apologised for his behaviour and the Queen had offered him beverage. Now that she had made him feel comfortable he was willing to go with me to my chambers although I didn’t quite understand the purpose of this when we had plenty of room in the maid’s quarters. Still, I didn’t question my orders and now that his attitude had changed and those blue eyes of his had gone from a fire-filled rage to a clam settled state I was willing to learn more about this Kevin and his species in general. “Your Queen sure knows how to throw a punch.” He spoke out as we entered the long-line of rooms which made my home within the temple. I didn’t quite get what he was trying to say or ask me but I assumed it had something to do with our fighting ability and specifically directed towards the move that the Queen had used to escape his grasp. “We are all trained in combat from a young age, including the Queen. You have to learn how to fight to protect this place from men.” He made an odd, laughing noise as if I’d said something funny as I threw my rags onto the bed; leaving only my fur bra and fur shorts on – things I’d made myself from successful hunts. “And what’s so bad about men?” His question was stupid, how could he not know of his own kind? Did I need to educate the man on his species or was he just trying to trick me? As I turned to face him I noticed a change in his attitude, suddenly he looked onto my body with a different expression running across his face. His eyes widened and lowered from matching my own, dark eyes. His mouth form a smile as his body began to tense, I knew what these signs were of and I had absolutely zero interest in preforming a mating ritual with this fiend. “No.” I reminded him of the abilities we possessed and matched the red mark on the right side of his face with a blow to the left, possibly even more forceful than that of our Queen. I must’ve smacked the man too hard seeing as he fell back onto the ground, he was out cold within seconds – men were so fragile. He spent the entire day and night curled up on the ground whispering to himself about whatever it was that he left behind. I didn’t know how he came to be here or why but our laws clearly stated that men weren’t allowed to live after seeing this place as they would go back and lead others here to take over. We knew how they worked, their first for power and dominance outweighed that of sense or reason. Still, there was something odd about Kevin – or at least something wrong with me. I found myself covering him with fur blankets and a smile breaching my face as he turned to thank me in a half-dazed state. Idiot. The man… Kevin, began working for us the next day. He never mentioned why or how he came here but the Queen trusted him so the island kept quiet about his distinct differences, not just him being male but his paleness as-well. Only those who had left had seen his skin tone before but for the rest of us we found it odd; it just made him stand out all the more. “Please, tell me there’s a reason for this. We’re going against years of tradition.” I found myself mid-argument with the Queen before I knew it. I was shouting, screaming and raging about her decision, not that I wanted the man to be brutally murdered after realizing he was of no harm so long as he was under watch but I wanted answers as to why he was here in the first place or at least why the Queen didn’t question him further. “There is Azura, there’s a reason for everything – don’t you know that yet?” I was silenced by my superior as she kept that calm and collective smile painted on but her eyes glistened with a scheme. “You saw the way he was. He could’ve ripped my throat out before anyone of you could save me. There’s no need for bloodshed. We’ll kill him when the time is right and before then he might be of use.” Of use? I didn’t get what she meant, how could this man be of any use to us. “I’ve