When I was well enough to travel, Ap'lek and I returned to Mustafar, but I was still so injured that I had to take time to recover. I occupied myself with the rebuilding efforts, the import of supplies, and temporary housing for my people who were still displaced from the attack.

In the days and weeks that I was basically bedridden, I studied the recent trafficking drops, and compared these locations to the tips that were still flooding in. Most were bogus, but with the few that were credible, I was able to discover his recruiters, not just his transporters and buyers.

With the help of some of my allies, I was able to not only disrupt drops, but save the victims before they were taken. We were able to arrest most of the men, and they were taken to face their charges and sentencing. I requested that one be sent to me, and when he was hauled in and pushed into a chair in the middle of the room, there wasn't even the slightest flicker of fear in his eyes. His posture, however, the way his hands were braced on the table in front of him, had a different story to tell.

"Where is Zaugustus?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"There are reports that he's keeping a young woman with him." I tried again. "Have you seen her?"

Another shrug.

"Telling me what I want to know would be far less painful for you than making me go into your mind after it." I reminded him.

Silence.

I sighed. "Have it your way." And dug my power into his mind, leafing through everything he'd seen in the past three months. He was relatively low in the ranks, and knew absolutely nothing about Rey or Zaugustus, he was just the runner. He got the girls, delivered them, and got paid. That was the extent of his involvement.

I pulled out with a frustrated sigh, and he sagged back in his seat, his eyes nearly closed. I turned to leave and heard him scoff.

"You are such a fucking hypocrite."

I stopped, and looked over my shoulder at him. "What did you say to me?"

"I said you're a fucking hypocrite." He repeated, and spat at my boots. "You saved a few peasant girls, and arrested a few bad guys so that you can be the big master of the universe in front of all of your pussy ass friends, when you've had not one girl sold to you, but two."

I shook my head. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"When I take a girl, it's called kidnapping, if I keep her, it's false imprisonment. I fuck her, it's rape, but when you do it, it's fulfilling a marriage contract."

My eyes widened a bit. "I've never-"

"What? Never taken a girl from her home planet? Never locked one up in your palace? Never fucked her? Because we both know that's a damn lie." He leaned forward. "Yet you have the balls to arrest us for doing the same."

His accusations should have made me angry. I hadn't consummated anything with Beau, was rarely even in the same room with her. And, Rey had chosen to marry me, stayed with me of her own free will, and I loved her. I genuinely, desperately, irrevocably loved her. I could tell him that, tell him the truth, but it wouldn't change his mind.

And, it wouldn't change the fact that he was right. Women were sold to Kings, forced to endure rape and physical abuse, then used as surrogates to produce heirs in exchange for their freedom. Rey had been bought for me. Beau had been bought for me.

I was a fucking hypocrite.

I returned to Mustafar, and went to the roof of the townhouse, sitting in a lounge chair with a newly opened bottle of scotch as I watched the sun dip into the horizon.

My city slowly began to glow, lights twinkling into existence as darkness took over, and I found comfort in the fact that so much had been rebuilt. My people were slowly healing.

The scent of orange blossom wafted in the air and it made my stomach turn, as it always did. "You don't have to leave." I said to her when she turned to go back down the stairs.

Beau looked at the bottle next to me, the glass in my hand, then her uncertain eyes came up to meet mine, but she moved forward, and took a seat in a lounge chair next to me.

I brought the glass up to my lips, and took a drink, sighing with the familiar burn of it.

"You seem sad."

I looked over at her, one eyebrow raised.

"I mean, a different sad than usual." She amended.

Fair enough.

"One of the guys we arrested today in the trafficking ring called me a hypocrite." I admitted.

She snorted. "You aren't trafficking." Her eyes went wide. "That I know of."

"No, I'm not." I confirmed. "But, as he pointed out today, I've had two wives that were bought for me, and taken from their home planets."

"So?"

I took another drink. "So, how am I any different than the men I'm arresting?"

