[It hurts. She will no doubt feel the way he cringes on the other side of the bond, clear as a bell now that they are so connected. His face hardly shifts except for a minute twitch in the corner of his mouth, blood dripping off his chin and down onto her.

It takes a long moment for his heart to harden again, his expression wrinkling in disgust.]

It does not matter, you see. [It does matter.] I do not need you to be with me for what I need.

[That, at least, is true in his mind. Whatever the Force had done to them, how it sings or how it infects them, he just needs the proximity.]

You were a fool to think you could run forever.