Rey woke up in agony, burning from the inside out. If her heat had felt bad for the past couple of days it was nothing on this. She threw back the heavy blankets to find herself soaked with slick. She doubled over, gripping her middle.

Didn't the servants leave something, in a box, to help?

Rey scrambled to find the box they had left, and opened it expecting to find some sort of potion to ease the pain. Instead she found a smoothed cylindrical object made of either polished stone or very dense wood. Rey looked at it puzzled until she realised it was an approximation of something she had seen before and dropped it in shock.

Did they really expect her to...with that?

Rey flopped back on the bed. She didn't need a fake man's part. She wanted the real thing. She wanted Ben. Her Alpha. She needed him now!

Rey remembered the way he had kissed her in the gardens. She ran her fingers over her mouth—they weren't as soft as Ben's lips.

Next they had lain on the floor and he had ran his fingers over her body, her chest... Rey struggled to remove her ruined nightdress and put it down on the mattress to cover the cold wet patch. She then mimicked Ben's hands on her, dreaming of the way he had looked down at her as he'd touched her body.

Rey's stomach flipped and a fresh warm wave of slick soaked her between her thighs.

High on the nice sensations, Rey continued until she searched again for the fake penis, needing something inside that she could pretend was Ben. It wasn't the same. Ben had felt hot, not cool and as smooth as the fake, but it was what she had right now.

Rey got lost in the moment, crying out for Ben, her Alpha. He was a Prince and he wanted her. Wanted to marry her. Wanted to give her this—better than this, because this wasn't a patch on that night. Thfcreal thing was so much better. More exciting.

What would Ben do if he was here? Rey played with a nipple with her free hand, imagined another kiss with her fingers, then lower, lower...oh, that was a nice spot. She liked it there. Rey thrusted the dildo in and out of herself with one hand and rubbed gently on the nice spot with the fingers on the other until that feeling she'd felt with Ben in the clearing for the first time washed over her.

For a while she couldn't move. Her hand flopped back beside her head and the fake penis was squeezed out by her own fluttering muscles. That was the feeling she'd been chasing. Rey felt herself smiling, breathless. She enjoyed the boneless comfortable feeling for a while until she came back to Earth.

She peeped her head out of the curtains around the bed and saw the room was dark and empty, save for a candle burning on a side table. She could see a pitcher, a goblet and what looked like a silver lid over a platter.

Her dressing gown was draped over a chair and Rey dashed for the same, only relaxing when the tie was secure. Only then did she investigate under the silver lid. Fruit, bread, some kind of vegetable mush she didn't recognise but was really tasty, and sliced chicken. She made a pig of herself, and then sniffed at the pitcher. More apple juice. They must have remembered she asked for it yesterday. She drank one goblet straight off before filling another and sipping it more genteelly.

Now she was rested and not in pain, she tried to make sense of things. The feeling of having her own needs met rather than working herself into the ground, neglecting her needs so she had time to meet others', was foreign. She had never been so self indulgent. Any time now she would wake up, she was sure. It was all her imagination. She had probably fallen asleep driving the wagon to the ball and Plutt would shake her awake any moment.

An ache began below her stomach again and so Rey removed her robe and returned to bed, covering herself with the blanket. She held out as long as she could before she had to succumb to her heat once more.

Rey seemed to lose her mind from there, with the cycle repeating faster and faster. Sometimes there would be soothing female voices, telling her "there, there. It'll all be over soon." There was food. There was changes of bedding and nightwear. There was even wine at one point. Rey was vaguely aware of the familiar faces of Asajj and Talia. She remembered telling them how sorry she was, in her state of delirium, and how much better she was going to treat them.

And then suddenly, sanity came back, and Rey was mortified at how others had seen her so out of control. Her apologies were dismissed by the experienced staff. She was an Omega. It was a great honour to serve her Imperial Highness.

A fragrant and steaming bath was run for her, and Rey eagerly climbed in, feeling like a sticky, sweaty mess after her heat. It was Asajj that helped soap and rinse her hair and Talia who held up her fluffy towel and robed once she was dried. They barely met her eyes.

Then Rey was led to the dressing room where at least four staffed busied themselves in dressing her. By the time they were done, Rey's hair was braided up, and she wore a thick, high quality, high necked gown and a velvet cape with a hood. Rey enjoyed the warmth of her new clothing in this cold place, now her own body temperature had returned to normal.

"The Emperor will see you now, your Imperial Highness."