Alternate universe: California and US doesn't exist; the western half of the continent a conquered land called Antioch. Supernatural creatures roam and rule under the royal Hale family. Slow burn Sterek and various other pairings tbd; I have to see how characters mesh.
Triggers – Probably gonna be a lot of them, so suck it up or don't read it. Slashhh xoxo
And We'll Never Be Royals...
Chapter 1: Tribute to the Hales
Kingdom of Antioch, Beacon Palace; 1577.
The joint kingdoms of Antioch had a long history of immense tragedies. Each territory ruled by different races and species, great wars waged between all of them for as long as time; now locked into an uneasy truce under the branching rule of the royal family. In 1551, Talia Hale's father had established peace by going to war against a common threat; uniting six kingdoms against two larger ones to save them all from being conquered. He had died in this quest, naming his daughter the Queen in his stead. Queen Talia Hale took a husband, King Dietrich Hale, to help her rule and manage the responsibilities; beginning their family with the birth of Laura, and Derek a year later.
King Hale was a magnificent and benevolent leader, all the kingdoms following him loyally; the magical humans of Avenal, werewolves of Escalon and Florin, shifters of Visalia, even the humans of Madera. Derek had no memories of this time, or of his father at all really; he died abruptly when he was six, on the morning of May 27th, 1560.
No one spoke of this, especially of how suddenly he became ill for fear of his mother hearing it; who would immediately collapse, overcome with grief. Derek began a romance of sorts with his mother's personal servant, a human girl named Paige; it was from her he heard about the funeral he couldn't remember, the people of the kingdom walking behind the procession down the streets. She described the banners they held, how his father's casket was held aloft as it was carried; his solemn and composed mother leading the procession with Laura and Derek on either side, her younger brother Peter trailing after them. Derek remembered none of this.
Queen Talia had been unknowingly pregnant with Cora when he died and despite the whispers of the people she never remarried. She grew weary keeping the peace between the kingdoms by herself, as his father had once done so effortlessly, relying more and more on Peter for support. The werewolf kingdoms were always making trouble for the humans, and the magical humans seemed to have withdrawn their support and it was always something. Queen Talia could not fill her husband's shoes, her father's shoes, she could not bear the weight of Antioch alone. On the eve of January 12, 1569; she fell ill and slipped off into a deep sleep none could wake her from.
Peter became enraged at her sudden illness and erupted in a fury; murdering half of the staff and his mother's personal servant under the belief someone had poisoned her. He swore to take control of the kingdom and return it to the old ways, and he did more than that; proclaiming himself King, then Emperor as he pushed their territories further and claimed more land.
In 1573 the kingdoms fought back against his tyrannical rule. Escalon's ruler, Duke Warren Lahey led the rebellion, conspiring with both the Duke of Florin and Countess Jennifer Blake of Avenal. With three kingdoms united against him, Emperor Hale went on a rampage, massacring the people that rose up and murdering dozens of nobles. When his enemies lay dead at his feet Emperor Hale knew he must somehow unite the fractured kingdoms; demanding the recently widowed Duchess Cassandra Lahey of Escalon wed Duke John Stilinski of Avenal, uniting the rule over magical humans and werewolves. The rebellion didn't last a week.
Now it is the year 1577; and there is about to be another major upset. Three weeks ago, Derek's younger sister Cora turned 16, of legal marrying age according to Peter's archaic standards. Derek and his older sister Laura were now 23 and 24, but their mother had never forced them to look for mates or marriage unless they wanted to. Peter, however, felt very differently.
"I'm just saying, Derek; you have to think about it. You could be king one day if you mate like a good puppy, instead of me just picking one of the three of you at random."
Peter sat at the head of the table, chewing on a piece of steak, smiling calmly at his nephew. Derek and Cora sat to his right, Laura on his left; he suppressed a growl and tried to eat his dinner in peace. His uncle was always trying to pit him and his siblings against each other, to fight for his favor so one day they might rule, it wore on his patience.
"Speaking of mates, where is Kate this evening?" Cora snapped at Peter by his side, Derek smirked at the subtle narrowing of Peter's eyes. Right after his mother had gotten ill, Peter had scoured the kingdoms for an acceptable mate, not wanting his right to rule to be questioned. He'd dug up a reject Countess from the human kingdom of Madera, the daughter of a Duke that had somehow become a werejaguar. Her name was Kate Argent and she was the most frightening woman he'd ever seen, which somehow made sense when it came to Peter.
