Control, Cheriss, you must learn control. Her master’s voice was deadly calm, as it had always been. The familiar, cold, stomach-wrenching fear came back as she prepared herself for another one of his scoldings, which were almost always accompanied with some form or another of lightning.
She could almost see him towering over her. Her eyes were closed, but the memory, the image in front of her, was just as vivid, just as terrifying as he had been in life. Black robes that stopped flowing just before they touched the ground, pale yellow eyes on a twisted face of something resembling a human face that seemed to see into her very core.
“I got… carried away, master.” She felt like a child again as she knelt before him. She’d failed a simple task, and now she would face the consequences. “I assure you it will not happen again.”
“How many times must I say this until you remember?” Her master clicked his tongue. “The dark side draws on emotions for power, but you must not let them control you.” Boots clicked against the ground as he began to pace in front of her. She didn’t dare look up. “You did. That is the reason he lives. His body should be burning into ashes, not resting in the medical bay of his ship.”
“I understand, master.”
“Do you? Might I remind you that this is not the first time we have had this conversation?” It was deadly silent for a moment before white light suddenly filled her vision. Every part of her felt like it was on fire as electricity crackled through her body, and she fell forward onto one hand, then two. She couldn’t move, do anything but grit her teeth and try to keep from screaming as the lightning kept coming, burning, until her eyes shot open.
She was sitting upright on the floor of her room, legs crossed, hands resting on either knee as the vision faded. She remembered that mission. Her master had ordered her to kill a man who was proving to be… difficult. He’d somehow been predicting their every move, delaying her master’s plan long enough for something to be done about it. Turned out, he was a Jedi knight and what was more, one of her childhood tormentors.
He had changed since they’d last met, that was certain. An unruly delinquent in his teenage years, now he was all holy and a saint, fighting for justice, protecting the innocent, everything the Jedi claimed to be their ideals. He hadn’t even recognized her when they fought, but when she was finally able to disarm him, shove him to the ground and point her lightsaber at his throat, she made sure he knew who she was.
When the look of realization washed over his face, the expression was one she would never forget. There was genuine fear in his eyes, a mirror image of her own as a girl back on Corellia. As soon as she saw it, something snapped. Her eyes fixed on his like a predator’s. All the rage from everything he’d ever done to her she let out, one stroke of her blade at a time. And when he screamed, heard those agonized, beautiful screams, she’d enjoyed it so much that she forgot why she was there in the first place. In the end, though, he’d survived against all odds, and her master found out.
Her thoughts went back to the factory on Thila, to her brief duel with the Togruta girl. She had to admit, Lemonade was a good fighter. She could respect that. But her words, the taunts, harlot… Cheriss had let them get to her. When she did, the same beast that had been asleep for so long reared its ugly head and then she’d let herself get carried away, draining all her energy and even leaving a slight burn on her own hand that had yet to heal.
Worst of all, the girl was still alive. She could have killed her, but she didn’t. And it had been Kayden of all people who’d saved her. Why hadn’t he finished it? At the thought of seeing him again, her fury rose up once more and she grabbed her lightsaber. Her free hand reached for the door. But then she saw the burn. Her grip tightened, loosened, and she forced herself to remember. He was her partner, her teammate. For now. Until then, she would have to wait, to grow stronger, and to keep her cool. Only then would her plan bear fruit.
Control.