Page 1 of Nanny for the Alien Prince (Alien Recruitment Agency #4)

1

AMELIA

He was a tall, overbearing figure dressed in a dark cloak that wrapped tightly about him like the wings of a slumbering bat. His skin was the deep blue of the Ulsen, his horns strong and sharpened to points. His teeth were not visible beneath his black lips but I imagined they were sharp fangs that tore great chunks from their victims.

And I would be his next victim.

Even trapped within the confines of the painting’s frame he exuded calm confidence. His golden eyes, rimmed with purple, demanded obedience.

I suspected the painting was life-size and so he towered over me. I’d only ever seen him once in the flesh, and even now, thinking of that moment, he made my skin crawl.

He was no taller than most males of his species but there was a dominance to him that others did not possess. I put it down to his total lack of understanding or mercy.

The eye was sucked toward him the way a lion demanded attention in the enclosed space of a zoo.

Look and don’t turn your back. Or he might attack.

He didn’t smile. I doubted he ever smiled. From my research, I saw endless images of him passing through the streets and cities from when photographers captured him in holo-videos as he went about his business. Captured in his natural environment.

He never answered their questions and moved past them like they were insects — no, worse — like insects he had crushed beneath his heel and then found that with their dying breath had dared to squirt what remained of their lifeblood over his perfectly-polished shoes fashioned from the flesh of the last remaining member of its species. (Okay, so I might be making that last part up but it was probably true…)

I couldn’t believe we were related. Not by blood, obviously. I was a regular human female, 31, from the city of London, one of the few who managed to survive not only the war that had crippled our civilization but also the nuclear fallout afterward.

Living off-planet seemed like a good idea, and I gave up my job as a lawyer and took the first opportunity I was offered — the floor manager of a food processing factory on Lizark-12. My life was as uninspiring as it was boring — a valuable commodity compared to the frantic emergencies that gripped Earth on a daily basis.

Boring was good. Boring was safe. Boring meant stability.

That is, until that fateful day five years ago when Wrenley showed up at my front door with her “little surprise.”

My life hadn’t been the same since.

I looked over at that “little surprise” now, perched on the two-person sofa, and smiled. At five years old, he was growing into a handsome Ulsen. His horns were coming in and his eyes were to die for .

He was focused intently on the superhero holo-comic book I’d got him the last time we took a trip to Earth. He’d become obsessed with creatures with amazing powers. In particular, an old favorite called Nightcrawler from the X-Men series who could teleport from one space to another in an instant.

“If I could do that, I could come see you whenever I wanted, right?” he’d said after first learning about it.

The fact his skin was blue like Nightcrawler’s seemed to be a big factor in how he seemed to think he should be able to teleport too. I’d caught him many times with his eyes shut, lines draping his forehead as he focused really hard, trying to teleport himself to the other side of the room.

Seeing that always broke my heart. After witnessing him grow every day for the past five years, soon I wouldn’t be able to see him. I told him it wasn’t forever, that he would see me sometimes… but I didn’t know that for certain.

It was the reason I was here. To argue — okay, beg, if necessary — Nath into letting me see Elijax every weekend, or fortnight, or month, or however often I could.

I couldn’t stand the idea of never seeing him again, never witnessing the kind of human-Ulsen he would become, and, worst of all, never having any kind of input into the male he would grow up to be.

But the sad truth was, I had no say, no rights.

I was his mother’s step-sister and that gave me no rights at all under Ulsen law. There was a moment though, right before the court proceedings took place, where Elijax’s uncle could have denied his right to raise the child. I had been so nerv-cited (that’s mid-21st Century speak for nervous + excited) that I could barely control myself.

But at the last moment, disaster. His uncle, Nath, had accepted his rights and the judge’s decision was made. And final. There was no appeal process. Only acceptance.

The only appeal I could make was the one I was carrying out right then.

I’d cried all night, knowing I would lose access to my special little man. It was time I knew I shouldn’t have wasted but I couldn’t control my emotions. I loved Elijax and I would never apologize for that.

