Rey's epiphany didn't entirely shock her. She knew well that her feelings for Ben were evolving and that he was gradually growing more dear to her. She simply hadn't realized the point when her interest had transformed into love. She had reached the end before she knew she was past the middle. Even when he had infuriated her by being so obstinate (to use his term) and pig-headed (to use hers), her anger was never enough to overcome her fascination and her desire to know him. Her hopes that he would reconcile with his family were no longer because of her sense of indebtedness to Leia or Luke. No, she wanted him to be happy, and she wanted to be the one who made him so. As he unraveled more of himself to her, the more drawn she was to him, and the more time they spent together, the more she craved. Like that brush of his lips against hers, he was tantalizing and promising, leaving her yearning for the fulfillment only he could give. She knew that if he asked for it, she would give him her heart.

But would he ask for it? There was her predicament. And all signs pointed to a negative answer. After that shadow of a kiss, he hadn't given any indication of wanting to speak about it. In front of Rugor, they could hardly do so, anyway, not if they wanted to absolutely confirm the truth of their relationship. And circumstances were hardly conducive as they slept alongside each other in Zakai's family's tent, crowded as it was. Language barrier aside, Rey didn't wish to discuss her feelings with an audience.

Ben also deftly avoided the subject after they departed the Gungan camp, insisting on a relentless pace so as to make up for the time they had lost. So, as they were constantly on the brink of breathlessness, conversation was limited to bare necessities. Rey could have fought him on this, but she didn't want to argue at the same time she confessed her feelings. There was also the question of his feelings to consider. And he must have his reasons for refusing to talk to her about what they both must know.

For all he showed an unshakable faith in her, he was incredibly disparaging of his own prospects. The guilt over his past made him highly certain that he didn't deserve any good future. He had even said directly that no woman should want him. And now Rey understood that his comments were not only because of his skepticism over Zorii's interest, but a warning to her that it was best for him to push her away. He had seen her growing attachment and kept her at arm's length, not because he wanted to reject her, but because he felt like he should.

Oh, Luke, did you know then when you told me about Mara? Did you know that I would love someone who hated himself? Never had she wished for Luke's advice so much.

Of course, her questions and conclusions about Ben's behavior were only a part of why she didn't press the issue as they left the direction of the main road and began the gradual ascent to their final destination. Her heart was not only beating for Ben Solo; it was clenched in rising anxiety with each step they took toward her grandfather. This increasing fear jockeyed for position in her mind, and quite often won out. She felt cold and hot all at once, her body in constant shivers and sweats.

What kind of state was the long-lost emperor in? Would he believe she was who she said she was? Did he even know of her existence? And most of all, would he give her what she wanted? A thousand possibilities raced through her mind, none of them with positive outcomes. Words she had practiced vanished even as she tried to grasp for them, slipping like sand through her fingers. Just when she needed her wits about her, they were escaping. And she occasionally cursed the man beside her who had distracted her from concentrating solely on the perilous task that she was finally about to face.

Her mind went again to Luke, wondering if he had been just as nervous, even terrified, when he deliberately walked into danger so long ago. He had done so in hopes that familial ties would save him, and now so did she. Had he battled doubt and fear in those critical moments just before the end? Had he been tempted to alter course at the last minute? She should have asked him that before she left his home. But perhaps knowing his feelings still wouldn't have changed the final counsel he had given her.

Don't back down. Confront your fears.

Well, she was fearful, all right. The prevailing silence between Ben and her saw to that. It couldn't be much longer before they were there, and there would be no turning back.

The ascent of the ground below them was very slight, but as the day progressed it was clear they had made a significant climb. The mountains were extremely close at Rey's back, and the terrain was more rocky, but there were still trees that could conceal them if need be. Ben said that the house was situated near a cliff's edge, with a steep drop a few hundred feet into the northern-most valley of the Lake Country. Rey hoped they would not have recourse to venture too near the edge. She didn't have much experience with heights, but she didn't think now was the time to find out if they bothered her. One terrifying experience at a time, thank you.

