I jerked awake with a gasp, something in my chest tightening, pulling me from sleep. I sat up, looking around the room, noticing that I was alone in the massive bed, and the door to the sitting room was closed. The hair on my arms stood on end, and I shivered as I rubbed at the goosebumps rising there, though I wasn't cold.

Dread sank into my gut and I knew, knew deep in the marrow of my bones, that something was wrong.

A pulse shook the air around me, making it harder to breathe, to move, to think. Something in me, maybe in my memory, or my stunted self preservation, something recognized that pulse as power and it turned the blood in my veins to ice.

Kylo.

Another pulse, and the room shuddered, the walls moaning in strain. I bolted up, out of bed, and sprinted toward the door, but another wave of power took my feet out from under me, and I fell onto the floor with a grunt, the impact knocking the air from my lungs.

The room shuddered again as another thrum of power hit.

I pushed myself up and got my feet under me, having to work harder to move forward, my legs feeling as if I was wading through water. As soon as I flug open the door leading to the sitting room, a blast of darkness hit me, effortlessly tossing me back into our bedroom. I skidded across the floor on my back and looked up as a wave of his power flooded the room, stealing any light, and leaving me in darkness.

I couldn't see anything, but I could feel him. I could feel his guilt and fear and pain. So much pain that it had me gritting my teeth as I got to my feet, bringing an arm up to shield my face as I blindly charged forward, toward him, through the swirling black fog.

Another blast, another shudder, another groan from the wood above and below me, and my shins banged into what had to be the couch. I reached down, touching what I recognized as the rolled cushion of the arm rest. I moved lower, finding the fabric of his pants, the clammy skin of his leg underneath. "Kylo!"

There was another blast that threw me to the floor, my knees barking in agony at the impact. I crawled back to him, my hands reaching up to find his thigh, his stomach, his chest, and at last finding his shoulders. "Kylo!" I yelled, shaking him.

His power rumbled, about to erupt, and I rose up on my knees, sliding my hands up his neck to his face, holding it between my hands and pulling him to me. "Kylo!" I screamed

The darkness stilled, and he shot up, rolling off of the couch. Before I could register what happened, he had me pinned to the floor beneath him, his hand around my throat.

"Kylo." I breathed, going still beneath him.

His power vanished into wisps as the darkness cleared, and I was able to see him. His face was pale, his lips white, and under the mess of raven locks that were damp with sweat, his brown eyes were wide with devastation and horror.

"Rey?" He panted, his voice a pained whisper. He looked at my face, at his hand that held my throat, and his grip immediately loosened.

I moved to sit up, as he sat back on his feet, and buried his face in his hands. For a long moment, there was nothing but his labored, uneven breathing. Neither of us moved.

"Did I hurt you?" He murmured, and from the sound of his broken whisper, he was afraid of the answer.

I shook my head. "No."

He let out a shuddering sigh, and moved his hair out of his face. "I'm sorry."

I frowned. "What could you possibly have to be sorry about?"

"I was trying to get some work done and I must have fallen asleep."

I noticed then that he was fully clothed. "Was that a nightmare?"

He nodded.

I'd never felt anything like that, hoped to never feel anything like that again. That power was violent, it was bottomless, and it was ancient. "That power. Is that what happened in the throne room? When you….became Supreme Leader?"

He swallowed thickly. "Yes."

"So your nightmare was about what happened to your mother?" I asked.

"No."

My forehead crinkled. No? There were other dreams that threatened to unleash his power?

His data pad sounded on the table next to the couch, and he pushed himself up to retrieve it. He tapped the screen and the holographic image of Ap'lek appeared, his face tight with worry.

"I felt-"

"I'm fine." Kylo insisted, flatly.

"Vicrul and I could be there in a few hours, Ky." Ap'lek said. "Ushar is only a few jumps away, if you need-"

"I said I'm fine." Kylo growled.

Aplek set his jaw, and looked around, his gaze finding me. He scanned me up and down, and then he was gone.

"What was your dream about?" I asked.

Kylo tossed his data pad onto the couch. "I'm going to bed."

I stared after his retreating back in wounded shock for a moment, but that hardened to resolve and I stood, chasing after him. "Don't do this." I begged. "You don't have to run away from me."

His eyes were downcast as he unbuttoned his shirt. "Just drop it, Rey."

I would do no such thing.

"You told me you wanted to make this work." I reminded him. "You told me that you wanted to share your life with me. And then when you get a little vulnerable, you shut down?"

He pulled the shirt off, and went to undo his pants.

"Talk to me!" I pleaded, marching over to him. "What could possibly make your power react like that?"

He turned toward the bed, and I reached for him, my fingers curling around his wrist and I was thrown into his mind.

He was running, his lungs burning as he pushed himself to go faster, growing more and more frantic with each empty alleyway. He thought that his heart would burst, he had to find her, he had to find…

Me.

