Part 7 (1/2)
”The point is, Princess, that five months ago you told me you loved me, and it wasn't the first time. You used to love me. You believed it, and you made me believe it. I thought our love was something special, something I would gladly die for, and I'm not going to let you throw away our future just because some other prince comes along!”
Other prince, he'd said. Leia tapped her foot, had to consciously will herself to stop. ”Then you admit it? You are the king of Corellia?”
”I never said that.”
Leia looked away at Threepio, glared back at Han. ”What if I don't love you anymore? What if I really have changed my mind?”
”The news nets are already reporting that I've abducted you,” Han said.
”They began broadcasting the story just before we bugged out. If you don't love me, then I'll bring you back in seven days, and I'll serve my time in prison. But if you do love me,” Han paused, ”then I want you to kiss Isolder good-bye and marry me.” He jerked his thumb, pointing at his chest.
Leia found her head shaking in frustration. ”You've got a lot of nerve.”
Han stared into her eyes. ”I've got nothing to lose.”
He really was putting everything on the line, as he had done for her time and time again. A few years ago she had thought he was das.h.i.+ng and bold, perhaps a bit reckless. Now that she thought about it, he had only seemed reckless because he so often risked his life for her. Han would almost throw it away at her whim. What she had once deemed an almost inhuman courage was really a sign of his unflagging devotion. And Leia found her heart pounding in fear at the thought that someone could love her that much.
”All right,” Leia swallowed. ”You have a deal?”
”Princess Leia!” Threepio said in consternation.
Leia added, ”?but I hope you like prison food.”
As soon as the Bith s.h.i.+p dropped out of hypers.p.a.ce near the maelstrom of rubble that circled the Roche system, Luke knew there was trouble. He couldn't feel Leia anywhere nearby. He went to his room, called the New Republic's amba.s.sador to the Verpines over subs.p.a.ce radio, and got the old man out of bed.
”What's so important?” the amba.s.sador snapped.
”What has happened to Princess Leia Organa?” Luke asked. ”I was supposed to meet her here.”
The amba.s.sador frowned. ”She got kidnapped a couple of days ago, by General Solo. I watch the holo vids when I can, but I'm a busy man! I don't have much time for such nonsense. You could always call Coruscant, if it's that important to you.”
Luke frowned. His status as a war hero didn't give him enough pull to make hypers.p.a.ce calls on holo vid. Besides, a call wouldn't get him any closer to Leia. He needed to go back to Coruscant, start from there. ”Do you have any ideas where I might find Han and Leia?”
The amba.s.sador yawned, scratched his bald head. ”Who do you think I am, the chief of espionage? n.o.body knows where they are. Eyewitnesses claim to have sighted Solo on at least a hundred worlds. Invariably it turns out to be only a rumor, or some lookalike gets nabbed. I'm sorry, son, I can't be any help.” The amba.s.sador flipped off the communicator, and Luke sat, puzzled. He seldom received such rude treatment from anyone, much less dignitaries. He guessed that the operator hadn't told the amba.s.sador who was calling.
Luke closed his eyes, stretched with his senses. Sometimes, in his sleep he would dream about Leia. Usually, if she was within the same star system, Luke could feel her presence. She was nowhere nearby. He decided to get his fighter out of storage and head for Coruscant.
Han was working in the galley aboard the Falcon, trying to put together his fourth candlelight dinner in as many days. The smell of spiced aric tongue wafted up, and Han was busy spooning some pudding into cora sh.e.l.ls when the pudding bowl tipped over and dropped on the floor, spattering the walls and Han's pant leg. Chewbacca had been standing at the viewport, and the Wookiee turned and laughed.
”Go ahead,” Han said. ”Laugh it up, fur brain. But let me tell you something: by the end of this trip, Leia is going to realize she loves me. In case you haven't noticed, it's only been four days, and she's already warming up to me nicely.”
Chewbacca growled disparagingly.
”You're right,” Han said with a tone of dejection, ”Hoth will warm up before she will. And I suppose mating rituals are much simpler where you come from. When you love a woman, you probably just bite her on the neck and drag her to your tree. But we handle things differently where I come from. We make our women nice dinners, we compliment them, treat them like ladies.”
Chewie laughed derisively.
”So we shoot them and drag them into our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps,” Han admitted. ”All right, so maybe I'm not that much more civilized than you, but I'm trying. I'm really trying.”
”Han, oh Han,” Leia called from the lounge. ”By any chance, do you have that first course ready? I am getting so hungry, and you know how irritable I get when I'm hungry.”
”Coming, Princess,” Han called sweetly as he opened the oven. He tried to pull out the pan of spiced aric tongue with the bottom of his ap.r.o.n, burned his fingers. He yelped and stuck his hot fingers in his mouth, got a hot pad and dumped the tongue on a plate. Somehow, the tongue looked bluer than it should, and he wasn't sure if he had overcooked it, if the tongue was just bad, or if maybe he'd put in too much ju powder.
”Are you about done in there?” Leia called.
”Coming!” Han shouted, and he brought the tongue to her. He'd set a nice red tablecloth over the hologram board, and the candelabra was all aglow.
Leia looked spectacular in a dazzling white dress jumpsuit and pearls, the flames dancing in her dark eyes. He set the plate down, and said, ”Dinner is served.”
Leia looked at him questioningly, raising an eyebrow.
”What?” Han said. ”What is it this time?”
”Aren't you going to slice it for me?” she asked. Han looked at the vibro-blade on the table. He'd seen Leia hack her way through a jungle with a dull machete. He'd seen her slice ropes off her hands with a piece of broken gla.s.s. He'd even seen her dispatch some kind of swamp monster with a pointed stick that wasn't anywhere near as sharp as that vibroblade. ”Of course I'll slice it for you,” Han said. ”It would be my pleasure.”
He took the blade, began slicing the tongue into portions. When he was halfway done he decided he'd better check his progress. ”Are these slices all right for you? Would you like them thicker, thinner, sliced lengthwise instead of sideways?”
”The portions look fine,” Leia said, and Han finished slicing the tongue, sat down to the table and picked up a napkin.
Leia cleared her throat, looked up at him.
”What now, my pet?” Han asked.
”Are you going to sit at this table with your dirty ap.r.o.n on?” Leia asked. ”I mean, that is a little disgusting.”
Han remembered a moment when they had shared stale rations in a battlefield on Mindar, dead stormtroopers all around. ”You're right,” Han said. ”I'll take it off.” He got up, removed the ap.r.o.n, took it and hung it on a peg in the galley. He came back and sat down. Leia cleared her throat.
”What now?” Han asked.
”You forgot the wine,” Leia said, looking at her gla.s.s. Han glanced at her plate, noticed that she'd already begun eating without him.
”Would you prefer white, red, green, or purple?”
”Red,” Leia answered.
”Dry or wet?”
”Dry!”
”Temperature?”
”Thirty-nine degrees.”
”You aren't going to let me eat with you again tonight, are you?”
”No,” Leia said firmly.
”I don't get it,” Han said. ”It's been four days now, and outside of ordering me around, you haven't said one word to me. I know you are mad at me. You've got a right to be. Maybe I've ruined it for you, and you're never going to be able to like me. Or maybe you're getting so used to having servants around, that you just want to turn me into your slave.
But I would hope, if nothing else comes out of this, that at the very least you would still like me as a friend.”