She was about to ask Ben how much longer it would be when two cloaked figures appeared as if by magic, materializing from the environs without a sound. Ben stopped abruptly, throwing his arm up in front of her in a protective gesture, and she tensed immediately, her hand going for her sword. His arm hovered for a few seconds, and then dropped as he straightened in recognition.

"Victoria. Alek," he said tersely, and the two threw back their hoods. Rey's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly at the realization that these were not foes, but the Knights of Ren that Ben had promised her she would meet. She forced down a swallow to relieve her dry throat, and removed her hand from her hilt.

The pair bowed their heads briefly, then closed the distance to grip Ben's hand one at a time. They also nodded to Rey, eyes wary, and she returned the gesture awkwardly. She recognized the man, Alek, who stood just above her in height with dark blue eyes and long hair tied back. Victoria was a surprise; Rey hadn't known that any of the Knights of Ren were women. But this one stood as tall as her companion, skimming a gloved hand over cropped hair while she inspected them. Both knights were dressed much as Ben was, and Rey wondered if every single one of his fellows had discarded their former armor.

"Report?" Ben asked with his own glance at Rey.

"Best to show you, sir, if you'll follow," Alek said softly, his eyes darting to and fro.

Ben nodded at that, and laid a hand on Rey's shoulder to encourage her to precede him. It was the closest bit of contact he had made with her the entire day.

They followed the knights, hunching and creeping along, and eventually dropped into a crawl up a steeper hill, stopping just before its peak. Alek inclined his head with a jerk, and Rey dared a peek over the top.

The ridge they were hidden behind dropped a little ways onto a flat clearing, at the edge of which was the cliff Ben had told her about. A well-traveled track stretched from a point unseen from the south to the large white-stone structure around which were stationed at least twenty, perhaps thirty, guards. Rey's eyes bulged; the house itself, which stood at some distance from the bottom of their hill, resembled a castle more than anything, a formidable and breathtaking sight. If the guards hadn't given it an ominous appearance, and if she didn't know who was housed therein, she might be tempted to say it was a beautiful dwelling, with a steep-gabled roof, arched windows, and charmingly-placed turrets.

Ben looked over the edge, as well, his eyes scanning back and forth, then drew his head back and settled into his crouch. "More guards."

"How many were there before?" Rey whispered.

"Maybe five," Victoria answered. "Whenever Pryde makes an extended visit, there are always a couple more, but never this many."

Ben stroked his chin, his brow creased in thought. "How long since the increase?"

"A couple of weeks," Alek answered.

Ben sighed through his nose, then met Rey's eye. "How many could you handle?"

Rey felt tempted to laugh in his face, but there was nothing funny about the situation. She needed to get in that castle, and there were about thirty foes blocking her way. She didn't answer him, just raised her eyebrow, and he nodded in resignation.

"Is Pryde there right now, then?"

"Yes, but only for the past week," Victoria said. "The increased numbers were several days before he showed up."

"And that's discounting how many might actually be inside," Alek added. "Our best estimate for that is ten at any given time."

"Could there be more that you haven't seen?"

Rey was surprised that Alek threw a skeptical look Ben's way; she hadn't thought any of his knights would treat his questions with anything other than ultimate respect. "You think anything would get past Victoria? She catches things during my watch even when I think she's asleep."

"Well, not all of us are dim-witted criminals, are we?" Victoria replied snidely, and Alek smiled in response. Rey was absolutely confounded; two years in Naboo and she had no idea the Knights of Ren spoke in anything beyond an obedient monotone.

"That's enough of that," Ben interjected wearily, shaking his head. "Let's just worry about how to actually get inside."

"All of us?" Victoria asked, snapping back to attention and peeking over the ridge again.

