Free Royal Heiress by Ruth Ann Nordin Page B

going to treat you with the respect that men on
Raz will. This is a different planet, and there are different rules
here. Mom warned us of these things. Weren’t you listening?”
    “But I’m the Queen of Raz. I can defend
myself if I need to.”
    “You’d be surprised at how quickly things can
get bad,” Pallid warned. “Sometimes events catch you off guard and
you’re not able to react in time. Bad things do happen, even to the
Queen of Raz. You must proceed with caution.”
    “I have been trained to fight since I was a
little girl. I won’t be caught off guard,” Amanda replied.
    “I seriously doubt that.”
    “I don’t think I like you,” she decided,
crossing her arms.
    “Did I ask you to?” He waved aside her reply
before she could make it. “My job is to save Earth from possible
destruction, and the Augurs told me you were a part of that. If
what I hope to do can prevent the fact that you have to be here,
then that’s all the better.” He turned his back to her and began
walking.
    “What do you mean by that?” she asked. “What
are you planning?”
    “Something to keep you off guard,” he
replied.
    Katherine laughed.
    “What is so funny?” Amanda demanded.
    “For the first time in your life, you finally
met someone you can’t win over by your good looks and charm,” she
said.
    Katherine and Jake walked past her so they
could keep up with Pallid.
    “Wait for me!” Amanda cried when she realized
they were willing to leave her by herself in the busy city. She
quickly ran up to them.
    “Jake, would you mind doing me a favor?”
Pallid asked.
    “What is it?” he wondered.
    “Would you ask someone what today’s date is?
I need to know what day and year it is so I can recall what
happened at this time in history.”
    “That’s simple enough,” Jake replied.
    Pallid slowed down long enough for him to ask
an attractive young woman the date.
    She smiled widely at Jake as she told
him.
    Pallid heard the woman tell Jake it was the
28th day of the month of Zeus, 1588 in the year of Atlantis. As she
was still talking to Jake, Pallid’s attention shifted to a group of
women who were pointing to Katherine. Uh oh. This meant
trouble.
    “I’ll be right back,” he told Amanda and
Katherine.
    They didn’t say anything as he walked up to
the group of women. “Greetings, ladies. I noticed you’ve taken an
interest in my friend. Perhaps I can ease your curiosity?”
    The five women looked startled he’d actually
confronted him, so he gave them time to recover.
    “We don’t mean to be rude, Infer,” a brunette
said after clearing her throat. “We were wondering if that poor
unfortunate woman with the green dress has had a chance to receive
beautification treatments?”
    “It’s not that we’re saying she’s ugly,”
another brunette clarified. “We just want to maintain our standards
of perfection here.”
    Pallid glanced at Katherine. She was pretty,
but she wasn’t up to their standards. He already knew Jake and
Amanda were adequate. How he wished he had thought to cover
Katherine’s face.
    “Plastic surgery might work well,” the woman
suggested.
    “My friend is not a resident of this city,”
he quickly assured them. “She is merely a visitor who will be here
no longer than a couple of days. I will find a veil for her and
cover her face as soon as I get to a clothing store.”
    “A beautification treatment might help her
anyway. That way when she returns to her home, she will be much
happier.”
    “The poor thing really needs it,” another
woman added.
    “I will make the suggestion to her and let
her make the decision,” he lied. “And thank you, ladies, for your
concern for her. I’m sure she will appreciate it.”
    They seemed pleased with his words, so they
left.
    He breathed a sigh of relief. He walked back
to Jake, Katherine and Amanda.
    “What was that about?” Amanda asked. “Were
those women trying to get you to have sex with them?”
    “No,” he replied.