—Chapter 29: Attrition—

As soon as Poe reached the top of the gangplank, he ran to the door release mechanism to seal the hatch and took stock of the crew. "Are we good to go?" he asked, his hand hovering over the button. "I don't see everyone."

Finn, Finnie, and Malfi exchanged glances. "Where's Ren?" asked Finn urgently.

"He ran ahead of us," Malfi answered. "Raise the hatch, it's fine!"

Poe knew she wouldn't vote to abandon one of her best friends on a hostile world, so he sealed the hatch, reassured that Ren was on board. From there, he hurried into the cockpit, where Chewie was strapped into the second mate's seat.

"Thanks, buddy," he said graciously as he flopped into the pilot's seat and swiftly fixed his headset in place. With the flip of a few switches, the Falcon was in the air, just as the rock they'd been parked on exploded underneath them with a blast from above. Poe exhaled with a whistle.

"Okay, get back to your guns, people!" shouted Poe as he took evasive action against the TIE fighters. There was nothing they could do except to try to hold off death. Even if Rey and Temiri were aboard, without hyperdrive, they could never hope to escape the fleet of Star Destroyers in orbit above them. For now, their only option was to remain below the thick, turbulent atmosphere, and try to avoid destruction before help could arrive, assuming it ever would.

—

The path was long, but it wasn't treacherous. Sloping gently down from the jagged plains above, the narrow trail hugged the sheer carbonite walls on either side of them, growing taller and taller as they descended. Further and deeper into the crevasse, the meager light from above was barely enough to see by. Thankfully, the ground was smooth and even, easing their progress even as they struggled to make out the details of what was in front of them.

Feeling the increasing darkness, Rey and Temiri made their way steadily down toward the base of the pyramid. They didn't speak. The only sounds were the wind, the rumbling thunder, and the screaming of TIE fighters that cut the air above. Rey knew they were hunting for her family, and she winced. Guiltily, she hoped that the distraction of the Millennium Falcon would be enough to convince their pursuers that there was nothing going on on the surface. The others had bought her and Temiri valuable time, and she didn't want to waste it.

"I feel like we should be taking a back way in," said Temiri. "This just feels too obvious."

"I don't disagree, but I don't see any other option. I sort of have the feeling that this is the only way to get in."

"You're probably right, I just worry that before we know it, we're going to be surrounded by a bunch of creepy, hooded dipshits."

"I think that's likely. Be on your guard, Temiri. Open your mind to the flow of the Force, and you're more likely to notice the presence of others."

Temiri tried to open himself, and was overcome by the wave of life that flooded over him, even on such a desolate, dead planet. "Well, I do feel something… What do you think it is?"

"I can't trust what I feel right now," said Rey. "I feel my son everywhere I look."

Temiri frowned, sympathetic. She'd left her son behind on a freighter being pursued by Imperial TIE fighters, chasing a thin hope that she could bring his father back to him. There was a distinct possibility that she'd never see either of them again. Temiri cringed at the thought.

Rey slowed her pace, hugging the wall to her right as they approached a sharp turn in the corridor. "I think we're getting close," she whispered.

Temiri moved his hand to the saber at his hip and clung to the other wall, reaching out with his mind, intent on knowing what was around the corner.

Rey sidled closer and closer to the bend in the narrowing crevasse. She darted her head out and back, glancing ahead. She saw nothing. She didn't even see a door—all she'd found was a dead end.

Stepping around the corner, she looked up at the wall before her, and beyond, up the gently sloping sides of a damaged pyramid. At its top, a massive, purplish-red kyber crystal bled its aura out into the highly electric atmosphere.

"Is this it?" asked Temiri, confused. "I thought we'd find a door… What are we supposed to do now?"

Rey didn't answer, she just took a few tentative steps forward, placing her hands on the stone wall of the pyramid. She closed her eyes, and pushed out with her mind. "This is a door. There's a great front room on the other side. And several guards," she said.

"How do we get in?" he asked.

Rey stepped back from the purported entryway, taking a breath. "If I had to guess," she said, "I'd say this place was built to keep anyone out who isn't Force sensitive. I think we're supposed to use the Force to move this door, I'm just not sure how." She chuckled sadly. "I don't know if it swings in or out, or even if it swings at all."

"Won't we sort of be announcing our presence if we just start sliding a massive stone door in front of a bunch of guards?"

