Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion) (35 page)

“Do I really?” she said.

“You really do,” Han said. “Sometimes you
are
people like me.”

Leia's gaze softened a degree. Luke looked from one to the other of them, a hint of confusion in his bright blue eyes. For a trembling moment, something dangerous seemed about to happen, but then Leia pulled back. Her smile turned sardonic and the façade fell back in place.

“Sometimes I am,” she agreed. “But then I bathe.”

Chewbacca snorted and Luke chuckled, looking relieved.Han held up his hands. “Fine, sweetheart. You can say anything you want. We both know how you really feel.”

“You aren't still pretending I was jealous of Scarlet Hark, are you?”

“It's nothing to be ashamed of,” Han said. “I'm a good-looking guy. And back on Cioran, I really didn't have a choice. I had to take my clothes off.”

“Why did you have to take your clothes off?” Luke asked.

Han shrugged. “They were wrinkled. That's not the point. The point is it's perfectly normal for a woman—or in this case two women—like her to be attracted to a man like me.”

Chewbacca howled.

“She did turn away, yeah,” Han said. “But, you know. She probably peeked.”

“She did,” Leia said.

For a moment, the room went silent. Han felt a blush rising up his neck and fought it back.

“See?” he said, poking Chewbacca's knee with a finger. “She peeked.”

The Wookiee didn't answer. Around them, the business of the war went on, as it would for the months or years until one side or the other won. Han wondered, when that time came, if he'd still be a rebel, and whom he'd be rebelling against.

“You know,” Luke said after a while, “with Seymarti and Cerroban out of the running, there aren't a lot of places left we can build the new base.”

“As long as it's not Hoth,” Han said. “That's a miserable planet.”

“We'll find something,” Leia said. “It won't be easy, and it won't come without a cost, but we'll find it. We always do.”

About the Author

James S. A. Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. They both live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.