A Pet for the Dragons

168.

ARIKA

"When are we going to extract the other eggs?" a voice asked. I tried to focus on it, but it all seemed like background noise. I felt wet yet warm, and it was a strange feeling.

"Soon, soon but first, I'm thinking of shooting her with more hormones to see if she releases. The more the better," another voice replied. I didn't recognise anyone of them. Still, I focused because I knew they were talking about me. They had to be talking about me.

"You think that would work? She's not a dragon," the previous voice cautioned.

"We can take some risks with her. If she is unable to handle it, we'll quit it quickly. What do you say?"

"I don't have a good feeling about it. Let's just extract the eggs she has already released. We have to be mindful of the baby as well. Can't hurt that,"

The first voice scoffed, but they seemed to agree. I couldn't help myself anymore. Even though my whole body seemed to be in a slumber, and it felt like I was floating in an entirely different dimension, I forced myself to open my eyes.

At first I was met with water. I was submerged in a glass pod like one of those sci-fi movies. I tried to hold my breath in the water as soon as possible, but I inhaled a huge amount of it when I couldn't.

I was drowning... or so I thought, but instead of feeling suffocated for having inhaled all that water, nothing happened to me. Instead, I felt relieved as oxygen filled my lungs and I could breathe again... under what.

Right. It didn't make sense to me. It went against everything I knew as a sailor, but I decided to postpone my obsession with this strange water and focus on the situation.

I immediately noticed two dragons nearby, having a full-blown discussion on what to do with my eggs. I tuned into their discussion but instantly regretted it.

They continued to go on all the best ways they could retrieve my eggs without harming the baby. One of their methods was to implant my ovaries and uterus outside my body so they could have better supervision over the baby and the whole... process.

I shuddered listening to them. I couldn't help but panic a bit. I moved around in the encasing, testing the glass walls— or so they seemed. I wondered if I could smash through them and free myself...

...but then what?

Where would I go after that?

All these thoughts started racing through my head and my panic grew. Those two dragon healers weren't aware that I was fully conscious and could hear everything they were discussing— including storing Ivret's seed and how they'd shoot me with them and then wait to see if my other eggs respond.

I shuddered again. I needed to get out of here anyhow. I'd figure out the next part as I went. If I stayed here longer, they'd fillet me like a fish and stuff me with god knew what.

I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep as the two turned to see me. I heard them discuss in full detail the best way to monitor my baby while having no regard for me at all. They were full on discussing how they could use my body while keeping me in 'stasis' forever.

It was hard not to shudder as I listened to them talk while they checked me. I waited for them to leave, but they seemed to be taking too long with their work.

Once they left and I had ensured that the whole room was empty, I swam toward the glass and pressed my body against it to see if I could break it with my weight and strength.

I checked for joints or other weaker sections that would give me an advantage in this situation, but there were none. It was a continuous sheet of glass—or so it seemed. I wondered how they got me in it in the first place.

But most importantly, how long have I been in this? And where were my dragons? In which state were they? Was Ivret still alive?

As his lifeless eyes flashed in my head, I smashed my whole body against the glass, giving my all to escape this place. I needed to get out of here and find them. I smelled my body hard against the glass but nothing happened. Not even a single scratch appeared on the glass.

This dampened my hopes and motivation instantly. My left side also began throbbing with too much pain. My stomach churned and I felt the urgent need to throw up. I swallowed down my sickness and tried to focus even though panic was slowly rising in me and it was right under my throat.

I swam around in the enclosure, trying to find some hidden mechanism that would allow me to open it and escape. But I found nothing. I slammed the right side of my body against another side of the enclosure, but again, nothing happened—not a single scratch.

I punched the glass in frustration and regretted it instantly because I heard a crack and blood bloomed in the water as pain shot through my arm. I screamed and started scratching the glass in despair. My brain had stopped working and all I could do was act out of madness even though I knew it wouldn't help me.

I... just needed to get it out of me.

As the moments passed, my panic and desperation grew. I kicked at the glass and continued slamming against it even though nothing happened. I stopped when I was tired and my hand with the busted knuckles was aching.

The water around me had blood in it and I could even taste it. It only added to my panic. I thought of screaming but that would be so stupid.

I was about to start slamming against the glass again when I heard footsteps on the other side of the room. It was a massive laboratory with strange instruments. I felt like a specimen here. A specimen waiting to be dissected.

"You need to keep it down because I almost heard you outside in the hallway," I heard the voice before I saw the owner. I squinted my eyes as an unfamiliar dragon appeared. I stared at him hard. Something about him seemed... familiar. Yet, I was certain that I had never seen him before.

He had a full head of golden hair and golden scales. Even his eyes were golden. He had a charm about him. He was as tall as me and there was this boyishness to his features that told me that he was probably a teenager... or something like that in dragon terms.

"W-who are you?" I asked, scared. Did I get caught? Was he one of the lunatics working under Mavie? Was he going to get the healers and start cutting me open already?

The dragon almost looked offended at my question.

"You really need to learn how to address a prince," the boy answered. My eyebrows shot to my hairline as soon as I recognised him. 

~

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