And now, within the next few minutes, once we met Nath, I would make my case for him to allow me to have visitor rights, to see Elijax as he grew up.

I turned back to the full-size portrait of Nath, running my eyes over his every feature, looking for something — a weakness, a vein of mercy, anything — that I could exploit.

My stomach churned and I felt sick, knowing there was no weakness in this creature. The chances of him having mercy on me were next to zero. But they weren’t quite zero. And so I glared at that portrait.

There has to be a way… There just has to be…

An old Ulsen with a cruel hump and warm eyes smiled at Elijax and offered him some cold milk.

Elijax put down his book and gave the old Ulsen his whole attention. I had always instilled in him the need to be respectful to strangers — especially our elders.

“I bet you’d like some Earth chocolate in that milk of yours, wouldn’t you?” she said in her sing-song voice.

Elijax nodded but didn’t say a word. He was shy by nature.

The old Ulsen reached into the front pocket of her apron and produced a small paper packet with no writing on it.

“Now this,” she said, unfolding it, “is my own personal recipe. Big companies always put in too many chemicals for my liking, so I make my own. Why don’t you give it a try? See how it tastes?”

She poured the multi-colored powder into the milk and it disappeared beneath the surface without needing to be stirred at all.

The old lady nodded for Elijax to go ahead. He looked at me first before I nodded too, giving him permission.

He took a sip and his eyes immediately bulged. He devoured the rest of it without bothering to breathe. He panted for air once he was done.

I wiped the magic chocolate milk from Elijax’s top lip. “He’s never eaten anything so fast! What did you put in it?”

She shrugged. “Just a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”

Elijax extended the empty glass to the old lady, who chuckled.

I hissed through my teeth at him. Didn’t I teach him anything? “What do you say?”

“Thank you. Can I have some more?”

I sighed and shook my head and gave the old lady an expression that said, Kids. What can you do?

The old lady chuckled. “It’s never good to have too much of anything, I’ve found.” She bent down further so their noses were almost touching. “But how about this: Tomorrow, after you finish eating your vegetables, I’ll make you more. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”

Elijax smiled and nodded happily. At least he wasn’t going to be treated as a burden by everyone who lived in this place.

The old lady straightened up — at least, as much as she was capable of with her bent back. She fixed me with eyes that, although squinting with effort to see me clearly, were not watery or discolored the way some old people’s were. I got the feeling she was appraising me, checking me out.

“He’s beautiful,” she said. “Much like his mother.”

I waved a hand. “I’m not his mother.”

“There are many ways to be considered a child’s mother. Caring for the child with all your heart and soul… that’s the real test of motherhood.”

“You should tell that to my mom when I was growing up.” I chuckled.

“And some blood mothers aren’t really mothers at all. We must bear that affliction our whole lives, must we not, we orphans with wayward parents?”

She smiled at me and her wrinkles folded up around her eyes as if every part of her face wanted in on her warmth.

“I suppose so,” I said, smiling back.

“You’ve come to see the Master?” she said.

“Yes. To… drop Elijax off.”

My stomach performed cartwheels. I wasn’t dropping him off. I was abandoning him. It didn’t matter this was the court’s decision. In my mind, I had come to leave him with an uncle he didn’t know and wouldn’t care about him even if he did.

“I see,” the old lady said. “I’ll go see if the Master is ready.”

As she left, I returned to Elijax and wrapped him in my arms. I didn’t want him to see how sad I was, how much I was going to miss him. With all the servants and other kids he would play with, I supposed he would barely even notice I was gone.

I hugged him tight and for once, he didn’t complain. I kissed him on the top of his head and gently stroked his growing horns. All the while, we were being watched by that tall, sinister painting of Nath, glaring down at us, watching our every move.

I clutched Elijax close and recalled the first day I’d met him.

It felt like yesterday…

Wrenley had presented herself on the front step of my squat single-storey home on the outskirts of town.

“Ta-da!” she proclaimed, throwing her arms out to either side like her appearance was the climax to a magician’s trick.