"No. Just her Highness. And me." Again he met Rey's eyes in a longer stare. She pressed her lips together, stemming off a torrent of anxiety. "Has Pryde left the house since he arrived?"

They both shook their heads, and Rey looked over again at the castle that Ben dared to call a mere house. Along the road were stationed a few random guards, all milling about and looking, if she could judge from this distance, almost bored. The guards at the gate stood a little taller, a little more strict to attention. How could she get past them? And whoever this Pryde person was?

"All right, who is Pryde?" she asked, hunching back down.

Victoria gave her a short, sharp look, then turned to Ben. "You haven't told her about him?"

"She never asked. And he isn't enough of a threat that I thought it was information worth volunteering."

"Well, I'm asking now," Rey insisted.

Ben smiled a little, not a smirk exactly, but something more secretive and less cocky. Before Rey could decipher it, he said, "Enric Pryde. He's a remnant of the old Empire. Never rose up very high in the ranks; he was young in those days, and . . ." Now he smirked as he paused.

"He was an idiot, by all accounts," Victoria finished for him. "He had no gift for strategy or politics, so he was useless in leadership, and he wasn't much of a fighter, either."

"So," Rey wondered aloud, "why is he so important now?"

"If there was one thing that set Pryde apart," Ben replied, "it was his fanatical devotion to the Empire. He wouldn't accept an order unless he was absolutely certain it came from the emperor himself. He refused to listen to anyone else, and that kind of loyalty, insane as it can be, is still a value even if the person has no discernible talent beyond blind adoration.

"When the Empire fell, though, he became a liability to the leadership that was left behind. He spoke of nothing but immediately going on the warpath to take back what the Empire lost, and to take revenge for Palpatine's death. He loved the Palpatine name almost as much as the emperor himself. For someone like Snoke, who knew he needed to bide his time, Pryde was dangerous to keep around. So he sent him off, gave him a cushy governor position to keep him relatively quiet -"

"And made him the emperor's keeper," Rey interrupted grimly.

Ben nodded. "Who knows how Snoke convinced him to do that without revealing that the emperor was still alive? From what I could scrounge up, they constantly butted heads."

"But the emperor was his idol," Alek whispered. "To be of service in any way to him, Pryde would take."

"The man himself isn't a threat to you, or any of us," Ben bent his head toward Rey, "but his presence here, outside of his territory, was the final proof I needed to be certain that the emperor was here. Pryde wouldn't do any favors for Snoke unless the emperor were directly involved."

"And now if we're done with the history lesson, maybe now we can concentrate on the matter at hand," Victoria spoke up impatiently, which prompted Ben to narrow his eyes at her threateningly. But she didn't cower at the look, only pointedly raised her eyebrows in response. Rey's lips quirked a little; she just might like this woman.

"What have you found?" he asked, again peering over the ridge. One at a time, they all followed suit.

"The kitchens are belowground," Alek muttered, "with only a few vents. Too small to crawl in, and no easy access."

"We've seen a few civilian servants taking care of the necessaries," Victoria said with a disgusted grimace, "but their entrance is around the back where there's no cover, and the door is heavily guarded. No way we could catch them off-guard."

"The far side?" Rey asked.

All three shook their heads. "It's sheer to the cliff," Alek explained. "If you had climbing gear you might be able to scale the cliff from the bottom and get up, but that'll take a long time, and you'll be pretty spent once you're inside. And we don't know the layout inside, so you'll need what strength you can get."

Rey chewed the inside of her lip, her mind working frenetically.

"If I thought we could fight our way in, but thirty guards is too much for four of us."

"What I wouldn't give for a superstitious imbecile we could play tricks on."

"Disguises are limited, and their numbers are still small enough that we wouldn't be able to take out one without anybody else noticing that something's off."

. . . find another way in . . . Rey's brow furrowed as the others murmured suggestions to each other. She closed her eyes in concentration, tuning them out so she could listen to the recollections drifting into her head.

"The window?"

"A blind arcade."

