Page 54 of Maid for the Alien Prince

And off he went, staggering like a zombie.

I wondered if Rayaw would really fire him. After all, he was his only friend—sure, he wasn’t the best friend material in the galaxy, but he was still someone he valued. He might end up just giving him a reprimand, a slap on the wrist, and then letting him go on his way.

That way, he would only fire him after he had proven his unreliability a second time.

But what if he ended up hurting Emma again in the meantime? Or another innocent? Or stole as much as he could carry and took away any chance Rayaw might have for a comfortable life?

He would need to be watched carefully at all times, and with the majority of the staff loyal to him, I didn’t think I was going to be able to recruit enough people for a round-the-clock offensive.

“What are you thinking about?” Emma said, interrupting me from my thoughts.

I smiled at her and gently stroked her chin—the only spot that wasn’t smothered with bruises. “I was just thinking how pretty you are.”

She wasn’t pretty but she was cute, and that could be pretty in a way.

Emma grinned and then flinched at the pain it caused. “I’m not sure I can work here anymore,” Emma said, looking at her hands. “Not with him here. Every time I see him, every time he looks at me…”

I placed my hand on hers. “I understand. Really, I do. But let’s see what Rayaw does first, shall we?”

“He won’t do anything. None of the royals ever do anything against one of their own.”

“Ges is not one of the royals. He’s just a worker, like you and me. And like us, he can be replaced.”

“Even if that happens, who’s to say the next manager will be any better?”

“I doubt anyone could be much worse than him.”

She smiled for a second time, risking the flinch that followed. “No. I suppose not.”

She took my hand. “We’re friends, right?”

I squeezed her knee, grateful it didn’t make her flinch, and returned her smile—with interest. “Of course we’re friends. We’ve always been friends. Even when we didn’t keep in touch.”

A knock came at the door. It was one of the other maids. “There’s a phone call for you.”

She immediately turned and marched away. Yes, I thought, these workers were a perfect reflection of whoever their manager was. Under my father, they had been kind, considerate, and hard-working. Now, there was a culture of backsliding, laziness, and stealing.

To change the culture, you had to change those at the top.

I sensed a great deal of goodness in Rayaw but virtually none in Ges. By getting rid of him, the palace might actually stand a chance of surviving into the future.

I tapped Emma on the shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

I picked up the communicator headset and placed it on my head. “Resume,” I said.

A flash of light and the holographic image snapped into view. “Dad? What’s wrong?”

My father peered at his communicator like an alien device. “Camila? Are you there? I can’t see you.”

“I can see you. You have to tell the computer you want to see me.”

“I want to see her,” Dad said.

I rolled my eyes. Technology had never been his strong suit. “Say ‘Computer’ first. Then tell it what you want.”

“Computer. I want to see my daughter.”

The glow from the image of me illuminated his face. He grinned broadly. “How are you doing?” he said. “You look well.”

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