AN: I'm so sorry for the delay! Life has a way of catching up with you when every extra minute was spent in Reylo land. But I hope that all of you enjoy!
Part XXIX
Ben was completely in raptured with Rey as they became a tangle of lips and limbs. Without conscious thought, and as if moving as one, their fingers went to work on the other's coats and tunics. Rey kicked at her heels, trying to rid her feet of her boots and her body squirmed against him, creating a delicious friction between them.
Once the top half of Rey was bare, she grabbed onto the fabric covering his broad chest and rolled to the right, moaning when his hips came to rest between her thighs and she hooked her legs behind his back. Threading her fingers under his coat, Rey pushed it off his shoulders.
As he kissed down her neck, the chill of the tarmac caused her skin to pebble and he ran his fingertips up her arm and over her collar bone. "Say it again," he whispered into her flesh as she pulled at the tunic that was tucked into his pants.
"I'm going to marry you," she groaned as he licked down her breast bone.
He sat back for just a moment, gripped on to the waistband of her simple pants and pulled them off in one go. The black lace panties that covered her core made him dig his thumbs into her hips as he gripped his fingers around her back.
The next few moves were calculated and made with purpose as he pulled her hips up his thighs, wrapping one arm around the small of her back and cradling the back of her neck with the other hand. Once she was seated on top of his legs, her chest pressed to his and their lips pressed together once more, Ben held her rear and with shifting movements, he was on his feet.
Breaking from the kiss for just a moment he looked around him, refusing to make love to his fiancée on the floor of a hangar bay. With a smirk and as she lightly nipped at his jaw, he took a few long strides before pressing her up against the wing of his TIE fighter.
Rey squeaked at the chilled carbon fiber under her rear as she was perched on the lower angular wing, gripping one hand to the run of metal below her and the other onto the upward sloping wing. Attempting to not fall through the space between the blades, Rey squeezing her thighs around his hips. Pressing forward and knowing that she had a secure hold on both the craft and him, Ben freed his hands and stripped off his tunic.
Cursing the complex buckles of his boots, all he could do was pull at the fastenings of his trousers, feeling the material slack around his hips.
His Rey was splayed out on his fighter, his new dark steed that would carry him into battle and while he wanted the mere sight of it to instill fear, he also would never forget Rey's beautiful pert breast displayed on his wing.
So he ran his large hand from her slender throat, down her chest, catching her sensitive nipples with a fanning sweep of his fingers, before tracing the curves of her waist and hip. When his fingertips ran along the edge of her lace panties, Rey reached up, carding her right hand into his hair, pulling slightly to gain his attention and they heated gaze met. "Tear them off me."
Ben rocked into her as the words left her mouth, lace already wrapped in his hand as he pulled, feeling a slight stretch before the fabric gave way. This time he wasn't going to throw them aside, instead, he balling the already damp panties in his fist and then tucking them into his pocket.
With her legs still firmly around his middle, Rey reached between them, freeing and stroking his cock from the confines of his boxer briefs. Ben moaned into her chest, her nimble fingers not giving him enough coverage or enough friction, and he started to rock his hips forward, coating the tip in her slick.
She whimpered his name and clawed at his back, just above his rear, attempting to pull him closer, attempting to angle herself so on the next thrust, he would slip inside of her. The ledge of the wing was only a few inches thick and she had to be careful not to slide off, but she needed some relief for the ache in her core.
Pulling away from her and with the guidance of his right hand, Ben positioned himself at her entrance, dipping just tip in, helpless to watch the head of his cock come away glistening. When she begged out a simple 'please', he steadied his hand on her hip to ensure that she would stay firmly planted, and he drove into her with a quick and diving thrust.
Rey cried out, gripping at the downward sloping wing above her and also at his shoulder. Even though his proposal had been filled with sentiment, lovely confessions of their love, and promising of their future together, Rey was thankful that he wasn't going easy on her. She needed to feel his passion, for him to stoke at a dark place within her that wanted to abandon that path of the light she was on. She yearned to be continuously devoured by Ben.
