Kylo was called into a meeting with Dravic and left after breakfast, leaving me to nurse my hangover by myself. I took the aspirin he'd gotten for me, and drank the water, but stayed in bed most of the day. Lunch was brought to my room, and I kept it down, despite how I felt.

At four, there was a knock at the door, and a servant presented me with a pink envelope, my name written across it with sparkling ink. Inside, was an invitation to a ladies only party with the bride to be. The only request was that I also wear pink.

I accepted, and dressed in a fuschia gown that was trimmed in gold. It was tight across my arms, chest, and waist, and the loose skirt was floor length. I let my servant girl braid half of my hair up, and curl the half she kept down.

When I came out of the dressing room, I found Kylo lounging on the couch in the sitting room, an arm sling over the back while his other hand idly gripped a glass of amber liquor.

"That bad?" I asked, watching him bring the glass up and take a sip.

He turned to look at me, his gaze sweeping across me from head to toe. "You look beautiful." He said, turning back around. "Are you going to dinner?"

"Im going to a ladies party with Ovadia." I told him. "Was the meeting bad?"

"The meeting was long. I had to explain why I punched Gavriel and then had to promise to play nice for the rest of the week." He sighed, and took a drink. "Dravic doesn't care if we blow each other up, so long as we do it after the wedding."

"I don't have to go to the party." I offered. I could stay with him, I would stay with him, if he wanted.

His eyes slid to me, wary and dull. "What are you talking about? I'm fine." He motioned toward the door. "Go. I'll see you later tonight."

I hesitated. There was no edge in his voice, no mischief, no humor in his eyes. I could have gone, met with Ovadia and the other ladies, but…

I didn't want to leave him to brood, not after what he'd almost said last night, not when we hadn't seen each other all day.

"I'll have dinner sent up." I said, walking toward him, my gown hissing with each step. "We can watch monster movies and eat ice cream out of the carton and do face masks."

He wrapped an arm around me, and pulled me to him, resting his head against my belly. "I'm sorry, Darling, I'm not in the mood."

I straightened. "What did you just call me?"

"I called you Darling." He affirmed.

My heart fluttered, and I brought my hands up to run my fingers through his ebony hair. "Is that what you're calling me, now?"

He pulled away to look up. "I'll call you anything you want. As long as I get to call you mine." He pressed a kiss to the fabric covering my stomach, right under my navel. "I really am fine. I'm just tired. You go to the party, and come back and tell me all about it."

I sighed in defeat. "You're sure?"

He nodded, so I bent down and kissed him before heading toward the door.

"You do know what kind of party you're going to, right?" He drawled, stopping me.

I looked over my shoulder at him and found something sparkling in his remarkable eyes. "What do you mean?"

"An all girls party, with a bride, a few days before her wedding?" He explained. "You do know what that is?"

I shrugged. "It's a bridal party."

He smirked and took a sip of his drink. "Have fun."

To my surprise the party was being held off palace grounds, in a club by the restaurant Kylo had taken me to last night. When I opened the door to walk in, obnoxiously loud music poured into the streets. The lights were out, except for tiny strobe beams that pointed up to reflect off of a mirrored ball hanging overhead. Ovadia was in the middle of the dance floor, wearing a white, lace, mini dress, a white veil, and a bright pink sash labeled "Bride To Be". Her blonde hair was unbound, soft waves dancing around her waist as she swayed.

Where I was expecting every queen in their finery, were twenty or so women who were our age, all in tight or revealing clothing.

"Rey!" Ovadia called, and waved me over to her. "I'm so glad you came!"

"I'm sure she has." The girl next to her snickered. "I've heard the stories about her husband."

My brow furrowed as both ladies giggled. What were they laughing about? What stories?

"You'll have to forgive Nayibe." Ovadia apologized. "She's had a few too many cocktails, and has forgotten all of her manners."

Nayibe pointed at her. "It's all in good fun." She insisted, then looked at me. "But seriously, I've heard the stories. And my, aren't you the lucky one."

I swallowed, and looked around, seeing other women throwing what appeared to be ping pong balls into the cups of bras hanging on the wall. There were wrapped boxes and gift bags on a table under a sign that read "Drop Your Panties", and on that table, were glittering confetti that i recognized from my anatomy books to be shaped like penises.

I took a step back, but bumped into another woman who smiled at me. "Rey, right?"

I nodded.

"I'm Kateria." She said over the music, and handed me a drink. "It's nice to meet you."

I tried to smile at her, and failed utterly when I realized that the straw in my drink was also shaped like a penis.

