"You are going to hurt yourself." Vicrul said, catching my hand.

Sweat slid down my face, my back, as I looked up at him, panting. We'd gone over balance and footwork, and were moving on to the basics of hand to hand combat.

"Your thumb needs to be against your knuckles." He made a fist, the white strips of linen he'd wrapped his hand in straining. "Not on top, not inside, or you'll shatter your thumb."

I mimicked the positioning he demonstrated.

He looked down at my feet, already in the position that he'd so painstakingly taught me. Knees bent, back straight, weight centered.

He stepped toward me and tapped his finger on the knuckles of my pointer and middle fingers. "These are what you hit with." He tapped the knuckles of my ring finger and pinky. "If you hit with these, you'll break your hand."

He made another adjustment to my arm. "Make sure you align your knuckles with your forearm, or you'll snap your wrist."

"Sounds like I can hurt myself more than whoever I'm trying to punch." I said.

His green-brown eyes locked with mine. "You absolutely can. Which is why it's so important to do it correctly. A swing, if not executed properly, can not only shatter your hand, it can knock you off balance, giving your opponent the advantage. Every movement must be precise."

Half an hour later, when I'd finally landed a decent punch, my arms were trembling so badly I could barely lift them. My right hand throbbed painfully, and both of my wrists ached, along with every muscle in my arms, shoulders, and core. Each breath ravaged my throat as I bent over, trying not to dry heave.

I vaguely felt hands on my shoulders as I was pulled back into a chair, and looked up to see Vicrul kneel in front of me. He hasn't even broken a sweat in his training clothes, his breathing even as he offered me a bottle of water. My hand wobbled when I took it.

"How do you do this everyday?" I wanted to know.

"It gets easier." He assured me, watching as I took a drink. "You're doing amazingly well."

I laughed once, without humor. "So well it took me half an hour to get a punch right."

"This isn't something you learn overnight, Rey." He said. "It takes practice. Hell, I've been doing this for nearly two decades and I still don't land every punch perfectly. Don't be so hard on yourself."

I frowned, my resolve quickly crumbling with my fraying emotions. "I'm just sick of being so helpless."

He raised his chin, his hazel eyes unflinching as he stared at me. Whether it was because he was waiting for me to elaborate, or because I'd sparked some deep rooted fear in him with how close I was to crying, I didn't know.

"I had to be rescued twice on Lothar." I told him, my voice shaking. "Kylo found me the first time before anything happened, but he completely lost his mind looking for me. I've never seen him so scared. It almost unleashed his power-"

"I know. I felt it."

I stilled. "You felt it?"

He nodded. "Ap'lek and I know what his power, what his full power feels like. It sends a call, like a siren out into the Force that is impossible to ignore. It woke us up that morning."

I thought back, remembering that he'd received a call after it happened. "That's why Ap'lek called him?"

He nodded again. "As soon as it started, it stopped. He called to make sure he was alright, and to make sure…" He stopped as if he'd said too much.

"That I wasn't caught in his blast." I finished for him, remembering the look Ap'lek had given me.

He nodded a third time, his eyes tight.

I set my bottle down. "Then with Hux." I tried to shake the throbbing ache out of my hand. "When he grabbed me, I knew I wouldn't be able to get away from him. Not on my own. And, we were so far away from everyone else, I knew no one would see me. If anything like that happens again…I don't want my only option to be having one of you guys rescuing me."

"It's our job to make sure nothing like that happens again." He insisted. There was no edge in his voice, no darkness, no violence when he said, "It's our job to save you. I would gladly lay down my life for you as my Queen, as my best friend's wife, and as my friend."

I met his hazel gaze, and knew he meant it. "I know you would, but I don't want you to."

He opened his mouth, but I shook my head, silencing him. "If anything like that does happen, I want to be able to shatter his jaw."

A grin slowly spread across his face, creasing his one dimple. "Then, we're wasting daylight." He stood, and extended a hand to me, which I took, letting him pull me to my feet.

After stretching and cooling down, Ushar teleported me to the library, where we tried to tap into the power he still insisted I possessed, to no avail. I hobbled upstairs hours later, my limbs and mind feeling like rubber, and went to my room to grab some clean clothes and supplies, then went down the hall to Kylo's room. If I stayed in my room, there was a possibility that Sara would show up. I was exhausted, and hungry, and hormonal, and I was not in the mood to deal with her, nor did I have the patience to pretend otherwise.

I set the water temperature to nearly scalding and sighed when the water hit my sore shoulders, tilting my head back to wet my hair.

"Not that I'm complaining," I heard Kylo say from the doorway. "But, what are you doing?"

"Hiding from Sara, like a coward." I said, looking at him through the glass shower door.

"There is not a cowardly bone in your body." He reached up and loosened his tie. "May I join you?"

It amazed me that even though our relationship had become intimate, he still needed my consent.

