Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Lomax

M adison laughed. “Well, it’s not exactly castle gossip, but it is important information to have. As I mentioned, my name is Madison, and I’m mated to Krey, but I’m not in the breeding program. I’m one of two advisors to King Quillan.”

I blinked at her. “You work for the king? How is that possible?”

“Well, it’s a long story, but I used to mediate for the Coalition. I was sent here to help King Quillan with some issues. I helped resolve those issues, and the king asked me to stay as his advisor. Considering I had already fallen in love with Krey, it was an easy yes.”

“That’s cool that the king is willing to have a woman work for him,” I said. “Normally, they’re just all about stuffing babies into us.”

Madison laughed again. “They are keen for us to have their babies, that’s true, but here in the western province, we do things a little differently. This isn’t widely known, so we’ll ask you to keep this to yourself when you return to Earth. Queen Sabrina has started a work program for women here in the castle.”

“A work program,” I repeated.

“Yes. She offers lowers who apply to the breeding program to join the work program instead. They’re given a year long contract and work here in the castle. They’re given a free place to stay in the castle and as much food and gallberry juice as they want. They’re paid a wage, and at the end of their contract, they return to Earth with the money they’ve earned.”

“Wow,” I said. “I had no idea this existed.”

“Very few people do,” Madison said. “It’s still in its first year, and the queen wants to ensure it’s successful before involving the Coalition. She is, however, speaking with the other kings about implementing a work program in their provinces.”

“Are they interested?”

“All but the eastern king,” she said.

“What kind of jobs do they do?” I asked.

“Right now, it’s mostly housekeeping, cooking, and gardening, but Sabrina is looking to expand the program by offering training to the women to increase their knowledge base and work skills. Once the program moves outside the castle, women could get jobs working in various areas.”

“Okay, but do you really think the Draax will go for that?” I asked. “They don’t want us working. They just want us to have their babies. I’m surprised they even agreed to this.”

“Women in the program can leave it and mate with a Draax if they fall in love,” Madison said.

“Ah,” I said, “there’s the catch.”

“It’s not a catch,” Madison said patiently. “Women in the work program are not required to mate with a Draax. If they want to, they can, but the Draax working and living in the castle know that the women are not here for breeding purposes. But if a woman in the work program and a Draax fall in love, we won’t stop them from being together. And with every woman that falls in love voluntarily and leaves the program, that’s another space for a lower suffering on Earth.”

“That’s a good point,” I said. “But you’re sure they’re not just brought into the work program to trick them into being breeders?”

“Positive,” Madison said. “Look, I was skeptical when I first arrived here, but I’ve seen firsthand how much it helps the women and how respectful the Draax are to them. No one is forced to do anything they don’t want to do. I promise.”

“Sorry for being so cynical,” I said.

“I get it,” Madison said. “Like I said, I was cynical too. But I’ve worked for the king for nearly two months now, and he values and respects my opinion more than any human male I’ve ever worked for. Are there some Draax who won’t agree with the program and only want women to be breeders? Sure, but that’s not any different from men on Earth, right?”

“Right,” I said.

“I know your interactions with the Draax haven’t been the most pleasant, but they -”

“They were fine,” I said quickly. “They didn’t make me do anything I wasn’t already offering to do, and they were always… nice to me.”

“Good,” she said with noticeable relief. “I want to review some information and rules with you while you’re at the palace. As you know, there is a terrible storm outside. Because of that, you cannot leave the castle. You will die if you go out in it, Lomax. These aren’t like Earth snowstorms.”

“I’m not planning on leaving,” I said.

“There aren’t any specifically off-limit areas within the castle, but we ask you to avoid the docking bay. Mostly because the docking bay has a lot of large equipment and ships, which can be dangerous.”

“I’ll stay away from it,” I said.

“The castle has a dining hall that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It opens at six am and closes at seven pm. Most Draax in the castle eat their meals there. However, if you prefer to cook your own, you can. The kitchen is open daily from one pm to three pm for you to stop in and grocery shop for your apartment.”

“I’m not much for cooking,” I said, “especially food I have no idea how to prepare.”

“The king’s guard train every day. Again, while you’re not specifically banned from the training room, we encourage women not to be in there unless assigned to clean it. The Draax find us,” Madison paused, “distracting and are injured more often if women are watching them train.”

“Okay, that’s kind of adorable,” I said.

Madison laughed. “Yes and no. They train with real swords and don’t hold back. Sometimes there’s so much blood, the training room floor looks like a Jackson Pollock painting.”

“Yikes,” I said.

“Sigan mentioned they only brought your purse with you and nothing else,” Madison said.

“Yeah, but I’m not complaining because he had more important things to think about, like keeping my heart beating,” I said.

Madison smiled. “I’m glad he was there to help you, Lomax. We have some clothing shops in the city, but we can’t go out to get you any because of the storm. If you give me your clothing sizes, I’ll chat with some of the other women in the castle and see if we can lend you some clothing to borrow while you’re here.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that,” I said.

“Of course. Do you have your phone with you?” she asked.

“I do,” I said.

