Chapter Text
Nico never wanted to be king. It should have been Hazel on the throne from day one; while he got married off to some brat barely out of their teens. He should have been making babies, not ruling the kingdom.
But nobody cares what he thinks, especially not the laws put in place that made him king.
So there he stood at the dais, addressing the crowd of barely royal Alphas, all desperately clawing their way up the ladder of power.
Fools, the lot of them.
If any one of them had bothered to read their invitations, they would have realised they were here entirely for breeding. Whoever Nico decided to marry would have no real say in the politics of Asphodel. They wouldn’t even be considered half of a ruler. Their children sure, but them? They would be nothing more than the man warming his bed at night.
He took a regretfully deep breath as he began the speech Hazel wrote for him. He hated how strong the stench in the room was, the ever constant reminder that Asphodel and Atlantus were the only countries that practiced regular and frequent bathing. And to think, they all wonder why the plague ravages their lands so harshly.
Dragging himself out of his thoughts, and back to the speech he couldn’t have bothered to write, he slowly picked through the crowd. His heart was in his throat as he desperately searched for people he could recognize, but only finding fresh faces and complete strangers. Well mostly at least, he had spotted his father, and his best friend. But no Alphas he actually knew the names of.
“I am so greatly pleased with how many of you, fine, alphas, came to attend my gala. As you all know, I am looking for a mate, somebody to love and have by my side on the throne until our child takes my place. Tonight, we shall meet, make acquaintances, and friendships; and hopefully, begin a courtship.”
Hazel had done a great job with the speech. He made a mental note as he stepped down from the dais, trying not to trip on his obnoxiously extravagant ball gown, to have Hazel help him more often when he needed to speak to the public. He knew he was fairly well known in his own country to be a terrible speaker, so it certainly couldn’t hurt to have his sister help him along more often. He scanned the dense crowd looking for Hazel, hoping to spend as much time with a familiar face as possible before being dragged off to dance with an overly friendly (and likely overly handsy) alpha.
Speaking of, a slimy little blond man had grabbed his hand and was pressing grossly wet kisses up his wrist. After an agonisingly long time, he stopped, although he didn’t relinquish his hold on Nico.
“It's so wonderful to finally make your acquaintance My Queen, my name is Siour Octavian Augustus,” he pressed another kiss to Nico’s hand, no doubt trying to stop Nico from struggling out of his grasp, “I am the Duke of Onage, of Skunt.”
Nico gave him a weak smile, finally prying his hand free, “It’s a, pleasure, Duke, certainly.”
“Won’t you allow me this dance my dearest? It would be such a treat on this fine evening,”
Nico laughed nervously, “Well I hate to sound rude, Siour Augustus, but I’ve promised my first dance tonight to my father.”
Nico hoped his excuse didn’t sound too feeble. He hoped it seemed true enough. He didn’t want to dance with some prick who called him the queen without a second thought, or thought it appropriate to grab someone’s arm in such a grip that it was near impossible to escape. Luckily the man only seemed mildly peeved at being brushed off so soon. And even more luckily, his father had appeared, as if summoned by his mention, to make the little lie a little more credible. Octavian slunk off, no doubt to antagonise some other poor omega who had bothered to show up to the Gala.
Nico turned to his father, standing on his toes to press a kiss to his cheek. Hades smiled warmly, taking Nico’s hand to lead him in a jaunty dance to the song the minstrels were playing. Dancing had always been a good way to hide what you were saying from prying eyes and ears.
“Keep away from that one, all he wants is to take your crown. And he’s willing to kill for it if the poison found on the vessel he arrived in has anything to say for itself.” Hades murmured as they danced.
“Oh don’t worry, that creep’s behaviour was enough to keep him away. Do the Alphas here know I'm the king? Do they think they’ll have political power if I marry them?”
His father snorted, shaking his head as he led Nico in a spin, “If they read past the first line of their invitations they would know. But I’m willing to wager the second they read Omega they were packed and on the first boats here”
Nico laughed quietly, the sound almost completely drowned out by the clattering of shoes on the marble floors.
He danced through three songs before bidding his father goodbye. Not without a few words to spoil the evening of course.
“Before you go Nico, you should know I’ve invited Prince Perseus here, to become your Atlantean advisor.”
“You what? Why in the name of the gods would you do that?” Nico nearly shouted, struggling to keep himself somewhat calm. Anywhere near calm really.
Hades just sighed, “Because you cant just abandon all relations with a country on our borders, and certainly not one with a much larger army than ours,”
“Did it have to be him?”
“He is unfortunately the first one King Poseidon offered up to us, and rejecting the kings own son as an advisor might not have gone well for us.”
Nico grit his teeth. Fine whatever. He could play niceies with his ex fiance. He was going to be mature and pleasant even. He was going to make sure the desk in Percy’s quarters was wobbly though.
“Very well. If you’ll excuse me father, I have Alphas to convince to like me,”
Hades laughed and waved him off, moving to make his own appearances. Nico noticed belatedly that a larger portion of the crowd than seemed necessary was actually political officials, largely women and omegas. He wandered almost aimlessly until a servant offered him a glass of wine from a tray. Surely this would help the sudden terror building in the pit of his stomach.
His future husband stood somewhere in this room. Likely someone he’d never met, many years his senior, who would end up hating him as much as Nico hated them right back. Such a lovely and pleasant future to behold. Nico tried not to jump as a blond man wearing Olympian royal colours appeared next to him, matching wine in hand.
“Hard to imagine the King himself hiding along the sidelines at his own ball,” the man remarked before taking a sip of his wine.
