The court ladies worked busily about to ensure the new emperor's locks of raven hair were brushed to their most immaculate, his formal jacket had been fitted his broad chest perfectly, and his black Imperial cape had been laid about his shoulders just right. They attached a smaller cape in the colors of House Ren, solid red, just a shade lighter than fresh blood, to his left shoulder beneath the imperial cape, setting the garments carefully so a stripe of crimson could be seen flowing down his side.
Soft footsteps allerted the the emperor to a new arrival in the spacious and highly ornate chambers.
Kylo shifted his gaze from examining himself in the mirror to the reflection of man in his early-to-mid thirties wearing a formal black Imperial Officer's uniform complete with black cap and Imperial crest. It was Hux. The Emperor dismissed the ladies preening over him.
"Leave us," Kylo said with the wave of a hand, "You've done acceptable work. I will call for you if you are needed." A chorus of disappointed goodbyes accompanied their departure.
"Your Imperial Highness, the bodyguard has arrived," said Hux, "She has been escorted to the private observation balcony."
Kylo turned to fully face his chief of staff, the Grand Duke of Arkanis, Armitage Hux. The ginger headed cretin was a left-over from the previous ruler but, unlike that former Imperial Regent, Kylo could see at least a marginal utility in the man. He would tolerate him at least until a more suitable replacement could be found.
"I told you, I won't be needing a personal protection detail for the coronation," said Kylo, a hint of agitation working its way into his voice. "I am not like the former regent or the last emperor. I won't be seen with guards wherever I go and more importantly I don't need them."
The man shifted his stance nervously and clasped his hands tightly behind his back. "I am aware, your Imperial Highness, and I made the ministers aware of that as well. We believe we have reached an accommodation that will both satisfy your concerns and ensure your safety."
"There is no concern for my safety," Kylo growled, "There's no one more capable of protecting himself than I."
"Indeed and yet the regent himself was assassinated and you bludgeoned to unconsciousness in his presence only weeks ago," said Hux, looking like the cat who caught the canary, "Frankly it's a wonder you managed to survive at all, when even the royal guard were killed to a man."
"I don't like your tone, Duke," said Kylo. He would back-hand the man but didn't want to get slime on his glove. "But tell me, if one assassin can murder eight of the elite Praetorians, then what use is a single guard?"
Hux clasped his hand together at his front and bowed his head. "Indeed M'lord, and no disrespect was intended. I apologize for my tone. That situation could never be repeated at the coronation. We do not believe that an assassin would be so bold as to simply pull a sword on the Emperor in front of a hundred thousand of the Empire's most loyal subjects, soldiers, and guard. Our spies suggest it will be poisoning with either food or a needle. It will happen not at the coronation itself, but at the formal reception afterward. To defeat that threat, a bodyguard posing as your date would be effective. Also, stay away from any of the food or drink."
Kylo weighed the suggestion in his head briefly before deciding it was a fairly reasonable course of action. He would need a date to the reception anyway, and one who could silently deflect an assassin's blade or needle would be better than one who couldn't. Besides, if he did fancy a drink or a bite of something that evening, he could use them as a food taster.
"Very well," said Kylo, "I will take one of my Knights, Cassandra, as my date. I can think of no one more up to the task than her."
Among all the court's knights and suitors, the Baroness Cassandra Ren of Ryloth was perhaps his most favored in both categories. A fine warrior, she was among the first to join him when he and a handful of other disaffected students went off to found the House Ren and took the name for their order of knights. The two weren't especially close, perhaps had got along as well as any two nobles could, and she had become noticeably friendlier since the regent's death. Though her motives were like glass in their transparency, her affections had been most appreciated.
"No, my lord," said Hux, "She and the other Knights of your house's order will not suffice. Neither will any of the other nobles of the Imperial houses, I'm afraid, were they even capable bodyguards. The capable ones are all too well known, even the captain of the guard, who never takes off her helm, would be known by her height alone. The assassin will simply forstall their attack until a more opportune time. By ensuring that your date is not suspected, the assassin will be lured into complacency and be caught the moment they strike. We have a young mercenary woman who will fill that role."