She gave me a look befitting that question. "You know exactly how you're different, Kylo."

"Do I?" I mused. "Because I'm not so sure anymore." I swirled the amber liquid in my glass, wanting to drown in it.

"I was bought for you." She reminded me. "I was dumped onto your planet, and we were told that we have to procreate. Yet the only time you've ever touched me was when you threw your body over mine when Arkanis attacked."

"How is that relevant?" I snapped, my voice sounding unfamiliar, even to me.

She gave me a pointed look. "Would any of those men you've arrested do the same?"

"No." I admitted. "But, things are…complicated with us."

"They're complicated because you refuse to repeat the actions of your father."

I felt heat rise in my chest, but I fought the urge to lash out. "You don't know anything about my father, Beau. You don't know anything about what I refuse to act on."

"I know that you'd rather have me sold to someone else than bed me." She countered, and I stopped, turning to look at her.

She met my gaze, her chin raised, her russet eyes blazing.

I shook my head. "I don't want you sold to someone else."

"But, I will be." She pointed out. "Especially after they learn that I'm still a virgin. I'll be sold to another king who is exactly like those men you've arrested, and another girl will be bought for you. Then another, then another, until you have an heir."

"What is your point?" I demanded.

"We should do it."

I huffed out a humorless laugh and looked back at my drink. "Very funny." I said dryly, and took another swallow.

"I wasn't joking."

My heart sank in my chest, cold now, despite the burn of the scotch. She wasn't saying what I thought she was saying. She couldn't have been saying what I thought she was saying. "We should do what, exactly?"

"We should have an heir." She clarified, and I sighed, my stomach tightening as nausea gripped it.

Three months ago, I would have been overjoyed to hear those words, and even happier to oblige. Hearing it from Beau just felt...wrong.

"It would save me from being sold again." She reasoned. "And, it would save you from being married to someone else."

I gave her an incredulous look. "This isn't a business transaction, Beau."

"Don't you think I realize that?" She demanded. "Don't you think I know exactly what I'm asking of you?"

But, she didn't. She couldn't have known.

"Just, promise me you'll think about it." She begged, and stood up, soothing out the wrinkles in her skirt.

I waved my hand in dismissal. "Yeah, fine. Whatever."

She turned and made her way down the stairwell, the smell of orange blossom lingering.

I drained my glass and filled it again.

It took a few days, but I called for a meeting with every King who would meet with me, along with their officials, on the politically neutral planet of Malastare.

I shaved, and put on the black suit, waistcoat, and tie, looking more myself than I had in months. Ap'lek was on my right as I walked into the meeting room, Cardo on my left, both in black suits.

The Kings greeted me with respectful dips of their chins, some muttering my title as they bowed.

"Thank you for meeting with me, gentlemen." I said, looking around at them.

"What is it that we can do for you, Supreme Leader?" One asked.

I took a breath. "My efforts in stopping the cartel lord known as Zaugustus."

"Of course you have our support in that." One said.

"In the past two months, you've saved a total of one hundred and eighty three women." Another praised.

"You've found two dozen illegal smuggling ports."

"We have several kidnappers and rapists in custody."

"And all of this means nothing if we are still buying women for contracted marriages." I declared, and the room fell into shocked silence. I went on. "The Officials run a trafficking ring of women, of your daughters that have been locked up since adolescence. What are we if we disrupt one slavery empire, while ignoring our own?"

"Our wives are not slaves." One king objected.

"They're sold to us," I argued. "And, in most cases, treated like property until they earn their freedom by producing a son."

"A contract doesn't make them slaves."

I held up the contract my Officials sighed when they bought Beau. "What else would you call a person who is taken from their home planet, and made to fulfill contractual obligations that they never consented to, yet are unable to accuse her husband of abuse or rape?"

The room broke into whispers and mutterings.

"The entire practice of locking girls up so that their guaranteed virginity will one day be sold to the highest bidder is inhumane." I yelled over them.

