True to his word, everyone, from the servants who dressed me or served my meals, to the highest ranking nobleman all treated me as their Queen, though I still got glares and sneers from the higher born nobles.

I ordered more dresses to be made, with the matching shoes, and even the occasional hat, simply because he seemed to genuinely enjoy seeing me in such finery, if nothing more than because it pissed everyone off.

A few days passed, and one night, I heard a knock at my door. I answered it, and found Kylo leaning against the door frame. I stopped as I looked him over. He was in his usual black attire, his hair falling over dark eyes that glinted with mischief. My heart quickened, remembering I was in my nightgown.

I thought about grabbing my robe to pull it on, but i was not a stage of undress he hadn't seen before, so I didn't bother.

"I heard you asked for your dinner to be sent to your room." He said, casually.

Dinner? My room? It took a brain a moment to compute. "Yes," I said, trying to compose myself. "I did."

"I'm having dinner with my Knights." He told me. "Would you like to join me?"

Join him? And his Knights? For dinner? Had he not seen what I was wearing? "I'm in my nightgown!"

"Yes." He agreed, unfazed. "And you look lovely."

I glared at him.

He chuckled. "It's not a banquet. It's pizza and beer. And, I'll give you time to change, obviously."

I'd never heard of pizza or beer, but a night away from the palace did sound appealing.

I considered it for a moment. "I've already ordered my dinner."

"It can be canceled just as easily." He reasoned.

"Alright." I relented, pushing the door open.

His eyes widened, and he pushed himself off of the doorframe. "Are you inviting me in?"

"I'm not going to make you stand out in the hall for ten minutes." I said, walking toward my closet. "What would the servants think?"

"What indeed?" He said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. He slipped his hands into his pockets as he looked around.

I pulled a dress off its hanger and closed the closet door to change. It was one from Naboo, short sleeved and empire waisted, with a loose, flowing shirt made of several layers of sheer, multi-colored fabric. I slipped on a pair of flats, and pulled a comb through my hair, but left it down. If we weren't going to a banquet, I was going to be comfortable. When I emerged, Kylo looked at me from a high back chair he was lounging in. His gaze lingered on my dress, then went to my face. "That was fifteen minutes."

I pulled my door open. "Well, we're waiting on you, now."

He groaned as he got to his feet and we left.

No one stopped us, or even questioned us when we left the palace, though we did get puzzled glares. Most likely because the wives of Kings weren't typically allowed out in public until they produced an heir.

I should have been used to walking next to him, ignoring procedure and protocol, but I still felt as if I was doing something wrong by being at his side instead of several paces behind. He had made it clear that I did not bow to him, I did not need permission to see him, and that I was to speak freely with him about all things. I was still trying to wrap my head around it.

"Why are we having dinner with your Knights?" I asked.

"Because I like to eat." He said, simply.

I rolled my eyes. He was so infuriating sometimes. "Yes, but why are you taking me?"

"So that they can meet you." He told me. "They've been asking about you since I first told them that a contract had been arranged between my officials and your grandfather."

I tried to remember if I'd ever seen them, but I couldn't. "Why haven't I met them before now?"

"Because I've asked them to stay away from the palace."

I gave him a confused look and he stopped.

"I know that you're scared of me. Or, at least you were scared of me." He said, no hint of bitterness in his voice. "I thought that having six war lords hanging around would make it worse."

I blinked, considering. "It probably would have."

"I want us to be friends, and I want my home to be your home, and I want to share my life with you." He said. "But, I'm not going to just throw you in and hope for the best." The wind blew a lock of my hair in my face and he reached up, as if to tuck it back into place, but his hand stopped before it made contact, then lowered. "These men are my friends. They're my brothers. And, they are honor bound by a vow they made to me to protect you with their lives, but if it gets to be too much, say the word and we'll leave. No questions asked."

I studied his face and found sincerity so profound it was almost brutal. He hadn't given me a reason to doubt him, so I nodded my understanding and let him lead me to an unassuming townhouse in a row of other ordinary buildings. I stopped dead when I saw men on the balcony, two of them, cloaked in shadow. I looked to Kylo who walked up the stairs, where two more men awaited, the final two in the doorway. Kylo waited, his face patient, giving me the option to enter with him, or leave. One word, he'd promised. One word, and he would take me back. But, I sucked in a breath and stepped forward, sliding my hand into Kylo's outstretched one, and gripping it tightly as I moved to his side.

We walked inside, and I was able to see the faces of the two men standing in the entrance way. One was tall and lean, like Kylo, but blond with hazel eyes. The other was shorter, but wider, the fabric of his shirt tight enough to show the muscles of his chest, his arms, his shoulders. "Rey, this is Vicrul, he commands my armies." Kylo introduced. The blond bowed his head to me. "And Kuruk, our pilot." The man to his right offered me the same greeting.

