Page 75 of Tricked By the Alien Prince

“The path to the human settlement should be clear,” Tanis reports, professional as always. He seems to ignore the duo as they continue bantering about the valuable purpose of pelts, but then his lips twitch and he raises his voice, “Though I must admit, the weather provides excellent cover for our approach.”

“See?” Zoran exclaims. “The snow is perfect! Just like I said it would be. You know what else would be perfect right now?”

“Don’t,” Melvall warns.

“A nice warm pelt!” Zoran finishes triumphantly. “You know, like the ones I so thoughtfully provided?—”

A snowball catches him directly in the face, cutting off his gloating. We all turn to stare at Melvall, who’s already packing another projectile.

“I changed my mind,” the blue male declares. “I don’t hate you. I despise you.”

Zoran wipes snow from his face, his expression shifting from shocked to delighted. “Oh, it is ON!”

“They’re like younglings,” Tanis remarks, though there’s fondness in his voice. A curiosity. For someone who’s lived the last few cycles spending day and night guarding me, never having the opportunity to get close to another, he’s no doubt interested in Melvall and Zoran’s friendly banter.

“Good,” I reply firmly. “Our people have forgotten how to simply enjoy life. Everything became about survival, about maintaining power through fear.” I watch as Zoran attempts to stuff snow down the back of Melvall’s clothes. “This is what I’ve always wanted for them - the freedom to choose their own path.”

I should probably stop them. As king, I should maintain some sense of dignity and decorum. But watching Zoran and Melvall chase each other through the snow, pelting each other with increasingly large snowballs while hurling increasingly creative insults, I can’t bring myself to end their fun.

This is what I wanted for my people all along—the freedom to simply exist without fear. The ability to play in the light rather than hide in darkness. The right to choose their own path rather than follow ancient traditions born of pain and fear.

“Even if that path involves throwing snow at each other like younglings, acting like complete fools?” she asks, watching as Melvall successfully tackles Zoran into a snowbank.

“Especially then.”

Maya’s expression turns thoughtful as she watches the chaos unfold. I recognize that look - she’s working through something in that brilliant mind of hers.

“What are you thinking?” I ask softly.

“About the medicine,” she replies. “My friend Stacey has been studying medical biology, both human and alien. She’s clever, maybe even more than me when it comes to understanding how things work. She might be able to help us understand the nanobots better, make it safer to use. You know, not creating super-soldiers in the process.”

I consider her words carefully. “You’d trust your people with such power?”

“I trust that if we work together, we can find a better way. I believe that most people just want to help others and to live in peace.” She glances at Melvall, who’s now perched atop a snow drift, raining frozen projectiles down on a sputtering Zoran and Tanis. “Look at Melvall - he’s already proving that trade works better than force. Did you know that he’s been trading with all manner of tribes on the surface? They are thriving because of him. Melvall could have exploited them all, but instead he’s helped them by giving the medicine to help those who need it most. It doesn’t have to be a weapon.”

“Is that what you want? To study it? I could… if you want, I could order the machines destroyed entirely.” I don’t voice that it’ll likely be the end of everyone on the planet - there’s too many dangers and threats for any of us to survive without the aid of the medicine and its uncanny strength.

“I recognize we need it, so I want to understand it,” she says firmly. “It can be a tool, not a weapon.” She turns those fierce eyes on me. “What do you want?”

“Peace,” I tell her honestly. “A future where we don’t hide in darkness or force others to fight for basic needs. I never agreed with my father’s methods, but until you, I never saw another path.”

Maya’s expression softens as she gazes up at me.

“You’re going to be a good king,” she tells me. In the last few hours, I’ve had plenty of people tell me so, but from Maya it’s entirely different. Her words penetrate deep, enough that my knees feel weak and my breath hitches. She doesn’t tell me this simply because she wants to manipulate me; I trust that she tells me what she truly believes.

I pull her closer, pressing my forehead to hers as emotions burn the back of my eyelids. My luminae pulse with the depth of my feelings for this remarkable female. “And you’ll be an amazing queen. You taught me that sometimes the best way to protect people is to let them fight their own battles.”

“I haven’t agreed to be queen yet,” she reminds me, but there’s no real protest in her voice.

“Yet,” I agree, smiling down at her. She’s so small compared to me, yet she contains more strength than anyone I’ve ever known.

A particularly loud whoop draws our attention back to the ongoing snow battle. Somehow Tanis has been drawn into the fray, his usual stoic demeanor cracking as he precisely calculates trajectories for maximum snowball impact. The sight fills me with joy—my most serious guard, finally letting himself simply enjoy life.

“Your father would have a fit if he saw this,” Maya comments, watching Tanis dust snow from his armor with dignity despite his disheveled appearance.

“Good,” I reply firmly. “Change isn’t always comfortable. But it’s necessary.” I gesture at the winter landscape around us. “Look at this world, Maya. It’s beautiful and dangerous and absolutely worth exploring. We can’t hide from it forever. My people were born to protect, it’s time we took back that title for ourselves.”

“We can face it together,” Maya says as her small hand slips into mine. Her fingers are cold, and I immediately wrap mine around hers to warm them. It’s not because both of us are nervous, still learning to be vulnerable with each other.

---