting truth. He was a fool ever to doubt her.

When his eyes opened, he found her gazing up, and he lost himself in the deep green of her eyes. Then her laugh escaped as her gaze flickered to the white streaks in her bangs, and his hand slipped from beneath her chin and caught a wayward strand betwixt his fingers. Gently, he raised it to his nose and breathed in her memorized scent before he kissed the white hair.

"It's exotic, not that you need anything else to make you more appealing. I like it."

His hand released her hair and circled her waist before meeting at the small of her back, keeping her thoroughly ensnared in his arms. When she broke their gaze and whispered her words, Eli could tell she expected him to release her. There was no chance of that happening.

"Sweetheart, I spent centuries without you. Nothing you can do will ever get me to let go again. And I haven't exactly been idle. I've ... uh ... been working for Muad at times. How can I expect you to feel the same knowing I've been tethered to a man you hate for centuries?" He continued to gaze down into her face, waiting for her to return her eyes to his. Eli would wait as long as she needed. Because he was certainly not ready to let her go.

Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

Meanwhile, in the Parlor…

Daxium handed the former Sith a glass of amber liquor, the ice clicking softly against the crystal as it changed hands.

For the briefest moment, he had considered poisoning it.

He had noticed the connection between Muad and the mercenary, after all, and eliminating one potential complication before it could become a larger problem had always appealed to Daxium's practical nature. Unfortunately, murdering Muad came with consequences. His death would undoubtedly draw the attention, and likely the wrath, of the Mandalorians.

Daxium had far better things to do than spend the foreseeable future dealing with a collection of heavily armed rednecks nursing a vendetta.

So Muad lived.

For now.

Daxium settled back with his own drink, his calculating gaze lingering on the other man over the rim of the glass. Lord Ravage. Now there was a name he had not heard in quite some time. It belonged to another life, to years of war, bloodshed, and chaos, when he had carved his place into the galaxy through sheer brutality and refused to apologize for any of it.

Much like Muad, however, Daxium had eventually severed his ties with the Sith. Allegiance had become tiresome. Dogma even more so. These days, he served no empire, no order, and no grand philosophy beyond his own interests.

"You brought the mercenary here."

The glass lowered slowly from his lips.

"Why?"

There was no warmth in the question, only quiet scrutiny.

"What is it you want?"

Straight to business.

Lord Ravage had never possessed much patience for pleasantries, and while Daxium Ryiah might have abandoned the title years ago, some habits had proven considerably harder to kill.


Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

He reached out a hand and took the offered drink before settling into one of the leather chairs in the new room Dax had led them into. The yellow-eyed man was less a snake and more a basilisk. Certainly, he was capable of venom, which was why the madman waited for Dax to drink from his own glass, but the sheer physicality of the former Lord Ravage was not to be discounted. A small part of Muad was tempted to see who was most powerful. But that was what happened when you put two apex predators in the same room. The question was who was better.

He took a small sip of his drink and let the liquid sit on his tongue as he shifted through the ingredients in the Force. You never knew when someone would slip something like Iocaine powder into your drink, especially with a meeting such as this.

And then right to business. Muad gave a slight nod of appreciation. "First, I rode with him. I didn't bring him here. Details matter. Secondly, your question of why." He took another sip, enjoying the flavor and letting his eyes drift around the room momentarily before returning his gaze to Dax.

"Your sister and I have a complicated past. She's tried to kill me multiple times, and I've, well, I enjoy levying a certain amount of torment upon her, usually by forcing her to choose from no-win scenarios. I guess the why is twofold. First, my actions will have garnered me a certain amount of leverage over her. Which lends me the ability to exert influence. The second reason is that it allows me an excuse to finally meet you."

The glass was held between the fingers of his right hand as he returned the Sith's scrutinizing gaze with one of his own. Muad deliberated how much patience the other man could muster. From what the madman had gathered, Daxium was quite capable of great feats of restraint, except for where his twin entered the picture. So far, his own observations reinforced his intel.