Kylo closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, hot breath escaping from his nose. He counted to five and swallowed before he spoke next, doing his best to keep his temper in check. Without the regent Snoke around, he found it becoming easier and easier to remain calm each and every day. The humorous image of Phasma trying to waltz with him helped offset his building anger as well.
"So, instead of one of our own nobles, you would have the Emperor attend a reception in his honor with not just a mercenary, but a commoner on his arm?"
"She is a noble, my lord," said Hux, reassuring him with a hand gesture, "And besides, she's not terrible in appearance if I am to judge. She has been described as khyber in the rough."
"You're loving this, aren't you?" After a moment of reflection, Kylo asked, "How can she be a noble without a house? A regent can't sell or award titles, and it's been a generation since Emperor Palpatine was killed. She would have to be in her fifties, at least. Don't you think a grizzled old woman on my arm would be off-putting enough to scare away the assassin? Not to mention the stir it would cause in the court..."
"She was awarded the title by you, my lord," Hux said slowly.
Recognition had flashed before Kylo's eyes. He had awarded exactly one title to date, and it had been his first official action as Emperor. It had occurred weeks ago just after he had ascended to the the throne. There was no possible way…
"When the captain of the guard began searching among the mercenary guild for someone up to this task, a young woman presented her with your vasal signet and letter as proof that she swore hommage directly to the throne," continued the duke. "We had to consider her for selection. Is everything she claimed nothing more than fabrication and forgery? Do you not remember accepting a mercenary girl as your bondswoman?"
Kylo swallowed hard and clenched his jaw. "No, I remember. Her name was Lady Rey…"
"Of Jakku," supplied Hux.
"Yes," said Kylo. He had given her a small fiefdom carved out of the sandy wasteland where she had grown up.
"I cannot imagine what service she must have rendered the Empire to have earned such a reward," the other man said, "Whatever she did, I hope she was good at it."
She was just some sand rat when he had first met her… But no longer. Now she was fully in league with Kylo's own parents and uncle. They had trained her, then given their name to her to use as her own. Technically, she did have a house, one of the traitor houses of the Republic Revolutionary movement. There was no way the grand duke would let her within fifty miles of the palace, if he didn't kill her on sight, had he known that particular piece of information. She could be fully called Lady Rey of House Skywalker, First Baronetess of the Province of Jakku, the Grey Knight, and Dame Commander of the Jedi Order, with the latter two being dormant titles of course.
As for what she did to earn the Empire's land and title, Kylo had given those to her as a bitter parting gift. They were to remember the him by and a reminder of the day she spat in his face. He had been willing to give her so much more, offering half his Empire and a title equal to his own to the young woman. It hadn't been good enough for her.
Kylo nodded and spoke half to himself, "I remember that mercenary girl. She will be a capable guard and escort."
"Indeed," said Hux with a smile.
…
"Your Imperial Highness," said the girl, Rey, as she performed a deep curtsey.
Honestly, Kylo couldn't have imagined her capable of the act. His mother must have taught her how to do it. He removed his black suede glove in one motion and offered his hand to the young baronetess. Gently lifting her to her feet, he moved to her side.
"Such a lovely coronation, your highness!" she said. Together they walked arm in arm, hands clasped, down the grand staircase to the foyer of the great reception hall. "I saw the whole affair from the the emperor's private balcony and it was truly magnificent."
Kylo rolled his eyes. It had been a long ceremony, and he just wanted this day to be done with. The red carpet beneath their feet made walking difficult, so plush and thick was its material. The crowds that lined the hall to the reception area gleefully cheered the couple as they approached the grand arched double doors, false smiles plastered over each and every one of their faces. Lives were short, enemies numerous, and friends non-existent for nobles in the Sith Empire. Everyone around them, to a person, he knew, would kill either one of them without a second's hesitation if they could get away with it. And that was without them even knowing what he and the scavenger girl had done together to secure his throne, or whose house she really belonged to.
He and his courtesan would attend the reception, have one dance together, be seen mingling for a short time, then depart. They would not prolong this. But he wouldn't make it another minute if she kept on like this.