"I smell." I warned him. "And, I'm still on my period."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hence….the shower."

I pursed my lips, glaring at him. "Yes, you can join me."

He undressed, and opened the door, stepping under the stream of the showerhead. "Just like with anything else" He said, "You say the word, and I'll have Sara dismissed."

I didn't know if I wanted her dismissed. Not yet. She was pushy, but if I dismissed her, the officials would hire another spy to work as my waiting woman. Or, bribe anyone that I hired myself to report back to them. I didn't know if being rid of her would be worth the hassle and headache. "Did you talk to the council?"

"Yes." He reached up, and slicked his hair back. "I told them that I wouldn't allow our marriage to be annulled, nor would you be returning to Naboo. Here, let me." He took the shampoo bottle out of my hands, and squeezed some into his palm. "I don't know if that means that they'll have to draw up another contract at the end of this one, or if they'll forget the contract all together, they didn't say." He made a spinning motion with his finger, and I obeyed, so that he could wash my hair. "Not that it matters. You're my wife, and you'll stay my wife. I made that clear."

I was able to sigh in relief, and leaned against him, turning my face toward him. "Thank you for doing that for me." I rose up on my toes to kiss him.

"I'd do fucking anything for you." He said against my lips, and my smile widened. When he was done with my hair, I rinsed it, and he bent down to retrieve the conditioner.

I watched the way the ropes and cords of muscle rippled under his pale skin, the water running between them in rivulets. Somewhere in the back of my scrambled brain, desire sparked, and was quickly quelled by my aching body and growling stomach.

I frowned, and he gave me a look.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't….I mean I don't want to, I mean I want to, but I'm too tired and too sore to ...have sex."

"I knew you would be. Vicrul said he went pretty hard on you today." He made another spinning motion.

I turned, relieved he wouldn't see the blush heating my cheeks. "You don't mind?"

"Of course I don't mind you training with Vicrul." He scoffed, soothing the conditioner into my hair.

"No," I sighed. "You don't mind that we're not going to have sex?"

He stopped, and I looked over my shoulder at him.

"I was confused because I thought you were asking if I minded that you weren't going to have sex with Vicrul, but now I think you're asking me if I mind that you and I aren't going to have sex, and I'm even more confused." His eyes narrowed. "You've been married to me for the past five months, right?"

"Things are different now." I reminded him.

"Not those things." He said. My face heated, and he sighed. "Do you think I'm disappointed or angry because you don't want to have sex?"

I swallowed. "The ladies on Naboo-"

"Fuck what those-" He said a word I'd never heard before. "Told you. Forget all that 'wifely duty' bullshit. If you don't want to have sex for any reason, we're not having sex." He traced his knuckles along my jaw. "Okay?" I nodded, but his expression didn't change as his eyes searched mine. "What are you confused about?"

I didn't bother denying it. "You said you needed my consent before doing anything. But, I've already given you my consent."

"You gave me your consent for what we were doing at that time." He corrected. "And, it's not a one size fits all type of thing. Just because you consented to sex the times we've done it before, doesn't mean you can't say no, now. Consent is given freely, and can be withdrawn freely."

I nodded again, fully understanding, and he leaned in to swiftly kiss my lips. "Eight."

"I love you, too." I told him, and squeezed a dollop of shampoo onto the top of his head.

He laughed and raked his fingers through his hair.

"Let me." I begged, and he did, leaning forward again so that I could reach.

"Speaking of consent." He said, after a long, silent moment.

My suds covered fingers stilled in his hair.

"You don't want to get pregnant, so we have to discuss what we're going to do to prevent it." He said.

Oh.

I went back to scrubbing. "We'll just not have sex during my fertile week."

"This month, your period was several days late, which means that you were ovulating later than we thought." He reminded me. "Abstaining during your fertile week won't work if it's not actually your fertile week." He rinsed the bubbles out of his hair, and moved it out of his face to be able to look at me.

"What do you suggest?" I asked.

"Using condoms until you're ready to start trying to get pregnant."

"Seems reasonable." I squeezed the conditioner into my palm, and slathered it on his head. "Anything else we need to discuss? Since we're getting it all out?"

He lathered up his hands with soap and circled my cheeks with his fingertips, spreading bubbles across my face. "I want you to move into my room."

It took me a moment to register what he said, and I blinked several times, my brow creasing as I stared at him.

"With me." He finished.

"Move into your room with you?" I asked. "Like, all the time?"

"Or until you get sick of me."

"Or until you get sick of me." I countered.

He rolled his eyes. "Right, because your perfectionism is insufferable, really."

My heart fluttered, as a smile tugged at my lips.

"Is that a yes?" He asked, looking at my mouth, then in my eyes.

My smile widened, and I nodded.

His answering grin made my breathing hitch as he bent down to kiss me again.