"She is indisposed this evening. Why, do you request an audience with her?" he raised an eyebrow and Cora sat back in her chair a bit; no one wanted alone time with Kate Argent. She shook her head, he smiled at her and cut off another piece of steak, turning his attention to Laura. "And you my dear," he patted her hand as he took a bite of steak, "Are you excited to meet your possible mates?"
Laura's hazel eyes mirrored Derek's own as she glanced up at her siblings across the table before giving her uncle a tight smile. "Yeah, should be interesting I guess." her voice lacked enthusiasm, she cleared her throat and tried to sound more interested. "Do we know who will be arriving?"
It must have worked because his eyes lit up and he dropped his fork in excitement. "Oh yes! I'd almost forgotten." he snapped his fingers over his shoulder and his personal assistant appeared, an angry, scruffy looking girl named Malia who tended to grunt more than speak. She handed him a folded up piece of parchment before ducking back behind the large back of his chair; Peter opened the paper with care, grinning fondly.
"I'm quite pleased with the selection, if I don't say so myself. We've gotten the cream of the crop, all nobles, all attractive and of desirable ages, all with acceptable personality and intelligence scores. And they're all sexually ambiguous so you each have pick of the litter."
As that even needed saying in today's day in age.
"Oh goody," Cora mumbled beside him, Derek nudged her sympathetically with his knee under the table. Peter grinned, tapping the list.
"This one I'm excited about. We've selected Duke Liam Dunbar of Florin, he's 16, the youngest duke in history."
Derek's stomach rolled at the pleased tone in his uncle's voice, he kept up with politics; he knew damn well the reason he became duke in the first place was because Peter had both of his parents executed for treason. He was sure the poor kid was going to be thrilled to hang out with them when he got here, but whatever, minor detail.
"Then we have the granddaughter of Duke Gerard Argent of Madera, Lady Allison Argent joining us.." Peter listed the tribute from the human kingdom, continuing on before Derek could stop him, "As well as Lady Kira Yukimura, who is the daughter of the Marquess of Visalia. Then, these two are good; we have the step-brothers, Lords Stiles Stilinski and Isaac Lahey, Earls of Avenal and Escalon."
"Allison Argent as in Kate Argent? Are they related?" Derek immediately asked when he finished, Peter sighed and folded the paper again with a bored expression.
"Yes, Derek, they are. She's her niece. I found a good match with an Argent, perhaps one of you will as well."
Derek's hands folded into fists, overwhelmed with fury at the thought of another version of Kate terrorizing the palace. Cora could smell his rage and rushed to change the subject before Derek accidentally wolfed out at the dinner table.
"What about those two brothers?" she asked quickly, "How can two brothers be earls in separate kingdoms?"
Peter smiled at her, pleased with her interest in anything remotely political. "That is a fantastic question, Cora." he praised her, tucking the list into the pocket on the inside of his jacket. "You see, during the rebellion, I killed Isaac's father. And then after the rebellion I had his mother marry Stiles' father. Worked out well, uniting druid and werewolf kingdoms under a condensed rule. So Isaac took his father's old title of Earl of Escalon while Stiles' dad absorbed the title of duke, and Stiles took his father's old title of Earl of Avenal."
It was almost disgusting how absent of emotion Peter was when describing his past atrocities, his blatant corruption and manipulation of the government. The smooth, dulcet tones of his voice were lilting and carefree, as if reading a children's story.
"That makes no sense." Cora informed him, Derek snorted.
"Do politics ever make sense?"
Peter shot him a look and Laura cleared her throat for his attention, her gaze focused on her glass. "So Peter, how old are these tributes?" she asked, not without a touch of trepidation.
Derek looked up in alarm, suddenly worried about the answer; the only age they'd gotten so far was that Liam was 16. Peter tapped a finger on the side of his plate in thought, looking upwards to remember.
"I believe Allison is 18, and Kira will be in a week or two. Both Isaac and Stiles are 17."
Derek groaned in frustration, no one was within five years of him. Laura looked similarly concerned by this news. "You couldn't find anyone older?"
Peter shot her a warning look and she pressed her lips together, her shoulders drawing closer to her body.
"No."
Derek looked down at his half-eaten steak as Cora inquired when they'd be arriving, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as Peter informed her they'd be here within the hour. He suddenly wasn't hungry. "May I be excused?" he ground out, doing his best to calm his heart-rate before his uncle or sisters heard it. Peter gave him a short nod and he bowed his head as he stood, turning from the table and all but dashing from the room.
He almost collided into a servant in the hall as he rushed towards the east wing, only his footsteps on the marble floors audible in the silence. Soon these halls would be crowded with tributes, invading his space and his life; god only knew when he'd have the chance to be by himself again. He scowled and increased his pace, hooking a right to head towards his private quarters. He'd picked the least populated section in the wing because he already had to share it with his sisters, along with all their servants and friends they entertained.