"Would you rather look for another way in?" she asked. "Besides, they've been waiting for us to show ourselves ever since we dropped out of hyperspace. Maybe even longer."

Temiri unfastened his weapon and adopted a fighting stance. "So how do you want to do this?"

Rey unclipped her saberstaff from her belt and held it firmly in her left hand. "Nothing happens unless we can get in," she said, resolving herself to a fierce encounter. "There will be no element of surprise—just get in and start swinging. We're already pretty outnumbered, and if we can't take them out quickly, we'll be overwhelmed by reinforcements. If you see anyone making a break for it, take them out before they can spread the alarm, I suppose. Are you ready for this?"

Temiri nodded affirmatively. "Whenever you are," he said.

Rey turned back to the door and raised her hand towards it, trying to summon a confidence her heart didn't feel. Crinkling her brow, she tried to decide the best way to move it. The longer it took her to get it open, the more forewarning the guards would have.

It moves in first, then to the side.

Rey almost jumped.

"What is it?" Temiri asked, noticing her alarm.

"I just… nothing. It was nothing… Here goes." Rey regained her focus. She planted her legs, and held her hand palm out towards the door, preparing herself for a great push. The Force surged through her, and the door moved swiftly at her command—more easily than she had expected—and within just a few seconds, the door was open.

Beyond the door, the temple was dim. Clouds of dust drifted like smoke through the dark, obscuring what could be seen beyond the entrance. Was it a small entryway, or a large chamber? In this dark and sterile environment, there was no way to tell. There was no movement—they could feel the guards' presence, but no one could be seen, no move was made to engage them. Temiri kept his hand on his saber, furrowing his brow in confusion. He didn't know how to react to how little was happening.

They're waiting for you to enter. The voice was urgent. Hurry! One of them is running off!

Rey moved suddenly, without warning, darting through the narrow opening, into the dark. Temiri watched as weapons flashed through the darkness at her, but they had flashed a moment too late, as Rey spun behind the guards. Her saberstaff erupted in energy, lighting up the gloom in twin sweeping arcs. Light from her weapon and screams of agony from the two guards she had rent asunder echoed off the walls of the temple's entry hall, giving it shape: A large chamber, walls dotted with doors, a podium dominating the center of the space.

With a shouted command in Balc, the guards came at Rey, their various weapons—blades, maces, and polearms—coming alight with energy of their own to counter the lightsaber's power. With a defensive twirl of her staff, Rey deflected the incoming blows from above, below, and behind, as she backed away from the door, followed by the hooded Black Dragons—drawing them out of the darkness to her, away from the entrance and Temiri. Temiri was awed, but recovered quickly, and ignited his own lightsaber as he leapt into the fray, slicing down two of the guards from behind before they had even noticed he was there.

Without the advantage of surprise, though, the Black Dragon guards were a force. As the best fighters in the order, they had been given the honor of this duty, to defend the door at all costs, and they rallied. Three of them took on Rey, moving in a choreographed attack meant to keep her defending, to keep her off-balance and exhausted as she shifted from one rapid defensive action to the next, blocking, parrying, dodging, never able to find a breath. The guards poured it on, waiting for her to slip, to make the mistake that would let them in like wolves.

Only one of the guards, armed with an energy sword, had moved on Temiri, but that was enough. Before his accident, he had been very skilled, but was by no means an expert with a blade. Now, with just his non-dominant left arm, he was at an even greater disadvantage. His foe did not carry any of these same deficits, and the duel was pure cat and mouse. The guard made feints, attacking, probing, lunging, all with a wicked grin on his face. Temiri knew he was outmatched, knew that he was too slow to exploit any of the openings in the guard's over-confident attacks, and he was reduced to a meager defense. He was soon backed into a corner, with no room to maneuver, and he knew the end had come.

The guard, laughing, made a swipe at Temiri's sword hand, raking his knuckles. Temiri dropped his saber as he jerked his hand away in agony. Simeon's saber clattered to the floor, extinguishing itself, leaving the boy unarmed. The guard said something in Balc as he raised his sword to end it all with a devastating swing from above.

