Cinder and Kai are spies. Their task? Install a new listening device. But when Cinder changes plan partway through, her encounter with Luna's queen not only puts her in danger if losing her life, but of learning the truth of her mysterious past.
Merged, edited, formatted, and then chopped into three parts. Enjoy~
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PART ONE
CINDER’S EARPIECE SCREAMED AT HER, AND SHE SILENCED IT with an irritated sigh. Kai would kill her for it as soon as she got back—because, yes, she was coming back—but the impossible task ahead would only get worse if she had to deal with his panicked yelling.
Dangerous. Right. As if every day of her life wasn’t dangerous. As if she didn’t know what she was getting into when she joined the revolution. As if she didn’t know what she was getting into when she took this mission.
She sat up, smoothing out the bunches in her full skirt. Brown hair tickled her neck where it had already escaped from the tight, twisted bun. Ignoring her own discomfort, she made her way down the hallway, glad that the long silk gloves and dress covered the metal eccentricities she’d spent her entire life hiding. Now, in Artemisia, where cyborg bias was worse than anywhere else in the world, it could mean her life if they were seen.
But Cinder knew this. Cinder didn’t care. Because she was Cinder. And she was here for more reasons than attending a simple dance.
She was here to spy.
IT TOOK 2.37 SECONDS FOR HER TO SPOT LUNA’S QUEEN. Instead of dancing, Levana stood at the edge of the swirling ball gowns, a glass of blood red wine in hand that never reached her lips. A man stood in front of her while she spoke, and while from here all Cinder could see of him was his guard uniform and blonde ponytail, she caught his eyes when he turned to leave.
Jacin Clay? Cinder could’ve sworn he was on a different mission, supposed to stay away from the ball, keeping an eye on Levana’s room.
Ducking behind a pillar before he could spot her, she breathed deeply and counted to thirty before sliding out and taking another calculating look around. Jacin was gone for the moment, the Lunar Queen was dancing, and—
“May I ask for a dance?”
Cinder turned her head to see sharp, handsome features and a familiar smile. She flew behind the pillar again, dragging him by tie to the spot next to her.
“Cinder—”
“What the spades do you think you’re doing here?”
“You turned me off and—”
“Don’t you think I had a reason to? Kai, I can do this myself. You’re making it worse by being here. You’ll just get me caught, and then where we be?”
Kai made choking noises, and she realized she was still gripping his tie. She released him, but her glare and folded arms made it obvious she would not forgive him. Not today.
He tried a grin, rubbing his neck where the tie cut into his neck.
“I’m not used to seeing you in something so...stiff.”
“Oh, sorry, Prince. Would you prefer if I smothered myself in grease?”
Kai’s smile melted, and he shifted closer.
“I think she saw me.”
“Go. Leave. Talk to her, dance, whatever, but she can’t see us together.”
Kai walked away, before smiling and catching the eye of one of the dancers. He disappeared like that, into the seething mass of people and colors and gems and luxury she never quite got used to.
Absentmindedly fixing her hair, she closed her eyes and breathed until she calmed down.
With Kai here, now it was even more dangerous.
Sneak into Levana's room. Install the new listening device. Get out, meet up with Kai at the gates.
So simple. And it was all her fault she was here, that she didn’t follow orders and, instead of leaving, decided she’d go after the Queen herself.
No wonder Kai followed her. For all she knew, this was suicide.
Practicing a smile, she turned her earpiece back on and stepped out into the light. The people cut through its yellow glow, profiles cast in a stunning golden dust. She found herself looking for Kai, picking him out of the crowd, finding him dancing with an girl in a blue dress.
Cinder caught her breath. She’d never seen someone so beautiful before. The Princess.
The song ended, and Kai and Winter separated, Winter swept into the arms of—
Oh. That was why Jacin was there.
Jacin and Winter danced, making their way closer and closer to Cinder. What a typical Jacin thing to do, trying to pull Winter away from the mess about to start. Not that she could blame him; Cinder would do the same if Kai wasn’t as much a spy as her and she had any right to protect him.
They burst from the throng of dancers, passing her, both smiling. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve thought they were simply leaving for fresh air. Not to escape. Not to run.
Not to do what she refused to do, what she should do, what made her such a fool. A brave, stupid fool.
Cinder’s spine tingled, a soft breeze fluttering against her nape, fingers suddenly closing over the pressure point where neck met shoulder.
“I wasn’t aware that you would be joining us tonight.” Warm breath, soft voice. Cinder had never been so terrified in her life.
She stayed stalk still, biting the pain back with even, controlled breathing. Levana removed herself from Cinder, a smile on her lips as if between old friends.
