ILLUMINATE • din djarin

PART TWO

Altair's silver eyes avoided her wordlessly.

Venelia's gaze landed on her father, whose eyes were filled with fire as he stared down Altair. "What do you want from us? Fidelis doesn't have the military resources to support the Empire."

Pelintal picked something imaginary off his uniform. "Perhaps we should move to a more suitable location for this conversation?" He looked down at the lifeless bodies as if they were rubbish discarded, nothing but an inconvenience. "Altair, lead us to the throne room."

Altair bowed his head. "Of course, Admiral." His eyes met Venelia's again, trying to tell her something with her look, but it did nothing to placate her. She was betrayed. She'd given him all of her and this is what he'd given her in return. Her eyes filled with tears as the stormtroopers yanked her forward to follow Altair, the Admiral, and her parents into the throne room. She felt the tip of their blasters nudge deeper into her ribs. She felt so helpless.

Once in the throne room, Altair walked up the steps to her parent's thrones and stood next to them, hands clasped behind his back. The Admiral followed him before taking a seat on her father's throne. Venelia sucked in a breath as she looked over at her father as they were brought to stand in front of Altair and the Admiral. He was seething, but he hid it well behind a clenched jaw and steely eyes.

The Admiral leant back on the throne and crossed his leg, so his ankle was over his knee. "Now, where were we?"

"Why are you here, Admiral?" Her father edged out.

"Did you know that I joined the Empire as a young man in my twenties?" The Admiral mused. "I joined as a Junior Lieutenant, but I was able to prove to my superiors that I could handle anything. I passed on ideas on how to invade and conquer planets and with each success, my rank grew. I am known for taking planets like yours and bleeding them dry for the good of the Galactic Empire."

Her father steeled his gaze and her mother appeared strong next to him. Both trying to remain strong for the fate of their planet and their people. Venelia tried to control the shaky breaths in her chest.

"We won't allow you to do that Fidelis." Her father countered sternly, referring to both himself and her mother, who stood squarely in the eyes of the Admiral.

The Admiral went on like he didn't hear him, "The Kyber Ridges...have they ever been mined?"

Venelia had a sense of where the conversation was going as her father took a deep breath before answering, "The Kyber Ridges are sacred to Fidelis and are protected under ancient Fidelian law."

"Well, we'll have to sort that out, won't we? Altair, will you get someone to gather the court advisors, they should be here for this." The Admiral ordered. Altair nodded and looked at Venelia again, who pointedly avoided his gaze before walking with stormtroopers flanking him to fetch the advisors.

"Prince Altair has been a valuable asset in orchestrating this coup d'état." The Admiral spoke in an offside. "The Empire is indebted to him."

"You have no right to do this, the advisors won't listen to you." Venelia heard herself spitting out.

"Venelia," Her father warned.

The Admiral set his gaze on her and looked at her like he just noticed she was standing there. Venelia felt her skin crawl, but she held his gaze – she wouldn't let him know how scared she really was. That's not what the heir to the throne did. The heir was strong in the face of adversity. They were strong for their people. Even when they felt anything but.

Venelia clenched her jaw, and her breaths became shallow as the Admiral rose from the throne and slowly made his way towards her. He stopped about half a metre away from her, he was a head taller than her and usually that wouldn't matter much, but it made Venelia feel smaller than she ever had. But she forced herself to stand her ground, looking him dead in the eyes.