Page 44 of Rule

She gave me an anxious smile and I had tostop myself from reaching out to stroke her soft cheek. Instead, I said, “You areimportant to him and he will treat you well.”

Even though I didn’t know the king, I wasn’tlying. Draax loved the little human females. They were special and precious,and if a Draax was lucky enough to have a female for breeding purposes, theydid everything they could to convince the female to mate with them permanently.

But would he be patient with her? Therewere many human females who were nervous around us, Bran and I had spent enoughtime at human bars on Earth to know that, but this human’s fear went beyondthat. Would the king recognize that Evelyn’s fear of us was not normal and dowhat he could to make her feel safe?

That I didn’t know.

“Do you have family?” Bran asked.

“My mom died when I was a baby, so I don’t rememberher,” Evie said. “My father remarried when I was seven to a woman who had ason only a few years older than me. But then my dad died in a work accident whenI was twelve and my stepmother died a few years ago. I lived with mystepbrother before I came here.”

“What did you do for work?” I asked.

“I worked a few odd jobs at retail stores,”Evelyn said. “Alex, that’s my stepbrother, didn’t like it when I worked.”

“Why?” Bran asked.

She shrugged and stared down at her glass ofjuice. “I don’t know.”

“What did your stepbrother do for work?” Iasked.

Evelyn looked extremely uncomfortable. “Hedid different jobs.”

“Like what?” I persisted.

She hesitated, her cheeks colouring. “Hewas in the, um, pharmaceutical business.”

“Were you close to him?” Bran asked.

“No,” Evelyn said. A look crossed herface, disgust with a hint of fear in it. “I didn’t like him very much,actually.”

For a moment, I wondered if it was this Alexwho had beaten her before I dismissed it. Not only was he her brother and itwas his duty to protect her, but females were precious. A human male would be afool to injure one in such a manner. The little human would have died from herinjuries if not for the gallberry juice.

Someone hurt her, Court. You saw the footprintshaped bruise on her side. Do you believe another female did that to her?

“What illness did you have that made you jointhe breeding program?” Bran asked.

“Oh, um, I wasn’t sick,” Evelyn said.

Bran gave her a curious look. “But yousaid you did not care for your brother.”

“Step-brother, and I didn’t. He wasn’tsick either.”

“Then why did you join the breeding program?”I asked.

“My neighbour’s child was very sick with adisease called cystic fibrosis.”

“That is a curable disease on Earth, is itnot?” Bran said.

“Yes, but Candy was a lower like me and couldn’tafford the earth medicine that would cure her son. I joined the breedingprogram and got the juice for him.”

Bran was giving her a shocked look. “Youjoined the lifetime breeding program for a neighbour?”

“Candy is a very good friend and her childwas dying,” Evelyn said defensively.

“Still, you can never return to Earth,human,” Bran said. “The king will not allow his queen to return even for visits.”

“I know,” Evelyn said.

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