“How did you—”
“You look so much like my dear sister did,” Levana said, “before she died.”
The last word should’ve been swallowed by the piercing music, the sound of feet on floor, and the rustling conversations that dampened the rest of the sentence. Instead, it ricocheted through Cinder’s mind, and whether it was Levana’s intention or not, it ran in lines of text across her vision, over and over, like a chant. Like a prophesy.
Like fate.
Died. Died. Died. Death.
“So, tell me, my precious little niece, how did you survive the fire?”
Niece? Cinder gulped.
“Wha—”
Levana chuckled. “Do you not know? Oh, this is too good.”
Levana leaned in, pulling a long, red nail along Cinder’s face. Warm blood trickled down her cheek, but she didn’t flinch. She didn’t so much as blink.
“I’m your aunt, Selene,” she whispered in Cinder’s ear. “And I’m going to kill you.”
CINDER’S MUSCLES ACHED FROM THE BEATING LEVANA’S royal guards gave her on the way to her cell. Her dress now limped around her shivering frame, dirty and ripped and far from its once luminous creamy hue. She’d never been one for dresses, but there seemed something so broken about it, as if she were looking at herself and not a just strangled piece of fabric.
Cinder sighed and held a hand up to her forehead. She was surely going insane if she was comparing herself to a dress. She wouldn’t blame herself if she was going insane, though, what with all of the day’s events.
Changing the mission. Getting caught. Her heritage revealed. Getting thrown in a cell.
Next thing she knew someone would be writing a novel: How to Ruin Every Mission Ever.
Okay, definitely insane.
Resting her head against the cool, hard floor of the cell, she closed her eyes, letting the obsidian behind her eyelids replace the darkness of her confinement. If she were lucky, she could sleep through this entire thing, until the queen finally came to chop her head off or however she was planned to be killed.
She just hoped it would be quick.
CINDER JERKED AWAKE AT THE SOUND OF METAL DRAGGING against stone and the labored breathing of three or four sets of lungs.
The tall, crumbled form of a man stepped from the hallway, three guards shoving the prisoner forward.
Kai.
“Look, I’ll be nice.” The guard speaking sneered, taking out his keys. “I’ll give you cells by each other. Let the dirt mingle, eh?” He pulled out his keys, unlocking the cell next to Cinder. The guard then pushed Kai hard enough that he slammed against the prison wall. Cinder would’ve cried out, but not a sound could escape her throat.
Then they left as they came, swearing and grumbling and generally being very not-royal. They must have been the ones hidden from public eyes, the ones stronger and meaner and tougher than normal guards. Normal guards like Jacin. Normal, if he weren’t a spy.
Cinder crawled over to the bars separating Kai’s cell from her own. The pain in her ribs bit into her every time she moved, and simply breathing hurt. She didn’t want to think about speaking.
“Kai,” she croaked, pulling herself to a sitting position against the bars with a gasp. “Kai, are you alright?”
Kai stirred, sitting up and touching his forehead. Blood dribbled down, the gash sure to scar. Cinder wondered what that would be like, a scar on his previously smooth, unblemished skin.
He moaned but opened his eyes, seeing her tattered dress and the chains that glowed in whatever light reached them from the hallway.
“Cinder...is that you?”
“I knew you shouldn’t have come, I told you not to, but you did, and—” She cut off, gagging, pain arching through her body. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t cry. But she wanted to. Oh, if her cyborg eyes could shed tears...
“Are you okay?”
Cinder tried to still the pounding in her head, shutting her eyes and taking slow, shallow breaths until her head and ribs and entire body didn’t ache so much.
“I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.” She didn’t believe a word that came out of her mouth. But she said them anyway, in case they were true. She said them anyway, in case she could convince herself they were true.
Because she had to. She had to believe them. Or else she was already dead.
Kai ripped off a portion of his suit jacket where it was already mostly detached, holding it to his forehead, expensive fabric soaking up the red stain of his own blood. He winced, but besides the bleeding forehead, Cinder didn’t see anything else too noticeable. He didn’t move or breathe in a way that suggested broken bones, though for all she knew he would be covered in bruises by morning.
He finally looked up at her again, the hair that was impeccably swept away from his face only hours ago now hanging in his eyes. Pulling himself closer to her on his hands and knees, he sat against the same bars she did, arms almost touching her own.
Anywhere else, she’d be happy to be with him. Especially alone. But now, with metal separating them, with the threat of death looming on their bleak horizon and the new knowledge crashing down on her when at weakest, all she wanted was for him to be as far away as possible, safe, without her, without the burden she bore, and the fate they now shared.