"The third question. What do I want? I have certain individuals I would classify as opposition. Not enemies. At least not yet. And like a prudent general, I'm trying to gather as much information about them. And your sister possesses such information, which I will have. The quickest way to do this is your friend, the mercenary."

He grinned as he could easily see how this would infuriate the other man. Anything concerning his twin and the ownership Dax felt of the woman would only lead to rage. But Muad did not come empty-handed.

"Now there are two approaches to this. The carrot and the stick. However, I believe we are both excited at the challenge of a stick. We would never bend to another's will. So I come bearing the carrot in the form of information. You are no longer the only extremely powerful man seeking to control Katarine's destiny. No, no, not me. Darth Carnifex."

He let the name ruminate for a moment before continuing.

"And your tattoo work isn't the only thing at play on, or in, your sister's body. And if Carnifex has gone to these lengths with Ms. Kitty, then he's not done with his plaything yet. Perhaps he has more permanent, devious plans for her. Like making her another chattel piece in his harem. And even you cannot stand up to the full might of the Sith Order alone. Nor could I."

He took a deep drink of his drink and sighed, giving Dax an appreciative nod.

"What I'm offering is this. Let us take your sister. A loan, if you will. I will help in freeing her from the Dark Lord's influence, gaining the information I seek. I will further create unrest between her and the Jedi Order, which will aid in pushing her away from the light side. And then, when she clings to Eli as her last remaining buoy of hope ... I will kill him. Then, bereft of every lifeline left to her, she will return to you without hope, without love, without defiance."

He leaned back in his chair and shrugged.

"What say you? And this is quite good, by the way."

Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

Daxium was a disciplined man, and he knew how to weaponize stillness just as effectively as rage. He listened while Muad explained the complicated history he shared with Katarine. Not once did his expression betray him, though a flicker of annoyance stirred beneath the surface. Daxium might believe wholeheartedly in the prophecy that claimed he and Katarine were two halves of the same soul, destined to be reunited, but somewhere beneath the sociopathic narcissism and twisted obsession, he was still her older brother. Which meant he did not appreciate hearing that someone had been tormenting his little sister.

At least, not someone who wasn't him.

Still, Daxium said nothing. He merely sipped his drink and allowed Muad to speak uninterrupted, his silence carrying more weight than most men's threats. The only visible crack in his composure came at the mention of the Dark Lord of the Sith. His eyes widened slightly before settling again. Daxium was not a man easily surprised, and he despised discovering that he lacked information, especially information this important.

His sister had somehow managed to attract the attention of one of the most dangerous men in the galaxy.

Of course she had.

It was painfully, infuriatingly Katarine. She possessed a nearly supernatural talent for finding trouble, provoking things far larger than herself, and then stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the danger until it was standing directly in front of her. Such impish disobedience seemed bred into her bones.

Even so, this was beyond what he had expected.

Anger simmered beneath his perfect composure as Muad continued. Every instinct Daxium possessed demanded that Katarine not be permitted to leave this place without him. It was not concern born from brotherly affection, at least not in any healthy sense. It was the cold, proprietary concern of a man who had discovered that something belonging to him had been placed in danger.

He did not want his property damaged.

But Daxium was also practical. Patience had always served him better than impulse. Plans required information, and information required time. At present, he was operating at a disadvantage. Until he understood precisely what new and detestable nightmare Katarine had entangled herself in, he was unwilling to put his own plans into motion.

Eventually Muad fell silent, finishing with a compliment about the alcohol. Daxium watched him across the rim of his glass, his eyes narrowing slightly as he took another slow drink and allowed the venom to course pleasantly through his body.

Then, finally, he spoke.

"I expect no harm will come to her."

It was not a question. It was a demand. Nor did Daxium wait for Muad's answer. There was nothing to discuss. The matter was nonnegotiable. He rose smoothly and walked from the room, moving with the quiet expectation that Muad would follow.

