Page 8 of The Alien Noble's Little Human

I know what it’s like to be sick at that age. To have all the ‘best’ doctors unable to help you. You can feel so alone, like everyone has left you to suffer. But, for this little girl, I hope I can be the savior I never got.

Taurek looks me up and down for a moment. I can’t tell if it’s that he’s still trying to make his mind up about whether I’m fit to examine his child or whether he’s toying with the idea of distracting himself from his daughter’s illness with a human piece of ass. Or both.

“Yes. I just want to make sure there’s no contamination. Now that you’re in Mountain Kingdom garb, there’s less of a worry.”

“Prince Taurek,” I say. “You summoned me here. So, let me help.”

Taurek takes a deep breath and leads me to Hanai’s wing. One of his huge Kiphian arms swings up to show me the way, and I’m stunned by the sheer size of his biceps. He could probably lift the royal shuttle I came in.

I follow his directions and eventually find myself in his daughter’s room, feeling slightly breathless next to him for some reason.

This child’s bedroom is larger than some homes back at the village, but instead of feeling anger, I feel a strange depletion. Even with all of these luxuries, this child is not safe from illness. Even with all of the resources this royal family has, they haven’t found a treatment that works.

She’s so slight, I’m not even sure at first if there’s someone in the bed. Then an adorable Kiphian girl shyly looks up at me. Her eyes reveal the struggle of just staying awake. Just behind the exhaustion in her eyes, I see fear. The doctors who came before me must have really done a number on her.

I take a knee next to her, and I try my best to ignore the absurdly soft blanket that brushes against my arm. It’s more difficult to ignore the brooding, intimidating, nearly seven-foot-tall Kiphian who doesn’t take his eyes off me.

The little girl rolls onto her side to face away from me. Her breathing is rapid and nervous. I look back and see Prince Taurek lording over me, a glare on his face.

“Hello, my name is Zaya. Do you want to tell me your name?”

She stays quiet. But her breathing has slowed a little bit.

“Her name is –” Taurek starts to talk, but I hold my hand up to silence him. Obviously, I already know her name. But if I show up already knowing that, to her I’ll just be another doctor.

To my surprise, he follows my order.

“Those doctors who talked to you before were pretty scary, huh?”

She rolls over enough to look at me out of the corner of her eye. She simply nods.

“Well, don’t worry. I’m not like those doctors.”

“How?” She rolls over fully to look at me. Her breathing slows a little bit.

“You tell me what you didn’t like about those doctors, and I’ll show you how I’m different.” Behind me, I hear Taurek shifting his weight.

“They poked me with needles.”

“They did? That was rude of them.” I stand up and give her a twirl. “Do you see any needles?” I kneel back down.

“They talked really loudly…”

“I’ve never yelled in my life,” I whisper. She laughs, cracking the first smile I’ve seen from anyone since arriving here.

I listen to the way the laughing affects her breath and notice she doesn’t have the energy for it. It strains her, and it takes her a long time to catch her breath to even speak.

“And the things that they said were really scary. The things they wanted to do. They wanted to cut me open. To take away my blood. To put me beside a volcano.”

“That would scare me, too. I don’t have anything that would let me do that. You can search me.”

“They made me nervous. The way they talked about me. Like I was a dead body and not a live girl.”

“I promise I’ll do my best not to make you nervous. I’m nervous, too!”

“You’re nervous?” A playful disbelief enters her voice. I’m warmed to see this energy from her.

“Of course, I am!” I over-exaggeratedly look around to check if anyone is watching. “Can I tell you a secret? You can’t tell anyone.”

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