Nanny For The Alien General by Athena Storm
Keilon
Iam Keilon, ruler of the entire Lakes Kingdom. I was elected to this position out of all my family members, and now I govern with a fair and well-respected hand. I am strong, brave, and powerful.
I am also sitting wrapped in a blanket, hunkered down in a roughhewn cabin, avoiding humans.
Avoiding HUMANS.
Fuming, I wrap my blanket tighter around myself as though it were a royal mantle. It is unthinkable that I should be reduced to such weakness. Unthinkable, and yet here I am. Entirely dependent on a human female.
And while Serafina’s beauty makes being trapped in this tiny place slightly more bearable, it’s also beyond galling to be so powerless in front of her. She’s been nothing but kind, graceful, and solicitous. She doesn’t treat me like a burden, yet I find myself wanting to show her my best self.
My best, most kingly self. The version of me that has never been afraid of a human in my life. Not that I am now… but I know I’d be a fool to ignore Serafina’s instructions. Not for anything would I jeopardize my children, even if they’d rather fawn over a woman they just met than spend time with me.
I groan. What is this line of thought? I have to get out of here, as soon as possible. I admit, I’ll feel some pang at never seeing Serafina again. I’d miss her warm eyes as she smiles at me over a meal, or the curve of her neck in the light of the ion lamp, or the curve of her —
No.
I cannot go down that path. My hallucination about Serafina being my mate must have addled my brain. I can remain grateful for her healing and assistance, but in the long term I must think of her as merely a compassionate stranger.
Of course, the moment I’ve resolved to stay that course, the door to the cabin swings open. Serafina stands there, her face shining and the scent of the outdoors on her clothes. She looks beautiful, bright and alive in a way that nothing does in my palace.
“Daddy!” cries Emex, surprising me with his immediate attention. “Look what we got!”
My son thrusts out a grubby white root, held in his small hand. He’s beaming from ear to ear, like he’s offering me a precious jewel.
“They come in purple too!” Belanna comes to my side as well, even more unusual. She holds out a slightly less soil-encrusted root, which looks to be an opalescent lavender.
“Well… done,” I manage to say, through my bemusement. “What… are they?”
“They’re armpit root,” announces Belanna, sending my eyebrows rocketing up past my skull. “We’re gonna eat them for dinner!”
“They mean ammpay root,” explains Serafina, stifling a laugh. The thinly veined merriment only makes her eyes sparkle more. “I showed them how to gather them. They did a very good job!”
“I should hope so.” I eye my children, realizing they have about as much dirt on them as the roots do. “They certainly look like they’ve been working hard.”
“We were, Daddy.” Belanna gives me the happiest grin I think I’ve ever seen on her face before. Something strange turns upside down in my stomach. Is digging up vegetables truly more fun than any outing I’ve ever taken them on?
“They were extremely helpful, actually.” Serafina ushers the kids to the side of the room, and they begin helping her rinse the roots. “It was good to get one last harvest in, since first snowfall is coming in only a few days. An earlier one this year — have you felt the cold snap from in here?”
I’m about to open my mouth to say something stupid, like that with my trusty blanket, I never feel the cold. But before I can make such an awkward joke, Serafina’s words actually sink in.
“First snowfall?” Adrenaline rushes through my body, and I jerk to my feet without meaning to. “How many days have I been here? How could I have lost track of time?”
Serafina’s lovely face is furrowed with concern. Some part of me yearns for her to tell me everything is all right, but it’s a foolish and naive part.
Everything is not all right.
If first snowfall is that close — if Lakes has had an unseasonably early cold snap — then the lake may be about to ice over.
My route off this island where I am not a king but an invalid… it might be gone.
With my heart slamming in my chest, I shove my way out of the cabin door. It’s the first time I’ve been outside in Divine Ones only know how long, and the frigid air hits me like a punch.
I want to run, but all I can do is hobble as fast as I can. Serafina and my children chase after me, all three of them plucking at my blanket and telling me to stop. Their pleas are dim buzzes in my ears, as my brain roils with dread. I barrel on forward, nearly tripping at least a dozen times.
And then I do stop. I jolt to a standstill, becoming a motionless statue as I take in what’s in front of me.
It’s too late. The freeze has begun. There’s a thin sheet of ice around the shoreline, which perhaps our little boat could break. Except that even if it could, we’d only run into the jagged chunks of ice already forming on the water.
The skiff will never make it across the lake. It’s useless until the spring thaw comes. Which means the only route off of this island is by foot. We’ll have to walk across the ice, once the lake is completely frozen over.
But that won’t happen for another week or two at best. Trying too early would be a quick drop into a suffocating, icy wet grave. One can’t cheat nature, as I well know.
That knowledge is quickly supplanted by a new, and much more immediate truth.
I’m trapped.