When they returned to the study, Daxium stopped in the doorway. The sight before him drew a faint hiss through his teeth.

"How cozy."

Katarine immediately shifted. Whether consciously or not, she placed herself between Daxium and Ellion, planting her tiny frame squarely in front of the smuggler as though she intended to shield him. The gesture might have been comical under different circumstances. She was easily the smallest person in the room, dwarfed by every man present by half a foot and several dozen pounds.

Daxium's gaze dropped briefly to her position. Naturally. Even frightened, she was still defiant. How this woman tested his patience.

"It appears you've been causing more trouble than usual, Katarine." His voice remained maddeningly calm. "And now, as always, it has somehow become my problem to deal with."

Her brow furrowed. Then she bit her lip. She could feel it now, the anger rolling off him despite the tranquility of his expression. Daxium had always been most frightening when he was quiet.

Her stomach lurched and she felt the dyad change. He knew. Maybe not everything, but enough. Daxium was the last person in the galaxy she wanted knowing about her predicament with the unholy demon. Her gaze snapped toward Muad, narrowing immediately. Apparently, evidence was unnecessary. This was obviously his fault.

Daxium watched the accusation pass over her face but made no comment. His attention returned to his sister, lingering there for several long seconds.

Then he said the words Katarine had never expected to hear from him.

"You are free to go."

His face remained perfectly impassive. Anyone else might have believed him untouched by the declaration. Katarine knew better. She saw it in his eyes. A tiny shift. A fracture in the mask that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Pain, real, unmistakable pain. For just a moment, the thought of watching her walk away from him hurt, and it made her stomach bubble with guilt.

"See yourselves out." He spoke to Muad anad turned, leaving the trio in his wake.


Ellion Corsair

​

 

[Ellion Corsair]

Before either of them could say a word, the doors were shoved open, and Daxium reentered. While Kat was much more intimately familiar with her twin, Eli knew him well enough from their encounters to recognize the rage that undercut his words: "How cozy." Muad merely leaned against the doorframe and watched with amusement in his features.

When Katarine turned to face her brother, putting her body between the two men, Eli remembered this wasn't the first time she had reacted this way. And the last time it happened, there was an all-out war. He shifted slightly behind her, his left side peeking out from behind her diminutive frame. His left thumb was hooked in his gun belt, seemingly relaxed, while his right gripped the pistol and pulled it free, silently, hidden behind her back. If it came to a fight, he was more than willing to engage.

Dax then spoke, revealing his knowledge of things he shouldn't have been aware of, and Katarine's face turned to Muad with fury. Of course, the madman simply raised his hand and waved, a smirk on his face. Then Dax set them free before leaving the room.

Eli was dumbfounded. Of all the potential scenarios he had imagined, none of them ended like this. His mouth must have been gaping because Muad shook his head at the pair.

"Holster the pistol, and close your mouth, Eli. Oh, and I recommend we take Lord Ravage up on his offer before he changes his mind. And you owe me, kitten." Muad pushed from the frame and stood in the hall for a second before spinning and looking at Katarine.

"What can I say except," his arms opened wide as he shuffled from sight. "You're welcome." His laughter drifted down the hall as he made his way back to the ship.

Eli's mouth snapped shut, and he holstered the pistol. His left hand snaked down and softly took Katarine's hand. His eyes searched her green ones as he left the question unspoken.

Are you ready?
Katarine Ryiah

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
​

If looks could kill, Muad Dib would already be a dead man.

Katarine glared at him with enough fury to make the threat almost believable, her entire body tight with anger. Her emotions were volatile now, crashing into one another faster than she could separate them, rage, guilt, relief, resentment, fear. She seemed to be feeling all of it at once.

Then she became aware of Ellion's hand in hers.

The warmth of his skin cut cleanly through the chaos in her head. Her gaze shifted toward him, and that painfully familiar swooping sensation stirred low in her stomach. For one brief second, Muad and all the rest of it faded into the background.

