Page 16 of My Wild Pet (Whispers from the Imperial Cage #2)

CHAPTER 16

Gabriel

The cleansing room is quiet, the air thick with humidity. A faint hum from the lights blends with a distant drip of water. I’m in my cage, knees drawn up and the cold metal beneath me a familiar companion.

The door hisses open, and I can practically feel Aefre enter before I see him. “Ember,” he says, voice calm. “Why did you disobey Kaelin and me today?”

I don’t answer. I just stare back, keeping the facade of a stupid human pet.

“Speak,” he commands, his finger hovering over his ring. “Why did you disobey?”

I stay silent because admitting the truth—what I feel, what I fear—would only please him.

“You think I don’t notice how you look at Ash?”

“Briar,” I snap, refusing to use the name he’s assigned her. “Her name is Briar.”

Aefre crouches, bringing himself to my level. “Ash is her name now.”

“No,” I say firmly. Je ne l’appellerai jamais ca. I will never call her that.

His smile vanishes. “You think you’re protecting her. But you’re weakening her.” Aefre moves closer, just the metal bars between us now. “And I know this isn’t about Ash at all. This disobedience is about Fifi.”

My chest tightens at the sound of her name, and I look away.

“You failed her,” Aefre continues, “and now you see another female pet and you think you have to save her.”

I can’t bear to face him. The guilt swirls, suffocating me.

“Now that I’ve told you what you’re suffering from, Ember, I expect you to reign in this bad behavior and stop fighting me,” he says, unlocking the cage. “Remember your place. You are not her protector. You’re my pet. Go to your bed and sleep.”

He walks away but his words are still ringing in my ears.

Do I feel this way about Ash only because of what I did to Fifi?