As he cowered, waiting for the inevitable, Temiri cursed his handicap. Suddenly, Lonâm's words flashed through his mind: 'Swords are the playthings of lesser men. Do you not feel the power you possess?' He'd felt it then—where was that power now? He thought back, so long ago, to Rey, Ben, and Simeon, his adopted parents, demonstrating how to harness that hatred and anger, without being consumed by it. Gritting his teeth from the exertion of battle, Temiri looked his adversary in the face and met him in his yellow eyes. He remembered when his eyes must have looked like that, and his stomach churned. It churned with disgust at himself, and disgust at those who'd manipulated him. He grabbed that self-hatred and clutched it in his one closed fist. Sneering into the face of the guard bearing down on him, Temiri's fist opened, releasing the pent up energy and hate. Lightning arced its way into the acolyte's body, his eyes bulged, and his body became rigid. The guard fell to the ground in a smoking heap, his sword clattering to the ground beside Simeon's.

He'd just killed someone. He had killed before, but this felt different. There was no exhilaration, no feeling of accomplishment. Instead, there was regret. Not regret that he'd made a mistake—this felt necessary and justified—but regret that this man's death had been necessary in the first place. Temiri felt a stab of guilt that, like him, these men, these awful, terrible men, had been boys once. What temptation had drawn them to this life? Were their eyes open, or had they been naïve and ignorant to what their choices would cost them? Weak little boys, lacking in confidence and wisdom… How had they earned their yellow eyes?

Temiri swallowed hard, tearing his gaze away from the dead man at his feet to see Rey still fighting the remaining guards for her life. She needed help.

Temiri glanced down to the lightsaber at his feet and was filled with emotions. Emotions he needed to get control of if he was to help Rey. He looked back up at the struggle before him and, holding out his arm, he joylessly channeled his sorrow, his regret, and his disgust once more, capturing the nearest man in his Force-fueled discharge.

Rey and the guards were startled by the sudden electricity lighting up one of her foes. Lightning arced from his screaming mouth, and the Dragons hesitated, which was the only opening she needed. With a spin of her weapon, the two remaining guards were sliced in half, collapsing together into a pile on the floor.

She and Temiri met eyes, each of them breathing heavily from the exertion. "Are you alright?" she said to him.

Stiffening his mouth, he nodded back briskly. "Yes, I am. I'm fine," he said. Bending over, he plucked Simeon's blade from up off the floor and studied it. With a silent prayer, he clipped it back onto his belt and moved to join Rey in the middle of the foyer.

"Are you sure?" she asked, cocking her head with concern. She'd been watching him carefully.

Temiri nodded affirmatively. He knew exactly what her concern was, but for once, he trusted himself. "I am," he said. "Don't worry, I… I remember what you taught me, years ago. I think I finally understand it."

"You mean…"

"—When I was thirteen, and we were just starting out. Yes, that lesson. It's taken me six years to really understand it, but I finally do."

Rey smiled sadly at him. "Mmm," she hummed, acknowledging him.

Temiri took a cleansing breath, regaining his composure. "So that could've been worse," he said, counting the bodies. "Eight guys…"

"There will be more," she said. "One of them ran for help before we'd even made it inside—he'll be bringing back others. Let's move." But that was easier said than done. The large hall had so many doors, leading in every direction. They had no idea where Ben was, or how to get there.

Temiri closed his eyes, and tried to control his breathing, attempting to reach out through the doors and passages, to find some breadcrumb he could follow through this labyrinthine place, but Rey interrupted him.

"That way."

Temiri opened his eyes to see her pointing down a passageway with her staff. "How do you know?" he asked.

Rey started walking. "Ren told me," she said. "He's… been in my head."

"What?" blurted Temiri, utterly surprised. "But how…"

"Not now," she interrupted. "They're coming. We'll talk later, but right now, we have to move."

—

The Millennium Falcon whipped around and between the jagged peaks of rock, looping about, blasting at TIE fighter after TIE fighter—but it was a war of attrition. They had destroyed maybe half a dozen TIEs, but taken damage they couldn't afford in the process. So far, they had been lucky, and no critical systems had been lost, but the freighter was leaking liquid-metal fuel out its port side, rendering their sensor jammer, pulse generator, and reserve power cells inoperable. Another bolt shook the ship, and Poe grimaced—soon there would be so much of their vessel crippled that they would simply fall from the sky, succumbing to the endless swarm of TIEs the enemy was sending at them.

"How are we doing down there?" asked Poe into his headset. Malfi was strapped in behind Chewbacca, silently watching, wide-eyed, while Finn and Finnie managed the quadlasers.

"We're fine, though I think I'm going cross-eyed staring at this targeting computer," Finn responded, grumbling to hide his fear.