Knowing that their lovemaking would be hurried only by the intensity of the matching fires that burned within them, Ben wanted to commit this time to memory. The pleading hunger in her hazel eyes and the gasping shape of her rosy lips, the blush across her collarbones, and the way her modest breasts bounced with each trust. Running his hand up her leg, he memorized the curve of her knee and the warmth of her thigh as it was tucked over his hip.
This was a moment that he never thought he would get. He told Rey long ago that Kylo Ren was never meant to be loved, but the creature in the mask had never seemed more of a stranger to him. As a Jedi, he was never meant to have attachments, as a Sith caring so fiercely for another was seen as a weakness, but as Ben Solo, he was extremely humbled and in awe of the woman that was going to be his wife as she started panting his name with urgency.
So with shifting his focus back to the warm and pliable form of his fiancée, Ben moved in a way that her body was craving and with the backdrop of open space through the hangar door, and Rey sitting atop his warship, Ben marveled at the sound of her pleasure filled cries echoing off the cold walls.
Her nails dug into the flesh of his flanks and he hissed as she caught the edge of the bowcaster scar, but his pace did not falter as she crested, calling out his name, almost surprised at how quickly she had built up to her climax.
Ben slowed just enough to let Rey ride out the waves of her orgasm, but now had to take a tighter hold on her, as her body became almost boneless when her tense muscles started to lax. Dipping his head and guiding her arms up over his shoulders, he kissed her as she gripped onto his hair to ground her in this moment.
"I can't wait to completely be yours," Rey said against his lips and Ben groaned, snaking his arm under her thigh before gripping onto her hip. With this new position and with the weight of her words rushing over his still yearning heart, his peak was also mounting.
As they breathed in the other's air, so close that their chests were almost touching, and Ben snapped his hips in time with her gasping breaths, Rey continued to whisper her feelings of need for him, her love and acceptance, and her eagerness to be completely bound to him. But it was when she grazed her teeth across his jaw and open her mind to him that Ben was able to fall over the edge and spill within her as he buried himself as deep as was physically possible.
He held her close for a long moment, thinking that if he were to pull away, that he would certainly lose a piece of himself along with the loss of her warmth. So they allowed their heart rates to slow, their breathing to return to a regular rhythm, while they shared deep gazes and kisses filled with longing.
When his soft cock finally slid from within her, they both groaned at the loss, but with one last kiss and with running his hands from her breasts to her hips, Ben helped Rey down from her perch.
Knowing that her panties were mostly in shambles, Rey padded over to her pile of discarded clothes, shivering at the cold of the hangar. Their combined slick was gathering on her inner thighs and she desperately needed a shower, knowing that before long a very noticeably wet shot would show on her light colored bottoms.
Ben also dressed, tucking himself back into his pants and took just an extra moment to watch Rey bend over to retrieve her pants, loving the site of her round ass and how her legs were glistening with the evidence of their lovemaking.
Not having felt the chill when Ben's warm body was encompassing her, Rey's teeth started to chatter as she pulled on her tunic, having only wrapped her breast band around her chest in a haphazard manner. His scent hit her before the warmth of the surcoat, as Ben walked up behind her and draped the thick material over her shoulders.
"Let's get you back to the shuttle," Ben said as he came around the front of her, grabbing the lapels of his coat and wrapping her small body in the large garment.
Rey looked up at his face, a small smile was playing on his lips and only when his eyes flicked up to meet her gaze did she speak. "Tell me this isn't a dream…"
He sighed and dipped lower, pressing his forehead to hers. The Force around them vibrated and they both sucked in a breath at the feeling. "There isn't a time or dimension where I won't want you. I just wish…" he sighed again and his eyes slid closed. "I just wish I had met you eight years ago."
When she giggled, Ben's eyes shot open and he pulled his face away from hers, looking upon her bashful expression. "I would have been fourteen and most likely be scared of you."
