My Wild Pet (Whispers from the Imperial Cage #2)

Chapter 64

CHAPTER 64

Briar

I’ve never been so nervous. I’m standing next to Gabriel in the waiting area. We’re up next to compete in the last challenge, The Eternal Convergence. There are four other pet pairs left and we are in the lead from the qualifying rounds. But there’s still a chance we could lose. The points awarded in the final round are much higher, because the stakes and the risk to our lives are also higher.

Then there is the Bond Breaker Challenge for extra UCs. Gabriel promises me that if we have to do the Bond Breaker, he won’t make the same mistake as last year, citing our strong connection as the difference.

But it's not like we have a choice. If we win the Grand Championships, it will be up to Aefre to decide whether we compete in the Bond Breaker. It wasn’t just Gabriel who was broken by Fifi dying last year. I don’t think even Aefre knows what his decision will be until we reach that point.

A wave of nausea rolls over me. I grip Gabriel’s arm for support and then run out of the waiting area to the bathroom. All the toilets are busy so I stand over a sink and barely manage to steady myself before I vomit.

My throat burns as I try to catch my breath. The sink automatically removes the waste. Then I rinse my mouth and splash water on my face. I look closely at my reflection in the mirror. I look pale. But I’m not surprised given the circumstances.

As I step out of the bathroom, a small group of human female pets are gathered near the entrance. One of them, a tall woman with auburn hair braided neatly down her back, tilts her head at me. “You’re doing really well for someone in your condition.”

I blink, confused. “What?”

Another pet, a shorter woman with dark eyes and a knowing smirk, raises her hand and makes a rounded motion over her stomach—a gesture that needs no words.

My heart stops.

“No,” I say automatically, shaking my head. “I’m not?—.”

The auburn-haired woman shrugs. “If you say so.”

The image of the holographic child from the Garden of Shadows flashes in my mind. A child with golden curls with ombre pink tips, and piercing green eyes … Could it be real? It’s ridiculous to think our child would look like that, a perfect blend of us, including my artificially pink hair. But what if there’s a child growing inside me now? Would I want them to live the life of a pet?

No.

But risking that child’s future trying to escape?

Then another thought grips me, colder and darker. What if it’s not Gabriel’s? What if it’s Aefre’s? The very idea makes me feel sick all over again. What if the child would have Imperial features? Could a child like that be raised in a human colony?

If we made it. If the colony is even real.

What if I stayed? This, for what it is, is safe. I know Aefre would care for this child no matter who the father is. Could I say the same about Gabriel?

“Do they really send them away? The babies?” I suddenly ask the group of women. I’d heard rumors that half breeds disappear. Sometimes in the middle of the night and then their mothers are gaslit into believing the children they bore were all in their imagination.

The women all turn and look at me again, surprised I’m still here.

“Yes. Most trainers let you keep the baby for about a year to breastfeed and bond and then they steal them from you when you least expect it,” one of the women says on the verge of tears. The other women comfort her by putting their hands on her arm and giving her sympathetic looks.

“If no one knows your pregnant yet, which would be by the grace of God given their technology, but it does happen. Not all women have high amounts of hCG. But if that were the case and I were you, I’d try to fall so hard during the next challenge that it was lost.”

I look at her horrified.

A security guard stops nearby and begins to observe us. There’s no official rule we can’t talk in large groups, but they don’t like it.

The woman with auburn hair whispers, “If the judges know, you won’t be allowed to compete. Chin up and act like it’s just nerves.”

“Trust me,” the woman with the dark eyes says. “You think you’ve been through some shit with all these challenges? Wait until they rip your child from you and make it a pet. They might as well rip your heart out. Nothing will matter then. You’ll be the mindless human they already think you are.” There are tears in the woman’s eyes and her words send a shiver down my spine.

I feel so sorry for her I can’t speak. I watch as the women move on, their conversation drifting into the background, but their words stay with me.

My thoughts spiral. If I tell Aefre, he might pull me out of the competition. I’d lose my chance to win and to escape. If I tell Gabriel, what would he do? I don’t know.

This changes everything. It’s not just my life at risk anymore. It’s not just about me or Gabriel or even Aefre.

It’s about what kind of life I want to give this child—if there even is a child. Maybe those women are wrong.

Maybe this is all just nerves.

I close my eyes, trying to steady my breathing and trying to remember my last period. I know it’s been awhile. All the men on the Luminous Arc are blood hounds, so every period is very memorable, but I just thought I wasn’t having a period because I was training so much. It’s a possibility. But the other symptoms? The weird smells and the vomiting…

I decide that no matter what my physical condition, the best thing for me to do now is to compete, and let fate decide what happens next.