It’d been a full year since I last saw her — or even heard from her. It wasn’t unusual. She often flitted in and out of my life without warning. One day she would be there and then the next moment, she would be gone. Like Batman in mid-conversation with Lieutenant Gordon.

We screamed and hugged each other close. Despite not seeing each other for long periods of time, we always felt close when we were in the same room. I wrapped my arm around my little sister and led her inside.

“So, what have you been up to?” I asked.

She regaled me with her endless stories of adventure and drama. She seemed to meet the most interesting people — at least, from her perspective they were interesting. If I ever met them in real life, I suspected I would hate every last one of them. They were liars, cheats, thieves, and layabouts. Perfect characters for Wrenley’s stories but not the kind of people you wanted to populate your life.

Wrenley blew the steam from the hot chocolate I made for her — a childhood favorite — and looked at me over the rim. “I’ve met someone.”

I almost rolled my eyes, but didn’t. She always met someone. It would have been more of a shock if she was single. I didn’t need to encourage her to tell me about him.

Within five minutes, I knew more about this mysterious someone than I did about my own step-sister.

Then she added:

“He comes from royalty!”

Now I really did roll my eyes. “Before or after he bedded you?”

Wrenley slapped me on the arm. “Don’t be so cynical. It’ll give you wrinkles.”

“Don’t be so gullible. It’ll give you scars.”

Wrenley shrugged. “Scars heal.”

“No, they don’t. That’s why they’re scars.”

“Better to die with a few scars than without them.”

“No, it’s not.”

It was pointless arguing about our lifestyle choices. We’d had the same argument our entire lives.

The lazy bums Wrenley was drawn to were always people of note. It was amazing the honey they would tip into her ear to get her to spread her legs. They had the skill of Shakespeare when they found a pussy they wanted. A shame they didn’t put their ability to good use, I always thought. They could have been famous novelists or marketing legends.

Wrenley had come across so many princes, business magnates, gun runners, spies, and other exciting members of the population that she ought to have been a top socialite.

But she wasn’t.

She could never hold down a job. And I doubted she ever wanted to.

“I, uh, have something to show you,” she said, getting to her feet and approaching the door.

She struggled to open it — there were just too many latches and bolts and chains for her to have to deal with. “Why do you have so many locks?” she complained.

“Security.”

She cast an eye around my home. “As if you’ve got anything worth protecting.”

“Doesn’t my health count?”

“Having this many locks will make more thieves try to break in.”

“Why should I worry? Many of them will be your friends.”

“Ha-ha,” Wrenley said, grabbing the door and hurling it open. “Ta-da!”

The door didn’t come with her and she landed flat on her face.

I cleared my throat. “The bolt lock. You need to yank it to the right—”

“I know how to open a bolt lock!” she snapped, dusting herself off and reaching for the door handle again. “As I was saying. Ta—”

“Bolt lock,” I reminded her flatly.

Wrenley had the good sense to look sheepish as she yanked it aside, straightened up, raised her chin with all the confidence she could summon, and then proclaimed for the third time:

“Ta-da!”

At first, I saw nothing but the empty doorway and heard the soft ringing chirrups from the native crickets. “What?” I said.

Then Wrenley bent down and picked up a basket that was so small, I hadn’t even noticed it. She was very careful with it as she brought it over and placed it on my kitchen table .

Probably full of stolen brand-name clothes, I thought. She always had hot fingers when she—

Fingers. Tiny ones.

They waved from inside the basket at Wrenley, who smiled and cooed over a baby.

My entire face fell. My eyes, my mouth, my chin… I grabbed Wrenley by the arm and dragged her to one side.

“Ta-da, you stole a baby?” I said.

“No, I didn’t steal a baby.” Wrenley bent down and scooped the baby up in her arms. “He’s mine. Can’t you see the resemblance?”

He had blue skin with darker shades that curled in mysterious, and very beautiful, shapes. He had two tiny nubs on either side of his head and thick black tufts of hair that stuck up at random angles.

The complete opposite of Wrenley.

“Wait,” I said. “What? Since when were you pregnant?”