Behind us, I heard the door close and turned to see the two men from the stairs. "This is Cardo, our weapon master." Kylo said, and a tall, dark complected man with black hair bowed, slightly. Indeed, Cardo had a dagger sheathed at his hip, its dark scabbard embossed in a language I'd never seen before. "And Ushar, our informant." The man to his left bowed as well. And the two remaining men decended the staircase. "Ap'lek." Kylo introduced. "My second."

"Your second what?" I asked.

"My second in command." He explained. "Should something happen to me, the chain of command goes to him."

Ap'lek was….beautiful. His dirty blond hair was cut short, the delicate angles of his face unreadable as his pale blue eyes took me in. The intensity of his gaze had my instincts telling me to run and hide.

Behind him, another man descended. While Ap'lek was blond and pale, the last Knight was his opposite with his dark, golden skin and hazel eyes. His nearly black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. "And Trugden is my third." Kylo said. "He's also head of security at the palace."

Trudgen bowed. "He says head of security, but it's more like making sure these guys don't get us all killed." He said. "Especially since Vicrul is banned in five neighboring Kingdoms."

The men laughed, chattering as they migrated toward the kitchen, where flat, square boxes were stacked in the countertops.

Kylo looked down at me, his hand still holding mine, and I gave him a small smile.

"Are you hungry?" One asked, and I looked back at the voice. Cardo, he'd been the one to ask. I shook my head. He tried again. "Do you want a beer?"

"Uh, sure." I said.

"Kylo, beer?" Cardo called, disappearing into the kitchen.

"Yes." Kylo answered.

When Cardo returned, he had two glass bottles and handed them to us. I took a sip of mine. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't the bitter, fizzy drink that I got. I made a face as I swallowed and Kylo laughed.

I looked at the men in front of us. "Who have you known the longest?" I asked him.

"We met at camp when we were twelve." Vicrul answered. I looked over at him to see that he was eating...whatever was in those boxes. No plates, no utensils, not even sitting.

"Camp like summer camp?" I said, my question getting a few chuckles from the men.

"Camp like boot camp." Kylo said. "How to fight, how to use a weapon-"

"How not to die on a battlefield." Vicrul cut in.

My eyes went wide. "When you were twelve?"

"My mother knew that I would one day be King, and that I'd be hunted." Kylo explained. "She wanted to make sure that I was taught how to fight, to educate me, so that I wouldn't have to only rely on my power, in case something happened to it."

"She wanted to get you away from your father." Trudgen interjected.

Kylo shrugged. "That, too."

I looked up at him, hoping for more explanation, and he sighed. "My father was…" He trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"An asshole." A knight finished for him, and got grunts of agreement from the others.

"He was cold and calculating, he was vicious. He was the King he was raised from birth to be." Kylo said.

"He was what he tried to raise you to be." A knight said, and received more agreeing grunts.

"He's what I would have become if it weren't for my mother." Kylo admitted. The air in the room seemed to change, seemed to thicken. As if all seven of the men knew the story, but couldn't bear to relive it by telling it. But, Kylo swallowed hard. "She was wild, fiery, and…gentle." He looked at me. "Like you."

I felt a blush heat my cheeks.

"She was sold to him in a marriage contract. He was...brutal to her." His brown eyes were sad when he said, "He was always brutal to her. And, I'm the product of that. She hated him. She hated her life with him. She also knew what he wanted me to become, so as soon as she could enroll me to be trained, she did." He let go of my hand, and went to a box on the counter, reaching in and pulling out a piece of some sort of bread covered in cheese that didn't look appetizing. He took a bite and washed it down with beer.

"You met Vicrul on the first day?" I asked, walking to his side. He offered me some of what he was eating and I shook my head. The smell of garlic and herbs was making me queasy.

"More like Vicrul saw me as the King's son and attacked me in front of everyone." Kylo said, mouth full. The men laughed.

"I'd already challenged and beaten everyone in our age group." Vicrul said. "When I saw Kylo, all clean in his new training clothes, I thought it would be a quick fight. What I didn't realize is that Kylo was just getting his Force abilities, and his power knocked me on my ass after the first punch."

I'd heard about Kylo's Force ability, that he was particularly gifted in mind control, that he could bend minds, and even shatter them if he willed, and the stories of what he'd done with that power are what had branded him as a monster.

A brand I wasn't sure he deserved.

I looked at him. "Are you that powerful?"

"I didn't know it, then." He said. "Then, it was just reflex, my power was defending me, it's how most people learn they're Force sensitive."

My gaze went to the six men around us. "Are you all Force sensitive?"

"Some more than others." Ap'lek said, his voice like liquid night. He was the only other person not eating. "But, Kylo is the most powerful Supreme Leader in history." His pale blue eyes flicked to my husband. "He just doesn't want to scare you."

