Chapter 2
"Ma'am," C3PO said as he called Leia's attention. Her intricately coiffed hair made it easy to spot her amid the sea of dignitaries and minor nobles from Alderaan-Naboo and its surrounding states.
"Yes, C3?" she acknowledged, as she turned away from her guests.
The butler gestured towards Ben and Rey, who were arm-in-arm beside him.
"Oh, Rey, I've wondered where you've been. I was just about to—"
Ben cleared his throat to divert his mother's attention. It was not unusual for her to miss him entirely at two paces distance downwind, being that he had almost a foot-and-a-half on her in terms of height, making her sightline fall squarely at the bottom of his sternum.
"Ben!" Leia said in shocked recognition, quickly moving to the tips of her toes to embrace and kiss her son. "What a surprise!"
They'd come a long way from not really speaking to this more affectionate relationship. Ben's time away had given him a new perspective on his parents, especially his mother, the erstwhile Princess Royal turned Foreign Minister. He had learned about all her sacrifices, including her willingness to go into exile for him and his father to be able to lead a life of relative normalcy, away from the pressures of public life. It hadn't come easily, but they'd been working on their relationship for the past several years and he was glad that they were now able to carry on comfortably like this.
"Hello, Mother," he replied as he bent himself almost in half to return the gesture.
His uncle Luke, who was his mother's twin and the reigning monarch of Alderaan-Naboo (and incidentally his boss too, for want of a better term), had ordered him to work with his mother as a special attaché to the Diplomatic Corps. Luke told him that he already had enough years to finally work out his aggressions in the Royal Armed Forces, and that he now had to learn how to sue for peace. And who better to learn from, Luke said with a fond chuckle, than Leia, whose political savvy kept the High Council from outrightly stripping her of her titles after her scandalous (i.e. politically unsanctioned) marriage.
Leia patted Ben's cheek before turning back to Rey. It was difficult to keep his mother away from her intended target for too long.
"I've had to send C3 to find you, dear," she lightly admonished, laying the same hand that touched his cheek on the younger woman.
"Oh, he found us alright," Ben insinuated, as Rey blushed under Leia's subtle chiding.
Leia glared at him in a silent bid to make him behave but Ben just playfully shrugged her off. He and Rey had an audience to play to and revenge to exact, so no amount of discipline will stop him from doing exactly the opposite.
"Anyway, now that you're both here, I'd like you to meet Deputy Foreign Minister Poe Dameron and his fiancée, Miss Bazine Netal," she said, by way of introduction.
"We've met, Poe and I," Ben said, while not so subtly squeezing the man's offered hand, after finally having uncovered the identity of Rey's ex. He wasn't at all surprised that the power-hungry bastard had the temerity to do what he did to Rey. Ben did not have a very high esteem for the ex-fighter pilot turned career politician either, having crossed paths once too often during their military careers. Ben had to give it to the other Alpha though. Aside from a passing glance of recognition, his poker face didn't falter one bit when his eyes had landed on Rey.
"And I think Miss Netal and I are acquainted through Rey," Ben continued, as he smiled and lifted Rey's hand to his lips instead of extending a hand to Bazine. The other woman had been effectively left hanging, having begun to offer hers to him.
Leia, who had not missed her son's subtle but vicious rebuff, smoothly jumped in, "Oh, then I trust that you know Poe's parents: Admiral Kes Dameron and Commander Shara Bey."
"Of course," Ben said as he shook both of their hands. He was rather friendly with the now retired Admiral after learning that he was an avid fan of his father's legendary racing career.
"Your Royal Highness," the elder couple greeted him in unison.
"Please, none of that, Admiral, Commander," Ben smiled at his mother's friends. "You know I'm not one to stand on ceremony, especially when I'm the one crashing the party," he said, doing away with people having to formally address him. It was a pet peeve of his, but unfortunately, his uncle naming him as heir had made it an annoyingly regular part of his life.
