Author's Notes…

I'm back! Sort of. Still moving. But I come with an update!

Falling for the Enemy

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The Ill-Mannered Father and Son

Alderaan was so beautiful, it stole the very breath from Rey's lungs. If it wasn't for what she knew about Ben's relations with his family, she never would have understood why he had stayed away for so long.

"This is amazing," she whispered.

The jet was nearly there—they'd descended from the clouds to see the land sprawling below. It was so verdant, similar to Ireland in its lushness. The castle, from what she could see of it thus far, was perched atop a hill. There was a town beneath it, mostly hidden by trees. As it was an island, waves crashed around the cliffs that protected it.

Ben was largely unimpressed. He didn't even glance up from his tablet.

"They know I'm coming with you, don't they?" Rey asked.

He grunted.

Nerves knotted in her stomach as she went back to viewing the wonderful scenery below. Now that she was here, she couldn't pretend everything was normal, that she was fine. She wasn't. She was not only meeting Ben's parents, she was meeting a king and a queen.

She bit just beneath a knuckle, worrying at her skin.

Oh, God.

She would not vomit, she would not vomit.

Rey lurched from her seat to find the lavatory. She leaned against the sink, wishing she could splash cold water over her face, but that would ruin the makeup. She stared down at the drain, her heart pounding so quickly, making her chest crushed with anxiety.

She could do this. She had to. She was here on a jet. There was nowhere else to go.

After a few minutes, she went back to her seat to buckle up. They were landing soon.

"You okay?" Ben asked. He'd put his tablet away and was strapped in himself.

"Sure," Rey replied with a weak smile.

"Well, I'm not," he said honestly, scrubbing a hand over his face. "I'm a total fucking wreck."

Rey giggled. It was one of those inappropriate ones, but Ben gave her a faint smile at the sound of it.

"I'll tell the truth, too, then," she said. "I'm also a wreck. What if your parents don't like me?"

"My parents are very easy-going… for the most part," Ben said, and Rey knew he was talking about the females in his family, such as his mother and grandmother. "I don't see why they wouldn't like you."

Rey bit her lip so she didn't say, "Because I'm a commoner." Ben had told her from the beginning that they didn't care about that. Not with his father being a smuggler and everything else that had led to Ben's birth.

"I've never brought anyone home," Ben went on. "My mother must be ecstatic."

And the pressure was mounting.

"Don't worry," he said, and she scoffed. He shook his head. "I guess I can't say that when I'm worried myself. Over different things."

Rey wanted to take her mind off the subject. "Why don't you go ahead and reveal your accent? I'll hear it from your mum soon."

"Then you don't need to hear it from me, do you?" he countered.

Damn. She'd walked right into that one.

From the jet, they were escorted off the tarmac and into a limousine. There was much fanfare over Ben's presence, though he ignored them entirely. Rey smiled at all of them after him, waving somewhat awkwardly. Ben could be so rude.

"We'll be going straight to the castle then, Your Highness," the driver said, and Rey's eyes widened.

"That's it!" she said in a hushed voice. "That's what it is!"

Rey tried to place the accent. It occupied her thoughts while they drove through the town and up the hill. There were security clearances along the way—many of them. People were in the streets, clamoring to see the prince, waving the flag of Alderaan. Ben closed his eyes. He was probably pretending he was anywhere else.

The accent was a hybrid. There was no other explanation for it. She'd never heard it before in her life. The trouble was prying the pieces of it apart to figure out which was which. Shame there wasn't a linguist at hand.

Then she snapped her fingers.

Ben gave her a startled look.

"It's Dutch and French!" she said, and his faint smile was back. "What a strange combination. Yet it's very pretty." She wondered how that had come to be. Alderaan didn't have a mother tongue. Perhaps it was from the different rulers? Or the location? "Are you going to let me hear it from you now?"

"No," he replied.

She tried not to pout. Her curiosity was killing her, and he knew it, too.

Ben linked their fingers and leaned into her ear, whispering, "Is it that important?"

Rey brightened even as she shivered from the close proximity. "It's lovely. Why do you hide it?"

"Because speaking like an American is easier," he said, continuing with his natural accent for the time being. "We have to enunciate clearly to be understood outside of Alderaan. It seemed like a waste of my time, so I changed it."

"How long did you have to practice?"

"A while." Ben tensed, and she followed his gaze. They'd arrived at the castle, the limo pulling into a courtyard. "Here we are," he muttered, his accent hidden once again. She hoped that wouldn't be the only time she heard it.

"So you know Dutch and French?" she asked.

"I know five different languages." Before he could say more, the driver had opened their door. Ben slid out first and then held out his hand to her to help her step down. Her heels met cobblestone.

Ben placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her into the castle. Guards followed them, and the ones who didn't bowed in Ben's presence. He gave each of them a curt nod. Rey stared around at all the tapestries and corridors. The rooms they passed were spacious, each holding a different theme.