At times he forgot about their age difference and how improper it would have been for a man in his twenties to be trailing after a child like a lovesick welp. "Scared of me?"
Her cheeks heated, "You are very handsome and I was…boyish and half starved."
His brows pinched together as he tried to remember the type of man he was back before the incident at the academy, and the only word that came to mind was lost. Rey reached up and cupped his cheek, "We were brought together exactly when the Force deemed it so."
Ben's expression didn't soften and almost became pained. The words he was dying to speak stuck in his throat, but they were clear across the bond, 'But Han…'
Some of the last words spoken by Luke Skywalker to Ben on the salt flats of Crait ran ever true. Ben…no Kylo had struck down his father in anger and frustration, he had wanted to prove himself not only to Snoke, but to the Darkside, to feel as worthy of the dark power as Vader had, but the deed had split him in two. The pain of his actions would live with him forever and even with his pull back to the Light, finding balance within Rey, and guiding the galaxy into peace, no amount of atonement could ever heal the wound that had festered since Starkiller.
Many times he had wanted to dip into the Cosmic Force and look into the future, part of him curious, the other part terrified that one day his own child would be fated with such a deed. After returning from Endor he had vowed upon his grandfather's helm that he would never fully walk the path of the Darkside, that he wouldn't give his legacy cause to strike down their father, and that he would teach and practice within the gray with his Empress, soon to be wife, and future mother of his children.
Hearing his words through the bond and also feeling his grief, Rey rolled up on her toes and softly pressed her lips to his, sending all of her love, devotion, forgiveness, and hope over to him.
He used to stoke this kind of pain for power, used to steep in it until his heart and Force signature was as dark as his mind, but Rey would no longer allow him to drown in the depths. Rey was his lifeline, his light guiding the way to the surface, and while he was thankful for that Rey would always be there for him, at times he wished that Snoke was still around to provide the adequate and deserved punishment through the nerve torching lightening that Kylo had come accustomed to.
Rey saw that she was starting to lose him to the darkness that would always swirl just under the surface and she reached out of the surcoat, threading her fingers with his, bringing him back with her light. Once his far off gaze landed back on her, Rey started to pull him back towards the airlock that separated the hangar where the MK3 was docked from Hangar B.
The group of guards were still stationed just outside of the shuttle and they stood at attention when they saw Ren and Rey approached.
"I just need to thank Mr. Purkis for his discretion and also tell him about a few calibrations that the TIEs need and then we can be off." Ben leaned down and kissed the crown of her head before he stalked across the hangar and disappeared into the hall.
"So how was it?" Arlan asked as she came up to Rey.
"What…how…" Rey stammered and her cheeks flamed red, "How was what?"
"The Silencer," Arlan slowly clarified, narrowing her eyes at her Empress with suspicion.
"Oh!" Rey almost shouted. "It as amazing. Ben has really outdone himself with those fighters."
The trooper still wore a disbelieving expression. "What did you think I was talking about?"
Rey now felt overly warm in the extra layer of the coat and she bit at her lip for a moment. A part of her was sad because she wanted to comm Rose right away and tell her about the engagement, but that was impossible. While Rey wasn't sure if Ben would approve of her sharing such a personal part of their lives with one of the guards, he had stated that he wished for Rey to find a friend in Arlan. So with some resolve, Rey's face broke into a giddy smile and she half laugh, half cried, "Ben proposed…"
Arlan was speechless. She knew that they have been calling Rey 'Empress' for a few months now and figured that it made sense for Ren to be married to Rey before announcing her position to the galaxy, but what she wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall of Hangar B.
Having already taken enough time in her own head, Arlan finally reacted, returning her friend's smile in kind and reaching for Rey's left hand. "Let me see the ring."
Both woman's faces fell at the bare hand between them, "He didn't give me one…not that I could wear anything like that around the Resistance base…"
"What's going on?" Cale asked as he came trotting down the ramp of the shuttle.
