The dining hall of the Baron is much homier than I expected. Yeah, it’s still large, with an equally massive table, but compared to what I’ve seen in fiction, it’s almost modest. I sit to the right of the Baron, with Lenn next to me. On the other side of the small insect boy sits Jack with a slight frown. I think he wanted to sit next to me. 

Across from me is the Baron’s wife. Her hair is bright red, more crimson than the red hair I’m familiar with. On the other side of her sits a boy around the age of sixteen, and a small girl that looks about six. The boy has the mother’s bright red hair, while the girl has her father’s black. I try to smile at them, but the boy just glares at me, and the girl goes pale. 

That’s… fair. I’m pretty frightening looking now. 

Suddenly the doors into the room open, and around twenty maids stream in with platters of food. They place them on the table, serving plates to each of us. Then, oddly, they also pile our plates full of food as well. 

The Baron beams at me. “I’m excited to see what you think of our food. I’m not sure if you’ve able to try many different human foods, but these are among my favorites.” His words are genuine sounding, and he’s smiling at me, but I can’t really tell without being able to smell past his stupid perfume. 

I give him a polite grin, moving my mandibles slightly. I’m sure I’ve had better food than this, growing up on Earth with all the modern food. But I’ll let him think what he wants. Looking down at the plate, I notice what looks like pork, and mashed potatoes. …Is this actually medieval Europe? As I pick up a fork to take a bite, a problem arises.

Can I really eat in front of all these people? I’m sure my mouth parts look really gross when they’re manipulating food. And I’m not talking about just my mandibles, all the smaller bits are totally visible when I’m chewing. I’m pulled from my thoughts by an odd sight next to me. 

Glancing at Lenn, I see him grabbing the slab of meat on his plate with his bare hands, and start ripping it apart with his mouth. As I watch I see all the little pieces moving in concert, shoveling the food into his maw. 

Embarrassed for my kid, I glance at the humans at the table. The little girl is even paler than before, and looks kind of sick. The boy… he looks intrigued. Maybe it’s a teen boy thing? The mother is looking on in horror, her face turning a bit red. As for the Baron… He’s totally unbothered, eating his own food as he watches Lenn in amusement. 

“Lenn!” I say with my pheromones. The kid glances at me, stopping his eating momentarily. “Use the silverware please… Watch.” Picking up the fork and knife, I cut apart the pork, and raise the piece to my mouth. Moving my mandibles apart slightly, I slip the meat inside. As the food is pushed into my gut, my brain starts heating up. 

Meat! Real meat! Not just fruit. Oh god, I’ve missed meat, I haven’t had it since before getting kidnapped. My eyes start tearing up as I quickly shovel more into my mouth. 

“P-princess, are you alright?” the Baron asks nervously. 

I nod, swallowing what’s in my mouth. “It’s… been a long time since I’ve had meat, ” I confess. Having answered his question, I go back to shoveling the food down my gullet. It doesn’t take long for me to finish the plateful, and I slowly look towards Jack’s. 

“No way! This is mine!” the elf says selfishly. I glare at him, disappointed in his unwillingness to share. 

The Baron laughs. “Princess, I can just get you another plate.” I look at the man, hope rising within me. He flags down a maid, who piles another steak onto my plate. 

As I start chewing through my second meat slice, the Baron’s wife speaks up. 

“So… Princess, why did you come here?” she asks weirdly, her tone strange. Her scent is also covered by perfume, so I can’t tell her mood. 

I can smell Jack’s though, and he suddenly becomes hostile. I glance at him, and see that his jaw is clenched. What’s up? Did she say something bad? 

I glance over at the redheaded woman. “Well… this was the closest town to my hive, so I thought I’d visit.” I shrug, that’s really all there was to it. Although I did hope there wouldn’t be humans. 

The woman gives a smile so fake that even I can see through it. “Oh, so your hive is nearby?” she asks, again her tone strange. Is she trying to get the location of my home? Why? 

I nod. “Yes, it’s nearby.” I don’t elaborate, in case she is fishing for its location. For whatever reason. 

“Well I’m glad that Lex found you safe, with how unique you look. It’s lucky no one attacked you.” She smiles, this time with a malicious glint. “That would’ve been terrible.”

“Martha!” the Baron yells. “That’s enough!” He glances at me, worried. “Please excuse my wife, she hasn’t had much… exposure… to non-humans.” 

The woman hmphs at that, and stares at her food. 

I loudly gnash my mandibles together, causing the woman to jump. “That’s fine, since I am half human, as that was my race,” I say with a cheerful tone I don’t mean. 

Martha glares at her food, clearly done with whatever she was trying to do. I lock eyes with the Baron, who’s looking at me with barely concealed fear. I buzz, done with this nonsense already. 

“Can you talk?” The kid asks Lenn. I think his name was Kevin? 

Lenn glances at the child, still chewing his steak. Putting the meat down, he stares at the boy with his large eyes. 

“Yes,” Lenn says flatly. He immediately goes back to his steak, chewing it aggressively. His mouth really isn’t meant to cut up meat, and he’s obviously struggling. 

Kevin looks the insect child over, curiosity still burning in his eyes. “Are you really a person? Or just some kind of trained monster?” 

My plate shatters as I push down too hard with my knife. What the fuck did he just ask? I look up at the kid, ready to verbally rip him apart, when Lenn cuts me off. 

“Yes, I’m a person. I’m Mother’s son,” he says simply, going back to eating. 

The kid, having been answered and now frightened of me, goes back to silently eating. Martha glares at me even harder than before. I look over at the Baron, to see how he’s going to react.