Green room, blue room, pink room…

Stone steps led everywhere.

It was a maze.

"Mother hasn't come to greet me," he murmured. "She must be with my grandmother." He opened a door, and they stepped into a very large, elaborate office. "I'll go and find her. I'm sure someone has told her by now we've arrived. Will you wait here?"

"Oh—ah… sure," Rey said, inwardly terrified at the thought of being left alone in the castle.

"I won't be long." He kissed her temple and left.

Lovely.

Trying to stay calm, Rey allowed herself to examine her surroundings. An ancient, mahogany grandfather clock stood next to floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the beautiful grounds. Delicate white curtains were pulled back for the view.

The desk in the center of the room was built sturdily in the way most things weren't anymore. It was covered in papers, but there wasn't a chaotic mess to be found. Everything was perfectly organized. Rey stayed away from them, not wanting to get into trouble for snooping more than she already was.

Bookshelves lined the walls. They had sliding ladders attached to them. These, Rey approached. Some of the books were new, the others old, their covers a tad threadbare. She saw titles that would fetch a fortune from the right buyer.

Rugs covered the stone. There was an empty hearth, its mantle holding pictures of the family. They were mostly of Ben with an older man. It must have been his grandfather. There were others, where he was a tiny babe held in his mother's arms. Rey picked one of the frames up, smiling. He looked so young and innocent, untouched by time or hardship.

"You must be Rey," a gravelly voice said.

Rey nearly jumped out of her skin. She fumbled with the frame, catching it before it could shatter on the floor. She replaced it and turned to see who had come into the room.

Ben's father. She recognized him from the pictures online.

His mouth was pulled to the side in a suspicious frown, his brows furrowed. Though his hair was mostly gray, and he wasn't as tall as his son, Rey could see the resemblance in both his expression and certain features of his face. For some reason, it calmed her.

"I am," she said slowly.

"Heard Ben was here, but a maid told me he'd left you in Leia's study."

This was the queen's study?

"I—sorry!" Rey stuttered, regretting having picked up that picture. "I—"

The king waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. Are you hungry? I can have the staff rummage something up."

"N-No, I'm fine," she said. "I ate on the way here."

He grunted.

"Your Highness, I—"

"Call me Han," Ben's father said gruffly. "I insist."

The resemblance was growing by the moment.

"Han," Rey said quietly. She kept her hands folded in front of her. She tried not to feel gangly and awkward. "I… I'm not sure what to do now."

He chuckled. "That's all right. Here, follow me. They'll want to be alone for a while. I heard you like cars?"

"I love cars," she corrected him. "I work in Ben's pit crew."

The king's eyebrows rose, but he didn't comment on it. "Do you want to see my shop? Got some classics in there."

"My father has a 1964 Aston Martin DB5," Rey told him as they traversed the castle. She didn't bother trying to memorize their path. This place was too big. It would take more than one trip to get it down.

"That's a nice car," Han muttered. "Did you like it?"

"I helped him work on it," Rey said. "From the time I was a child. That's why I'm so interested in cars."

"Wait 'til you see what I got, then," her companion replied. "It's gonna blow your mind."

Excitement and anticipation stirred within Rey, and for the first time that day, she didn't feel pressure, she didn't feel nerves. She loved classic cars. She'd been to so many shows with her father. She couldn't wait to see what Han had. Being a king, his collection must have been exceptional.

"Great," she said.

She didn't see Ben lurking in the shadows, having stumbled across them in his search to see where Rey had gone off to. If she had, his deep frown would have stopped her in her tracks.

Han was the enemy, and she'd already made friends with him.

But Rey remained oblivious, leaving Ben to sigh and slump against the wall. He closed his eyes and tried to tell himself it was all right, that it didn't mean anything. His father had charisma. He wanted his parents to like Rey. This was a good thing.

So why did his heart sting with the sense of betrayal?

You're being ridiculous, he thought.

He wanted to take Rey, hide her away from the world. She was his. He didn't want to share her, not with anyone. And he didn't really appreciate his father stealing her away.

You're being ridiculous!

Yet there he was, stalking her, an unnoticed shadow.

Han vanished around a corner, and Ben was met with a surprise when he followed and nearly ran into Rey.

She folded her arms, and up ahead, his father paused. Seeing that his son was there, Han nodded his head shortly in some sort of greeting. Ben nodded back in the same way.

"We're going to look at his cars," Rey said. She lowered her voice so she wouldn't be overheard. "Now stop skulking about. Come with us."

He wanted to say no. He hated spending time with his father—abhorred it. But he couldn't leave Rey alone with him. He didn't have it in him.

"You don't have to," she whispered. "I don't have to."

"No," he said. "No. We'll go."

And, hopefully, he wouldn't want to murder his father in the interim. Maybe Han would share the same sentiment.

But he knew that was highly unlikely. He hated his father almost as much as his father hated him.