So I kinda updated my Rydaal Royalty AU...
Sara made a beeline to the training grounds as soon as Alec dismissed her, whipping off her jacket and shirt until she only in her pants and thin tank top.
She really needed to hit something.
It wasn’t in anger, not truly. She couldn’t be angry with Jaal—only the abstract idea of him because she didn’t really know who he was—after her father broke the news to her. Jaal likely didn’t want to be a part of this either and it wasn’t his fault.
It didn’t matter.
She was getting almost certainly going to be married to him, an angara of royal blood. Unlike her, Jaal wasn’t the heir to the throne of his respective kingdom. According to Alec and the file he had on the angara prince, Jaal was the third-born child and, therefore, third in line to the throne.
Jaal was older than her, the equivalent of 27 years to 22 of hers. There was some consolation to be had there. At least he wasn’t twice or three times her age or something outrageous for an angara who would likely live to be as long as she would.
Sara twirled an omniblade in her hand, easy as breathing.
From a young age, Alec demanded that his children be skilled in combat, along with book-learning and being a ruler. They had their bodyguards whenever they left the palace, sure, but it wasn’t satisfactory for the king.
“You need to know how to defend yourselves,” Alec had said.
Sure, it served her when smugglers and pirates tried poking holes into her. They landed their hits, but it was rare.
But now it would serve her in another way.
The angara were a warrior race, above all. They had to be, after centuries of skirmishes with the Nexus races and now this decades-long war with the kett. It made them suspicious of outsiders, clinging to those who looked like them. Outside of relatively few cases, they interacted with Nexus out of necessity, nothing more.
Sara couldn’t blame them.
But now, that was changing.
Not only was the Prince coming, but he was bringing various representatives from Heleus to strengthen and renegotiate military and economic ties.
It wasn’t just about the engagement and wedding. But a lot of it was about this unconventional event. It would serve as a distraction for the average citizen to ogle and gossip about while leaders and politicians haggled and bartered behind closed doors.
Who cares about a potential economy-altering deal when there’s Sara’s dress to be whispered about?
Her omniblade tore out some of the stuffing, making the soft stuff smoke and burn.
Sara supposed this training would make her pleasing to her likely-future husband.
The thought of it made her feel a bit ill. They hadn’t even met yet, the engagement not even finalized, and it felt like she was waiting at the gallows.
She jumped into this without really thinking.
Lunge forward, stab, twist.
Time seemed to blur, as she made mincemeat of the target dummies. Sweat beaded at her temples and dampened her shirt.
When something large moved into her periphery, she jumped, whipping towards the source of the movement with a gasp.
Drack held up his hands in a sarcastically placating gesture, bowing in mocking supplication. It was more for her benefit than his. It wasn’t like she could really do anything to him.
Sure, an omniblade to the gut would hurt just about anyone, but Drack would easily shrug it off and knock her flat on her ass.
“Something’s got you pissed off, kid,” Drack grumbled.
Sara huffed and turned back to her unmoving victim. She liked Drack. He treated her like a normal person, if not with a slight bit more respect. It was refreshing.
“Did you hear?” Sara asked.
It was probably hours since she talked to Alec. After that, there was no reason why this engagement would remain hidden.
This union would be milked for all its worth to drum up morale and feelings of camaraderie between the two planets. The word would be put out as soon as possible and not even the malcontents in the Citadel would dare come out too loudly against it.
She could only imagine the amount of emails she was going to return to.
Drack leaned up against the nearby wall and crossed his arms. “About that angara prince that’s coming in a couple days? Yeah.”
Sara’s lip curled. “My fiancé, Prince Jaal Ama Darav.”
No, she wasn’t angry with him. She just needed to keep reminding herself of that fact.
“That’s if he actually proposes,” Drack huffed.
“If he does, I will accept. For the good of our peoples.”
She glanced over at Drack, who grunted disbelievingly.
It wasn’t like he had much faith in this sort of thing. After the genophage millennia ago, the objectively tyrannical and self-destructive krogan government dissolved as the birthrate was reduced to almost nothing, breaking up into municipalities absorbed by the human, turian, asari, and salarian kingdoms.
The genophage had been a disgusting thing, an ugly stain in the history books. Something that Heleus politicians liked to throw in the Nexus’s face whenever it came to making treaties and agreements.