Finnie just grunted in reply. She was going numb from the sensory input and repetitive motions, which made her feel a little silly. She knew all the stories: The great wars, terrifying weapons, and Jedi legends. She knew that even amateur Jedi could call on the Force to summon miracles in battle, so why couldn't she? Finnie knew she was doing what she was good at, and felt the grim satisfaction of her grisly expertise as she blasted another TIE coming in from below. Yet, in spite of her comfort at the quad, she felt enormously off-kilter. She was too harried to stop to think about why, but she'd never felt so much pressure to perform in her entire life. It was like with every shot that missed its target, a little more of her confidence was stripped away.

As the Falcon tore its way across the landscape, Poe looked over to see a terrain of strange rock formations—pillars of stone rising from the cracked earth. Poe made a feint to drag the TIEs out of position before a hard turn towards the towering rocks. Laser blasts exploded around the ship and across their rear shields as he flew full throttle at the formations, followed by the torments of the TIE fighters.

Poe eased up on the throttle as he rolled through the twists and turns of the rock walls. The first of the TIEs crashed up at the second turn before he lost them from sight. From there, he turned his focus to surviving this suicidal course he had taken. Chewbacca growled unnecessary warnings, as Poe tried to ignore Malfi's frightened whimpering from the seat behind them.

Hazarding a glance behind, Poe was shocked to see nobody following them. Had the TIE fighters all already crashed up on the rocks? He eased up on their speed, and could hear Malfi exhale as they flowed through the rocks at a more leisurely rate.

Poe wondered aloud "Where did they—" before being interrupted as the rocks beside them exploded from incoming laser blasts. "Aw, shit!"

The TIEs that had been following them had merely swung up over the top of the rocks, and were now safely hunting them from above.

Chewie shot Poe a withering look as he let his feelings be known.

"Well it always works in the holovids," Poe grumbled in response, as he kicked the Falcon back up to speed to avoid the rain of shots falling on them from above.

Moving at full speed between the pillars, the Falcon could make it just hard enough that the TIEs couldn't zero in on them from above, but they all knew this was unsustainable. The flying was too dangerous, the Falcon too injured, and at some point, Poe would inevitably make a mistake and that would be that. They had to find an out.

"Grab onto something," Poe barked into the radio as he circled a tower of rock. He tilted the ship up as tight as he could against the rock face, then sent it plunging upwards, circling the rock clockwise, to keep the TIEs above guessing as he whirled around the pillar, out of their line of sight.

"Um… Poe?" Finn squeaked, as he watched the stone wall flying just past his face, just beyond the quadlasers he was manning. "Could we be a little further from the rocks, please?"

"Just a second, buddy. Get ready."

The Millennium Falcon burst from the rock pinnacles up into the air, as the three attacking TIEs circled to track them. Finn and Finnie let loose with their quads as they spun, the lasers ripping the remaining TIEs to shreds.

"Whoo!" Finn shouted, ecstatic to not have been smashed on the rocks.

Everyone exhaled, and for one glorious moment they thought they were in the clear, before something rumbled menacingly in the aft of the ship, and the cockpit lights flickered as a dizzying array of alarms started chirping from the control console.

"Oh my god, why are there so many alarms?" Poe shouted, as he tried to take stock of what was the most broken. Engine pressure was dropping, life support had died, the shields were down, and the nav computer had ground to a halt.

Chewbacca responded, howling as he tried to bring the sputtering ship engines back from the brink before they plummeted to the ground.

"I know that they all mean different things are broken! It was rhetorical!" Poe shouted back, as he tried to reroute power from the climate control system to the auxiliaries.

"Um, guys?" Malfi said from the back seat, pointing out the window. "There are more."

Poe and Chewbacca looked up to see another squadron of TIE fighters dropping from the cloud cover and making their way towards them. Poe tried to turn, but the steering was unresponsive. They had finally found the bleeding edge of what the Millennium Falcon could handle.

Poe tried to stay calm as he spoke to his crew through the radio. "Guys, I'm sorry. It's been a—what the f…" he suddenly exclaimed, as the two closest TIEs burst apart. Another TIE exploded as the rest peeled off. His radio chattered as Finn and Finnie both tried talking at once.

"Captain Dameron, is that you?" a voice cut through on the comms channel.

Poe lit up—he knew that voice from anywhere. Snap Wexley's X-wing pulled up alongside the Falcon and tipped its wings in greeting. The United Republic Military had arrived.