Kylo glared at him as he chewed.

"How long have you two known each other?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation back.

"I arrived at the camp a year after him." Ap'lek said. "Like calls to like. I could smell his power, and knew I needed to ally with him." He took a step forward, and sniffed, then he straightened, surprise lighting his face as his eyes went to Kylo, who nodded tightly.

I made a mental note to ask him about that later. "And, so, the three of you were friends after that?"

"No!" Vicrul exclaimed, getting another piece of bread, cheese, garlic...whatever it was.

"We hated each other." Ap'lek added. "We only behaved because we were punished if they caught us fighting. Kylo's mother took us in, fed us, clothed us, taught us how to read, and had us educated beside Kylo. She knew we were different. And, not in a way of being faster and stronger than the others. Kylo's power grew every day, and so did ours, until even the war lords at the camp knew that he could tear any of them apart with half a thought, and that we weren't far behind."

"Snoke," Vicrul said, and Kylo went rigid at my side. "Had been the most powerful Supreme Leader to ever sit on the throne, and when he found out that Kylo's power was not only greater, but that he had allied himself with us, he knew that we could overturn him. So, he separated us."

"I was sent with a legion of troops to the outer rim." Kylo said. "Vicrul was sent as a footsoldier to Hut space, and Ap'lek was given command of an army in the mid-rim."

"I met Trudgen as a war-leader," Ap'lek said. "When he'd been given orders to execute Cardo for some weapons modification gone wrong."

"That's putting it lightly." Cardo said. "Id heavily modified the weapons to make them more effective, and when one backfired, it exploded and destroyed part of the base." He nodded toward Trudgen. "But, I saved his life on Yavin 4, and he owed me a blood debt, so refused to follow the execution orders, which had us sent to Ap'lek."

"And, instead of killing them both, I sent them to Kylo." Ap'lek shrugged. "I couldn't let such talent go to waste."

"Right before I became Supreme Leader, Ushar sought me out." Kylo said. "He's a Shadow Guard, and was being used by my father to do his dirty work."

"When he wasn't using Kylo to do it." Ushar added.

Shadow Guards weren't dark users, but had been trained by the Sith, and were known for their interrogation techniques. They were used almost exclusively as the King's personal guards.

"What about you, Rey?" Cardo asked, helping himself to another piece of pizza. "What's your story?"

"I don't have a story." I told him, and they all groaned in disbelief.

"Everyone has a story." Ushar said.

I shrugged. "That's the point of even being in a marriage contract with a King, to not have a story." They specifically wanted girls without experience, without stories. Without education so that they didn't know any better, and low born was preferred so that they'd be content with loveless and oftentimes brutal marriages, with being used as breeding stock if it meant living in a palace and wearing pretty dresses.

I wasn't low born, and I had sense enough to know that my virginity had been saved solely so that I could be sold for the highest price. But, I'd been sheltered, guarded, locked away for most of my life so that I would qualify for a royal marriage to make my family the most profit.

Kuruk, the only one who hadn't shared his story, the only one who hadn't spoken at all, said, "So, you haven't even lived?"

All six sets of eyes focused on me.

I took a moment to think. "It depends on what your definition of 'lived' is, I suppose."

"Have you ever been to a concert?" He asked.

"No."

"Been to a theater?" Trudgen asked.

"No."

"Been so drunk you threw up?" Vicrul wanted to know.

My brows narrowed. "No. Ew."

"Have you ever been kissed?" Ap'lek asked.

Kylo cut him a glare that had the other men howling with laughter.

"What kind of question is that?" Vicrul said, coming to stand beside Ap'lek, and put his arm on his shoulder. "She's married to Kylo, of course she's been kissed."

So, even they didn't know what he'd done, or hadn't done, in this case.

Ap'lek looked from Kylo, to me, then back to Kylo, and I had the feeling that they were communicating somehow. Maybe in an unspoken way people who'd known each other for decades could, or using that Force ability they'd mentioned earlier, I didn't know. But, Ap'lek smiled, and looked at Vicrul. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Kylo didn't speak for the rest of the night. Not to me, not to anyone, though they took turns telling me stories about him, or the things they'd done together.

I'd always been told that the Knights of Ren were a band of misfits who would sooner kill me than look at me. But, they were a band of brothers who had clung to each other when they had nothing else, and remained fiercely loyal because if what they'd seen each other through. Kylo had been right to bring me here, to have me meet them like this.

He was quiet on the walk home, his eyes on the road ahead, and there was a healthy distance between us.

"They're really great." I said, watching him. "Thank you for letting me meet them."

The muscles in his jaw and throat work as he swallowed. "You're welcome."

After he walked me to my room, then closed the door to his own, I didn't see him again for the rest of the week.