Rey slammed her fists against the door and screamed Aiden's name. Burning tears streamed down her face and her heart hammered in her chest.
She did not know how long she had pounded on the door; at some point, she found that she had sunk to the ground when a familiar voice stole her attention.
"Rey!" Kylo sounded alarmed, his voice strained. "Rey, what happened? Are you hurt?"
She sprung to her feet. "Kylo, it's Aiden! He was trapped inside and that brute of a man… he…" Fresh tears poured out.
"He's been captured?"
"Please, Kylo, we have to save him. He's going to be killed." She banged on his chest, head bowed. Her energy was spent, her hand still bled, and her knees trembled. Kylo unwrapped his embroidered shawl and threw it over Rey's shoulders.
"Come. We must demand an audience with the queen."
They were led in by a very sleepy male attendant, who at first didn't believe he was being woken by Prince Kylo in the middle of the night for an impromptu meeting with the queen. Frankly, it was an unusual occurrence, but status demanded that the attendant comply.
He was scared to wake his queen at such an hour but all the same he announced the arrival of the prince as loudly as he could then quickly scurried away.
The queen entered in a lilac nightgown with silver thread embroidered on the flowing skirt, complimenting her silvery skin tone. Her hair hung lose around her shoulders and down her back in perfect ringlets. She looked dazzling and showed no signs of having been asleep, much less of being wreathed in snakes.
She looked at Kylo and Rey in disgust and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Why have you come to disturb my slumber?"
Rey was enraged. "Slumber?! Yeah right! You were just trying to have me-" Kylo raised a hand up in Rey's direction to halt her words.
"My apologies, mother, it's rude of us to intrude on your empeaceful evening./em" The queen's eyes narrowed but Kylo's face remained impassive. "However, the matter is urgent. There is a boy I employ by the name of Aiden Tico. It seems he has gone wandering on your grounds, and I would like to see him home. Please, return him to me."
She gave a shrill laugh at that. "You have woken me over the matter of a lowly servant? I have not seen this boy you speak of."
"That's a lie! You took Aiden!" Rey was crying again, angry tears cutting across her cheeks and down her neck.
"How dare you accuse me of lying, wench!" The queen hissed, much like the snakes she had worn earlier tonight. "Watch your concubine, Kylo, or I will see her hung for her impudence."
Rey took a step forward but Kylo grabbed her by the elbow and held her back. He squeezed her gently before he let her go and stepped out in front of her. "Queen mother, I apologize for my concubine's behaviour. She is very distraught over Aiden's disappearance. If you would permit us to search the grounds, we could put this matter to rest."
The queen chuckled and said with a sneer, "I have already told you, there is no need to search my grounds. Take her and leave." She gracefully turned, and her skirt shimmered and danced with the movement.
Kylo stepped forward with an outstretched hand. "But mother-"
She whipped back around quickly with a murderous glare. "Do not forget who you are dealing with, Kylo! I am the queen. I answer to no one besides your father! Now, leave!"
Kylo grabbed Rey by her good hand and stalked out of the room. They made their way outside where Finn waited with a chariot connected to two horses. He could tell right away that the visit with the queen had not gone well.
"She refused my request. She basically told me as queen to get the hell out and laughed in my face." He ran his hand through his hair. He felt his temper rising quickly but he closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in deeply.
"And she can just do that?" Rey huffed.
"The queen is second in command in Rim. The only one she has to answer to is Kylo's father," Finn supplied.
"Rim? I thought we were in Jakku?"
Kylo chuckled wryly, no longer feeling the need to calm himself. The girl was so demanding and willful, he had forgotten how naive she was to the world around her. "Rim is the name of our country. Jakku is the capital from which my father rules. And unfortunately, he chose Ventress as his wife and second in command. Even I must obey her. We must go to my father if we want permission to search for Aiden."
Kylo mounted the chariot and reached down to help Rey up. Her hand had stopped bleeding, as she had kept a steady pressure on it with a scrap of her tunic, but she still felt weak and was thankful for the help. She stood in the front of the chariot, Kylo stepped behind her and placed an arm on either side of her, each holding a rein. Finn got on last and then they were off.