“Great. I’ll get Bitta to add you to the castle network. I’ll text you a castle map if you give me your number.”

“A map?” I laughed. “How big is this place that I need a map?”

“It’s large,” Madison said. “I have a good sense of direction, and it still took me a couple of weeks to learn my way around. Trust me, you’ll need the map.”

“Okay,” I said and recited my number to her.

She added it to her phone. “Because of the storm, communication with Earth isn’t possible. I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to tell friends and family where you are until the storm passes.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t really have friends anymore, and both my parents are dead from cancer.”

“I’m sorry,” Madison said. “So many of the lowers are affected by cancer, and it isn’t fair.”

“Oh, we were middles. My mom and dad had cushy office jobs in buildings with filtered air, but,” I shrugged, “it didn’t matter. My mom died first of lung cancer, and my dad died two years later of pancreatic cancer. A year after that, I found out I had aortic valve disease. I was a middle with a good job, but I still couldn’t afford the juice. The disease progressed quicker than they expected, and once it started affecting my work, I was let go for what they called budgetary reasons. Truthfully though, they didn’t want to pay my health insurance anymore or deal with the potential hassle of me dropping dead at the office.”

“Jesus, I’m so sorry,” Madison said. “What did you do for a living?”

“I was a supervisor at one of California's largest gallberry juice shipping depots,” I said.

“So, that’s why you have a translator,” Madison said.

I nodded. “It was a job requirement. Anyway, I dropped from middle to lower in the blink of an eye. All the people I’d thought were my friends stopped calling when I became a dying lower, and I had to move out of my apartment into a much shittier one and work at a convenience store. I barely made enough money to pay rent and buy food, let alone pay for my medication, so that’s when I started fucking the Draax for juice.”

“I’m sorry you had to do that,” Madison said.

I shrugged. “There are people who have it worse than me. And, hey, look at me now, right? Totally healed because I happened to meet Sigan.”

I paused and then said, “Sigan didn’t ask me to fuck him for juice. I want to make that clear. He didn’t break any rules. I offered to fuck him, but he said he didn’t exchange sex for juice, and he thinks I’m ugly.”

Madison sighed. “Please tell me he didn’t say that to you.”

I laughed. “Not in those exact words.”

“Oh God,” Madison said. “Sigan is great but one of the blunter Draax in the castle.”

“I like him a lot,” I said, “and not just because he saved my life.”

“Sigan will be by this afternoon to inject you with an identification/tracking chip,” Madison said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Every female who comes to Draax receives an identification tracking chip either from the Coalition or the Draax,” Madison said. “It’s a part of the peace treaty between the humans and the Draax, even for women who come here voluntarily. It’s for your safety, and it is, unfortunately, not an optional thing.”

“Okay,” I said.

Madison smiled. “One last thing. How do you know Regan?”

“I don’t, not really,” I said. “He was in the bar the last couple of nights, but I didn’t speak with him. He was too… grumpy looking and super drunk.”

Madison gave me a startled look. “Regan was drunk?”

“Wasted,” I said. “I’ve never seen a Draax drink before, but he was definitely drunk. He could barely walk straight and was, like, making out with chicks right there in the bar. Anyway, this guy saw Sigan give me a bunch of juice, and when I left the bar, he grabbed me and threw me into an alley. He was choking me and slapping me around and trying to steal the juice. Next thing I know, the giant grumpy drunk Draax from the bar is in the alley looking all pissed off and telling the guy to leave me alone.”

I took a deep breath, guilt making my stomach churn. “The guy shot him four times before Regan stabbed him with his sword. I think Regan’s reflexes were maybe slower because he was drunk. I gave Regan the juice to help heal him, but it wasn’t enough. He said I couldn’t ask another Draax for help because if his king found out he was in California, he’d be imprisoned for life.”

I cleared my throat. “Hey, you aren’t going to tell his king he was there, are you? Regan saved my life, and I don’t want him going to prison because of it.”

“No,” Madison said, “we won’t tell King Eastolf that Regan was in California.”

“Good,” I said with relief.

“Why did you give him the juice that Sigan gave you?” Madison asked.

“He saved my life,” I said. “I didn’t want him to die because of that.”

“Giving him that juice nearly killed you,” she said. “You would have died if Sigan hadn’t known how to do CPR. Hell, you did die. Twice.”

“I know,” I said.

Madison stared at me for a few seconds more before she stood. “I think that’s it for now. Please stay in your apartment until Sigan has implanted your tracking chip. Once he has, you’re free to leave your apartment and explore. Keep in mind that the Draax will flirt with you and try to convince you to sleep with them.”

I laughed. “They’ll stop flirting when they find out I’m breeding incompatible.”

“You’d be surprised,” Madison said. “There are more Draax than you’d think who want a mate but not necessarily children.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

She nodded and glanced at her tablet when it buzzed. “I have to head to my next meeting. I’ll text you the map. Text me with your clothing sizes and any questions, okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

“It was nice to meet you,” Madison said, letting herself out of my apartment.

I sat back in my chair, studying the food in front of me and then my tiny apartment as a feeling washed over me that took me a minute to recognize.

Happiness. I was happy.