Kylo brings Rey back to Bast and roughly dumps her unconscious in the Force on their bed. He needs to vent his rage at something, at someone. So he destroys the rest of their bedroom with his saber. Leaving wide slash marks on the walls and splitting the furniture in two.

Rey sleeps through it all.

And the violence doesn't help. Because while Kylo can destroy the room he can't destroy the memory of seeing Rey with Snoke. It is burned into his brain like a brand that will forever leave a mark. And every time Kylo glances over at her form face down on the bed all he can think of is Rey lying similarly on Snoke's bed. And that reminds him of what she had been doing there in the first place.

So he broods.

A collision up ahead in their hyperspace lane had interdicted his command shuttle into deep space early this morning. The Leader's stronghold had been the closest secure area to use for his meeting. And maybe, he thinks, Rey will still be there. Plus, Kylo can pay his respects to the Supreme Leader and make his report in person. So he had ordered the detour and all went as expected for a while.

But Kylo can't concentrate during the meeting because he can't shake a feeling of unease. And then he feels it-Rey's Light. At first, he figures this must be part of how she uses the Force to heal his Master. But then Kylo feels it again, and a third time. And suddenly he recognizes that there is only one thing he knows that makes his wife's Force imprint blaze and flare like that. And now he is suspicious. Bursting out of his meeting without explanation to go in search of Rey. Feeling more and more certain that she's not with Snoke, she's with a lover. And he follows her in the Force and, yes, she has a lover. And her lover is the man Kylo regards like a father.

He is devastated.

And hours later, the more he dwells on it, the worse it is. He can't decide which is the more bitter betrayal-his wife or his Master.

Kylo keeps pacing. Snoke has put Rey deeply asleep. No doubt to give Kylo time to cool off. He considers waking her with the Force but rejects the idea. Because Kylo knows he is still too angry to face her. That again he might be tempted to hurt her. And that maybe this time he would give in to that Dark urge.

So he broods some more.

Snoke is the far more culpable of the two-Kylo is convinced of that fact. For he had seen his Master manipulate his wife once before. It had been a disgusting display of dominance of Master over Apprentice. And Kylo had known from then on that his wife could easily be enchanted by the Muun into any number of lewd acts on a whim.

But Rey had not been under Snoke's power when Kylo had found them together. And that certain knowledge cuts deep. When Kylo had walked in to find her gasping out his Master's name, it had been real pleasure. Not some fantasy planted into her mind. Maybe his wife didn't want to be in his Master's bed, but she had enjoyed herself there all the same. And that hurts.

Fuck! He needs to kill someone. He wants to feel the rush of Dark power as someone's essence flows back into the Force. Destruction is always so soothing. But Kylo knows that he is not strong enough to kill his Master and his Master has forbidden him to harm Rey. And, well, she is his Rey. So Kylo stews and stews with no outlet for his rage.

Hours have passed and Kylo has to get his mind off this. So the Emperor puts his mask back on, summons what's left of his staff from their beds and resumes the meeting he had been presiding over before Darth Plagueis fucked up his life by fucking his wife. So what if it's late? Maybe he can do something productive while he waits for his adulterous wife to awaken and try to explain.

So Kylo is briefed on the stubborn remnants of the Resistance regrouping near Chandrila. And on the pockets of Resistance sympathizers in the Mid Rim. There are competing proposals for how to deal with the dissidents, but Kylo quickly opts for the military option. If he can't kill someone today, at the very least he can plan to kill someone tomorrow. Lots of someones. Resistance someones who have it coming and should have died a few years ago anyhow.

Rey is awake now. Kylo can feel her sudden rush of consciousness in the Force. Yes . . . he concentrates a moment and feels her fear, feels her guilt, feels her sadness. He decides to wait to see her. To give her time to worry and to dread. Time to stare at the destroyed room she awakes to find and to imagine her Sith's wrath. As an Apprentice, Kylo answers to his Sith Master, but at Bast Castle Lord Ren is master. And Lady Ren will answer to her lord and master tonight.

But soon enough, Rey is out of the room and coming closer. He can sense her frantic thoughts and movements screaming at him in the Force. His wife never has learned to cloak her thoughts from him. Why bother, Rey had said when he brought it up for the umpteenth time. She has nothing to hide, Rey had told him with a sweet smile.