"But I'd like you to meet Miss Andromeda Regina Huxley, a very dear friend of mine," he added, as he ushered Rey forward.
Shara nodded at her with a smile, while Kes shook her hand, even as he teased Ben, "I never thought I'd see the day, young man, when you have finally gotten a lovely lady on your arm. Wherever have you been hiding her?"
"Just out back," Ben answered dryly.
Rey blithely smacked his chest as good-natured laughter erupted from Kes, Shara and Leia. Poe managed a polite smile that didn't reach his eyes. Bazine, however, just gave Ben a look that would've killed him if it could.
"No, seriously, Sir. Her family owns Huxley Motors, and not only does she have the keys to the garage, she actually designs the cars," Ben bragged, recalling the little things he'd picked up about her from his mother, a few news reports, and, more than a couple of Holonet searches over the years.
"No way?!" Kes asked, with his eyes almost bulging out of his head. "You mean the Huxley Motors with the F1-rated facility just on the other side of this house?"
Ben nodded, even as Rey huffed beside him.
"Oh, Ben," she quailed.
"What?" Ben chided in mock affront. "You're being entirely too modest, Rey. Besides, the Admiral here is a fan of your cars. He's been collecting Huxleys for decades! Isn't that right, Sir?"
The gentleman nodded. "I must confess that while I own a few of your classics, I find myself enjoying your newer lines more and more. Those TIE-series Silencers handle like a dream. Putting those vortex generators in them was genius," he said, making Rey blush yet again. It had been her idea to bring over the technology from their F1 cars into their production models.
"Oh, here we go!" Shara jokingly complained, knowing that once her husband started to talk shop, it could last until well into the morning.
"We'll leave you to it, Father," Poe said, capitalizing on the opportunity to leave. "Lots of other guests to greet."
"Fine, fine, off you go," Kes said as he lightly slapped his son's shoulder. He knew that he bored his progeny to death with his talk of cars and he hadn't really found any common ground with his soon-to-be daughter-in-law (and not for want of trying).
Poe subtly bowed to Ben, which Ben acknowledged with his own equally surreptitious nod. While there was a certain animosity he'd held towards the man, Ben had to keep up appearances as Dameron worked directly under his mother. He wondered though if Rey had caught Bazine's face. The lady was not happy.
"Why don't we get you that bottle of pinot gris you've been asking about, Shara?" Leia asked, effectively excusing her and her friend from the oncoming conversation.
"Sure," the woman answered excitedly. "I won't say no to that."
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They had chatted with the Admiral about a great many things and Ben was glad that the older gentleman had successfully drawn Rey into the conversation. She'd been happy to speak to the Admiral about her latest projects, and had even enthusiastically agreed to tour the old man around Huxley Motors' testing facility. But it wasn't long before she had suddenly turned glum, so much so that he'd needed to steal her away for a dance, if only to provide some cover for her lack of attention.
"We would be honored, Sir, but I think this is one of our songs," Ben said, answering the admiral's invitation to dinner even as he excused both he and Rey from the gentleman's company.
"Oh, do go ahead, Ben. I have to spare your mother from my wife's love affair with wine anyway," Kes flippantly replied, as he similarly made his excuses. His wife being somewhat of an amateur sommelier was a fact that was known to all their friends.
As he had made his way back to his wife and the Princess, he couldn't help but smile. He had been delighted to see the Crown Prince's interactions with Rey. He had been worried about the young man adopting his uncle's celibate rule, especially when Ben had not really shown any interest in finding a mate all these years. While King Luke had done his level best to keep Alderaan-Naboo on an even keel, the Admiral believed that his country needed the rule of a truly bonded couple who could sire a number of strong and healthy pups to secure its posterity and bring it into the greatness it deserved.
The Prince's singular regard for the woman in his arms was an encouraging development, and it looked like he wasn't alone in his thinking, as he saw many eyes turn with interest towards the strikingly handsome couple.