Rey worried her lip a little more. What was it Luke had said? She sat up straighter. No, that was absolute stupidity. But perhaps . . .

"What if we just knocked on the door?" she said in a low voice.

Ben stopped mid-speech and gave her a look of incredulity. "What?"

Rey murmured absently to herself. "Sometimes the solution is simple, or so obvious that . . ." she trailed off for a moment, then brought her gaze back up to look at them all. "What if we don't need to sneak or fight our way in? What if we just walk up and knock on the front gate?"

Ben looked at her agape. "You see those guards, right? You think they'd just let you through?"

Rey met his eyes in challenge. "I'm a girl visiting her grandfather. What could be more natural?"

Ben opened his mouth to argue, but Rey wouldn't let him. "There are obstacles to every solution, and all of them mean that our presence would eventually be made known to those soldiers. How would I really speak to him if I'm stealing in like a thief in the night or waiting for attack? We don't know what state he's in; I doubt a rushed and whispered conversation would be very convincing. And if this Pryde fellow is so loyal to the Palpatine name, wouldn't that include me? You said yourself that I would be protected as his granddaughter; why not take advantage of that protection?"

Ben leaned in toward her, his eyes fierce. "Maybe that would work if you were inside the house, but how does that help you get past those guards?"

"If I walk up openly, why would they think they need to oppose me? I'm not creeping in trying to evade detection, and I'm not attacking them. They might just let me pass."

"It would certainly catch them off-guard," Victoria ventured quietly, and Ben's glare turned on her, and this time she did tilt backward in response. "I'm just saying, if they're guarding against intruders, they wouldn't expect an intruder to simply walk up and announce themselves."

"We're able to poke holes in every scenario, sir," Alek pointed out. "We'll have to pick one eventually. Why not this one? It might work."

Ben looked absolutely furious, and Rey laid a hand on his arm. "You said I could choose in what manner I confront him."

"I didn't mean you could choose foolishness and certain death!" he hissed back.

"Ben," Rey said firmly. "This whole thing is foolishness and possibly certain death. In the end, this is my choice. Are you going to stay with me?"

The anger in his face dissipated a little at her question, a surprised hurt filling in the corners. His mouth worked a little before he gave his short reply. "Yes."

"All right," Rey said with a slow nod. "So we're decided. I'm going to walk down there like I belong there."

"Like you've been invited," Victoria supplied.

"Exactly."

Ben said nothing, clearly holding himself back from voicing another argument, his jaw set and eyes never straying from hers.

"If you want to look like you've been invited," Alek said, "you may need to smarten up a bit."

Rey turned to him, perplexed. "Because I've been carrying a gown in my pack all this time."

"No," Victoria said, her lip curling in a smirk. "But we can get you into one, so you can actually look like the granddaughter of an emperor."

The hunting cabin was small and snug, but richly furnished. A cobwebbed, dusty lean-to looked to be where the messy business was taken care of, but the main structure, in which there were two rooms, had been built for comfort. The furnishings in the bedchamber were plush and luxurious, though they were faded and fraying at the edges. And the copper tub that stood in front of the fireplace looked so big that Rey could swim in it, if she so chose.

But there was no time for bathing. Victoria pushed Rey toward the wardrobe in the corner while also closing the door in Ben and Alek's faces, pleading feminine privilege to tend to the princess.

"Go sit at the table if you want to sulk about it, or better yet, keep watch," she ordered as the door clicked into place.

Rey looked around at her. "Have you been staying here?"

Victoria nodded and gave her another push. "Beats camping out there, even if it got cold as blazes when we couldn't build a fire. The place had been abandoned for years when we started using it, but even those idiots would be suspicious of smoke."

"Did you . . ." Rey glanced around uneasily. "Did you share a bed with Alek?"

Victoria snorted. "In his wildest fantasies, maybe. But no. Had to take turns."