"Where's Poe?" Rey asked.
"I've sent him to visit with with astronomers of Jakku. They will be able to tell us how much longer Niima's sun will be in the sky. Once the season of Niima ends, the springs of Jakku will no longer be full and we will have to wait another year for them to fill again. I promised you I would help you get home and I intend to honor that." Rey looked up at him, his eyes were cold and staring straight ahead. She leaned back into him a bit and he looked down at her, surprised. His eyes grew softer and a small smile touched his lips.
She returned his smile. "Thank you, Kylo."
He nodded at her and looked back ahead. "I haven't given up on Aiden either. I'm afraid getting an audience with my father will be difficult at this hour, but we must try."
The king's chamberlain had informed Kylo that a meeting could be scheduled but not until the morning, and Kylo had no choice but to agree. With that they returned to Kylo's palace and waited until they were called to meet with the king.
Rey took a hot bath in one of the many washrooms. Jakku's bathrooms were spacious, with massive stone tubs that could easily fit six people instead of just one. The servants had drawn the bath with different oils and Rey relaxed into the heady feeling caused by the steam, lazily scrubbing her body. She was exhausted but also anxious to see the king. With that thought, she got up and towelled off, put on one of Aiden's tunics and returned to the main lounge where Kylo and Finn sat talking.
Then she was seen by a healer who cleaned her hand, covered it in poultice, and bandaged it up.
"At least the Lady Rey was able to obtain her clothing, so she will be able to return to her homeworld," Finn said to Kylo. Then he turned, having heard Rey approaching and gave her a small smile. "I'm glad to see some color back in your face. That wound must've hurt."
"The healer patched me up and the bath helped. Any word on Aiden?"
The prince shifted in his seat and said, "I'm afraid not. I have my people out scouting in case there are any bod-" His expression hardened and his mouth drew into a hard line. "In case there are any signs of Aiden's whereabouts."
Rey bit her lip and looked down at her hands. He had been going to say bodies. She knew this was all her fault. If she had just listened to the Prince, Aiden would still be safe with them. She was selfish and stupid for going after her clothes and risking the boy's life.
"Rey?" She looked up at the prince who watched her with concern. "Who was the man that took Aiden? You said a 'brute of a man' or something like that. Do you know who he was?"
She remembered the queen calling the man Savage but surely that couldn't be his real name. "He wore a crown of horns and human skin. The queen called him Savage."
Kylo's eyes narrowed, his eyebrows drawing closer together. He got up abruptly, started pacing, and immediately knocked over a table holding parchment and ink. But he ignored it, continuing to pace, his furious steps pounding the hard stone.
Finn grimaced at Rey and said, "That is Savage Opress, the head of the Nightbrothers clan. He's ruthless and… he is well known for his love of skinning children. I… I'm sorry Rey, but I don't think Aiden will have survived if he was taken by Savage."
Rey felt a shock to her system. Her heart sank into her stomach and tears welled in her eyes. She couldn't breathe. She was choking and her vision grew blurry. Then, three guards entered and sank down to kneel before Kylo.
"My prince, there are reports of a body dumped outside the gates of Jakku, on the south side. It appears to be that of a child around ten. It fits the description you gave us."
Rey's vision only got blurrier and she was no longer able to hear anyone, instead a faint and constant buzz like white noise filled her head. She insisted on going with them to inspect the body and pushed anyone away that tried to stop her. Rey rode in silence the whole way there, unable to meet the prince's looks of concern.
When they pulled up, she was first to hop off the chariot and rush to where a ring of men stood around a corpse covered by a white sheet. The face was exposed, and there lay Aiden with his brown eyes open, lifeless, staring blankly up at the red moon.
One of the men rushed to stop Rey but she quickly ducked under his arm and then threw herself on the ground beside Aiden's corpse. His limbs stuck out from under the sheet, missing skin, exposing the muscles and tendons below. He lay in a pool of his own blood and the sheet was soaked but Rey didn't care. She scooped the boy into her arms,held him to her chest and cried. She howled into the night, sobs racking her body. This is all your fault she screamed in her head. Everyone else stood back and watched in silence as Rey mourned the dead boy.