The night progressed with Ovadia opening her gifts, most containing lingerie of every style and color, and some containing phallic shaped toys that vibrated. When she finished, she grabbed a drink. "Never have I ever!" She announced. The ladies gathered around, and made a circle, all grabbing drinks with penis straws. "I'll go first!" She giggled. "Never have I ever gone skinny dipping." Several women took a drink, while their neighbors stared at them in amused shock.

"Never have I ever been spanked during sex." Neyibe admitted, and others took a drink.

"Never have I ever had a threesome." Kateria said, and gasped as other ladies drank.

They all took turns with their statements, some ladies draining their drinks and getting another to continue.

"You haven't drank." Ovadia said to me. "Do you know how to play?"

This was a game? I shook my head. "No."

"Oh, someone says what she hasn't done, and if you've done it, you have to drink." She explained. "But, you can say anything."

"Never ever has my husband gone down on me." Another woman confessed, and the crowd broke into laughter.

"Now, that's not fair, Auna. None of us can drink to that." Neyibe chastised. "I don't think any of our husbands even know what a tongue is for." The crowd laughed again.

"At least one does." Kateria said, her blue-grey eyes coming to look at me, and all the others followed.

"Kateria." Ovadia groaned. "You promised not to bring that up tonight."

My stomach lurched. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I knew I wasn't going to like it.

"Ignore her." Neyibe said to me. "She's just salty because Kylo has completely forgotten anyone else exists since he married you."

Kateria glared at her.

"What?" Neyibe asked. "I keep telling you it's not personal. He stopped seeing Mayea and Coradine, too."

Yep, exactly as I expected, and I had to swallow back the bile that rose in my throat. Mayea, Kateria, and Coradine. Kriffing hell, how many mistresses did he have?

I put my drink down. I'd had enough fun for one night.

Kylo was exactly as I'd left him, just in his sleep pants and the t-shirt I'd borrowed our first night here. He looked up when I came in. "Hey!" He smiled. "How was the party?"

I glared at him. "You could have warned me."

His face fell. "About what?"

"You know exactly what." I seethed, reaching behind me and unzipping my gown as I walked toward the closet. "You knew what I was walking into."

"What would you have me say?" he asked, following me. "There's going to be lingerie and sex toys?"

"For starters, yes!" I snatched off my dress, and stepped out of it. "Or that everything was going to be shaped like dicks."

He leaned against the door frame. "What good would that have done?"

"I would have at least had some idea of what to expect." I unclasped my bra, not caring one bit that he could see as I pulled it off and tossed it aside.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Ok, do you want me to hold your hand and walk you through everything or stand back and let you experience things on your own? Because I can't do both."

My cheeks heated as I fought an urge to cry so hard it made my throat ache. "You humiliated me in front of all those women."

His eyebrows pulled together. "How?"

I pushed past him. "Forget it. I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

"You don't get to sling that at me and then leave it in the air like that." He said, pushing himself off of the frame. I ignored him wholly, walking toward the bed. "Rey." He called, following me. "Rey! I'm talking to you!" I'd never heard him use that tone before, not with me.

I halted, and whirled to face him, stopping short when I found him behind me. I wasn't expecting him to be so close. "Every planet that we go to from now on, should I just expect to run into someone you've fucked?"

He blinked, taken back, but he recovered quickly. "You know that I've had lovers."

"Are all of them the wives of Kings?" I demanded. "Are there more I'll have to go to parties and eat dinner with?"

"Most of them are the wives of Kings, yes. And, there is a possibility you'll have to associate with some of them."

I scoffed, bringing my hands up to rub my eyes. "I can't believe this."

"I didn't break any rules." He insisted. "I haven't been with any of them since i met you, and married couples, especially royal married couples make all sorts of arrangements."

"Do you want to make an arrangement?"

He looked like I'd slapped him, his face draining of color under his already pale complexion. "What?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You seemed to have been enjoying yourself with all these kings wives before I came along, and you just said royal married couples have arrangements. So, is that what you want?"

His voice was a hard, brittle edge when he asked, "Is that what you want?"

"Yeah." I said, evenly. "Maybe I do."

I saw a storm of emotion in his dark eyes, his jaw clenched tight, but then like everything else, he blinked, and it was gone. "Fine."

My heart sank, and my eyes stung. "Fine."

He shrugged. "Fine."

I turned toward the bed. "Fine."

"Fine." He called after me.

I reached the door that separated the sitting room from the bedroom in our suite. "Fine." I said and slammed the door, slapping my palm against it and locking the lock. I crumpled, pressing my forehead against the cool wood as I brought a hand up to cover my sob.

"Fine." He said on the other side.