He'd been dreaming about looking for me.

When he turned the corner, following the signs that I'd sent into his mind, he skidded to a stop, seeing me, my face pale and my eyes blazing as I looked at the man between us.

Kylo went to throw out his power, but his arms wouldn't move. He looked down to find binds of force lightning around his wrists, his waist, his thighs, holding him in place.

Just like when…

He gritted his teeth, straining against the restraint, the lightning singeing his skin. He looked up to see my neck twist unnaturally and then my limp body was falling, not to the pavement of the alleyway, but a shining black tile floor.

My eyes fixed on him as he screamed for me, the light in them fading as they unfocused.

I was shoved out of his mind so forcefully that I staggered back. I looked up, panting, to find him staring at me with huge, round eyes.

It was me. Losing me. That's what threatened to unleash his power. "Kylo-"

"How did you do that?" He demanded.

My forehead creased. "Do what?"

"How did you get into my mind?"

The crease deepened. How did I get into his mind? "You showed me-"

He shook his head. "No, I didn't."

He didn't? I looked down at my hand, at the thin gold band around my third finger, my pulse quickening."I dont-" I stammered. "I didn't-"

"Rey," He breathed, his gaze softening. "You can get past my shields?"

A knot twisted in my stomach. "No." I insisted. "No, I can't."

"You just did." He said, his voice a soft purr as his eyes twinkled with awe.

I gulped, looking down at my hand again. I'd gotten past his shields? Him? The most powerful Supreme Leader, possibly the most powerful being, in history, and I'd gotten past his shields. My breathing hitched. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know." He admitted. I felt the air around us shift as he reinforced his shields, not breaking eye contact with me as he bought his hand up. "Do it again."

I raised an eyebrow. "Look at more things you don't want me to see?"

"Do you not want to see things I don't want you to see?"

"No." I grumbled. "You wouldn't look at things I don't want you to see."

"Fair enough." He said. "But, how will we know how strong your power is if I show you things I'd willingly tell you?"

I didn't move as I looked at his hand, still raised in front of me, and thought of what I wanted to know. "What happened to me in your dream, is that what happened to your mother?"

His gaze clouded, though his expression did not change. "Get past my shields and I'll show you."

I took his hand, and waited. And waited. Nothing. Just me and my own thoughts.

"Try to go into my mind." He suggested. "As Ushar does during your training. Like you did last night when you called out to me."

"I don't know how I called out to you." I told him. "And, I don't know how I got into your mind, I just touched you."

His eyebrows rose. "Humor me?"

I sighed, lowering my own mental barriers and sent my power lunging for him, what little I could summon. Perhaps earlier was a fluke. Perhaps he let his guard down and unknowingly allowed me to see his dream. It was laughable that we'd even considered anything else.

My power soared into his mind, and bounced harmlessly off of his sparkling black shields. Endless, impenetrable, and impossibly thick. Shields built from that bottomless well of power that sang when I tried to go into his mind. Like, it recognized me, or what I currently felt purring to life just under my skin.

I shivered, retreating back into my own head.

He let go of my hand, and studied my face for a long, silent moment.

"Most contracted wives are released from their agreements after fulfilling their obligations." He said. "The heirs that they bear are handed to wet nurses, and raised to be cold, vicious Kings, just like their fathers."

My brows narrowed. What was he saying?

"But my mother refused, and insisted on raising me herself, because she knew what would happen if she left me to Snoke. She knew the monster he'd make me into. So, she endured-" he let out a long breath. "So much. She would use any excuse to get me away from him, which is why she took me to the camp to train."

My heart staggered.

He sat down on the bed.

"Vicrul and Ap'lek were raised by her from the time they were twelve. They loved her, and when we were nearing the completion of our training, they devised a plan to kill Snoke, to get her free of him. Snoke found them, of course, they were eighteen and seventeen and didn't know what they were doing, didn't know just how powerful he was. I took the brunt of their punishment to keep him from killing them, though they were still so injured that they were forced to return home to recover. He locked me in a cell, forbade me from seeing a healer, and killed anyone who tried to aid me or bring me food, forcing my wounds to heal naturally. It took….a while." His fingers trailed along jagged silver scars along his ribs, and my stomach churned.

Kylo's face hardened. "My training was complete when I was twenty." He said. "That's when Snoke sent me to the outer rim. But, when he found out that I could mind probe, after he saw what I could do to his enemies, he pulled me back, using me as his personal assassin. I hated it, hated him for making me do it, but he was still married to my mother, and would hold me down with lightning and beat her in front of me if I refused to do his bidding. That's what she'd become to him, not a person, but leverage. The last few years of his life, I plotted how I could kill him. I couldn't harm him, he'd shielded himself against me, against my power. Vicrul and Ap'lek were not strong enough, even together, or else they would have. I met Ushar a few months before, and I thought he could, if given time, find a way to break through Snokes wards long enough for me to put a dagger in his chest. The day it happened, Snoke had found out that there was an alliance rising against him, lead by my mother. He had no idea, and slaughtered her supporters then and there, just to prove that he could. He told me that she was a traitor, and deserved a traitors death but I jumped between them, shielded her, and drew my saber and told him he wasn't touching her again. I was more powerful than him, I knew that, he knew that. But i was still young, and I didn't know how deep that power went, I didn't know what I could do."

