Battlefields and Bloodlines

Chapter 4: The Looming Threat of Abdicated Thrones

I woke up, slowly, opening my eyes and squinting at the brightness of the lighting above me, a soft, white-blue fluorescent that glowed from what seemed like cracks in the wall.

This place was unfamiliar, yet seemed peaceful.

I slowly sat up, my whole body feeling fatigued and shaky, looking around the room I was in. It seemed similar to the patient rooms in the medical center on the Divinity.

"Hey, you're awake!" Granger's voice greeted me from off to my right.

"I'm also alive, which is surprising. Aren't I supposed to be dead from a neurotoxin?" I asked, my voice sounding like it wasn't my own.

"Well, yes. That screamer variant was supposed to kill you for sure, but since it only hit muscle instead of bone, you didn't end up with enough in your system to kill you. Just enought to knock you out for a while." Granger explained. "That's how the Ragnarei medical staff explained it, anyway."

"Ragnarei medical staff?" I asked, frowning. "How'd I end up in their care?"

"We're on the Ragnarei fleet's flagship, that's how." Another voice came from the doorway off to the left. I turned, seeing Vaughn standing there. "This is the Dauntless, which is commanded by the Primus. Which is why I want you on your best behavior."

I frowned. "What's a Primus?"

Vaughn sighed like she was tired of having to explain the delicacies of Ragnarei society to a half Ragnarei. "He's the head of the Ragnarei fleet, and the person in charge of an entire city state on Ragnaran. He's very important, which means you have to be very polite when you meet him."

"When? Not if?" I asked, fighting off a groan. Meeting important people was one of my least favorite things to do.

"When. This mission is half rescue, half diplomacy. We got the rescue handled, and now it's time for the diplomacy. That's one of the entire reasons I'm on this mission instead of someone else." Vaughn said, her look letting me know that she was disappointed I hadn't caught onto that part fast enough.

"Perfect." I muttered.

"Hey Granger?" Vaughn asked, suddenly addressing him. "Can you give us a minute? Maybe go let the rest of the team know Aiden is fine and moaning about having to be diplomatic?"

"If this is about the other explanation for why she's alive, I already know about that. I'm a good listener." Granger said.

I stared at him. "What do you mean by 'the other explanation'?"

Granger suddenly looked nervous as his eyes darted to Vaughn, who's eyebrows had risen sky high in a look that definitely didn't mean anything good. "Um. I'll let her explain. I'm going to go talk to the team."

He went to skirt by Vaughn, who's eyebrow look and folded arms were definitely meant to be a threat. "Let's not mention any of what you just said to anyone else, hmmm?" Vaughn murmured, leaning down slightly towards him.

"Of course. Wouldn't dream of it." Granger said, giving a nervous chuckle. Vaughn had the gift of intimidation, that was for sure.

"Great." Vaughn watched him leave and then closed the door, turning to me.

"Aiden."

"Yes?"

"There's a reason the neurotoxin screamer didn't work. The official explanation logged from the Ragnarei medical staff is that the screamer was faulty. But that's not what happened. Your muscle structure is more dense than a normal human's, thanks to the half Ragnarei thing, which is why it didn't break open on impact. Your muscle structure stopped it from hitting bone, which is what it's intended to do. Your genetics saved your life." Vaughn said, approaching the bed.
"For once, my genetics did something useful." I muttered, rubbing the bandage on my thigh where the Ragnarei medical staff had cut off my one pantleg into shorts.

"Now this is where it gets bad." Vaughn said, leaning on the wall next to the bed. "I'm going to say this once, I'm going to say this fast, and I would appreciate if you would react minimally to this information."

I nodded.

"Aiden, you're fucked."

I sighed, mostly unsuprised. "How badly?"

"They did a blood test to figure out how much of the neurotoxin made it into your system. Blood tests for the Ragnarei automatically go through a database to match the sample to a bloodline. Fortunately, the database your seemingly human blood went through doesn't extend beyond this ship. Unfortunately, that means multiple Ragnarei here know a half Ragnarei, half human exists. Even more unfortunately, there was a hit on your bloodline. You're part of Argyn's bloodline."

I stared at her. "I'm what?"

"Save your questions, I'm not done." Vaughn said, waving a hand. "It gets worse. Your mother was very clear that your father is dead when I talked to her. That's the only information I was able to get out of her. Unfortunately, there's only one dead person in Argyn's direct bloodline that could've fathered a child. That person was the previous Grand Heirarch, Xel Nradan. That would make you his only child. As the only child of Xel Nradan, if you'd been born on Ragnaran, you'd be the Grand Heirarch right now. This is absolutely the worst-case bloodline scenario, and if word gets out that you exist as part of Argyn's bloodline, that could put the Ragnarei in a civil war between those who think you deserve a place in the bloodline and those who don't."

"A place in the bloodline?"

"I thought I told you to save your questions." Vaughn growled at me. "Fortunately, the Primus has done a huge part in keeping that information controlled, which is why you need to be nice to him."

I raised my hand, swallowing down a rush of emotions, none of them good. "Can I ask a question now?"

"Yes."

"Does Argyn know?"

"Argyn knows. Everyone on this ship probably knows. But Argyn was one of the first to find out since he was demanding the results to find out if you were going to survive." Vaughn stopped short, as something apparently hit her. "Argyn was the one who brought it up. He had to know." She muttered to herself. "The question is, how did he know?"

"How did he know what?" I asked, wanting to be let in on this conversation.

"It doesn't matter. Not to you, at least. " Vaughn gestured at a pair of pants lying on the chair next to the one Granger had vacated. "Get dressed. Meet me on the bridge with the rest of the team for a briefing. Don't make me come find you." Vaughn jabbed a finger in my direction as she exited the room.

I was alone with my thoughts, which is not the place I wanted to be. Besides, I had a bridge to get to.

The pants she'd left there fit decently enough. A little tighter than I'd prefer, but not enough to be uncomfortable. They were black and made of a dense material that seemed bulletproof. Were all Ragnarei clothes made to sacrifice comfort for durability? Because the pants definitely did that.

I left the room and somehow managed to find my way up to the bridge. I entered, swallowing down the nervous feeling that had managed to worm it's way up into my stomach.

Skyy, Granger, Vaughn, Lee, Argyn, and Edwards were all standing around a console and looked deep in conversation. With them stood the biggest Ragnarei I'd ever seen, towering over even Vaughn. He was also absolutely gorgeous, with an incredible jawline, piercing eyes, the whole package. A solid face and an even more solid body.

I stopped for a moment, taking a breath. I'd have preferred to just join up on whatever was going on without being noticed but there were two problems with that. The first was that I was 6'4". The second was that Vaughn had seemed to hint that the rest of the team needed to see me alive and well, and making a solid entrance would do wonders for the team's morale.

I approached the group, trying to think of something witty to say, but didn't get the chance because Vaughn decided to be grumpy at me. "Get over here. You're late." She said, roughly, waving me over.

I almost answered in kind but remembered I was supposed to be diplomatic and bit my tongue.

 "Yes, ma'am." I said, sliding into the group between Edwards and Skyy, folding my arms behind my back and standing up straight.

Skyy, Lee, Vaughn, Edwards and Granger all slowly eyeballed me.