Chapter 16: The Truth

Rey's spirits were only further bolstered back in her rooms later that evening, when the Bond mercifully allowed her to see her husband for the first time a couple of weeks.

Ben was overjoyed to see her, but remained cryptic on exactly what he was doing deep behind enemy lines. Rey was only too willing to left him remain vague on these points; details would have made her fear for his safety. Nevertheless, she was proud of him - in working as a double agent, he could bring the First Order down without firing a shot. And once done, she and he could be together forever and in peace.

Neither husband nor wife could help, however, their minds wandering back to the last time they had seen each other, when they had thought they were going to die from Hux's quest for revenge. Rey could only cry as she thought back to what she went through at the hands of that ginger-haired monster, and Ben held her as she wept into his tunic.

"He said I would give birth to the new Emperor... He called me Empress, granddaughter of the Emperor..." Thankfully, a pregnancy had not come to pass; she had checked with a sweet-faced medic named Dr. Kalonia not long after crash-landing on Ajan Kloss. The pregnancy test had come back negative.

But it was Hux's words that refused to leave Rey's mind, and she peered tearfully up into Ben's face. "Why would he think I was Palpatine's grandchild, Ben? I don't even know what he was talking about!"

She felt her insides clench as, quite suddenly, Ben could not bring himself to look her in the eye. "Maybe because... you are descended from the Emperor."

Rey staggered back out of his embrace as if struck. "You... you knew about this?" she whispered breathlessly.

Ben nodded guiltily. "When I first... captured you on Takodana, I was intrigued by your talent in the Force and ordered that a sample of your blood be taken while you were still unconscious. In the craziness of Starkiller and after, I let that order fall out of my head until I'd completely forgotten about it. Then, not long after Crait, I overheard one of my Admirals talking about the blood results coming back, linking you to the Emperor. Evidently, Hux eavesdropped too." He flinched at the cold stare in Rey's eyes, and his own orbs pleaded. "Honey, I always meant to tell you, but I always either forgot to or the timing was never right. It pains me that you had to hear something so devastating like that from Hux, of all people. What I told you in the throne room about your parents was true... as true as I knew it to be at the time. Rey, my darling... I would never lie to you."

Her cold gaze didn't flinch or otherwise waver. "But you kept something from me," she pointed out.

"Not intentionally -"

"Isn't that the same thing as lying?"

Ben cringed as he realized she had him there. He could only hang his head in shame, but his eyes caught hers resolutely. "I'm sorry. I still love you - it doesn't matter to me where you come from; it never has."

Rey nodded flatly, acknowledging his answer, even if she wasn't quite ready to accept it. Even then, her heart cried out to forgive him, just as she had Finn.

At present, the best she could manage was, "I believe you." And she did. Clearly, Ben had never meant to hurt her.

Ben nodded, taking what he could get. They both sensed the Bond starting to fade for the time being. "I love you, sweetheart."

She cracked the tiniest smile. "I know."

As soon as he was gone, Rey let out a shuddering breath. She missed him already, the results of their heavy conversation being quickly displaced by the danger he was surely in, deep within the First Order.

Her love for her husband swelling, Rey squared her shoulders. This war keeping them apart had to end. The sick merry-go-round between the Jedi and the Sith had to stop. If Ben could not safely come to her yet... well, then just as before with the Supremacy, she would go to him.