Yeah, right.

Fists clenched, Kylo stomps out the door just in time to intercept Rey in the hallway. Her hair is wet from a shower and she has a bag hiked over one shoulder. She looks like she's going somewhere. Wait, isn't that the bag she carries with the boys' supplies?

"Where the Hell do you think you're going?" he roars as he steps directly into Rey's path. And why the Hell is she dressed in those borrowed mechanics coveralls from the Finalizer? Milo should burn those. Just looking at them reminds Kylo of the last days of the war and Rey sitting in the hangar bay watching ships and feeding snacks to-Fuck! That was a memory he did not need right now.

"Kylo—" Rey steps back and she looks wary. Damn right she should be wary. Did she really think she could just ignore this and slink away? He keeps eyeing her bag. Just who does she think she's taking with her?

Kylo does what he does best. He starts issuing orders in his tone of command that makes people leap to do his bidding. He's the Emperor and he rules the galaxy, so he damn well intends to rule his own household. "Get back in your room, Empress. When we are finished here I will deal with you."

"Did you kill him?" Rey asks breathlessly. "Is he dead?"

And this question just pisses him off further. "Worried about your lover?" Kylo snaps back. "He's alive."

Rey glances over at the open door they are standing next to. It leads to a room full of his senior staff who no doubt are all ears for this confrontation. "He's not my lover," she corrects him quietly.

"That's not what it looked like, wife! I catch you in bed with him, he's fucking you and you're having a terrific time."

"Kylo—"

He doesn't let her finish. "How long? How long has this been going on?" he demands. She looks again to the open door and he waves a hand to close it belatedly.

"About a month," she admits. He can see that Rey is trembling and through the Force he can feel her extreme anxiety. "I didn't want to do it. Truly I didn't." Her truth resonates in the Force and Kylo believes her. But maybe that's because he wants to believe her.

He rips off his mask now to face her plainly. "Did you even try to resist him?" he demands and damn if his voice doesn't sound hopeful to his own ears. But he had looked Rey over once he had got her on his shuttle. There hadn't been a mark on her. Not even the telltale singe smell that he knows from personal experience lingers after his Master's lightning. His eyes are searching hers now. "Did you even put up a fight?"

"I never got the chance," she whispers.

This doesn't square with what Kylo had walked in on. "You never wanted to! Don't lie to me!" He roars his outrage. "You knew exactly what you were doing when I walked in. You weren't under his power then were you? Answer me!"

"No, I wasn't under his power today." His wife concedes this miserably, looking away. "I never resisted him, Kylo. I didn't think I could."

"Fuck, Rey," he sighs. Blaming himself now a little. He had been the one to tell her never to argue with Snoke. But Kylo had worried about his scavenger girl sassing off and rolling her eyes at his eternal Sith Master over something trivial. Not this. Shouldn't she have at least tried to resist this? "Were you ever going to tell me?" he demands.

"No. Never." It's the honest truth, he can sense it.

Kylo runs a hand through his hair as he shakes his head in frustration. "I can't believe this! Of him! Of you! I should have known this would happen." And because the rage is still pent up and needing release, Kylo hurls the heavy metal helmet in his right hand hard into the wall. The wall dents, the helmet doesn't. "He's always been hot for you," Kylo mutters. And, yes, Kylo knows this to be true. What Sith wouldn't crave all Rey's bewitching Light? All packaged together with a beautiful face and a young, lithe form. Rey is everything a Sith could ever want in a woman.

"He wants the Light," she sputters.

"It's the same thing, Rey," he snaps back, frowning at her naiveté. "You could have told me. You could have trusted me," he complains.

And this provokes a bitter outburst from Rey. "Really?" she challenges. "Because I saw what you did to our bedroom." She looks him in the eye and shakes her head. "And would telling you have changed anything? He's your Master. You don't get to say no to him either, do you?"

Rey is right. Kylo has been happy to follow his Master's command for over twenty years, and he has been unashamed to admit it. Until now, when he is deeply humiliated as the unsuspecting husband. Never before has his Master abused his authority.