"Ren and Rey are engaged," Arlan answered.
Cale stopped short and then a smile bloomed across his face, "About damn time."
The other guards came around, offering their kind sentiments to Rey when Ben came walking back up. "What's all this?" He asked of the group.
The new Knight broke away, holding out his hand, gripping around his Master's forearm and clasping his hand on Ben's shoulder. "Congrats on the engagement."
Ben's face felt a little hot as he looked over at his bride to be, still picturing her falling apart under his hearty thrusts against the TIE. "Thank you, Cale," he just answered simply, returning his Knight's masculine embrace.
"No ring?" Arlan accused from her spot next to Rey.
Mentally cursing himself, Ben knew that after Naboo he should have started to carry around the piece that Malkolm had crafted for him. So he let his gaze shift from Arlan to Rey and his expression felt almost panicked. "I have a ring…not on me…but there is a ring…I promise."
Arlan smirked, "I wouldn't thinking that our Empress deserved anything less."
When Rey laughed from behind her hand, Ben could tell that he was being teased. What has that beautifully, stubborn, and confounding woman done to him? In his younger years he had fought until his opponent was bloody and unmoving for just the slightest of jests, but now his guards were causing him to stutter and blush.
So he took a commanding stance and pointed to each trooper, giving them their orders. "Get the pre-flight checks done and let's get the shuttle back out into the 'verse."
Each of the three guards and the new Knight gave a bow or a salute of some kind before they went about their duties. Ben walked up to Rey, sweeping her up into his arms bridal style and carried her on to the Command Shuttle. His memory was drawn back to when he had stalked onto the MK2 with her limp body in his arms, which was a vast difference from now when she was tangling her fingers in the hair at the base of his neck and planting light kisses along his jaw.
He went straight to their quarters, only setting her down when they were behind closed doors. "Where to Empress?" Ben asked as pressed his lips to hers.
Rey hummed happily into the kiss, "First I need a shower…"
Ben moved his lips down her jaw to her neck as he snaked his right hand beyond the waistband of her pants. His fingers threaded through her curls before he was met with the wetness that was still gathered between her thighs. Sliding his middle finger between her folds, Ben felt both of their textures and he wanted nothing more than to push his seed back into her and let it do its work.
In doing just that, and pushing his long finger into her up to the third knuckle, Ben smiled into her skin as she gripped at his shoulders and let out a deep breathy moan. "Where do you want to go?" He asked again, his hot breath against the soft spot just behind her ear. "I'll take you anywhere," he vowed.
With a few other panting breaths, Rey wove her fingers into the hair on either side of his head, pulling his lips away from her neck with a sloppy pop to make him look at her, his brown eyes almost glowing with hunger. "Take me home Ben," her words with firm but wanting.
Through the bond, Ben could see that she didn't mean Orinda where her shuttle was waiting to take her back to the Resistance and she didn't mean her decaying AT-AT Walker on Jakku. Rey was asking him to take her to their home on Coruscant and he mused that if his body could physically be caused pain by the intensity of his love for her, he would suffer each day to never experience life without her light in it.
Even though she groaned and tried to hold his wrist in place, Ben pulled his hand from between her legs and picked her up, carrying her to the fresher. Calling quickly into his comm, he let Arlan know to set course for the city world in the Core and he went to work undressing Rey and getting her under the warm spray of the shower.
He washed her soft skin, taking extra time as he dropped to his knees to run the fragrant Naboo soap that his cousin had gifted them up and down Rey's legs. By the time she was pulling at his hair and clawing at his hips, her breaths were only coming out in harsh pants. So he took her to bed, working her body into a frenzy with his hands, mouth, and finally sheathing himself within her.
As he pushed down on the space between the crests of her hips and could feel his cock stretching her cunt with each thrust, he realized that she loved the sensations just as much as he did. This only drove him to rock his hips forward with more precision so that he could stroke at the places deep within her core that caused her breath to catch and an almost pained expression to pinch on her face.
