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I tipped his face toward mine and kissed his forehead as I said to the Drone, “Give him control of his face. Or let me hear the pitch in his voice. He sounds like a fucking computer.”

“No,” the Drone snapped. “Answer the question.”

Goddammit. I would, only if Michio had asked it. “Is it his question or yours?”

“His. I’m allowing it because I want the answers.”

I held Michio’s strong jaw in my hand as I thought back to my first time with Jesse. Two weeks in the cage. Another two weeks traveling from Charlottesville. “Four weeks ago, give or take a few days.”

The Drone hissed, his grotesque features distorting around his fangs.

I pulled in a ragged breath, my gaze on Michio. “We used an ultrasound before we had sex, and the IUD was still in position.” I kissed the smooth skin between his brows, lingering there. “I’m so sorry you can’t show me how you feel. This is not how I wanted to tell you.”

His eyes stared off somewhere behind me. “Have you fucked anyone else?”

There it was. His voice sounded electronic, his demeanor benign, but the way he’d phrased the question conveyed his anger. He was showing me how he felt the only way he could.

“I’ve been with Roark.” My voice cracked, not with regret but with longing. “Only my guardians, Michio.” God, I missed them.

The Drone returned to the stool and perched on the edge. “The priest is sterile.” His eyes simmered with shadows. “If she’s pregnant, this is the prophesied child.”

The energy inside me swelled, spreading out and igniting my body.

Michio’s monotone droned against my chest. “Have you experienced any changes in your body?”

Could he feel the strange power rushing through me? Did he know about my ability to kill aphids with a thought?

No way would I mention these things in front of the Drone. “No.”

I wanted to covertly pinch Michio or give him some sign I was lying, but if he knew it was a lie, so would the Drone.

The Drone regarded me for an unnerving moment. “You walked out of a cage after two weeks of immobility.”

Wait till I blow up your pets, asshole. Not sure how that little trick would help me, but right now, it was the only ace I had.

Dr. Jaffer held up a skinny probe that attached to the ultrasound machine by a cord. “It’s ready.”

He pulled my legs open. I didn’t fight him and instead wrapped my shaky arms around Michio’s shoulders, my chest hitching beneath his head.

I felt a slight pressure between my legs. The machine chirped and beeped. The doctor studied the screen, and my breath stuck in my throat as I waited for him to speak.

“There’s definitely no IUD.”

“How?” My stomach buckled. “Where would it go?”

The Drone stood and strode over to the machine, crouching for a closer look, his expression as indecipherable as the screen.

Dr. Jaffer kept his eyes on the monitor, shifting the wand inside me. “They can fall out. It’s rare, but I’ve heard it could happen during urination. If you peed outside in the dark, you wouldn’t have noticed it.” He glanced at the Drone, back at the screen. “It’s difficult to tell at this stage, but given the size of the gestational sac, I estimate her at around four weeks pregnant.”

The world slammed to a crashing halt. A sharp burn lit behind my eyes, trailing fire down my throat, and swelling hard and powerful in my chest.

I was pregnant.

Jesse’s child.

My daughter.

The prophecy.

The doctor removed the probe, and I rolled against Michio’s body, shoving the skirt over my legs. I enveloped him in my arms, holding him as tightly as I could, imagining his agony, his fears, and his regrets, all of it centered on my prophesied death.

“Michio, it’s going to be okay.” I choked, aching to hear his voice. “It’s going to work out.”

This was supposed to happen, decided ahead of time. A fate that couldn’t be altered. I’d known about it, and deep down, I’d even believed this moment would come, but the shock of it and all the implications it brought curled my body into a trembling, conflicted mess.

The Drone spun toward us, the fire in his eyes aimed at Michio. “You do not have an opinion!” he roared. “That was your final warning.”

Michio twisted out of my arms. I tried to hold on, but he was an unstoppable machine, the sharp movements of his legs wrenching him to his feet, jerking him toward the door, into the hall, and out of view.

I crawled after him, straining against the shackles and digging my knees into the mattress. “What are you doing with him? Bring him back!”

The Drone stormed toward the door, pausing to watch Dr. Jaffer collect his bag and hurry out. Then the six spiders followed suit.

Standing in the doorway, the Drone turned his glare on me. “Michio will be in Elaine’s bed…indefinitely. I may not have control over his reflexes, but the body has a way of giving in to persistent stimulus. And Elaine is very persistent.”