“Since six months ago. The gestation period of an Ulsen is shorter than a human’s.”

“A what? An Ulsen?”

“That’s his father. The royal. He’s not next in line to the throne or anything.”

“Thank God for that,” I said. “I was beginning to panic.” I grabbed Wrenley by the shoulders and turned her toward me. “I need you to focus. Are you being serious? Twelve months, no word, and now you show up with a baby?”

“It’s not like it was planned.”

I couldn’t help but cup my hands over the baby’s ears. No child should grow up hearing those words — even if they didn’t understand them yet.

I knew what that was like, growing up with a mother that didn’t want you. That had been what’d brought Wrenley and me together. We found belonging in each other when there wasn’t a scrap of it to be found at home.

“I thought you weren’t going to have kids until you settled down?” I said.

“I never said that.”

“We made a pact, remember? No repeating Mom’s mistakes.”

She shrugged. “Mom’s mistakes led to us, so we can’t really criticize her. I need you to look after him for me for a while.”

I turned away and shook my head. “No. No way. No how. I’ve got a job. I’ve got responsibilities.”

“It’s only for a short time—”

“It’s never a short time with you.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

I pulled up sharp. “Back from where? Where are you going now that you have a baby to take care of?”

“I’m going to visit Irvale’s home. He needs to break the news to his family before we introduce the baby to them.”

“Irvale’s home? Why don’t you take the baby with you and introduce him the way you did to me?”

“Because… it’s not that simple with royalty.”

I growled. “He’s not royalty! They never are! When will you learn?”

“He is royalty. And now, I don’t need to learn. Can you just hold him for a minute? He’s excited about meeting his aunt.”

“His step-aunt,” I said, unsure if that was a real thing.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to hold him.

Wrenley picked him up and practically threw him at me. “I’m going to the loo. Be right back.”

I made shushing noises and gently rocked the child. He wasn’t crying or upset but I felt the need to do it all the same.

I split my focus between him and the bathroom door, wondering when his mother would return.

A horn honked outside. I peered through the nets over my windows and saw a shuttle by the side of the road in front of my home. It honked again.

I hardened my expression and clutched the baby close. “That’ll be your daddy, no doubt. Let’s go say hello, shall we? Would you like that?”

The baby giggled and blew bubbles as I reached for the door.

Crash!

It came from the bathroom and was immediately followed by coarse expletives that had me cover the baby’s ears again.

I crossed to the bathroom and knocked on the door — my door, my bathroom. “Are you all right in there?”

“Huh? Oh yeah. I’m fine. Couldn’t be better.”

“I thought I heard a crash.”

“A crash? No. Not in here.”

There was another crash, followed by another round of expletives. I cupped my hands over the baby’s ears but was too late.

“You’re going to have to give me more of a head’s up next time you swear,” I said.

There was no response, so I knocked on the door again. “I’m coming in.”

“No! No, don’t—”

I opened the door. Wrenley was equally deficient with putting locks in place as she was with opening them.

The curtain hung loose from its snapped shower hoop fastenings, the towel rack had snapped under Wrenley’s weight as she perched her foot on it. The rest of her hung halfway out the bathroom window.

“What are you doing?” I said.

Wrenley turned her head and it proved to be the leverage her body needed to fall through the window and crash onto the plants outside.

She was up in an instant, foliage dotting her hair like she was taking part in some kind of druid mating ceremony — and it wouldn’t be the first time I’d caught her doing that.

Her eyes were wide with shock, like a rabbit caught in headlights.

“Wrenley?” I said. “Why are you climbing out through the window?”

“I… uh…”

Her eyes dropped to the baby coddled in my arms and then back to my face. She repeated the gesture three more times before its meaning finally dawned on me.

“You’re leaving the baby here?” I said.

“I… uh… Excuse me.”

She took off at a sprint, leaping over the hedges and tripping on Elijaxs’ toys next door. They might slow her down but they didn’t stop her as she rounded my home and sprinted down my garden path to the waiting shuttle outside.

“It’s just for a couple of days!” she yelled. “I swear!”