‘Look at how you treat your own people. Why should we deal with you?’
Perhaps this marriage would help the Nexus’s image.
“I suppose you’re doing a brave thing,” Drack relented, “Damn foolish, in my opinion, but brave. I don’t trust those Heleus types.”
“Why?”
Drack grunted. “They’re cagey and isolated. That makes them dangerous.”
Sara shot back, “Like you?”
That drew a chuckle out of the krogan.
“Yeah, a bit. At least you probably ticked off a bunch of idiots at the Citadel with this. Makes it worth it in my book.”
Drack hauled up a fresh dummy for her to dismember and she murmured her thanks.
Lunge forward, stab, twist.
“Have you ever been to Heleus?” Sara asked. The exertion was getting her, raising her heartrate, making it a little harder to talk.
Drack nodded.
“Yeah, on a few—ahem—less-than-legal supply runs back in the day. Lots of fun critters to kill. Angara also make some damn good weapons.”
Okay, not exactly what Sara wanted to hear if someone was going to sell a trip to Heleus.
“Nice scenery?” she suggested.
“I wasn’t looking. But yeah. Nature, ruins, all that shit. I’m sure Your Braininess will love it.”
She smirked at the nickname.
“Thanks for stellar review of Heleus, Drack.”
“No problem, kid.”
Yeah, she really liked Drack. She was glad he was in Hyperion. He was more than happy to come with her when she went on Prothean digs.
To make sure some asshole assassin doesn’t get any ideas, was his official excuse.
But, she knew it was out of friendship. And Alec wasn’t going to protest to the idea of an experienced krogan warrior like Drack ‘looking after her’.
Clan Nakmor didn’t particularly like the idea of one of their own kowtowing to the human crown. But Drack didn’t give a shit.
“I wonder if I’ll be able to go on digs after I’m married.”
“Maybe, kid. And maybe you’ll get to dig some holes in Heleus. Find some nice shiny things that you’ve never seen before.”
He stopped and winked conspiratorially.
“And we can sneak you out if we have to,” Drack continued.
That was one way to think about it.
“I like the sound of that,” Sara murmured.
Despite the tempting possibility of new discovery, she still didn’t like the idea of her ability to study Prothean sites being in jeopardy. It was less her hobby and more like her life.
Dammit, stabbing things wasn’t enough. Maybe she would need to take a trip to the shooting range and put some bullets in things.
She could challenge Drack into a contest that she would definitely lose.
“Sara!” a shout echoed through the space.
Sara sheathed her omniblade at the sound of her brother’s voice. Before she knew it, Scott was in her arms, hugging her. Almost crushing her, in fact.
“Ah, Drack, do you mind?” Sara gasped.
The krogan didn’t protest.
“I’ll leave you, Your Highnesses.”
Drack nodded and retreated. As soon as he was gone, Scott pulled away and looked her up and down, like he was expecting her to be wounded.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said.
Yeah, he received word. And he didn’t take it well, if the hard line in his brow told Sara anything. What a surprise.
“Trust me, neither can I. But, if you think about it, it makes sense.”
Scott shook his head vehemently.
“No. No, no, don’t you go defend this. Don’t defend our father’s asinine schemes.”
Oh, boy. Here we go.
Alec never really treated them like a father ought to treat his children, even less so after their mother died, and both of them resented him to some degree. Of the two of them, Sara had the better relationship with Alec. It wasn’t by much.
Whether it was because she was the elder, because she was heir, or just because Scott was the more rebellious and blustery of the two of them, she didn’t know. All she knew was that Scott and Alec’s relationship was strained, and that was putting it in the best of terms.
“But it does make sense,” Sara sighed, “The asari have refused and I’m the only one in this family who can have children with Jaal.”
Scott sneered, “Jaal? Already calling him by his first name?”
Sara bristled.
Fucking hell, Scott seemed to be angrier about this than she was and he wasn’t the one being married off.
“Don’t be childish. The angara have been suffering since before we were born. This marriage could help them, maybe help end this war.”
An arranged marriage to a man she didn’t know, a member of a species that wasn’t her own. A union to bridge two planets in something deeper than a military treaty or trade negotiation.