Rey nodded in understanding. Of course. They had watches to keep, as well. And Rey had no business speculating about their sleeping arrangements, anyway.

Victoria darted around her lithely, throwing open the wardrobe and studying the contents with an annoyed look. "Not my style, really, but I'm not the princess here," she mused, touching the fabric of the closest gown, one of several in the wardrobe. Rey's lips parted in surprise.

"This was a hunting cabin?" she asked skeptically.

Another snort from Victoria as she lifted out a few gowns at once and tossed them toward the bed. "That was probably the story. More likely it was a cozy hideaway for some past lord and master to bring his conquests and mistresses." With another quick step, she was at Rey's back and tugging on the twine that held her braid in place. Immediately Rey's hair loosened.

Victoria was apparently unafraid to keep pushing her, because with another shove she set Rey to standing in front of a full-length mirror. Rey felt like she was back in that dancing circle with Delphine, hardly given a chance to protest her treatment. In another instant, Victoria was attacking her hair with a comb, unheeding of the pained expressions Rey made at each vicious swipe through her tangles. Rey could see Victoria's reflection in the mirror just as well as her own, her nose scrunched in concentration or irritation. Rey wasn't sure which.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and that brought Victoria's hand to an abrupt halt.

"What for?" she asked, the side of her nose wrinkling in confusion.

"For all of what you've been doing . . . for me," Rey replied tentatively. "You've been keeping watch on mysterious castles and infiltrating armies and enduring hardships you didn't have to. Just for me."

Victoria shrugged a shoulder. "And for the Captain." She returned to Rey's hair, though her strokes with the comb were a little slower now. "We follow him."

"Why?" For all intents and purposes, the knights were Ben's nearest friends, if "friend" was the correct term to use. What made them join him after he abandoned Alderaan, and what made them follow him when he abandoned Snoke?

Victoria pursed her lips, her expression becoming harder and a little guarded. "He rescued us. All of us. From one place or another. We owe him our loyalty because he earned it."

"And so you followed him even when he decided to disobey and work against the man you've all served for years? Even if it hadn't been in your best interests to do so, you followed him?"

Victoria put down the comb and met Rey's eyes in their reflected images. "You think we never disagreed with his decisions?"

Rey hesitated to answer. It was clear now that Ben hadn't demanded unquestioning loyalty from his compatriots. Perhaps they followed him with less opposition than she gave him, but they were also unafraid to voice their opinions in front of him.

"We knew the risks when he changed course. We knew the risks when he found us in the first place. Some weren't too happy to be Snoke's lapdogs even then, but we trusted in our Captain. Some had nowhere else to turn, anyway. This fellowship is the closest thing some of us have had to a family. And you follow family. You follow your Captain, wrong or right."

"Do you think he's wrong or right now?" Rey asked softly, nervous about the answer.

Victoria's eyes narrowed, but she looked more amused than upset. "I hope he's right. That's all I'll say."

Rey couldn't resist one final question. "Do you know why he switched allegiances? Why he decided to stop following Snoke?"

Victoria's shoulders shook a little as she stifled a laugh. "Don't you?" she asked. "That was obvious to us from the beginning."

She picked up the comb again, smoothing out the last of Rey's hair. It was so much longer than Rey remembered it being, and she reached up to finger it gently.

"Well, we can't do much about the smell of you," Victoria said with another wrinkle of her nose. "But the hair's in working order again, and once you're dressed you'll at least look more the part."

"I should leave my weapons behind, I suppose," Rey muttered quietly, and Victoria gave her a wildly incredulous look.

"Are you crazy? You take the weapons!"

"But I won't look like -"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, what's in your head?" Victoria exclaimed. "You've practiced with them, presumably you know what you're doing, and you don't want to walk in there and just stick your head on a platter for them to cut off!"

Rey couldn't help smiling at Victoria's ferocity, and she ducked her head so that Victoria wouldn't see it too clearly.