“Like the time you borrowed money from me? It’s been seven years and you still haven’t paid me back!”

“That’s different!”

I stepped out onto the path and yelled: “Wrenley! Wait!”

Wrenley had reached the shuttle, its door wide open for her to leap in. I made out a shadow inside but none of its features.

Wrenley looked back at me .

“Don’t do this,” I said. “We’ll find another way. A better way.”

Wrenley rarely took life seriously and I could count the number of times on one hand that I’d seen the frown of concentration that was on her face right now. She tore her eyes from mine.

“I’m sorry. I have to.”

She climbed into the shuttle. It took off and banked hard.

I watched until it became nothing but a tiny blue pinprick of light in a field of shimmering stars. Then I watched it some more, hoping she would have a change of heart, that she would finally take responsibility for herself and her life and, most of all, this baby she had saddled me with.

The baby waved his flabby arms at me, reaching up to touch my chin. I lowered my head so he could reach me and felt those tiny little digits press against my skin.

His skin was cool to the touch and, initially, I thought he was cold and needed more blankets. He kicked them off the moment I covered him. His skin was hard and covered with tiny little bumps like those of an armadillo. The blue hue seemed to shimmer and change as he moved, casting stripes of green and yellow.

I fingered the tiny little buds at the front corners of his head where the Ulsen’s horns would come in later.

“I can’t do this,” I said to no one in particular. “I can’t bring up a baby. I barely have enough income to support myself, never mind a child. And who would look after him while I was at work? I couldn’t bring him to the factory. They don’t have creche services.”

Then the solution hit me.

Mom. I would call Mom. She had nothing but time on her hands these days. She could look after him while I was at work and somehow… somehow things would work out.

I moved for the communicator attached to the wall. It was a clumsy device with a cracked screen and missing keys. But it worked. I dialed Mom’s number and waited as the transmission went through.

She might not have been the best mom in the world but at least she had experience — which was a far sight more than I had. What did I know about raising kids? Diddly squat.

The communicator continued to beep on the other end. Mom must have been busy… probably with one of her toy boys. I wondered which species he would be. She had never been skin colorblind, that was for sure.

The baby grumbled and I looked down at him. He blinked his eyes open and I audibly gasped. His irises were golden and flecked with tides of purple. They made my heart skip a beat.

The baby reached out and held the tip of my finger. His hand was so small he could barely hold it in the palm of his hand. His gorgeous eyes locked on mine and I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

Something passed between us, something I’ve never been able to explain. That feeling that I would love him forever and always, and he would love me the same in return. That we would never know loneliness because we would always be just an arm’s length away from each other.

Yes, I think it was fair to say that I fell in love with Elijax the moment I laid eyes on him. Literally.

Then the baby shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

“Ngh?” Mom said as she fell into the chair in front of her communicator. She sat too close and her face was huge on the screen. Her hair stuck up like she had been dragged backwards through a hedge.

Knowing Mom, that could well be the explanation.

It was eleven in the morning her local time, and for her to be conscious now was a good sign.

“Who are you?” she growled. “Reveal yourself. Are you goin’ to show your ugly mug, asshole? I want to see the scumbag that woke me up this early. I swear to God if this ain’t a emergency, I’ll find out who you are, cut your head off and use it for a—”

I ended the call. Mom could trace it but I knew she wouldn’t. She’d just fall asleep where she sat and when she awoke, forget why she was there and not in her bed.

“All right,” I said. “I won’t call Mom. Not yet. But if you’re too much trouble, if you give me too many headaches, I’ll call Mom and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself. Get me, bub?”

Mom had experience… but it was bad experience. She never raised me and Wrenley. That had been my job. There were too many outside influences from Mom and the losers she brought home, but all the good qualities Wrenley had — and she did have them when you looked down deep… and I mean really deep — had come from me.

There was no need to mess up another kid with my mom’s “parenting” skills.

“It’s only for a few days,” I told myself. “I’m sure we’ll muddle through. Somehow.”