Ben, however, had been too worried about Rey to notice the crowd's growing fascination.
"Any reason why you turned gloomy when Kes insisted that we stay for dinner?" he asked, as he led her to move in time with the music.
"It's just been… this has just been surreal, is all," she admitted. "You do realize that it took you to introduce me to Poe's parents, right? We were together almost a year, and tonight's the first time I've met them. And hearing that they've known Bazine all along…"
Ben drew her closer to him. "I'm so sorry," he said. It hadn't even registered with him until then.
"Don't be," she answered as she swayed with him. "I was the bloody idiot. At least, I could probably wrangle a business deal out of it," she added with a small smile, recalling how ecstatic Admiral Kes had been once he'd found out that Huxley Motors was thinking of expanding its operations.
"Are you sure you would be okay to stay throughout dinner?" Ben asked as he twirled her around.
"As long as I get your dessert," she replied with a smirk once she was squarely back in his arms.
xxxxXXXXxxxx
Ben had wanted an audience and it didn't take long until he had all eyes on him — not that he cared, really. He was the highest ranking Alpha in attendance, and naturally, he had command of the room, even if he was essentially crashing the party. But Rey had had enough of the drama, so during dinner, he had eschewed his seat at the head table in deference to her, and they had instead situated themselves at one of the sparsely occupied tables in the back row.
Rey, on her part, had wanted to lay low and eat in peace, but it was plain to see that Ben had begun to attract attention. As it is with his mother's more casual soirees, guests tended to circulate and it wasn't long before their table had filled up with a few more of his well-wishers and a number of whom Ben had introduced either as government officials or landed gentry from Alderaan-Naboo.
Instead of being buggered by it, however, she welcomed the opportunity to observe him, especially since he wasn't overly preoccupied by dancing attendance upon her. She was silently amused by the sheer contrast between old Ben and this Ben, who was uncharacteristically adept at small talk. She had been the one who had steered him through these kinds of things when they were younger, especially when their parents had dragged them into the more formal functions he had dreaded like the plague. Now, he had apparently grown into the skill, and was even quite clever at it, even if a subtle glint of annoyance would escape him every once in a while.
She would distract him then, by transferring a slice of her roasted beetroot into his plate, which he would quickly devour with a piece of steak. When she was herself drawn into conversation, he'd slip a piece of horseradish into hers without missing a beat. She was secretly pleased that he remembered their silly game. They would play it all the time when they were younger, especially when both their parents had been strict about eating their vegetables. They had solved that problem by offloading the ones they didn't like onto the other's plate and seeing as they complemented each other so well in their preferences, they had done it ever since.
Dessert, however, had been another matter entirely since Ben was known to prefer this part of the meal over everything else, so much so that his parents had taken to squirreling away double servings just for him. This time, however, he'd given her his portion in keeping with her request, even if it was chocolate — his favorite. But the chocolate-chipotle cake had been so good, she hadn't even thought about it when she scooped up a portion and told him to taste. And he didn't even blink when he accepted her treat-laden spoon into his mouth. It wasn't until after that she realized that they had an audience, but when she quietly looked around their table, it was as though she hadn't just committed a terribly impolite faux pas, so she gladly went on as if nothing happened.
But Rey could not have been more wrong.
The people of Alderaan-Naboo have so largely come to accept the possibility of the Prince following his uncle's ascetic example, that to see him positively dote on a woman in public had been a veritable shock to their systems. To witness them dance was one thing, but to see them eat off each other's plates had all but confirmed the wild speculations that had been spreading since earlier that evening.
And to Bazine's ever eternal consternation, the society papers of that weekend had hit the stands with news, not of her engagement, but of the Crown Prince's rumored mate and the prospect of Alderaan-Naboo's first Royal Wedding in more than half a century!
I love it when everybody stans Reylo, but this is going to be a slow-ish burn... Thanks again for reading! Comments/reviews/faves/follows are always welcome! XOXO