"Now, you put on that purplish get-up over there, you stick your knife in your boot, and you strap on that sword. And we get this done with, once and for all. All right, your Highness?"

Rey nodded meekly, still fighting that smile. Victoria was pushy and dictatorial, but her abrasiveness was more humorous than offensive. Rey was glad to have such a woman in her corner, even if only tangentially.

Victoria left Rey on her own to dress, which Rey hoped to do quickly in order to appease her. But there was a problem once she slipped the burgundy gown over her head - it continued its descent down her body and puddled onto the floor. When she pulled it up and pushed her arms through the tapering sleeves that barely hung onto the curve of her shoulders, she realized why it had done such a thing. It was entirely open at the back, and only by clutching it to her front was she able to keep it from falling off of her again. She backed up to the mirror and saw a trailing ribbon fluttering from the opening at the small of her back, and sighed. Of course dressing wouldn't be that easy. Someone needed to lace her into the confounding thing.

Rey stomped over to the door, and flung it open, all the while keeping a firm hold on the front of the dress. But the only person still in the cabin was Ben, who rose to his feet at her sudden appearance.

She didn't miss the way his eyes flicked up and down her body before looking her in the eye. All at once she was shy and nervous, her bare back making her feel totally naked in his presence. She looked around for a moment, wondering if she'd missed seeing Victoria, but no. It was just him.

"Are you ready?" Ben asked slowly, uncertainly.

"I -" Rey stuttered, and her face flushed. "No, I'm not. I . . . need some . . . help."

"With what?" His head cocked in curiosity.

Rey turned to the side a little, showing where the back of the dress hung off of her, and Ben visibly stumbled backward into the chair he'd been using. "I'm sorry," she muttered, barely able to meet his eye. "But Victoria said I should wear this one, and I didn't know before she left the room. It laces up the back."

"And you can't . . ." he managed to say, also averting his eyes.

"No. Should I call Victoria to -"

"No!" he blurted out, and she felt her flush grow more heated. He checked himself, and repeated in a milder tone, "No. I can help you. I'll . . ." His voice petered off, too awkward to finish whatever it was he was going to say.

"All right," she said, her voice barely above a whisper and ducking her head as she backed into the bedchamber. When Ben did appear in the doorway, she was back in front of the mirror, trying to calm her heartbeat and keep her chest from rising and falling so rapidly.

Ben walked over, and in the mirror she saw him take his place behind her, cloak gone and hands devoid of gloves. His pale face looked a little flushed, as well, though she wasn't sure it was a fair time to point it out, especially not when she was suffering from the same ailment. That bob of his throat as he looked down at her back was unexpectedly provocative, and when his fingers grazed her skin as he took up the laces, she was nearly undone. Suddenly she was seized by a mad desire to let go of the gown before he had a chance to cinch it up and see what would happen if he was confronted by her nearly naked form.

If only she were really so daring.

She needed to talk, and quickly, or the feel of his hands pressing into her back would make her puddle onto the floor. "I'm sorry," she uttered abruptly, and his eyes shot up to meet hers in the mirror. She gestured to the gown with her free arm, reminding herself to keep a firm hold with the other. "This does seem . . . strange, doesn't it?"

"It was your idea," he muttered with a shake of his head as he returned to his task.

"The dress wasn't," she argued feebly.

"You think Victoria was wrong to suggest it?"

Rey considered this for a moment. "No, not exactly wrong. But there is a part of me that feels like it's ridiculous to go through this effort, as if it's going to help." The gown was tightening securely, Ben's large hands making quick work of the laces. "I don't know," she admitted futilely. "I haven't . . . I haven't worn anything like this since -"

"The Harvest Ball," he interrupted quietly, his eyes still on her back. "You wore blue."

Rey inhaled quickly, but softly. "You saw me?" she murmured, letting her eyes rove over the raven hair that blocked his face from view.

"You know how long I'd been in Aldera," he replied shortly, his hands near her shoulder blades now. "And you were hard to miss, standing out on that verandah with Dameron, talking with him, letting him kiss your hand."