He groaned when he heard the soft pitter-patter of feet behind him as someone rushed to catch up with him, turning with a flash of his glowing blue eyes. Scott McCall skidded to a halt in front of him, brown eyes wide and mouth hanging open in surprise, he nearly collided into him.
"Woah, woah, sorry." his apology spilled out of his mouth as he waved his hands frantically, Derek relaxed his stance slightly to put him more at ease. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry. I just ah," he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing to the side as he spoke. "Peter told me to make sure you're around to greet the tributes. They should be here soon. Sir."
Derek growled, feeling a bit bad when the beta winced, ignoring him and concentrating on doing his best not to strike a wall. Scott annoyed him; he'd been assigned as his personal servant when he was 16 and he had wanted nothing less, the only thing he desired was solitude. They'd entered a sort of arrangement where Derek would force extended vacations on him or give him lengthy assignments in a part of the castle far away from him, but lately Peter had been making Scott bug him about all the mating crap and he couldn't get rid of him all over again. It wasn't the kid's fault, but Derek still really, really wanted to hit him sometimes.
"Yeah, fine. I'm going to take a shower." he told him, going to turn away and continue to his room when the nervous look on Scott's face stopped him. He knew damn well Derek wasn't going to hurry through his shower to do something he didn't want to do, and was most likely concerned about receiving the fallout from Peter. "If I'm late, tell Peter I said 'fuck your tributes'."
Scott's head shot up in surprise and almost cracked a smile at him, remembering he was speaking to the prince and sucking his cheeks in to keep a serious look on his face, bowing his head. "Of course sir. Fuck the tributes. Anything you'd like me to do while I wait for your arrival?"
Derek shrugged, glancing down the hallway behind him. "Just help the kids out with getting settled I guess. Half of them are probably going to be terrified of us, and the other half'll want to murder us." he raised his eyebrows at the boy and sighed, "So, you know. Don't let anyone kill each other."
Scott's eyes twinkled in amusement and he nodded. "Got it. I'll do my best."
Derek continued on his way and reached his room, closing it firmly and locking it. He relished the quiet and moved to the bar he'd gotten installed by the door, pouring himself a glass of whiskey and taking a sip. He kicked off his shoes and padded across the black carpet around the four-poster bed to his bathroom, flicking on the light. It was unnecessarily large, smooth black tiles spanning the floors and walls, small chandeliers hung from the gray ceiling emanating a soft glow. The bathtub was on the left wall, more of a hot-tub than a bathtub, Derek figured he could probably fit about four people semi-comfortably in it if he tried. There was a small stone fountain next to the sink with a large glass shower on the right, next to it was a door to a small room with a toilet.
He took another drink and put the drink on the little table next to the door, shutting it behind him and shucked off his clothes. He swung open the glass door of the shower and walked inside, turning on the water and fiddling with the dials for the right temperature, sighing with pleasure as the water warmed up and scorched his back. Steam filled the expansive stall and clouded his lungs, the heat making his head dizzy and the boiling water searing his skin. His mother used to be alarmed at how hot he liked his showers, worried he would seriously burn himself, but as a werewolf that was fairly difficult to do and she couldn't really stop him. He basked under the warm stream, enjoying the wave of vertigo before moving to the shelf holding the soaps, unwilling to do what he came to do and return to the real world.
When he finally emerged from the shower and plodded out of the bathroom toweling himself he was already annoyed, scowling at his bedroom door. He knew damn well he had locked it and it sat partially ajar, he stomped over to it and slammed it shut. An outfit had been carefully laid out on his bed for him so it could have only been Scott; a maroon v-neck shirt and black slacks positioned on the comforter, freshly polished black shoes near the bedside table. He wandered back into the bathroom to retrieve his drink and took a healthy swig of whiskey, frowning at the clothes; his scowl deepening as his ears picked up faint laughter echoing down the hallway from the crack beneath his bedroom door. He groaned and scrubbed the towel through his damp hair before tossing it on the floor behind him; the tributes had already arrived. And if they were this deep into the east wing they'd already been shown to their rooms, and he was much, much later than he anticipated. He set down his glass with a dull thud on his bedside table and snatched up his shirt, yanking it over his head.
This was not something he was looking forward to.
End Chapter 1.
Hit me up with feedback, thoughts or private requests. I got like 4 of these underway (and always willing to take on more!), so make sure you tell me which you'd like me to continue. Is it a contest? Maybe. xoxoQuinn