THE HUNT

Six

The table we're at is heaped with food. I stare at my plate, hands tucked under my thighs as I stare at the food piled on top of it. The men— who I've discovered go by the Knights of Ren, are laughing again, and I've even seen Kylo Ren hiding a smile several times behind a tin of what I assume is alcohol. The room reeks of it.

He almost seems as if he's enjoying himself.

He almost seems human.

I hate it.

Almost as if he can hear my thoughts, which is probably true, he glances over to me.

"Eat." He says. His voice isn't cruel, but my stomach still curdles. "Would you rather I shove rotten bread down your throat?" He asks, raising a brow. The memory of that humiliation, of the nausea which overtook me each time I was forced to swallow, flickers in my mind.

Knowing that he's seen it in my thoughts only adds to my mortification.

"Ren, why not let her starve?" The one sitting next to me, who I heard be called Vicrul, shakes his head. "Why keep her at all?"

Kylo Ren sighs, placing his cup down.

"She's talented," He shrugs with one shoulder. "I can't deny that."

"Yeah, and she hates you." Cardo replies. "The second she gets the chance, she'll try to kill you."

"And you think she could?" He leans back in his chair, kicking his feet on top of the table. He looks at me again, waving his hand. "Eat, Hunter."

My hands lift from underneath me, picking up the utensils.

"Handy trick." Another one of the knights, one by the name of Ap'lek says as he refills his plate. "You use that on Hux?"

Kylo Ren laughs.

Laughs.

"No, I enjoy watching him squirm all on his own." He says, picking the mug back up and taking a long sip.

Part of my wonders if he's drunk.

Worries if he's drunk.

If he is, what will happen to me?

He puts the cup down, pushing it across the table. Immediately, It's taken by Ushar, who finishes it in one gulp. He slams it down on the table, then throws his head back against the back of his chair with a loud laugh. Ren glances at me, almost as if he heard my concern. Again, the frightening thought and feeling of violation fills me with unease.

When he took that shard of my mind, did he also take the privacy of my thoughts? Does he listen to me?

"Only when I want to."

I choke on my food, and the table silences. I look at him with wide eyes, and the corner of his mouth twitches upwards.

"Is she-" One of the knights, Kuruk, frowns. Ren cuts him off, waving his hand.

"She's fine." He doesn't break eye contact with me. "Continue enjoying yourselves."

They take the order gleefully, and I stare at my plate, terrified.

"Don't be afraid, Hunter." He says, deep voice curling around the inside of my skull, as if he were speaking to me aloud. "I'm no pervert." I hide a scoff, only because I know the knights still have their attention on me.

You're a monster.

"Maybe." He sits back in his chair. "But not so cruel as to deprive you of your humanity."

You've already done that.

"Have I?"

Yes.

He has.

Hasn't he?

Get out of my head.

"You're not in the position to be making demands, Hunter." He tells me. Still, I feel him pull away.

Just as the doors hiss open.

For the second time today, the red-haired general, Hux, marches into the room. The same sneer is etched across his face, and his hands are folded behind his back. Kylo Ren groans quietly, surprising me.

The laughter ceases, an air of formality replacing the previous environment of hilarity and carelessness.

"General." Ren stands, bracing his hands on the table. "I don't remember inviting you to my table."

The general scoffs.

"Please, I wouldn't be caught as a corpse eating at this table with your brutes."

"The corpse bit could be arranged." The knight next to me mutters. Vicrul, the one who wondered why Ren didn't kill me. The general blanches, but keeps his composure.

    "I've come to inform you that we lost the ships we were pursuing."

    He presses his lips together as Ren grips the table so hard that the metal creaks and crumples under his touch.

    He's strong.

    My mind flickers back to each time he's laid his hands on me.

To the times when he's hurt me.

He could have killed me.

"You lost them?" Ren asks, voice dangerously low. "Not even three hours ago you said they would not escape."

I try to remember the details of the meeting, but I can't.

"Yes, well they did."

Ren grabs his own plate, throwing it against the wall with a roar. I flinch, and so does the general.

The knights don't even look up from their food.

"You," He sticks a finger at Hux. "Are incompetent." The general's face twists angrily.

"And what exactly have you been doing, Supreme Leader?" He hisses. Then his fingers curl towards me. "Finding new toys? We don't have time for your dalliances, Ren!" I suck in a breath as Kylo Ren throws his hand out towards where his cloak is slung over the top of his chair. From inside, the hilt he had in my 'room' flies into his hand. I suck in a sharp breath as it extends into a red glow, concentrated to look like a blade with two smaller bursts of energy sprouting just above his hand. It must be hot. I can hear it popping and cracking from here.

"Be careful, Hux." He warns, pointing the weapon at him.

"Oh please," The general steps up to the blade daringly. "If you were going to kill me, you already would have." He curls his lip. "I'm the only one who gets anything done around here, and you know it."

I decide that I like this general.

He's doing what Ren physically won't let me.

Defiance.

"Careful, Hux." Ren warns. "You're only alive now because of the inconvenience your death would cause me." He turns off the weapon. "Go, before I change my mind on what does and does not benefit the First Order." The general scrambles away and out of the room. Ren marches over to me, grabbing my throat and lifting me into the air. I gasp sharply in surprise, but no air enters my lungs. A rough, gravelly cough pulls itself from my throat. He sneers, face inches from mine. "Mind your thoughts, scum." He growls. "Don't mistake his stupidity for bravery."