I slept in Kylo's room, in his bed, in his arms, falling back into the pillows when he got up at dawn to start his day. His warm hand soothed my hair out of my face before he planted a lingering kiss on my temple and whispered, "Six."

Bright sunlight pulled me from sleep as Sara yanked the curtains back, the metal shriek of the hooks on the rod grating into my soul. I fucking hated that sound.

She merrily went about her duties, picking our discarded clothing off of the floor and handing me my robe without comment on my current state of undress. I moved to pull it on, and climbed out of the massive bed to head toward the bathroom, when Sara audibly gasped.

I turned toward her, finding her mouth hanging open, as she stared at the sheets with wide eyes. "What?" I asked, and she flung back the comforter, revealing spots of red staining the gold linens.

My missing period had finally made an appearance.

"You're not pregnant." She breathed, her pale blue eyes coming to me.

I sighed, irritated. "I told you I wasn't pregnant, Sara."

Pink flooded her pale face as her eyes narrowed on me. "How?"

I straightened. "What?"

"How are you not pregnant?" She yelled.

Humiliation heated my cheeks. "That is none of your concern." I said, evenly.

"It is when I have to explain to the officials why you haven't conceived after five months." She shot back. "Do you know what they can do if you don't produce an heir?"

My throat grew tight. They could void my contract, and annul my marriage. They could send me back to Naboo and buy another virgin to marry my husband. "Yes." I whispered, my eyes burning. Just like that, dread settled over me, and my sunny morning turned gray. I turned away from her so she wouldn't see my quivering lip. "Could you bring me my supplies?" I didn't give her a chance to reply before I went into the bathroom and closed the door.

I set the water temperature and got in, realizing after I was thoroughly drenched that I was in Kylo's shower. I washed with his soap, and when I emerged, smelling like an Irish Spring, I found that she'd left my supplies on the counter. After dressing in a light, cream colored, muslin gown, I went to my own room, picked up my comm link and dialed a number.

Ardion answered, but quickly passed the call to Ovadia.

"Miss me already?" She asked, raising a thin eyebrow.

"Of course." I told her, settling into a chair. "I have no one to talk to surrounded by all these boys."

She snickered. "Well, what's going on?"

I frowned. "Nothing is going on."

"Things with Kylo ok?"

"Kylo is amazing." I said, honestly. "I just….I got my period today and my waiting woman threw the contract up in my face."

Ovadia's eyebrows pulled together. "Bitch."

"She's right, though." I admitted. "The contract is still hanging over my head, and I've been so wrapped up in being this happy that I forgot how quickly it could be taken away."

"The officials could certainly try to take it away." She said, dryly. "But you know Kylo would never let that happen."

I fidgeted with the hem of my gown. "Or, I could get pregnant."

"Do you want to get pregnant?"

"No. Yes." I sighed. "I don't know. I never thought it was possible to love who I was married to, but he is…" I shook my head as I tried to find the words. "He's so much more than everyone thinks, he's so much better than everyone thinks, and I do love him."

"Why is that an issue?" She wanted to know.

"It's not." I told her. "It is definitely not an issue, it's just...I want time to live in this. I want time to be just us."

"It's never going to be just you, Rey." She said, "He's King of Mustafar. He's the Supreme Leader, and he's the leader of The Knights of Ren."

"Exactly." I agreed. "So, why add another person I have to share him with?"

She leaned forward, her teal eyes more blue today than green. "You don't have to share him. There are nannies, and nurses who would actually raise them."

I shook my head, my heart breaking at the thought of not raising my own children, of not raising my children with Kylo. "No. When I give him a baby, we are going to raise them."

I could almost see it; the sleepless nights, the overwhelmed tears, the frustrated sighs. But, I could see the lullabies, the laughs, the...love. I'd told Kylo once that he was a good man, and a great King, and a hell of a husband.

He was going to be an even more amazing father.

"So, you know that you want to give him babies?" Ovadia asked.

"Of course I want to."

"Just not now?"

I shook my head.

"And, that's fine." She assured me.

"It won't be fine when the officials void my contract and send me back to Naboo." I replied, bitterly.

"I'd like to see them try." She said, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "I honestly think I'd pay to see them try. And then just-" She made an explosion motion with her hands. "When Kylo catches up to them."

"He can't just-" I made the same motion with my hands. "They're warded against him and his power."

"Against him and his power? So, he can't even buy them a ticket to the gun show?" She bent over, laughing.

I thought for a moment. "I don't know if he can hit them, so he may be able to."

"Speaking of a gun show," She looked around to make sure Ardion was out of earshot. "That blond Knight you were standing next to yesterday?"

"Vicrul." I answered immediately.

She blew out a breath and fanned herself with her hand.

"You're not helping."

Her shoulders lifted. "I think you're stressing over nothing."

I sighed, bringing my hands up to rub my temples.

"There is no way you're willingly leaving Kylo, which means they'd physically have to get you on a craft. Warded or not, they'd have to go through every Knight of Ren and your husband to get to you, and no one is stupid enough to try that." She brought a hand up to twirl a blond curl around her finger. "I also think that your waiting woman is using your contract as a way to bully you into getting pregnant before you're ready, which is disgusting, honestly, and she should be dismissed."

I hadn't thought of it that way, but she was right on all accounts.

"We should have a girls weekend soon." She tilted her head to the side. "You can go off world as long as you have a Knight with you, right?" I pursed my lips, not answering her, and she grinned. "Can you request that Vicrul escorts you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm hanging up, now."

She smiled sweetly. "Bye!"

The link ended, and I covered my face with my hands, feeling more confused than before I'd called her. I thought back to my dinner with Aplek, when he'd told me what could happen, then to my dinner with Kylo when he'd confirmed.

