Page 57 of Maid for the Alien Prince

“Maybe we’ll get lucky at the next farm,” I said, climbing up onto the back of my Fayam.

I waited for Rayaw to scramble onto his creature’s back before pressing on.

We checked three farms and found them all desolate. Not a thing was growing in the fields. I wondered just what Ges had been expecting. After all, if you remove the farmers, how could you expect to grow any crops?

I’d expected him to bring in slaves that he would buy in bulk from a black market and force them to do the work instead. They wouldn’t know the soil on this planet, the seeds we planted, but they would work hard nonetheless.

Instead, there was nothing.

I brightened a little when I turned onto the fourth farm. It was middle-sized and grew the best bhutip on the entire planet.

I should have known that Acis would try to hold out until the very end. Farming was his life. His father had been a farmer, and his father… all the way back as far as records went. There had always been Acis farmers working the soil on lot number four.

When I spotted him, he was hoeing a small section of his wandering fields, but even his plot was not flush with greenery as I’d always known it.

He brightened when he saw me and poked the brim of his straw hat up with his thumb—there was zero chance of it falling from his head with his Ulsen horns jutting up through the middle.

His face fell when he saw Rayaw drawing up behind me. He lowered his eyes and continued hoeing.

I hopped off my Fayam and lashed his reins to the nearby fence.

Rayaw did likewise, although he was a little slower and more cumbersome.

Acis extended his arms to me, embracing me warmly as I kissed him on the chin the way I had since I was a child.

We held each other tight and said nothing for a moment, simply enjoying the moment in each other’s arms.

He had always been good to me, giving me candy, toys and, most of all, his time. When I pulled back, I wiped the tears from my eyes.

“How have you been?” I asked.

Acis wiped his own tears from his eyes, but these were not the same tears of joy I was weeping. He looked haggard, tired, and old—much older than I remembered him.

Even though he had been advancing in years, he always seemed sprightly and young, filled with enthusiastic energy. Now, his movements were slow, his enthusiasm for his work having evaporated.

“Things have been… better,” he said.

“Where’s Ifat?” I asked, referring to his only daughter.

Somehow, his face fell even further. “She left with her mother. There wasn’t enough work for all of us at the farm. There’s barely even enough for me these days. But I get by okay. They work in the next town.”

Getting by appeared to be a bit of a stretch of the truth. The small patch of produce he was currently growing was barely big enough to feed himself, much less sell to make a profit.

“How are you still here?” I asked. “All the other farms we passed were empty.”

The farmer shrugged his shoulders. “Farming is my life. Without it, I…”

He shrugged his shoulders once again and it was only then that I noticed how baggy and loose his clothing was. He was wasting away, struggling to survive.

“Is this because of the increased rent?” I asked.

The farmer nodded. “Yes. But I understand. The economy isn’t good, and we all have to struggle for a little while until it improves.”

He gave me a toothy grin, but he must have known the truth—the economy was booming and there was always demand for the kind of quality food he grew. It was only because of Ges’ harsh new rules that he was struggling the way he was.

Rayaw thumped his fist to his chest and bowed his head in the traditional Ulsen greeting. “I’m sorry for your difficulties,” he said. “But I can assure you they will not continue any longer. Can you show me your farm? It looks beautiful. I’d like to learn as much about farming as I can.”

Acis’ eyes brightened, and in that instant, I saw the same excited energy he’d sported since I’d known him.

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