But it was for more than a few days. It’d been almost 2,000 days in total. We more than muddled through. We were happy.

Then Wrenley and Irvale had to get themselves killed…

“The Master will see you now.”

The Master will see you now.

Boy, did I hate the way that sounded — which, incidentally, was exactly the way it was. And that annoyed me most of all.

He was in control and I had to play second fiddle to whatever he wanted.

I tamped down the instinctive sense to throw up and gathered up our things.

“There’s no need for that,” the old Ulsen with the hump said. “The servants will carry your things.”

The servants will carry your things.

“That’s all right,” I said. “We can do it.”

And we did do it — clumsily. We followed the old Ulsen through the hallways decorated with ancient armor, priceless paintings of old dead people, and coats of insignias across the walls and ceilings.

I raised my chin and ignored all of it. If they expected to impress me, they were going to have to try a lot harder than that!

I looked back at Elijax, whose mouth hung open, staring at all the wonderful things. I couldn’t help but grind my teeth.

“I’m going to live here?” he said.

“You’ll get used to it,” I said. “Just imagine it’s a museum.” I turned to the old Ulsen. “You know, I feel awkward not knowing your name.”

“Forgive me. I should have told you earlier. I’m M’ra.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Amelia.”

I extended my hand to shake hers while she stamped her feet and coughed, making a “Huh!” noise. We looked at each other, confused by what the other just did.

“It’s our traditional greeting,” M’ra said. “We stamp our feet to signify strength and the desire to march to war. And we make the sound to symbolize that we’ll never give up until death claims us.”

“Huh,” I said. “We shake hands because… we shake hands.”

How pitiful, I thought. I was a disgrace to the human race. But if M’ra was disappointed, she didn’t show it.

She showed us how to perform the greeting and I showed her the human method. By the end, we were all laughing.

“Follow me,” M’ra said. “Your room is just down here.”

We moved down two more hallways until we came to a large room with a huge double bed and stacks of toys along one wall. There was a desk with thick textbooks and leather-bound books and a view that was to die for.

A long way from the tiny single bed Elijax had almost outgrown and the desk that doubled in use as a dining table.

“It’s all right… I suppose,” I said as Elijax fingered the toys and moved through the room.

“The servants will be on hand any time you need them,” M’ra said. “If there’s ever anything you need, just tell them and they’ll get it for you.”

M’ra backed out of the room and was gone.

I clutched my arms around myself, watching Elijax as he looked at where he would be spending much of his time in the future. The room had already etched itself into my mind and I knew I would forever imagine him in this big, drafty room all by himself.

And far from me.

I turned toward the door and screamed in shock before I knew what I was doing.

Where the corridor had been empty just a moment ago, now a large figure stood in the doorway, taking up almost the entire space. He looked almost identical to the portrait I’d been glaring at earlier. He even wore the same black cloak that hugged his naturally muscular frame.

Only this was not a figure I would glare at. No way. His golden eyes, flecked with purple, could have been those of a demon, and as he cast them over me and Elijax, I sensed he saw everything and nothing missed his attention.

I stood up straight and raised my chin. The top of my head barely reached his shoulder blades but I still told myself I was every bit as determined as he was — when it came to Elijax, at least.

He entered the room. No, not entered, more drifted toward me. With his eyes focused on me that way, I was pinned in place and unable to move a muscle. He stopped once he stood before me — too close — and glared at me.

I swallowed what little saliva I had and ordered my muscles to move. I stamped my feet and made the “Huh” noise. He just looked at me and didn’t perform it in return.

So much for royal manners, I thought.

Now he peered over at Elijax, who continued to move about the room, fingering one item after another.

“He is the child?” Nath said, his voice deep and as rich as melted chocolate.

“Your nephew?” I said. “Yes.”

It’d come as a shock to learn that Wrenley had been right about Irvale — he was royalty. And that meant Elijax was half-royal too, although what that truly meant and its ramifications, I had no idea.

“It is against the law to hold a member of the royal family hostage,” Nath said.

I blinked at that and the discomfort of being face-to-face with a royal suddenly melted away, and now he was nothing more than an arrogant asshole .