Kylo's silence just confirms Rey's truth. "Yeah, that's what I thought," she complains bitterly. She's on the offensive now. "How can you be angry with me, Kylo! It was sleep with him or he would kill one of the twins. Did he tell you that? There was no choice to make, Kylo! I would never sacrifice one of our children!"

No, his Master had not told him that he had threatened their children to get Rey into bed. And this information catches Kylo off guard. But he shouldn't be surprised. Sly old Darth Plagueis of course would know that Rey's weakness is her family. It's the only thing his abandoned scavenger has ever wanted in life.

"Oh, Rey—" Kylo's voice trails off. He doesn't know what to say. And he's not liking where this might be heading.

"Fuck you, Kylo! You're mad? How the Hell do you think I feel? I was the one who basically got raped by Snoke when he fooled me into thinking he was you! And then what was the point in resisting him after that? He would only mess with my mind again. So, yeah, I didn't want him to fool me with the Force. Even though I couldn't stop it, I wanted to know, Kylo. At the very least I wanted to know what was happening to me. Because no matter what bad shit happens in life, I want to know!"

Staring at his wife's outrage, all Kylo can think is oh fuck Rey you have no idea. And he needs to keep it that way. She's never supposed to know. Their history is not pretty.

"He threatened our children, Kylo! Our children! Stop thinking of yourself and start thinking of your kids!" Rey is crying now and she brushes past him. "I wish I had never heard of the Sith. You are monsters, both of you!"

Kylo reaches to catch her arm. His voice softens. "You used to say that I was your monster."

Rey ignores him. "Did he tell you why? Did he? He has his dead wife in the basement. I saw her! He's kept her pickled in some tank eighty years waiting to wake her up."

"He told me."

"Don't you ever do that to me, Kylo! I don't want to be one of his Sith science experiments. Some walking corpse hundreds of years old like he and Milo."

This is Kylo's cue to come clean. Sort of. To have one less secret for his Master to hang over his head as leverage. So he does. "It's too late, Rey." The words tumble out on impulse before Kylo can stop them.

"What?" She doesn't follow.

"When you were shot on Skywalker's ship. You died. My master revived you."

"What?" Rey is still looking at him blankly.

"You died. I asked him to bring you back."

"You told me I spent two weeks in a bacta tank." Rey looks confused. "Smath told me that too."

"You did," Kylo confirms. "You were shot in the heart and in the arm. And once my Master revived you the medics had to heal the damage to your body from being dead a day before he awoke you."

"So I died and you didn't think to tell me?" The tone of Rey's voice says it all. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispers in horror.

"It was done. And you were back so everything was fine. The war was over." Kylo tries to make light of the matter. "It was a busy time," he adds weakly. Already, Kylo regrets telling her this half-truth.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Rey doesn't wait for him to answer because her mind has quickly made the obvious inference. Understanding dawns on Rey and her eyes widen. "This is why he thinks he can do this, isn't it? Because I owe him my life! Because you owe him my life!" Rey lifts a hand now to cover her gaping mouth. "Yes . . . That's why he said you wouldn't kill him. Because you had a deal!" she accuses.

Kylo throws up his hands in denial. "Rey, I never agreed that he could use your Light."

"Then what did you agree he could have? Darth Plagueis always has a reason and his reason is usually power."

"It was a reward for killing Skywalker. He brought you back because I killed my uncle."

Rey's eyes narrow and Kylo can feel her concentrate on him in the Force. "You're not telling me everything," she accuses.

Kylo stays silent.

"Kylo?"

"I'm telling you the truth." And he is. Sort of. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to upset you." He improvises now. "It was touch and go for a while, Rey."

She's not convinced. Rey folds her arms over her chest and announces, "Well, that's it. I'm done. Kylo, I'm done with you. Done with the Sith."

What the fuck does that mean? "What do you mean done?" And wait a minute-how had this conversation morphed into Rey being pissed off at him? He was the one who walked in on her fucking his Master. And, yes, it was over her objection and under a threat to their kids but Rey had damn sure looked like she was having a great time. His wife still hasn't explained that part. And hearing her dismissive tone gets him angry all over again. Can't she see how hurt he is? "What the Hell do you mean done?"