Something bigger than simply a husband and wife.
It was terrifying.
Scott sighed, “Come on, let’s get out of the sun. You’re sweating like crazy.”
He punctuated the comment with an offer of his elbow.
The sudden change in mood should’ve given her whiplash, but she knew her brother and she knew this conversation wasn’t over. Scott was reining in his anger so there wasn’t a public shouting match.
They would continue this in private. And then start shouting at each other.
“It’s called exercise,” Sara said primly, taking his arm and letting him lead her back inside.
There were more whispers as they walked than usual. Still the respectful bows and nods. They were still prince and princess regardless the gossip.
Anticipation of visitors and an arranged marriage would definitely be major sources of gossip.
She glanced over at Scott as they walked.
His clothing—combat boots, t-shirt, cargo pants—told her he had just been hanging around the barracks. Scott found his niche, his place in the world, in the military. And he was good at it, probably one of the best human soldiers in Nexus.
Sara worried about him, of course. But he had friends to watch his back. And Sara wasn’t bad with a knife and a gun. She had plenty of scraps with pirates and smugglers who tried infiltrating her digs. So, she’d be able to run to her brother’s rescue if need be.
Scott nudged her when they got close to her quarters.
“You shower and stuff. I’ll get some food made for us.”
Sara didn’t want to think about what kind of fuss her brother’s presence in the kitchen would cause. It would be mostly because the prince just waltzed in asking for something and probably throwing everyone off of schedule.
“Alright, Scott. See you in a bit.”
Sara shut the door behind her and leaned against it.
Shit. Well, this was happening. Scott was going to hound her about this until he gave his piece on why he thought this was a terrible idea.
He was always stubborn, hell, it was a family trait. The word could be emblazoned on the fucking family crest. House Ryder: Stubborn and Impulsive.
She would only delay the inevitable by telling him to go away.
The only consolation was that he was going to provide food while he railed on and on about the injustices that their king-father was putting them through.
Hooray.
Sara stripped with tired hands, shuffling to her bathroom. She was sweaty and sticky, Scott was right about that. Totally princess-like.
The blast of hot water relaxed her tense muscles. She would boil herself in the water if she could. Just dissolve and disappear.
No, no, bad thoughts. She was doing something in service of her people. She couldn’t be so selfish and run.
She washed her hair, scrubbing suds into brown locks with more force than probably necessary. Her nails scratched at her scalp, a bad habit that stuck since she was a child.
And it hurt when she did it, soreness curling around her knuckles. She must have been holding her omniblade too tightly. Out of anger for a situation she had no control over. She had a feeling she would see a lot of the training grounds between then and when Jaal arrived.
Let off steam and let the world pass her by as her inevitable fate got closer and closer.
Languid hands cleaned the rest of her body, not rushed. She imagined she could take her time. Scott would need some time to arrange whatever food he was planning on bringing.
The bathroom was full of steam and her skin was blushed from the heat by the time she turned off the water.
More time drying off and putting on some pajamas.
It was a stark, unpleasant realization that soon her privacy was going to be a rare thing.
She would likely have to share quarters with her new husband. When he was visiting, before the wedding, he would likely stay in the guest rooms. But, still.
She supposed her quarters were big enough for two. Enough living space, enough closet space, a big enough bathroom. The bed was certainly big enough for two.
Oh, no, she shouldn’t think about that sort of thing.
Marriage leads to sex which leads to babies. That was how it worked.
With a sigh, she flopped on her bed.
Yeah, this was going to suck. Her life wasn’t hers. Not that it was anything new.
“Yo, sis!” Scott shouted, thumping at the door, shaking Sara out of her reverie.
“Let yourself in,” Sara called back, unwilling to get up from where she lay on her bed.
She glanced over at the sound of the door opening. Scott had changed from fatigues to loose pants and shirt. And he was carrying…
She was expecting two plates of actual food. Instead, Scott had a tray with two bottles of wine and a large plate of little cakes.
“Come on, time to eat and drink our feelings.”
He toed off his shoes and sat on her bed next to her, setting the tray between them
“Our feelings?” Sara asked.
“Hey, I have feelings too. Besides, I’ve been hoarding these bottles for a special occasion. And what better occasion than learning my twin sister is being married off to a random dude from another planet?”