—

Rey and Temiri had navigated easily through the temple with an unreal sort of ease. Their encounters had been few, and with Ren's assistance, it was like they had a third set of eyes; they always knew what was coming, and how to stay hidden. There had been a few close calls, but their progress had been steady as they ventured through the labyrinthine temple. The floors were getting smaller as they climbed the pyramid, and they knew it couldn't be much longer.

Feeling they were in the final stretch, Temiri could no longer resist the question he'd been desperate to ask ever since Rey pointed out Ren's involvement in their infiltration. "Rey, how is it possible that Ren's been in your head this whole time? I mean, how has he figured out how to do that? He's had basically no training, right?"

"Temiri, there are a lot of variables when it comes to one's strength in the Force. The first, as I'm sure you know, is natural affinity; how strongly your spirit resonates with the Force. Another, is of course, training. The more training you have, the more quickly you pick up on ways in which the Force can be utilized, and the more practice you get in using it. But, I'm discovering more and more, the real key to one's limit with the Force is their imagination."

"Imagination?" he asked.

"Yes, imagination. And the diligence to keep trying things until they work. Ren has had virtually no training, it's true, but he has imagination. I mean, think about it: Everything that has ever been done with the Force, started with an idea that someone had. Maybe, a thousand generations ago, someone felt the Force, not even knowing what it was, and had the idea to focus on it. Let's say something happened that they couldn't believe, so they tried it again. Then they tried something else. And then they tried something else, and now, in the present, there are all of these skills that we have because someone figured out that the Force makes them possible."

Rey continued, "For Simeon's funeral, Shiroto studied pyrogenesis. How did anyone ever figure out that the Force could be used to create fire? Well, if the Force is like an energy, and energy can be transformed, like light into heat, then why couldn't it be used to create fire? I think Ren has been as successful with the Force as he has, because there was something he wanted to do, and he just wondered if, maybe, the Force could help him do it. And he pulled on those threads of the Force that he felt, putting things together, until he figured out how it could be done. He was determined, and he wasn't going to let a little thing like not knowing if something could be done stop him from trying to do it."

Temiri felt a stab of embarrassment that he'd never looked on the Force in that way before. Since he was small, he'd felt the pull of the Force on his soul—at the time, much like Rey's hypothetical Force user, he didn't have a name for what he felt, but he knew there was more to the world than just what was tangible. Once he understood what it was, and that it granted certain abilities to those who were sensitive to it, he'd looked on it as a finite list of abilities he could master by studying hard, and checking things off of that list. Now he was learning that mastery wasn't a destination you reached by acquiring certain requisite skills—it was an endless journey of constantly discovering and reimagining the infinite ways in which the universe knitted itself together. "Mastery" was a meaningless construct—understanding the Force was a process.

Temiri thought he was getting it. "So Ren imagined, 'I want to talk to my mom even when I'm not there,' and he just… tinkered with the Force until he could figure out how?"

"That's basically what I think he did, yes," answered Rey.

"Wow. That's amazing. I can't believe how… narrowly I've been thinking about the Force."

"Don't feel bad," she said. "It's a process. Learning is a function of more than just getting something new, it's about figuring out what you didn't have in the first place. If we started out already knowing what we didn't have, there would be very little to learn." She let that thought hang in the air for a few seconds, before stopping suddenly in her tracks. She held up her hand for caution, and put her finger to her lips. "There's a door around the next corner that we have to get through. There are two guards and no other way around.

Edging closer to the bend in the hall, Temiri and Rey readied their weapons. After exchanging a look with one another, they burst forth and engaged the two guards, lightsabers ablaze. The guards were quick to respond, and the four of them fell to it. The guards were rested and ready, but no match for Rey's skill, and it wasn't long before the first critical mistake was made, letting Rey in for the kill.

Suddenly outnumbered, the remaining guard sneered at his attackers, hurling his weapon directly at Rey. Rey easily stepped out of the way, but the guard was already preparing his real attack: An electrical assault directly at Temiri.

Temiri instinctually lifted his saber up to absorb the incoming bolts—a literal lightning rod. Rey watched, intrigued by the display of strength, but ready to intervene if needed.