“Hard to imagine forgetting to introduce yourself to the King you’re trying to marry.”
The man snorted into his glass, “Apologies, your Grace, William son of Apollo,” he bowed lightly as he spoke.
“A pleasure to meet you William,” he decided not to think about why the second in line for Olympia’s throne was here.
Perhaps Will didn’t want to be king and the fastest way out without social disgrace is marrying into another crown. Yes he chose to believe that, there was no other reason Will might want to marry Nico. No plots on Nico’s life were in action here.
And then Nico found himself face to face with a giant of a man, also wearing Olympian colours, but that of a knight. The man bowed deeply to Nico, while Nico fought for his life to place where he knew this man from. He was so deeply familiar. As he straightened out Nico scanned his face, he bared a heavy resemblance to king Jupiter, but he wasn’t anywhere near the top of the wait list for the throne, he wasn’t nearly old enough to be. He gave Nico a dazzling smile, only marred by a small scar on his lip.
“A pleasure to meet you, your Highness, I am Jason Grace, Knight of Markara,”
Oh! Thalia’s little brother, one of King Jupiter’s bastards that the queen agreed to raise. Nico smiled warmly at him.
“I don’t suppose your presence means Thalia might have also come? I've been sending for her for quite some time,”
Jason laughed, “No, she said she’d rather not be in a room full of men trying to steal a throne,”
Nico shook his head, “And here i thought she’d find it amusing,”
“She did tell me to say hello on her behalf to you, and to pick a fight with Perseus if I happened to come across him, I don’t suppose you know why she wants that?” Jason shifted, eyes scanning the room for the aforementioned Alpha.
Will snorted into his glass, cheeks flushed. He seemed to be enjoying the wine.
He piped up, “Surely you can't be so far out of politics to have missed how he imploded the political marriage of a generation, Jason.”
Nico’s jaw clenched. He did not want to discuss this at all. He made his move to leave, a strained smile to them both.
“Please William, inform Jason of why Thalia wants to kill Perseus while I make my rounds,”
Will grinned, seemingly unaware of Nico’s discomfort. Nico swiftly left. The last thing he wanted to think about was Percy. Or anyone from Atlantia at this point. He wished he could just draw someones name out of a hat, let them get him pregnant and be done with it all. He didn’t really need a husband. He just needed an heir.
His father would never let him do that though.
Speaking of his father, he was swiftly approaching with another man in tow. Hopefully one here for politics and not to marry him. He looked older than his father.
“Nico! Son come meet Edwin, he’s from Olympia,” his father seemed far too amused for his own good. For Nico’s good.
“It is a pleasure to meet you sir,” Nico nodded to him, trying to hide his discomfort and distrust for his fathers antics.
Thankfully he was interrupted. Hazel had brought several young men over to meet Nico, who all looked frightening alike. What were they, quadruplets? They all bowed in unison too.
Oh. Oh! Hazel and father were fucking with him. They were seeing who could freak him out more. Someone 20 years older than father, or four brothers who spoke and moved in unison?
Nico wasn’t into the game they were playing. He escaped the moment he saw an opening. Of course the opening was Prince Perseus of Atlantia accidentally making eye contact with him. But hey, got him away from his scheming family members.
Percy didn’t look thrilled to have Nico suddenly stalking over to him. So at least the feeling was mutual.
“Nico, its uh, its good to see again. How have you been?” He choked out, seemingly at a loss for words.
“Fantastic, why did they send you?”
“Oh come on Nico don’t do this,” he pleaded quietly, voice almost drowned out by the laughter and reverie around them.
Nico sneered, “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Ambassador,”
Percy sucked in a breath, “Because I fucked up my last assignment of being happily married to you, so now I get to work for you.”
Nico huffed. Of course Percy’s punishment from daddy dearest was ‘Go clean up your mess’. He would’ve much preferred to have some random official placed in his court, someone who had no personality or penchant for being a rude cheating lying piece of-
Nico took a deep breath. He could feel his fathers eyes on him like needles against his spine.
“Very well then. Dance with me a moment, Perseus, so my father will believe I’m not about to attack you.”
Percy just nodded, eyes darting over Nico’s shoulder to make sure the former King was watching as he gently took Nico’s hand to lead him in a short waltz. Nico quite purposefully stomped on Percy's toes as they danced. Just once. Enough to play it off as being a clumsy dancer.
Percy didn’t complain much more than a yelp. And the second the song ended, both of them parted ways, letting go of each other as if they’d touched acid. Nico wondered if he felt bad about it. Or if he felt bad at all while it was happening. They were engaged for a year, had it been going on the whole time? Or just towards the end? Not that it mattered, it had been three years since Nico called off their engagement. He was still unbelievably mad about it though.
He’d probably be mad well into his old age.
Nico was dragged out of his pondering by the bells ringing, just once. People would slowly start filtering out of the palace now. He felt as though he had hardly met anyone. Hundreds of faceless nobility had introduced themselves through the night, and he could scarcely remember them. He knew his handmaidens had been handing out the invitations to stay throughout the evening to anyone he had shook hands with. Perhaps he should hand some of them out himself. Or would the people see that as favouritism?
He didn't particularly care. He knew he hadn’t given out any to the more important people he wanted to invite to stay. And by that he meant the ones he remembered the names of. He needed to make his way to them before they left. Or before he decided not to.
Perhaps a few to his friends who hadn’t been invited for courtship, as payback to his father for his little joke earlier.
He was sure Leo would love receiving one.