"It's a tradition dating back centuries." A king explained.

"That desperately needs to be left in the history books." I shot back.

"How can you stand here," Another King interjected. "And spout this bullshit as if you actually believe it, when both of your wives have been contracted?"

I looked, and saw Rohlin, the King of Stewjon, and Kateria's husband.

"I didn't ask for either contract." I said, evenly.

"And yet you killed Hux for marrying your first wife after your contract with her was voided, and you've spent the last, what is it? Three months? Tearing this galaxy apart, looking for her." He casually walked toward me. "While you have a new wife keeping your bed warm."

"That's close enough." Ap'lek warned, Force energy crackling as his hands began to glow blue.

Rohlin snorted dismissively, but stopped several feet away, then spoke to the entire room. "He started a war with Arkanis, and is willing to start another for a wife who was contracted to him, yet calls a meeting and suggests that marriage contracts are outdated and inhumane." He chuckled, then looked at me. "If your first wife had been on Arkanis, you would have taken her back to Mustafar, would you not? Even though she was legally married to Hux at the time?"

It was an effort to keep my face schooled in the neutral mask I wore as King. "Yes." I answered.

"There is no greater insult to a King than refusing his daughter, especially after she was examined, and it was confirmed that she fit the requirements for a royal contract. But, if you were to find your first wife now, you would take her back to Mustafar, and risk war with Cyrilla, am I right?"

"Yes." I said again, earning disapproving grunts and murmurs.

"Tell me," Rohlin gave me a feline smile,a cat playing with its dinner. "What do you plan on doing with your current wife, should you locate your first one?"

In the back of my mind, I'd known that when I found her and brought her back, living with Rey while I was contracted to Beau would be taken as an insult to her father. I'd also known that it would most likely cause a war, I just didn't care. I never considered Beau my wife, I'd never said vows to her. I didn't say any of that to Rohlin, and his eyebrows lifted. "You would use and discard a young woman so carelessly, yet accuse us of being the ones who treat our wives like property."

I bit back a snarl. "The woman I love was ripped from me, and sold to Hux. After learning what he had subjected her to, I killed him. If I had the opportunity to go back, to change what happened, I would." I admitted, and my voice dropped into a growl. "Only to give him a death befitting of what he did to her."

Rohlin scoffed, and turned away. "I'm sure this will make all the difference to King Elmi when you return his daughter as tainted goods."

"I haven't so much as laid a hand on Elmi's daughter." I said, stopping him in his tracks. "But, when our contract ends, she will be sold to someone else and it's not a fate I want for her, or any other woman, nor is it a fate she deserves."

"I agree with Kylo." One king spoke up. "It's a barbaric practice that should have been outlawed decades ago."

"Kings are expected to marry virgins and produce heirs." Another objected. "Contracting wives provides both."

"Kings should be allowed to marry who they love." Another pointed out. "That freedom has always been something I coveted, and wished would be a possibility for my son."

"With power and privilege comes obligation."

"Obligation to keep our people safe, and ensure our bloodlines. I can do both without a contract."

Arguing broke out on both sides, and lasted well into the evening.

We returned to the Supremacy, where Ap'lek joined me in my office. I took off my tie, and sat in my chair, leaning back with a sigh.

"They couldn't agree on anything." He said.

"Change takes time." I reasoned. "And even if-"

Aplek's datapad sounded with an incoming call that had both of our heads snapping to the side. Not his business communicator, but his personal one, the ringtone set to a classic rock song that made my blood halt in my veins.

Vicrul.

We shared a look, and Ap'lek tapped the screen to answer.

The holographic image of our brother appeared, though his eyes were downcast, his face hard as he typed.

My datapad dinged with an incoming message and Vic looked up.

I swiped my screen, seeing that he'd sent me the coordinates to his location, and my brows furrowed in confusion.

"I found her." He said, and ended the link.