Tears swiftly slid down his cheeks. "He broke through my shield, and was ripping her apart from the inside, and I just…" he shook his head. "Charged. Too naive to know that I could have easily broken his hold on her, too angry to try to use my power. And when I brought that saber up, I knew I was going to kill him. I wanted to kill him. But, he hit me with the full force of his power, holding me down with his lightning. He told me that my attachment to her made me weak, that if he could use her, anyone else could too, and all they'd have to do to own me, to own my throne, was to get to her."

Tears were freely falling down my face, too.

"I heard it, when he broke her neck." He whispered. "Felt it through our connection in the Force. I saw her crumple, saw the light fading from her eyes as she fell. When I saw her eyes unfocus, I knew she was gone, and the last thing I remember is darkness exploding out of me." He blinked, and his eyes were glassy and red. "Ushar pulled me out, though at the time, I would've rather died with her on that throne room floor. And when I was...sane enough to form a coherent thought other than the grief I felt, Ap'lek told me what I'd done." He swallowed. "I already knew that I'd killed everyone near me, I knew that there were innocent people who'd been caught in my blast. I was so consumed with my guilt and grief that the next few years were spent at the bottom of a bottle, of waking up in strangers beds. I just needed to….not feel. I didn't care how."

"The nightmares unleash your power?"

He nodded. "They've only ever been about my mother, about the day she died, but last night, when I thought I could lose you, I just…" He let out a shaky breath. "It reminded me of what it felt like losing her, and made me realize that you've healed some pieces of me that have been broken for a while, and I don't know if I can...go back to who I was, I just know that I don't want to."

I stepped closer and he pressed his forehead to my sternum, wrapping his arms around me as I ran my fingers through his hair. For a long moment, we just held each other, the only sound in the room was the chirp of birds as dawn slowly leaked through the curtains.

"Since you've told me what happened." I said. "How are we going to test my power now?"

He looked up at me and a smile tugged at his full lips. "You could always dig in there for really embarrassing stuff."

I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Like when Cardo, Trugden and I were stranded in deep space without fuel and had to use body heat to keep warm."

I thought that my eyes were going to fall out of my head as both of my hands clamped over my mouth.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Is that the worst one?"

"Oh, hell no, that was literally just survival." He said. "Trugden, Cardo and Kuruk don't have Force abilities, so stories about my misadventures with them are pretty tame. The failures with Ap'lek and Ushar are much more epic, but they look like a Sunday picnic compared to what I've gotten into with Vicrul."

"So, I should never leave you two unattended?"

"We've calmed down in our old age." He admitted. "But, if I ever start a sentence with 'So, me and Vicrul' just know that whatever follows is probably really bad."

I smiled, and combed my fingers through his hair and he looked up at me, his chin resting on my stomach. "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me about your mother." I said.

His arms loosened, his hands moving to my hips as he sat up. "She would've loved you." He said, his voice edged in sadness. "She would've loved me with you. She-" he sighed. "I wish she could've met you."

I blinked back the tears that stung my eyes. "I wish that, too." My hand moved to cup his cheek. "But, you're everything she hoped you'd be."

His brows lifted. "Is that so?"

I nodded. "You're a good man, and you're a great King." I bent down to kiss his lips. "And you are one hell of a husband."

He smiled against my mouth. "A hell of a husband, huh?"

I nodded, biting my lip. "Who else would smuggle in Nabooian tea?"

He gasped, feigning insult. "I did not smuggle your tea in, Ma'am."

"How did you get it here?"

"When Ushar poofed up for the meeting yesterday, I asked him to bring it."

"You had your Shadow Guard teleport tea here?" I asked, flatly.

He shrugged, nonchalantly. "Perhaps."

My eyes narrowed. "I don't think that's an appropriate use of the Force."

He huffed. "Shows what you know." His face fell. "Because it is absolutely not an appropriate use of the Force."

Soft, buttery light poured in from the rising, morning sun. There was chattering and music outside of our door. The palace had slowly come to life in anxious preparation for the wedding. Preparations that we both were expected to attend.

I sighed, heavily.

"If it's any consolation." Kylo said. "After the wedding, we get cake."

"Have you seen what I'm going to have to wear?" I demanded. "I'm not sure if cake will be worth it."

He leaned his head back, his hair falling over his shoulders. "What if it's really good cake?"

I pursed my lips. "Judging from the rest of the food here, it's not going to be really good cake."

Kylo considered, then nodded. "That's fair."