Kai reached through the bars, three of his fingers squeezing through the gap. Cinder placed three of her own on top, and they sat their in silence, the small warmth shared helping for a second to fend off the voices in their heads, the screaming and awful silences and the churning, the churning that would never stop.
“There’s something I have to tell you.” Cinder broke the silence, the snap reverberating from wall to wall.
“Mmm.”
“Levana told me something. Right before she put me in here. She—she told me that—”
Kai moved one of his fingers, a pitiful attempt to reassure her. She almost laughed at how ridiculous it was, three fingers on three fingers, nothing more and nothing less than metal bars separating them by mere inches. But there was nothing funny about what she was to say, about what it meant to both of them and their lives.
“She told me that I’m Princess Selene.”
Kai’s fingers twitched, but to his credit that was his only sign of emotion.
“Really? Are you sure she wasn’t just...manipulating you? Weakening you to make you more vulnerable?”
“She wasn’t lying.” Cinder didn’t tell him that the orange light didn’t go off when Levana spoke. Then she’d have to explain she knew when people lied, and that would’ve been almost as awkward and scary as this conversation. Almost.
Cinder shivered.
“Well, then...what does this mean for us?”
“It means we’ll never get out of here alive.” Kai’s fingers stiffened. “It means she’ll never, ever let me go. She’ll execute me. And that’s that. Maybe...maybe I deserve it.”
“Cinder.”
She shut her eyes and counted. Her head pounded again. She should be crying.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
“Cinder.”
She opened them again, but the pain didn’t go away. She wanted to scream, to hit her head against the bars, to tear at her skin and sob and cry and let herself fall apart, right then and there, but Kai was still there, and, somehow, a piece of her was still there too, clinging to the edge of her mind’s void.
“Cinder, look at me.”
She obeyed, trying to lose herself in brown eyes and soft lips. But she couldn’t. Her mind was too blank, too full, too busy with the noise of open space.
“You don’t deserve it. If I’m being honest with myself, no one deserves it. As it is, life goes on, and death goes on, but no one deserves it.” Kai’s eyes shivered, and Cinder wondered what troubled him most. His parents’ death? The citizens he’d lost to the plague? Those to Lunar attacks? There was no other on Earth with as much a burden to carry as him.
Oh, how self centered Cinder was, to think of her own as the heaviest.
“People...people die. That’s how it is. And some people’s deaths bring good, and some deaths bring bad, and some remain neutral, but it has nothing to do with deserving it.” A tear slipped down his cheek, and she knew anywhere else, in any other circumstance, he would not be crying. But he was alone with her, and it was dark, and he was spilling his innermost thoughts, ones he’d probably spent days and nights drowning in.
Just like her.
“Cinder.”
“Selene,” Cinder whispered, looking down at their fingers. “My real name is Selene, it seems.”
“Cinder.”
She wanted to fall into the darkness. It would be so easy. Just to let go. To let everything consume her until there was nothing left to consume.
“Cinder, I don’t think I’ll know if I’ll ever have the opportunity to say this again. I...I think I love you.”
Her eyes snapped up to his, wide and panicked. They’d held hands. They’d kissed. They’d dated. But never had he said something like that.
Kai laughed, a low, painful chuckle.
“That got your attention.” Cinder thought he had been kidding at first, but the blush on his cheeks said otherwise. What part of her made her worth it? she thought. What part of her made her worth not falling away, worth existing? What did he even see in her?
Maybe the question was not as rhetorical as it seemed.
“You think we’ll escape?” Cinder stared into Kai’s eyes, a challenge.
“Yes. Yes, I think we will.”
Cinder smiled. Her ribs still ached, but it seemed more dull now, now that she had something to smile about.
“Good. Because I think we will too.”
And with that, she leaned forward, until their lips brushed in the three inches in between the bars, where they sat, where they wished, where they dreamed.
Where they escaped.
PART TWO
SCARLET TUGGED AT THE BIRD MASK COVERING HER FACE, accidentally poking her hand on its beak.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this. In costume.”
Wolf shrugged, the fake fur draped around his shoulders making him look even more wolflike and less the fox the costume was going for.
“The beak makes it hard to breathe.”
“And hard to recognize.”
“True. I guess we don’t have a choice.” Her hand flew absentmindedly to her waist, where a semi-automatic pistol rested against her hips. She couldn’t wait to take the cursed mask off and get some action.
Wolf offered her his hand, the small ears poking out from his unruly hair making her smile. Now that wasn’t very wolf-like.
“Ready?” he whispered.
“You kidding? I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
CINDER WOKE UP. AT FIRST SHE COULDN’T TELL SHE WAS awake, for all light had left, leaving only pitch black behind. It was the cold that told her otherwise. She shivered, wishing they had at least been given a blanket.