Rey begged for release, grabbing for his hands, placing one on her breast and the other at her throat. Reaching down between them, she took her sensitive clit between her middle and forefinger, alternating with pressure and lazy strokes.
She peaked right as the ship was pushed into hyperspace on the Corellian Run. The shift in the Force around them as the shuttle moved at unfathomable speeds made her skin buzz and just as her body started to spasm, Ben grunted out his release.
After lying there for a long while, they showered again and Rey asked Ben to promise that they would refrain from any other activities that would require yet another go in the fresher. He only smirked and refused to give his word.
But for the remainder of the short ride back to the Core, they sat curled up on the couch together going over the plans for the Sector Governors, how their new laws would be enforced, and how the peace would be kept.
It was dark when they finally broke the atmosphere on Coruscant and they touched down on the landing deck of their high rise without incident. Instead of donning her own cloak, Rey just pulled one of Ben's cowls over her head and situated the hood so that her face would be concealed. Now that news was out that the Emperor was courting a young lady, Ben had told her that it wasn't uncommon for Cale to shoot down holodrones multiple times a day.
So they hurried across the tarmac and into the building, but with the sound of a soft whirl above them, Rey wouldn't be surprised if there was a new photo of Kylo Ren sneaking his mystery woman into his penthouse home.
She tried not to pay that prospect any mind and perhaps that was why Rey didn't sense the other life form in the apartment when she stood in the entry pulling the cowl off her shoulders.
A movement off to the left caused Ben to take a few steps forward, pushing Rey behind him and his saber was in hand and ignited in only the span of a breath.
"Irris?" He questioned as his cousin Queen came sauntering out of the kitchen like she owned the place, all the while popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth.
With large eyes, Irris sucked the melted candy off her thumb before squealing and running with quick dainty steps over to Rey, wrapping her arms around the other woman's neck. "I have heard the happy news!"
Dumbfounded, Ben looked between Rey and his guards who had also drawn their weapons upon their Master's defensive stance. Letting his arm hang at his side, he extinguishes the blade of his lightsaber with a sigh, "What are you doing here Irris?"
Finally releasing the Empress, Irris turned to her cousin, "I was on Chandrila for business and when Davin sent me a comm with news of the engagement, I just had to pop on over." Her expression was all smiles and excitement, not phased at all by the fact that just moments ago five weapons had been pointed at her.
But also at her explanation, five brows rose and five sets of eyes cut to the guard who was turning the same shade of red as a Jaquira fruit. "Davin sends you comms…" the statement hung with just the edge of a question as Ben turned his gaze from his guard to his cousin.
"Oh, all the time," Irris gushed. "You would never guess it by looking at him, but my Davin is quite the poet."
"Your Majesty," Davin hissed lowly from across the room, now breaking out into a nervous sweat.
Irris looked around Ben and saw her beau shifting on his feet as if he was about to sprint from the room. "Well, I can see you are all tired from your journey so I will take my leave."
"There are guest quarters one level down," Rey offered.
The Queen was already halfway across the room but turned back, "I'm sure Davin can show me the way." A lovely smirk crossed her pink lips, "Only if you are done with him for the night that is…"
Rey nodded, "Of course, it is getting rather late."
"I'll see you in the morning, Rey. I'm taking you dress shopping." Then just as quickly and with just as much flair, Irris swept from the room, a black-clad trooper in her wake.
"Jeez," Cale whistled. "We might be bowing to him as the consort to Naboo's Queen before we publicly acknowledge our Empress."
The words were made in jest but they also stung. Rey started to feel horrible for stinging Ben along for so many months and tears welled in her eyes.
Ben noticed this…Ben noticed everything about Rey and so with a curt nod, he dismissed his Knight and the two remaining guards. His next move was over to his fiancée, wrapping her up in his arms before any of her tears could fall.