Only for a second.

This was not over.

As far as Katarine was concerned, Muad was a man living on borrowed time. The moment she discovered how to sever whatever connection bound him to Ellion, she intended to make certain he regretted every smug, manipulative choice that had brought them here.

The three of them left the castle and stepped into a snowstorm that seemed to have materialized from nowhere. Wind tore across the grounds, driving sheets of white against them as they made their way toward the ship.

Then something struck her through the dyad.

Loneliness.

Not the fleeting ache of being alone, but something deep and consuming, hollow enough to make her physically wince. Katarine faltered for half a step. Was there any version of her life in which her choices did not leave someone bleeding?

The thought followed her all the way to the ship.

Once aboard, she brushed melting snow from her dark hair and turned those deep green eyes back toward Muad. They were still narrowed, still sharp with accusation, though some of the fury had been buried beneath exhaustion and uncertainty.

Then for perhaps the first time since everything had begun unraveling, Katarine realized she had absolutely no idea what came next.


Ellion Corsair

 

[Ellion Corsair]

Katarine's hand was a tether in the situation's insanity. Muad Dib, the madman who haunted both Kat and Eli in the past, was helping them escape the castle and Daxium. And then there was Dax, Katarine's brother and a man who had delivered enough torment and turmoil to both of them to last several lifetimes, who was allowing them to depart in relative peace. Both of the men acting out of character from what Kat and Eli were familiar with was both surprising and disconcerting. If it weren't for her fingers entwined with his own, Eli would assume this to be a wildly inspired dream conjured by caf, alcohol, and spice.

But her hand was in his, and her presence felt as familiar as his gun belt around his waist. Even after the many decades and centuries, being beside the younger Ryiah sibling still felt right. As they walked from the room and down the hall, he kept expecting an attack. At least something to occur. But they made it through the shattered entranceway and into the fleeting snowstorm.

As they reached the ship, Eli turned to look upon the black castle standing out against the backdrop of falling white snow. It held memories of pain and torment. Yet it was also a chapter marking a time when he and the woman whose hand he held survived powers and tragedies to escape together, even if the effects of their successful escape haunted him for a time.

Climbing the landing ramp, he hit the button to raise the ramp and seal the ship. Muad leaned against the bulkhead, glowing eyes watching the two of them with amusement clear on his face. "You know, Kitty Kat, much has changed while you took your nap. You hate me, you want to kill me, and I don't blame you. When someone so obviously more awesome than you exists, there's a certain amount of murderous envy. But before you try to stab me to death, just know I'm not the same guy you knew. The Mad Knight of the Sith."

His smirk took in her bedraggled appearance.

"I'm the Mad Master these days. But I'm no Sith. And while I would never classify myself as a good man, I am a man who's trying to do the right thing. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I fail. And should you ever want to fight, I'll gladly acquiesce. Now, it's time for me to go home. I'll handle the piloting portion. Y'all... well, you do you. Ta-ta."

With that, he moved deeper into the ship and headed for the cockpit. Within moments, the engines warmed up, and the repulsors lifted the ship, leaving the planet behind.

Alone, Eli noticed how tired Kat appeared. And with the snow melting in her hair, most assuredly giving her a chill, he slipped his leather coat off and held it out awkwardly. "I don't know where your old bomber jacket is. Use this, I mean, if you want to."

After all the time apart, what was their dynamic? She had moved on, explored a life outside of him. And he had closed himself off, living in his work. He knew what he wanted. It was the same thing he had always wanted from the first time he saw her in the bar where she was looking for a pilot. He remembered their climb up a mountain, camping in a tent, and their search in the caves. By the time they were finished with that first adventure, he was ensnared by her beauty and heart.

He offered her his lopsided grin. "I think I need to get you into my bed." He gave her a little wink as he continued. "So you can get some sleep. Don't get too excited, princess. I've got a few things to keep me busy."
Katarine Ryiah