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“You should wait here until Prince Eleron arrives,” a female lab assistant said in a bored tone. We stood outside, facing the smoldering remains of the lab. The sun was high in the sky, and the heat was leaching every ounce of strength from me. I pushed strands of my hair from my sticky forehead.
“Gwen fried him, so we’re free to go,” Lex said, his arm around his mother. Evette’s leg was still bleeding from the shrapnel from the explosion. Anna fared better, only suffering a few scrapes and bruises. The woman who stood in front of me was bleeding from a small cut on her forehead. It was amazing how even with her injuries, she cared about the demands of a dead man.
“You specimens know nothing,” the woman snapped. “Another prince will arrive to take Prince Eleron’s place.” Lex lifted his mother into his arms and began running away from the lab without looking back. I couldn’t fault him. Evette was his number-one priority. I would have done the same. I eyed Anna, whose hands were shaking.
“Gwen, you need to get out of here. He’ll kill you,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears.
The lab assistant rolled her eyes. “With that amount of power running through her? I very much doubt it. Gwen will probably be conscripted into Chaos’s army,” the assistant said. “Anna, you are simply a vessel for his embryos.”
“Did he implant one in you?” I asked Anna.
She nodded.
“So you’re pregnant?” I asked, fear making my stomach want to expel the very little that remained in my stomach. Like my mother, Anna was used for the womb she possessed. I wanted to scream and rage, but didn’t do such a thing. We were stranded by the lab and had no allies to speak of. How was I supposed to help Anna, when I couldn’t even help myself?
“Grab Anna’s hand, my Gwen,” Christian mentally ordered. I didn’t question what he said. Maybe he was hoping that we could run hand in hand away from the terrors of the lab.
I clutched Anna’s hand tightly, the lab assistant’s shoulders relaxing. It was obvious that she saw surrender when she looked at me. Of course she did. I was a tool, someone that people used to do their dirty work. That Janton was disobedient, Gwen will kill her. Evette is barren, Gwen can take care of that mess. The thought that my power was going to be used to harm people caused grief to crack my frozen heart. No! I can’t feel this emotion. It won’t do me any good. I had to fight the influx of emotions that suddenly filled my body.
“Close your eyes, Gwen.” I closed my eyes, the tears falling to my cheeks. Anna squeezed my hand, her touch only making the sobs come harder. Because deep down, I knew I didn’t deserve her kindness. How many times did I throw over members of the harem to protect my mother? Given the opportunity, I would have done the same to her. I was conditioned to act how Lord Peirc wanted me to.
“Now.” Christian’s loud command was followed by pain ripping through my body. I would have let out a scream, but my vocal chords were frozen. All I could feel was the sensation of every part of me being ripped apart by sharp jaws. It only lasted a second, but once the pain was gone, I felt weak.
“Gwen,” Anna cried. “Where did you bring us?” The smell of mold hit my nose, the freezing air registering moments later. I opened my eyes and couldn’t make out a thing. I created a small ball of energy which illuminated the atrocity in front of me. I stood on a walkway that separated two rows of rectangular boxes, each of which rested on a platform. Anna gripped my hand tightly, the fear evident on her face.
I walked forward, my heart pulling me to a particular box. I stopped beside a worn box with a see-through lid. The platforms were only a foot high, so it was easy for me to peer in. The face that was looking back at me was beautiful. The well-built stranger had a peaches-and-cream complexion, full lips, ice-blue eyes, and thick golden locks. He had scruff on his cheeks, and he wore one of the hospital gowns I was forced to wear in Prince Eleron’s lab. He was connected to wires.
“My Gwen,” Christian’s voice said in my head, and I nearly fainted.
The End
