“My cubs?”
Someone’s hand covered my own, cool against the warmth of my skin.
“They are perfectly fine, Selena. You have nothing to worry about.” Chyox’s voice soothed from my bedside. I calmed as the cool hand squeezed mine.
“Where is Xylo? Odelm? The princes? Are they all right?” My voice cracked, mouth dry.
“Xylo and Odelm have not left your side. They’re asleep next to you. I ordered for them to be sedated when they started to become unreasonable and aggressive.” Kaede’s voice was clipped. “The princes? They’re lucky no harm came to you, or they’d be fertilizer for this rust bucket’s terrarium.”
“Kaede—”
“No. I did not want to make any sweeping changes as long as you were safe and things proceeded smoothly aboard ship. But the princes’ stunt not only sent half the crew into hysterics, they also put you in harm's way. This ship is mine until we arrive at CEG HQ.”
Carefully pulling my arm away from my eyes, I squinted as I scanned the room. Chyox nodded and released my hand before walking away. My gaze landed on Kaede, who stood at my bedside with his arms crossed. Usthu and Ayces hovered behind him with nervous looks on their faces. Both Chyox and Ayces had morphed to a sickly yellow interspersed with orange.
“You’re being unreasonable, Kaede. This was not their fault. It was mine.”
“It’s a good thing you aren’t in charge of me. Be angry with me if you want, but I’m going to prevent anything else happening to you, even if that means I stop giving you space and follow you everywhere.”
“You can’t wrap me in cotton wool. It was an accident!” I yelled in anger.
“Just like bonding yourself to Xylo was!” he snapped back.
I opened my mouth in shock.
I couldn’t believe Kaede had just said that. He clearly didn’t trust my judgment nor care about my opinion. Had I been right after all? Was I supposed to be some brainless puppet—a piece of property to be traded from one master to another? Was he just another prison guard ensuring delivery to a new master by whatever means necessary?
I sucked in a shaking breath as my eyes welled with furious tears of betrayal. Using both hands, I wiped my eyes.
“Get out.”
“Selena—”
“I said get out!”
“Selena, I’m stepping outside. Once you calm down and come to your senses, I’ll return to talk to you,” Kaede said in a controlled voice.
The sound of retreating footsteps, followed by the doors opening and closing filled the room.
The room was silent as I angrily worked to stop my tears. I sucked in several deep breaths, staring at the ceiling, rubbing my pregnant belly with my hands.
I glanced at the healers, who watched me in shock from the end of my bed. They were clearly uncomfortable with my outburst. Not that I particularly cared. Kaede had been out of line.
I sighed. “I apologize for losing my temper.”
Ayces and Usthu looked at Chyox, who responded, “Things have been... hectic since we discovered the three of you, unresponsive. Kaede took over and straightened the crew out. but the three of you unconscious—it caused a lot of problems.”
A groan sounded to my right. Looking over, I noticed the princes in their own beds, waking. The healers rushed to their side to ask how they felt, rambling medical terms.
I turned my head to the left to give them what little privacy the infirmary allowed. My gaze fell on Xylo and Odelm in the bed next to me. They looked like they had been haphazardly thrown there together, arms and legs akimbo, vines and tentacles tangled.
I bit my lip to stop a chuckle. They looked adorable, and the mingling of all their varied colors against the whiteness of the infirmary bed reminded me of some of the abstract art I had seen during my studies of Earth culture. It made me wish I could get a picture of them to look at later.
Then I sobered.
There had clearly been a lot of problems caused by our visit to my dreamscape, and they clearly had not been minor if they necessitated sedating Xylo and Odelm. They must have been traumatized.
“Can someone tell me why my nestmates had to be sedated?”