It seemed like a lifetime ago. Everything had changed in just the past few months.

The Officials could void my contract, and annul my marriage, and even if they couldn't get me to leave, it would be a fight with them most likely for the rest of my days. I had no doubt in my mind that they would make my life an absolute hell. And, even if I got pregnant after my marriage was annulled, would my child be legitimate?

I already knew the answer to that.

Ovadia's solution was just to ignore them because they couldn't make me leave. But, they'd bought me without Kylo's approval, without his consent, without his wanting, even. It stung, the knowledge that there was a time in the not too distant past when my husband didn't want me.

I tried to block it out, but tears I couldn't hold any longer spilled onto my cheeks, and I sobbed into my hands.

The bedroom door flew open, and I jumped, whirling.

Kylo had me in his arms in an instant, and I inhaled the scent of him, letting his power and warmth envelope me. Here is where I was safe. Here, no one could touch me. Here, was my home.

He held me, swaying gently from side to side, until I sniffled, and pulled away. His knuckles brushed along my chin before he cupped my cheek, and I lifted my eyes to meet his.

"Talk to me." He begged, his jaw tight.

I took a shuddering breath. "Im sor-"

"Dont." He said, stopping my apology. "Just tell me what's going on."

"Sara woke me up with the curtain, you know?"

He nodded, encouraging me to go on.

"And, I'd gotten blood on the sheets, and she freaked out because it's been five months and I'm not pregnant." My voice hitched as my face crumpled. "And she brought up the contract-" I burst into tears again, and Kylo pulled me to him, his hand gently stroking my hair as I cried into his shoulder.

When I'd gotten ahold of myself, I looked up at him. "I called Ovadia, and I was talking to her about it." I sniffled, and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "And, she said that the Officials aren't stupid enough to try to send me back to Naboo, but if they void our contract-" My voice broke. "If I'm not married to you anymore-" Fresh tears slid down my cheeks as a sob broke out of my chest. "I don't know what to do." I whispered, my voice breaking. "I hate having that contract thrown up in my face. I hate that that's what I am-"

His hands went to either side of my face, holding it between them. His eyes simmered as they bore into mine. "That is not what you are."

My chin quivered as I looked at him, tears blurring my eyes. "Yes, it is."

His forehead crinkled as his eyebrows pulled together. "Do you not know what you are to me?"

I didn't answer, I couldn't.

"You are so much more than a contract. You're so much more than my wife, than my Queen." His eyes lined with water, his thumbs stroking my cheeks. "Rey, you are my salvation."

My heart splintered, more tears spilling onto my face.

"When I tell you that it doesn't matter if they void the contract, it's because there will never be anyone else for me, for the rest of my life, but you." He swept my hair back, away from my face. "When I say that it doesn't matter if they annul our marriage, it's because I never want to be anything other than yours."

I drew in a shaky breath, realizing that I'd stopped breathing.

"And, when I tell you that I will never let them take you away, it's because I don't want any type of life that doesn't have you in it."

I began to cry again, and leaned into him, my sobs muffled against his chest, my tears ruining his shirt. He held me, rubbing soothing circles on my back until I finally calmed down enough to contain myself.

His hands went to my arms as I pulled away and wiped my face. "I don't want them to annul our marriage. I want to be married to you."

"You are married to me." He insisted. "I said my vows to you. I said them twice."

I sniffled. "To stay married to you, I have to give you an heir by our first wedding anniversary."

"The first real conversation we ever had, I told you I'd rather my line end than make you have a baby you don't want." He reminded me. "That hasn't changed."

"But I do want it." I said, my eyes burning.

He swallowed hard, his eyebrows pulled into a tight line. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I do want a baby." I clarified.

He looked at me like he still didn't quite understand what I was getting at.

"I want to have a baby. Your baby." I sniffled again. "And not because it's expected of me, or because it's in our contract. I want a baby with you because I love you."

His eyes glimmered, astonishment laced into them as they stared at me.

"I want it all with you." I confessed. "I want you to hold my hair when I'm sick in the mornings, and I want to gross you out with the weird cravings I'll get, and I want to hold your hand at all of the doctors appointments, and have you kiss my belly when it starts to grow."

A tear streaked a trail down his right cheek, but he stood so still, I wasn't sure he was even breathing.

"I want you behind me in the delivery room, and I want to wake up to crying next to you, and make bottles, and change diapers, and then, when we're finally able to sleep through the night, I want to do it all over again."

Another tear fell, and he didn't so much as blink.

"But, for right now, I just want to be your wife."

My words hung in the air for a long, silent moment before he took a breath, and nodded. "I want that, too." He swallowed. "Whenever you're ready. Take all the time you need."

He pressed a kiss to my hairline. "I'll talk with the counsel, the Priest, whomever I have to talk to." His knuckle pushed my chin up. "Just don't cry. I'll handle it."

I nodded my understanding, letting out a breath.

He sighed, and kissed my forehead again. "I have to go and try to salvage the meeting that I ran out of."

I blinked up at him, my forehead creased. "You ran out of a meeting?"

He nodded. "As soon as I felt you start to fall apart."

I frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He said, "You're more important than anything they could ever have to say." His hand came back to my cheek. "You're ok?"

I nodded again.

A third kiss to my forehead. "I'll see you tonight." He went to the door and turned back to me. "By the way, you missed your training session with Vicrul and he wants to know if you're still his friend."

My eyebrows flew up. "If I'm still his friend?"

Kylo cracked a grin and showed me his palms.

"Literally, how is he the guy who commands your armies?" I wanted to know.

His smile widened. "Seven." And he disappeared behind the door as he closed it.