He carried her to their sleeping quarters, setting her down gently on the edge of the bed and started to undress her. The fashion in which he removed her clothing was not one of intimate desire, but one of nurturing care. Once she was nude, he pulled a soft blanket off the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders, not wanting her to catch a chill while he retrieved a nightgown from her closet.
Helping her stand, the silk of the gown fell just above her knees. Through all of this Rey wasn't able to meet his gaze, unwilling to accept his forgiveness or understanding. Finally, when she no longer had the strength to stand, Rey fell back to her seated position on the edge of the bed. Her bottom lip quivered and she tried her hardest to steady her voice, "I am so sorry Ben…"
Before he could speak, Ben dropped to his knees in front of Rey, grabbing both of her cold hands between his warm palms. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You know Cale speaks without thinking…"
"I have wasted so much of our time," she sniffed and thought back to the lack of progress she had made with Poe and the Resistance. Perhaps it was her inherent drive to not give up on the idea of a peaceful end to the war or the stubbornness that caused her to take dangerous risks like scaling the outside of a Destroyer for a part or pointing a saber at Luke Skywalker before delivering herself into the clutches of Snoke.
"We needed this time Rey," Ben tried to comfort her even though the words tasted of half-truth. "You needed this time…"
This made her cry harder, his acknowledgment that it was indeed her spitefulness that prolonged their separation. "Two ninety-one," she wailed. "I should have just stayed with you after Mygeeto."
His heart was breaking and he wasn't completely sure what to say or how to make this better, so he just shifted forward on his knees, situating his large torso between her legs as he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled them together. With his head resting on her chest, his ear pressed right over her heart, Ben just held Rey as she cradled his head and cried into his hair.
As much as he wanted to open the bond and wash her with love and comfort, Ben knew that in his mind and in his heart, he was conflicted. If he had known that after Mygeeto when they had come together for the first time when Rey had fully given herself to him when they had made love in the carved crystal room, that she wanted to stay, he would have never let her go. But she left him and each time they parted after that had torn at them both and now Rey was confessing that she regretted each time.
What was he to do with this information? Now that he knew the past six months of hiding, of sneaking around the galaxy, of swearing his guards to secrecy, were for nothing more than being in the same stalemate with the Resistance General and his pack of vengeful New Republic exiles. Perhaps Rey's conscience had been mollified during this time, so when she finally walked away from the people she once thought were going to be friends…her family, she could start her new life with no second-guessing, never feeling like there was more she could do.
"One day I hope they realize the sacrifices you have made for peace because I am grateful." As he spoke, Ben turned his head so that he could look up into her saddened hazel eyes.
Rey reached down and placed the palms of her hands on each of his cheeks before bending down and lightly pressing her lips to his. "Thank you for waiting for me."
Ben gave a soft smile, "Up until a little over a year ago, I always felt like I was missing a piece of myself. I thought that a connection to my grandfather, a connection to the Darkside would fill the void, but it was you…it has always been you." When more fat tears rolled down her cheeks, he swept them away with the pads of his coarse fingers. "I waited over thirty years for you…what's a few more months?"
"Months?" Rey half laughed, half cried. "The second I can get away from Dantooine again, I am going to marry you, Ben Solo. After that, I will make one last effort for peace and if Poe is too stupid to take it, then I am done."
"You're done?" Ben said in a hopeful tone.
Now Rey was able to return his smile, although her eyes were glassy and her nose was raw, she also held hope in her expression. "I will be your wife. I will be your Empress. I will be your Light…" she kissed him between each exclamation. "But most importantly…I will be at your side."
With a final kiss, she sealed her vow to Ben and was swept up in his arms before being pressed into their bed where she was lavished with his large hands and full lips until they both fell into a blissful sleep wrapped up in each other.
AN: I'm not sure if I can do 3 updates a week. I was missing the Friday ones all the time because I was spending my nights documenting for work instead of writing for fun. So now that we are on the home stretch, I will try to update twice a week. I'm thinking we have about 5 parts left...