The guard redoubled his efforts, each of them struggling to overtake the other. Sweat began to bead on Temiri's forehead, as he strained under the assault. Rey started to step in, concerned, when Temiri closed his eyes, and settled his body. Temiri breathed deeply, calmly, summoning the Force to him. With a sudden burst of power, the lightning blasted back toward the guard, a wave of energy overtaking him and knocking him onto his back. Temiri lowered his saber and collected his breath.

Rey applauded Temiri's efforts, nodding approvingly at him. As she stepped toward the stunned guard lying supine on the stone floor, Rey took a moment to study the room they were in a bit more closely, They were standing before a pair of ornate metal doors. Rey couldn't read them, but she recognized the sick scrawl of Sith runes outlining each door.

"You're too late, Jedi," the guard laughed from his position on the ground beside the door, blood coughing from his mouth. "It is done." He raised his broken hand feebly towards Rey, lightning starting to flicker from his fingers.

Scowling, she stabbed the end of her saberstaff through him, silencing him permanently. His last breath escaped him like air from a deflating balloon.

Stepping over his body, she approached the doors and lifted a hand to the metal surface—trying to feel what was on the other side.

Rey's heart was pounding. She could feel Ben. The sensation had been growing slowly over time. She was afraid she'd been imagining it, but now she was sure. It was faint, but it was there.

"This is it," she said. "The center of the temple. The kyber crystal is inside."

"Think we'll find Ben in there?" asked Temiri.

Rey grimaced. "You know, I'm not sure. It's confusing… I can hear his kyber crystal in there… and I think—that is, if I'm not going crazy—that I've been feeling Ben's signature, little by little, as we've been working our way around this place, but if he's in there, well… then I ought to be able to feel him more clearly."

He was in there, said Ren. There were men in there watching him earlier, but they… Ren paused, searching for words he couldn't find. I don't know what's in there now.

Rey took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy metal doors between them and their destination. Looking inside, she saw a vast chamber, radially symmetric, based around the massive crystal at its center, as she'd predicted. The tall crystal ran the whole height of the room, connecting with the ceiling at an apex hundreds of feet up. At its bottom, it came to a point, and under that point, was an altar.

And there, on the altar, was Ben.

Rey gasped, and took an urgent step forward. Temiri grasped her by the wrist, whispering, "Wait. Look there."

On the floor surrounding the altar, were a dozen dead Sith priests. What had killed them, they didn't know, but the sight prompted caution.

Rey nodded at Temiri, and stepped forward slowly, scouring the room with all of her senses, trying to understand what she was seeing. She still felt Ben, but she couldn't place where the feeling was coming from. She hoped, she prayed, that it came from the man on the altar.

As she approached the base of the crystal, she could see his whole face. Ben. Every bit of him, she knew. Every hair, every blemish, every inch of him. She hadn't seen him, except in her memories, for what felt like forever, but here he lay. With the rise and fall of his chest, she knew he wasn't dead, but rather in peaceful slumber. She risked getting a little closer.

She reached out, touching his hand. He was warm. He felt so familiar. One more step, and she'd be right next to him.

"Careful," urged Temiri, from just a few feet behind her. "I thought he was the real Ben, too."

She glanced back at him, hearing the logic of his words. But if this wasn't the man they'd come for, what were they doing here? She reached up and touched his face.

"Ben?" She said his name. In that single word, you could hear the subtlest mix of hope and fear, faith and apprehension. Love and uncertainty.

His right eye twitched, and he inhaled sharply. He said her name as he exhaled slowly. "Rey…" He turned his head toward her, brushing his cheek against her hand.

Rey shivered, her breath coming unevenly. The man before her smiled. His lips curled in the same way she remembered them curling. She moved a trace closer.

"Your touch is an absolution," he said quietly, moving his hand to cover hers.

Feeling his hand on hers, she was instantly at war with herself. This was a sensation she'd been in heavy withdrawal over. She needed that contact, but knew not to trust it yet. She knew she should pull away.

But she didn't. She allowed him to hold her hand as he sat up from his place at the altar, swinging his legs over the side. He opened his eyes and took in the sight of her. As his eyes roamed her body, she began to feel naked. Too exposed. Uncomfortable. The way he was looking at her might have felt good in another context, but in this moment, it felt obscene. She tried to pull away, but couldn't. Then his eyes made it to her face. They weren't the kind eyes she remembered.

Terrified, she tried to jerk away, but her whole body was rigid. Suffocating, she could not even breathe.

"And you're more beautiful even than you were in his dreams."