The Baron is frozen in place, fork halfway to his mouth. His face is totally white, his eyes locked on his son in total disbelief. I think he might’ve had a heart attack. 

I buzz in annoyance. “Baron, I think it’s time for us to get going.” As I stand up to leave, Jack and Lenn follow suit. Belatedly, so does the Baron. 

“B-before you leave, can I have a word with you in private, Princess Mantis?” he asks nervously. It must be serious, he broke out my last name. 

I nod, walking out of the dining hall. Once outside the suffocating atmosphere, I click contentedly at my full stomach. 

“Go ahead, boys, I’ll meet you outside.” I wave off Jack and Lenn, so the Baron can say whatever he needs to. Both of them look like they want to argue, but they leave without a word. 

Meeting the Baron’s gaze, I cross all four of my arms. “So, what do you need?” 

The noble sweeps his hair back anxiously. “First, I want to apologize for my family.” 

“Don’t bother,” I cut him off. “Although you should probably educate your heir.” 

The man grimaces, nodding in agreement. “I hate to admit you’re right.” He sighs loudly. “Well, what I wanted to say is that, I’d like to make an agreement with you.” 

“What is it?” I ask warily.

He meets my gaze, his nerves showing clearly. “I’d like to have a pact of nonaggression with you, in return I’d give you a monthly shipment of our town’s meat. You seemed to really enjoy that.” 

I blink, confused. “Non Aggression?” 

The Baron nods. “I think I’d feel much more comfortable knowing that we have a formal agreement.” 

…Huh. Attacking his town never even entered my mind. Why would I? Out of anger or something? For food or wealth? Let my kids get hurt over something so stupid? …Should I just tell him that? 

On the other hand, a monthly meat supply for agreeing to do something I was going to do anyways… 

“Alright.” I nod at the man, whose frame sags in relief. “I’ll have to collect several months' worth later, because we won’t be able to collect it for that long.” 

The Baron nods. “Of course, Princess, that’s totally fine.” His eyes flicker over my body. “Also, keep the clothes. They were intended to be a gift from the start.” He gives me a grin. 

I look down at myself, seeing the beautiful dress. I honestly forgot I was wearing it. 

“Alright. Good night, Baron,” I say politely. 

He gives me a slight bow. “Goodnight, Princess Mantis.”

────────────

 

After an exhausting flight back to the hive, I stand on top of the mound that marks the entrance. Looking down into the pit, I see the cap I put over the entrance way earlier in the day. Not having the patience, or the brainpower to figure out how to remove it, I give it a good kick. 

The hardened soil explodes, brightly combusting in the dark of the night. The hot air rushes up and out of the tunnel, shooting up into the sky. 

“Oops…” I grumble, my mandibles scraping in irritation. Feeling especially cranky, I just jump down the shaft. 

Plummeting thirty feet, I land with a hard thud. Immediately I lurch forward on wobbly feet, heading straight into my chamber. As quickly as I can, I remove the dress I’m wearing, leaving only the underwear on. Totally wiped, I lay down on the scraps of what’s left of the tent. As soon as I get comfortable, I feel my abdomen shift. 

Pushing myself up with my arms, I watch as my tail moves around erratically around. Eventually the stinger cracks open, rapidly depositing ten eggs onto the ground. The feeling is… exciting. If I wasn’t so tired, I’d probably be getting pretty hot and bothered. 

“Jaaaack,” I creak. The elf quickly peeks his head in, and spots the white orbs laying in front of me. 

“Ah…” He glances over his shoulder, clumsily asking for help silently with pheromones. He comes into the room, carefully picking up several eggs. Not long after, Lenn comes in and does the same. The two of them quickly move all the eggs into the nursery, and out of my room. 

After relocating my new clutch, Jack comes back into the chamber. He sits down next to me, clearly wanting to talk. God, I’m so tired, though.

“Hey, Cerci… How’d you learn to act like that?” he says quietly. 

I raise an eyebrow. “What are you even asking? Is this some kind of insult?” 

The elf rapidly shakes his head. “No, I’m serious. How’d you act so confident in front of those nobles today?” 

I blink blankly. “What?” 

“How’d you act so calm in front of those nobles?” he repeats. 

“Chk chk chk…” I chuckle. “Are you kidding?”

He shakes his head. 

“Uh…” I say, confused. “I’m not sure if you know this, but they’re just people.” 

Jack glares at me. “Yeah, really powerful people.” 

I shrug. “What does that matter? They’re still just people.” I tap my fingers against my carapace, trying to keep myself level. “Apparently pretty racist people too, at least the wife.” 

Anger flares off Jack’s skin. “Yeah, I wanted to say something, but the atmosphere was so oppressive I couldn’t get the words out.” He chuckles sadly. “I thought you were gonna kill that kid, though.” 

I buzz angrily. “Yeah, I was about to explode on him. But Lenn took control and I didn’t want to undermine him.” I shrug. “The Baron wasn’t too pleased about it, so maybe the brat will grow up to be better.” 

Jack snorts. “Right.” 

I flick his arm playfully. “You better hope so, he’s the heir. And I don’t know if you realize this, but we’re immortal.” 

Jack’s eyes go wide. “What?!” 

I smirk. “Right, so we better hope he turns out alright. Because unless we move the hive, we’ll be dealing with him… and his descendants.” My goal of freaking out Jack accomplished, I lay back down. 

“Cerci, you can’t just say that and then go to sleep,” he says desperately.

“Oh, I beg to differ,” I say snidely. 

And then I slip into dreamland.