Sara bit back a comment as he uncorked the first bottle and poured two glasses.
She took a sip—damn, it was really good wine—and crammed one of the cakes in her mouth to delay the inevitable conversation with Scott.
This was nice, the two of them sitting on her bed, sharing wine and cake like they were children having a picnic.
“It might not be so bad.”
Scott glanced over incredulously at the statement.
She took a gulp of wine and shrugged.
“He might be so busy with his own business that he will leave me alone entirely except for when we need to be together for…procreation,” she suggested.
Scott made a disgusted noise at that.
“I really don’t want to think about you having sex, thank you very much.”
She glanced over at Scott.
“Like the three or six times I’ve walked into you having sex?”
He reddened.
“Point.”
Silence fell again.
Sara’s thoughts still swirled.
She never held any serious illusions that she would get to marry someone of her choosing. She had her flings here and there before this, carefully chosen so she didn’t cause a scandal by choosing a gossipy partner.
She blinked, telling herself that something was in her eye. She wasn’t crying. She couldn’t cry.
This was an honor. Marriages between Nexus and Heleus peoples were few and far between, but usually happy in their small numbers.
“I don’t know a lot about the angara. I wish I had at least visited Heleus once before this.”
Scott shrugged. “Heleus has their anti-Nexus groups. The Roekaar is the biggest one. I don’t think Dad would’ve let us go for a flimsy reason.”
Sara tried not to let fear knot up her stomach.
She hadn’t really taken into account how unpopular this marriage would be in some groups. The conservative politicians, isolationists and species purists on both Nexus and Heleus would not be happy about this at all.
Of course, Alec did not and never had given a damn about the opinions who were resistant to progress. So, it was clear he didn’t take those possible opinions into account before agreeing to Queen Sahuna’s offer.
Sara forced some humor into her voice. “I bet the Roekaar all had a collective stroke at the news of the marriage.”
Scott snickered, topping off his glass.
“A politically-sanctioned marriage between a human and an angara? Oh, I bet they’re burning effigies of you and Prince Jaal as we speak. Ugly ones.”
It was meant to be a joke, but the mirth of it all evaporated very quickly. Scott opened the second bottle in silence.
“Dad wouldn’t have approved of this if I was in danger, like if Jaal was a member of the Roekaar or something,” she murmured, “You know that.”
Sara knew she had a point there and Scott knew it too. For all his faults, Alec would never directly cause his children harm.
“It’s still bullshit,” Scott said into his glass. To her relief, he sounded a bit more resigned. At least he wasn’t spitting venom about Alec anymore.
“How could Dad do this to you?”
Oops, spoke too soon.
“He’s a leader first, Scott,” Sara mused. “It’s not like this a brand-new side of him. It’s for the good of the people.”
That was what she kept reminding herself.
For the good of the people. That was what mattered.
“You’re not suited for martyrdom, Sara. Just saying.”
“I don’t plan on being a martyr.”
“Does anyone? No, don’t answer that. I’m sure you have an example in that nerd brain of yours and I don’t want to hear it.”
She rolled her eyes. She really didn’t have an example on-hand and was too close to getting buzzed for wracking her brain to find one.
They finished the bottle—Scott taking the lion’s share as usual—and the cakes in relative silence until Scott broke it with another quip.
“If this Jaal hates you, it certainly won’t be because you’re ugly.”
Sara rolled her eyes at that, really wishing she had saved another cake just to cram in his face.
Sure, she wasn’t unattractive. She was sun-kissed and freckled, wiry from training and digging. And in preparation for events that required Sara actually sit down with her attendants to work their magic with makeup and hair and clothes, she could even be beautiful.
But being attractive to humans wasn’t the same as being attractive to angara. She was almost sure of it, at least.
“Yep, I’m a catch,” Sara deadpanned.
“A heartthrob,” Scott drawled. “And, who knows? Maybe you just bagged yourself a fucking dreamboat and he’s everything a princess could ever desire.”
“Wow, somebody is suddenly keen to this idea.”
“I’m a little drunk, sis. I’m sure once I’m sober I’ll take it all back.”
Sara sighed, resigned. She really hoped he wasn’t serious. If there was one person she wanted to have on her team, it was Scott.
