Chapter 31 #2
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?”
No one answered.
Instead I heard V’dim ask, “Are you well, Selena?”
Turning my head to meet his worried gaze, I smiled. “Yes, as are my cubs. Your crew and my nestmates, however, aren’t.”
He leaned back in his bed and closed his eyes. “Yes. I can feel their wild emotions. Z’fir and I will have a lot of work to do to calm everyone.”
“They can wait until after we get done checking the three of you,” Chyox snapped.
Z’fir sat up. “Then hurry up and get it over with. We need to do damage control, to ease the crew’s restless thoughts.”
Chyox supervised routine tests on the three of us as he filled the princes in on what had occurred. Apparently, my nestmates had immediately sensed my absence along our bond threads—as though I no longer existed. The same thing had happened for the crew.
It was as if their princes had vanished.
The princes weren’t surprised by Kaede’s action in taking over the ship. In fact, they seemed relieved he’d been there to keep the crew on track and ease the worst of the panic.
When pressed, the princes explained they’d had me lower my mental shields and were probing my memories, implying that was what had triggered our unconsciousness. They didn’t tell anyone about my dreamscape. I was thankful for their discretion.
Chyox seemed to approve they’d delved into my memories. He clearly still felt I was a savage, perhaps even a spy. I hoped this would put that to rest once and for all, but I still didn’t like him.
Moans sounded from my nestmates’ bed, turning my attention from the discussion between the princes and the healers to them.
Both Odelm and Xylo shifted in bed, groaning as they struggled to wake.
“Selena?” Xylo murmured.
“I’m here.”
They jerked at the sound of my voice, jolting upright. Groggily, they stared at their twisted limbs before untangling themselves from one another. They looked around the infirmary. As their gazes found me, they stumbled from the bed to my side.
Xylo sank down on my left, pulling me up into a smothering hug. The other side of my bed dipped, Odelm pressed against my back, wrapping his arms loosely around my waist to cradle my stomach.
“Oh Stars, Selena,” Xylo choked out. “Do not ever do that to us again.”
“We thought we had lost you. We could not feel you at all,” Odelm murmured raggedly, his voice filled with sorrow.
“We could see our bond threads still connected to you, but your mind was a black hole. When we tried searching for any trace of your thoughts, all we got was pain.”
Odelm’s grip tightened. “It felt like you had left us. Like you had severed your bond threads even though we could see that they were still there.”
Xylo pulled himself away only far enough to lock his hardened teal eyes on mine. “Do not ever do that again.”
He turned toward the princes and growled, “I do not care she is human. You had no right to do what you did.”
I placed my hands on his cheeks and directed his face back to mine. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”
His eyes were filled with anger.
“They are not your nestmates. You are no criminal. They had no right to explore your memories, especially when you are pregnant, with no idea what the impact would be on a human.”
“Xylo. They asked. I accepted. They were trying to understand me—so they could help me,” I explained gently, trying to get him to understand.
“They should have had us there. They should have warned us. They should have used the infirmary knowing how fragile your pregnant state is and how important you are to the Aldawi. They did not take the right precautions—”
“It was a mistake, nestbrother. What is done is done. I am sure the princes realize their mistake. Now we should focus on Selena’s health, on getting her fed so she can rest in our nestbed,” Odelm calmly suggested, trying to defuse the heightened emotions in the room.
Xylo searched my face, his expression softening before looking over my shoulder at Odelm. “You are wise. Selena should be our focus at the moment.”
His face hardened as he looked back over at the princes. “I do not care you are my princes, Sires. I will continue this discussion with you once we get Selena settled and rested.”
“We understand, Master Scholar Xylo. We will speak with you whenever you are ready. Know that we are sorry and did not mean any harm to come to your clan. We were only trying to help. We did not know she would react that way, nor that it would cause such problems. Now that we do, it will not happen again,” Z’fir replied gravely.
“Make sure your nestqueen is taken care of, and we will speak with you at your discretion,” V’dim added.
Xylo swung his gaze back to me and scanned my body.
I dropped my hands from his face and placed them over Odelm’s as Xylo said, “I am going to do my own tests on you, then you are going to let Odelm and me take care of you. We will have dinner in our room while you explain what happened. After that, we will have that bath you wanted and get you the rest you need. You will not argue with me—”
“Healer’s orders,” I interrupted, smiling at him.
His mouth twitched as his eyes regained their sparkle.
“Scholar’s orders.”