There was a hint of that old venom in his voice, and now did Rey understand what inspired it, even if Ben wouldn't admit it. "Oh."

"You looked like a queen then." He tied off the top, and Rey finally let her hand fall, able to now see the line of the gown as it followed the curves of her body. But Ben's hands lingered, skimming her upper back in a delicate journey to her shoulders, where they rested.

"Do I now?" Rey asked, insecurity battling instinct. "Will this suit?"

Ben looked up as though startled, but his gaze at her reflection swiftly changed into a reassuring decisiveness. "You look . . . determined. Strong." His mouth moved as he swallowed, struggling into the next word. "Beautiful."

She wanted to smile at the compliment, but the inner battle still waged on, the remembrance of what was out beyond the cabin still pressing upon her. "Is that how Palpatine's granddaughter should look? Am I what he will expect to see?"

"It doesn't matter what he expects; it matters who you are," Ben replied firmly. "That won't change, no matter what you're wearing. This is just outer trappings." His hands slid just past her shoulders.

Rey ducked her head again, studying her own hands. "And really, he shouldn't be expecting me, anyway."

"No. But once he sees you -"

Rey's insecurity took a temporary victory. "I don't know if I'm ready for this," she murmured rapidly, twisting her hands together and shaking her head. "Now it comes down to it, now that I'm here and about to face him, I don't feel ready. I've been too distracted, too caught up in other things." Like if you're jealous of Poe, or the feel of your hands on my arms right this minute.

Those hands squeezed in a gentle grip, and Ben swiveled her around, catching her around the waist with one arm once she faced him. This action alone surprised her, but she was completely taken aback when he reached up with his free hand to tilt her chin upward. His expression was set and unyielding, but his eyes were soft. "You are," he said simply, his voice so low it rumbled through her. "You are ready. You've been ready for this since that day you decided to no longer let Snoke humiliate you."

Rey's brow furrowed in confusion. What did he mean?

"You made a choice that day; I remember," he continued, his fingers stroking along her face as once again his hand traveled, this time stopping to curl around the back of her neck, his palm cupping her jaw. "Snoke cut you down in front of the governors, and you ran. But when you appeared the next day, you were changed. You were as you are now - determined and strong - and to be honest, it made me . . ." He looked down briefly to cut himself off, but his eyes were up again in an instant, holding her captive once more. "You made your choice then to embrace your role as a queen. And you would be a better one than anybody could have predicted. That's why you are ready."

Rey couldn't believe he remembered that day so long ago, long before she had ever thought he paid her any mind. And he didn't just see her; he knew her decision without her saying a word. It was all too overwhelming, his eyes and hands and soul, all bearing witness to her strength. A strength she was scared might fail her.

But Ben wasn't done. "And I will be with you. I won't leave you to face him alone."

Rey made her decision. There was simply no turning back now. No more hiding. No more words. She surged forward and, raising her hands to balance herself against Ben's chest, pressed her lips firmly to his.

They stood there like that for who knew how long, lips pressed together, bodies frozen in place. Ben's grip on her face had slackened, though Rey could still feel the warmth of his hand at her neck. There was no movement, nothing to give her any hint of disapproval or desire on his part, and she was unexpectedly afraid that she had gone about the business of kissing all wrong. But how was she to know any better? She'd never done it before.

She pulled away, holding her breath, waiting for a denial, a verdict, a sentencing. Anything. But Ben still didn't move, only looked. And in his eyes she saw astonishment, even bewilderment. There was the familiar war within himself, the agony of denial and the unadulterated longing, the continual push and pull that she fervently hoped would topple in her direction. But she couldn't force him; she'd declared herself, and it was for him to meet her.

And meet her he did. With an audible stutter of breath, he pulled her back in, dipping his head and crashing his lips into hers in a greedy, explosive, and consuming kiss.