“I didn’t hold him hostage,” I snapped. “I raised him when your good-for-nothing brother left him with me. He was supposed to tell his family about their baby and they were supposed to take him away… five years ago!”

He fixed me with a look. “It’s an offense to disparage a member of the royal family.”

I told him about what his brother did, and all he could focus on was my insult?

“Well, what do you call someone who leaves his child with his sister-in-law and never comes back?”

One corner of his lips curled into a smile — or was it a sneer? “A step-sister.”

I ground my teeth and wanted to bite back another insult but what could I say? He was right. It was every bit my sister’s fault as it was her lover’s.

Nath returned to focusing on Elijax. “He is where he should be. Finally. With his family.”

“He was with family,” I growled.

“Yes, of course. But it’s good he has been reunited with the other half of his family.”

“If you thought that, why didn’t you come get him sooner?” I snapped.

“We didn’t know about him until my brother passed away.”

He didn’t pass away. He was murdered. Big difference. And my sister was close enough to get herself embroiled in it. But it was still soon after their funeral and I didn’t want to bring it up.

“And I didn’t know about his royal blood until then either,” I admitted.

“Then neither of us knew. And all water will be under the bridge. That is the Earth expression, is it not? ”

“Yes. But there’s nothing wrong with what happened. I enjoyed the past five years. I liked raising him.”

No, not liked. Loved. It was the greatest part of my life and I never wanted it to end.

I looked up at Nath, who was peering down his long nose at me, thinking, considering.

Now was when I would ask him for permission to visit Elijax, to be a part of his life… but already I could see what Nath’s answer would be.

A loud and profound no.

He wouldn’t want an inferior species anywhere near his nephew, not where I could infect him with his history and culture.

I didn’t want to give him power over me, to give him the satisfaction that he could so easily manipulate me, to have sway and control over me.

It broke my heart, but I did not want to hear the word “No” on his lips. It would be what would haunt my nightmares for many years to come.

“I shall speak with the boy,” Nath said.

He wasn’t asking for permission. He was telling me. He floated toward him slowly, no doubt to prevent the shock he’d given me at noticing his presence.

Elijax saw movement out the corner of his eye or else sensed his approach, and turned to face him.

They stood before each other now, with Nath’s huge hulking frame towering over the tiny child who leaned back and arched his neck to look him in the eye.

Between the court’s decision and now, I’d had one other option, and that had been to take Elijax and run, run as far away from here as I could. If I hurried, I could have gotten a good head start. Who knows, maybe they never would have found me .

But they likely would.

And then there would have been the lifestyle we’d have to live, scraping by. It wasn’t like I had a fortune to draw on that could tide us over until the royal family forgot about us.

I’d decided not to pursue that course of action but now that I saw the cold, austere, and overpowering figure of the future king arched over Elijax… I began to wonder if I’d really made the right decision.

I felt the tears swim in my eyes and my heart began to break. Elijax would hug me and the floodgates would release and the very last thing I wanted was to appear weak in front of Nath… but in the same breath, I couldn’t care less what he thought.

He was taking Elijax away from me. And I would have to go back to living a substandard and lonely life with an Elijax-sized hole in it.

I turned away and didn’t hear what Nath said to Elijax. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“Elijax appears to be in excellent health.”

The voice made me jump again. For such a big guy, he could move like a cat!

“Of course he’s in excellent health!” I snapped. “What did you think I was going to do? Let him starve?”

Nath pursed his black lips. “Perhaps I might have a word with you.”

“A word? About what?”

“A word in private.”

The rock in the pit of my stomach that’d been forming with the knowledge I would soon have to leave Elijax here morphed into another larger one that made me even more sick to my stomach.

What did Nath want now? Hadn’t he taken enough from me ?

“Elijax,” I said. “Stay here. I’ll be… I’ll be right back.”

I’d said the words Wrenley had said to me, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to keep my word either.

I followed Nath toward his office, feeling like a soul captured by death and he was going to decide where to put me.

In heaven? Or hell?