He bent down and hissed into her ear, "Cut the act, Rey."
He heard a chorus of 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' from the crowd as they walked. They must have taken his leaning in for a harsh whisper as a kiss on the cheek.
"No, Ben. I'm having fun. Mother and Father send their regards," she whispered back through clenched teeth. Then, much louder she added, "We are going to have such a wonderful time dancing the night away, your highness. I am so delighted, honored, and humbled that I was chosen as the best to meet your needs among all the fine noble ladies of the empire."
She said the last a little louder than was necessary, Kylo was sure, and while scanning the room for faces. She was really playing up the moment, not so much enjoying being on the Emperor's arm as relishing in the fact that no one else was, either.
"You're calling them that now?" he whispered back. Seeing the glares around him directed at Rey for her loud gloating, he continued, "You know, if these nobles didn't want to kill you before, they will now."
""Let them try," she replied softy, "I think I could beat any of your suitors, warriors or not. And I might as well call them that; if their son won't return, they might as well have a daughter, right?"
"You can have them," he said, before adding, "Don't you think you shouldn't draw attention to yourself? You should be making yourself invisible. And quiet."
"Don't tell me how to do my job, Ben," she said. They had reached the entrance to the grand reception hall now, just as servants began drawing open the heavy gilded oak doors. Rey smiled sweetly up at him, "I've never been to anything like this, and I'm going to enjoy it as much as I want, however I want, for as long as I want."
"Yeah?" he growled softly back down to her, "Keep it up, sand-rat. When we dance, the moment a fast song plays, I'm gonna fling you around like a sack of potatoes. A small sack of potatoes."
"Oh, don't threaten me with a good time," she replied into his ear, ending the last word with her tongue softly flicking his ear lobe.
Kylo sighed. Unlike every single other person he had ever met, he had absolutely no idea how to read Rey most of the time. At one time, he could have sworn that she had loved him as much as he loved her. Then she had refused a proposal that literally any other woman in the Empire would have killed for. Most of the time, except for a few quiet, soft moments together, she tended to bounce between juvenile excitement and unbridled rage with impassive breaks in between. It was often hard for him to know which was coming and when. Even in their secret letters he could not tell what was flirtation and what was aggravation, although she had made her feelings on matters of the heart abundantly clear on that day they fought side by side and back to back.
They entered the great hall to the sound of music. A soft but regal ballad played, composed to remember the empire of a thousand years ago during a time of peace and prosperity. It would be a slow dance to start, then.
They turned to face each other. He held her close and she pressed her chin into his chest, looking up at her newly coronated emperor.
"Try to enjoy the night, Ben," she said softly, "There probably won't be an assassination attempt."
"How can you know that?" he asked.
"Because I'm the assassin," she said, a devious smile spreading across her lips. "My contract was not to be your bodyguard, but your murderer. Hux paid to have you killed."
Kylo allowed himself the barest hint of grin, his lips just curling ever so slightly on the right side. They danced in perfect synchronization, each seeming to know precisely the movements of the other. He did feel more relaxed now, the weight of the attempt on his life and the stress of the day completely leaving him. In his arms, he felt her relax too, becoming a comfortable warmth pressed against him.
So she had been hired to kill him. Hux had quite literally picked the worst person possible for that job. Of all the people within ten miles of where he stood, she was the least likely to take his life. Indeed, she was probably the least likely in all the world. At one time, she had almost succeeded, and he bore her scar from the side of his chest to his eye. More recently, after they deposed the regent together, she could have easily snuffed the life from his unconscious body yet refused the chance.
"Thank you for telling me," he said, "I'll have to deal with that later. Care to assist?"
"Gladly," she said with a slight nod, "We do make a good team, don't we?"
"Yes," he agreed, "But you said there probably won't be an assassination."
He felt her shoulders shrug against him. "Barring the fact that there could be another assassin," she said, "I still might do it. It depends on well our evening goes. You'd better keep me entertained, or else."
He smirked and shrugged. "I don't know, I think maybe I want a rematch. So now who's threatening who with a good time?"