Nanny For The Alien Warlord

Chapter 1 

Bianca

I’m trembling, even as I do my best to stay still. I wish my limbs would stop shaking. Hell, I don’t even want to breathe too hard. The curtain hiding me is thick, but I can’t trust that it’ll hide my movement. I need to try to calm down.

I remind myself that I’ve done this many times over the past few weeks. I’ve spent lots of hours hiding in this secret doorway, one only a few servants know about. I should be used to the fear by now.

But I’m not. Because beyond the heavy drapery shielding me is Regent Harxx’s secret meeting room. Only his most trusted advisors are allowed in here, and only when Harxx says so. If the cruel sonuvabitch knew I was back here, spying on him, he’d kick me out of the palace.

Actually, who am I kidding? He’d do way, way worse than that. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine him gutting me on the spot, and laughing as I bled out onto his lush carpet. I’m only a human nanny, after all. How much trouble could he get into for murdering me without a second thought?

None at all, that’s how much.

My thoughts really aren’t helping the shaking. I try to dismiss the image in my mind of Harxx’s face in a vicious sneer, as he drives a knife into my stomach. He doesn’t know I’m here. He hasn’t caught me yet.

Gritting my teeth, I focus on why I’m taking this risk at all. I’m not here for me. I’m here for the sweet orphaned girls I was hired to care for — Princesses Aurra and Siona, of Sanarel of the Treetop Kingdom. Hefty titles, for relatively little girls. Even the eldest, Aurra, is only eleven. Nowhere near old enough to govern a city-state like Sanarel.

Thus the existence of Regent Harxx, who somehow talked High King Tarkon of the Treetop Kingdom into appointing him to be the Princesses’s caretaker when their parents were killed. Which I guess means the Kiphians don’t have background checks. I have to believe that if the King had even an inkling of what a horrible man Harxx is, he never would’ve put his nieces near the guy.

The Regent’s casual ruthlessness and quotidian cruelties are one thing. I can manage those, keep the girls (and myself) mostly out of his path. But recently… Recently I’ve had the feeling something else is going on. He keeps giving Aurra considering looks, like she’s a cut of meat he might purchase for his dinner.

My life has taught me not to ignore when I get hunches like this. I’ve learned to listen to my sixth sense, whenever it pops up. And for the past month, it’s been screaming at me that Harxx is planning something I’m really not going to like. I need to find out what it is.

Remembering that there’s a good reason I’ve put myself in harm’s way calms me. I manage to become as still as a statue, only seconds before the door bursts open. I can’t see what’s happening, but I hear heavy footfalls of no more than four men. 

Interesting. Usually Harxx’s meeting sessions involve all eight of his counselors. If this is a special meeting open to only a chosen few… it might be what I’ve been waiting for. I perk my ears up, listening hard.

“I’m not sure what else you wish to discuss, my lord,” says a voice I recognized as Harxx’s third-in-command, the Minister of Trade. “There’s no way around this issue, I’m afraid. King Tarkon would have to approve this trading agreement for the Mountain Kingdom to accept it, and you know as well as I that he won’t. The deal is dead.”

My eyes widen as I hear this. It’s bold of this Kiphian to talk to Harxx in such a manner. The Regent doesn’t exactly take kindly to having his wishes gainsaid.

“Oh, you of such little faith,” drawls Harxx. The icy amusement in his voice sends a chill down my spine. Hearing him speak never fails to make my skin crawl.

“My lord?” The Minister asks, sounding intrigued.

“Actex, make sure the door is locked,” snaps Harxx. 

I hear footfalls, and the snick of a lock bolt being driven home. My heart thumps in anticipation. What’s going on? Is he going to farm Aurra out to the Mountain Kingdom in exchange for this trade deal happening under the table? If so, maybe Siona and I can find a way to go with her. It can’t be worse than here, in Harxx’s clutches.

“I need you both to swear. No word of this must leave this room until it is done,” hisses Harxx. “Swear.”

I hear two voices swear upon the Divine Ones that they will keep silent. So only two more men in addition to Harxx — a small and trusted circle indeed.

“The trade agreement with Mountain will go through.” The Regent sounds smug. “Because we will not need Tarkon’s blessing. In three days time, I will marry Princess Aurra in a binding ceremony, presided over by a Priestess.”

Silence falls into the room. I have to bite my lip hard to keep from gasping. 

“Is she old enough, my lord?” That’s from Harxx’s right-hand man — not a Minister at all. I don’t actually know what he does, except be shady. Of course, the tone of his question isn’t horrified distaste, as it should be. No no, he’s merely curious, the bastard.

“She will be twelve in three days,” says Harxx. “Old enough by the letter of the law.”

“Tarkon will dissolve it,” warns the Minister of Trade. “Twelve might be old enough by law, but those laws were written centuries ago. He won’t have it.”

“Thus the binding ceremony,” snarls Harxx. “Aren’t you listening? I have a Priestess of the Divine Ones who must do whatever I tell her. I’ll marry the girl, which will make me no longer Regent but Prince of Sanarel. The King won’t be able to do anything about the marriage — especially if I get an heir on the brat as soon as I can.”

Bile rises in my throat. I knew Harxx was heartless, but this is a whole new level. Aurra is still a child! How could he even consider such a thing? Forcing her into wedlock to steal her crown?

My fists clench at my sides and I begin to slip away. Harxx’s ministers are congratulating him on his brilliant plan, and I don’t need to hear that. I’ve heard enough.

I rush through the cramped servant tunnels back to the nursery, my mind racing. I’ve considered escaping Sanarel with the girls often enough. They’ve grown so dear to me… I’ve imagined something better for the three of us almost every day since Harxx unceremoniously hired me.

It looks like those vague ideas need to become a concrete plan. Immediately.