Breeder ~ A Kylo Ren Fanfiction

45

For the first time in as long as I could remember, the dining hall was smaller than usual to host the diplomats from Nahari; the lighting low and almost... intimate-looking. Not all the typical Breeders were present, including Lynx. Maybe they'd shrunk the room and left the more sickly girls in the gestation suites to create the perfect environment to bring the ambassadors over to the side of the First Order, to properly seduce them.

"You look beautiful," Kylo Ren whispered to me. I'd never heard him lower his voice before, except to hiss menacingly; it was oddly sweet.

Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of hot wine, which I assumed was a Naharian delicacy, but made me outwardly recoil in disgust. "They didn't even do my makeup; the Dressellians haven't come to wash and cut our hair properly in weeks."

"You're beautiful," he said again, leaning in to kiss the top of my head, inhaling deeply. "And I like the way your hair smells."

My whole body flushed almost painfully, but I leaned away, as soon as his breath left my ear, I could think more clearly. This was Anika's home planet they were hosting; what did the Order want from them? My friend seemed so placid and content when I left her in the dressing room, even as Olga and her assistant swarmed around her. She was the one wild Breeder Hux couldn't conceivably force to her to stay in the gestation suites; if she didn't show up, the Naharians would suspect something was wrong from the off. All I had to do was wait for her to show up.

Ren's hand slid over my knee, rubbing his thumb over the side of my thigh. "Are you alright?"

"No," I said automatically.

"What's wrong? Did someone hurt you?"

I shook my head, sighing at my own foolishness; I should have anticipated this reaction and avoided it. "I'm just worried about Anika."

"I thought I told you that girl was trouble."

My brow furrowed at this comment before I rolled my eyes again. "If we're holding each other to the things we said and did four months ago, I think I deserve an apology from you for dragging me to see a man executed." I bit my lip to suppress a smile; to my pleasure and admiration, Ren didn't snarl or scowl at me poking fun at him. "Besides," I said, eager to praise his good behavior in hopes of encouraging it in the future. "If we went back to the way we used to be, I wouldn't be in love with you anymore, and that would make me very sad."

I pressed a slow kiss to his cheek, but when I tried to pull away, Ren caught me by the back of the head, sealing out lips together, keeping me there long enough for me to nearly run out of air. When we parted, I saw the Naharians staring at us, their expressions unreadable. Hux also looked on, pale blue eyes narrowed and nostrils flared. Orion's stared openly as well, his gaze the only one that bothered me; he half-smiled, giving me a single nod, as though congratulating me on a wonderful performance. 

The diplomats stood, putting a clenched fist over the right side of their chests, and I looked to the main entrace to the dining hall to see Anika walking in. Her hair was twisted up into an intricate updo, a jeweled tiara perched just behind her hairline, eyes lined with pink paint that matched a silky, draped dress.

Between her appearance and the Naharians reaction to seeing her for the first time made it all click in my head: Anika was royalty.

"Should we stand?" I whispered.

"No, we stand for none of their petty monarchs."

His melodrama should have made me chuckle, but it didn't, my blood like ice in my arteries. Whatever she told the men from her planet, they'd take to as the absolute truth. Anika touched the corner of her mouth, pulling her hand to the side sharply, and bowing her head. Her kinsmen dropped their fists, completing what appeared to be a traditional greeting.