"It means I don't trust you to protect me or the boys. And I don't trust you to tell me the truth. And I don't trust Snoke and he is your Master and you will always do what he asks. I refuse to live like this! So I'm done. We're through, Kylo."

He is astounded by this speech. On so many levels Kylo is astounded. He is Sith, and Rey has known this from the beginning. She knew what she had signed up for. Even in the hearts and flowers version of their relationship that Snoke had planted in her mind. And she has long known of his relationship to his Master. Yeah, Kylo Ren is beholden and obedient but that's the role of an Apprentice. And in exchange, Kylo learns from his Master and gets to rule the galaxy. And Rey lives a life of ease and luxury as his Empress. On the whole, putting aside what he saw today, it hasn't been a bad deal. And everyone is beholden to someone in life. Everyone except a Sith Master. Sith Masters only answer to history, as Darth Plagueis has told him repeatedly.

"You don't get to be done, Rey," he growls at her. He and Rey are in this together, damn it. They're a team. "You're the Empress, remember?" He tears the black glove off his left hand to brandish his scarred palm in her face. But she turns and starts walking away fast down the hall. He is reduced to yelling at her back, "This means forever, Rey. You are mine forever!"

She keeps walking.

Fuck that bitch! Who does she think she is? Where does she think she's going? No one walks out on Emperor Ren. Kylo Ren has never handled rejection well. And he doesn't tonight.

"You don't get to leave me, Rey! And you don't you dare think you're taking our sons!"

She pauses. Rey doesn't turn around, but he can tell that she is wavering. Yeah, he knew she hadn't thought this stunt through.

"Those boys are Sith, Rey. And you will never take them from me. Ever!" And now she does turn to face him. Rey looks stricken, but she nods her acceptance all the same. And then she drops her bag with the baby supplies to the ground.

And his mouth falls open. Fuck, is she really doing this? No, she's just bluffing. So he ups the ante. "If you leave here, don't come back! It's over!" Kylo Ren is known for his ultimatums. And for making good on them. Just ask Chandrila.

But Rey starts walking again.

A sneaking, horrifying thought now leaps to the forefront of his mind. She wouldn't—she couldn't—would she? Now he is hollering and for certain every man in that conference next door can hear him plainly. "Are you going to him? If you go to him, don't come back, Rey! We're done!"

She's still walking. Down the hall to the exit to the landing platform. It's after midnight. Just where does she think she's going? He could freeze her with the Force. He could call security and block her exit. He could shoot her custom TIE down. There are probably ten ways Kylo could stop her from leaving. But now he's pissed and he wants her gone so he doesn't have to deal with her.

His voice is even louder now. He wants to make sure she can hear him. "Go ahead and walk away! Abandon your family like someone once abandoned you! You faithless Jakku trash! You fucking Resistance bitch! Don't come back!"

Somewhere rooms away he can hear a baby cry and now he's woken up the twins. No doubt they can sense all this conflict rippling in the Force. All their father's seething emotion leaking out. He's a man overwrought from the worst day of his life.

Rey disappears outside and he just stands there as he tugs back on his left glove. Before he goes to bed, he's slapping a bacta patch on his hand to heal the scar. Then but for their twin sons, it will be like he and Rey never happened. And then maybe the hurt will stop.

Kylo whirls at the sound of the door opening beside him. It's the First Knight Nestor Ren, his friend for over a decade, venturing out of the conference room. Nestor closes the door behind him and steps forward to ask quietly, "Should I go after her?"

"Yeah," Kylo concedes. "Her ship has a tracker. She'll disable it if she finds it."

Nestor nods. "Who's this guy I have to find for you?"

"What guy?"

"Her lover." Nestor doesn't mince words. "I'll find him, Kylo. I'll find him and I'll bring him to you to kill."

Now that's loyalty, Kylo thinks. Real loyalty from his longtime comrade in arms. Not like his faithless wife who enjoys going to bed with his Master and then walks out on him. "No." Kylo speaks coldly. "I know who he is. I know where he is."

Nestor looks confused. "Fuck, Kylo. Then why haven't you—"

"He gets to live," Kylo decrees. "For now."