“Kai,” Cinder whispered. She didn’t have a good reason to wake him up, but she didn’t like the thought of sitting in this darkness alone.
He groaned, raising his head. “Yes?”
“Um...I don’t know.”
He smiled. “You woke me up for no reason?”
“Um, no. No, I woke you up so that we could get planning done.” While it was a lie at first, they did need to figure something out, because Levana would most likely execute them sooner than later.
His smile faded. “Right. You have any ideas?”
Levana wanted her dead. There were royal guards everywhere, watching, keeping tabs on their prisoners. Probably had technology that not only far surpassed anything on them, but perhaps even all of the revolution itself. One could never tell with Lunars.
But they had been trained their whole lives for this; the first thing to do was to contact any potential allies. And there was nothing like a portscreen in your eye that allowed you to contact people faster and more stealthily.
“One second.” Cinder shut her eyes, though the darkness behind them wasn’t much different. Starting a comm to Scarlet, she quickly thought out a message.
Kai and I have been caught. Currently in Levana’s jail. Not sure where. Please send help.
She paused, added Quickly, and sent.
“What...?”
“I just sent a comm to Scarlet.”
Kai tilted his head, confused, until his eyes brightened in understanding. “Right. I forgot about...”
Cinder nodded.
“Well, tell me if—”
A ping sounded in her head. She accepted instantly. Text scrolled across her vision.
Two words.
We’re coming.
NEVER HAD SCARLET BEEN TO SUCH A PARTY. AFTER THE BALL only the night before, she thought that the citizens of Luna would be out of sleep and money by now, but they seemed in good spirits, talking and gossiping and flirting as if everything were normal.
As if Cinder wasn’t in prison, as if she wasn’t about to die.
Some of the costumes made her sick. Ghosts in bright neon gowns, animals with fur that looked real, a glamour of an arrow through a forehead with a sign that read “Earthen.”
It was wrong. All of it. This place. These costumes. These people.
Scarlet’s stomach twisted. Why had Cinder been sent here in the first place? She hated it. Hated it so much that when Wolf asked if she wanted to get a drink all she could do was clench her fists tighter and nod, trying not to give away her internal struggle.
Luckily, as hard as the mask made it to breathe and see much to either side, it also made her unrecognizable, and she could make whatever expression she wished without anyone noticing. It also meant that when Wolf came back with two glasses of wine, all she could do was point to her face in the obvious, I’m wearing a mask, idiot. How did you think I’m supposed to drink anything?
He simply nodded and downed both glasses in seconds. If she didn’t know him any better, she would’ve warned him not to to get drunk on the mission. But she did know better. And Wolf didn’t get drunk.
Except on me. Scarlet smiled, trying not to laugh to herself. It was good no one could read her thoughts.
Then she felt Wolf’s shadow and his breath by her ear.
“Let’s get some fresh air.” Code for: Let’s get the hell out of here and go bust some criminals.
Finally.
Wolf took her hand, smiling in longing. At least, that’s what it seemed like to everyone else. To her it only of spoke escape, to the real start of their mission.
They walked out of the room, straight past the balcony and down the hallway to their left, slipping into a poorly lit stairwell. She wanted to pull the mask from her head, but as it was, it was also the only thing hiding her startling red hair. She’d have to wait.
Plus, the black fabric melted perfectly into the twisting darkness of the stairs, as if she weren’t even there.
She had a cyborg and a prince to save, after all.
IKO HAD GONE FOR THE CLOTHING. WHEN SHE HEARD SCARLET and Wolf were going to the Lunar’s costume party (for no given reason), she knew she must come along. But when she asked to attend, they said it was “much too dangerous for an android. You know how they feel about them.”
So she got her own costume, own disguise. She’d owned the dress for months, since she spied it in a small boutique with similarly strange fashions. Earthy colors and ruffles and a corset (lucky fit, considering her metal was not flexible to any shaping from clothing) gave off a dark, daring look.
Iko looked stunning, and she knew it.
Tapping her heeled boots on the floor, she smiled at the mirror. Oh, she was gorgeous. Just wait until Cinder heard about this.
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR THE CLICKING OF HEELS TO BOTHER Scarlet. She knew there were other people in the palace, and most definitely a lot of people in heels, but it seemed too close. She didn’t know exactly where they were (this was a rushed operation, after all), but she was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to be there. And other people weren’t either. At least not other party goers.
It grew louder. Scarlet stopped, tapping Wolf on the shoulder and putting a finger to her lips when he looked back at her. He’d probably heard it before she had but hadn’t mentioned anything.
Her heart quickened. What if this was the Queen? What if she knew about their mission, if someone betrayed them, told her about their plans...?
Then someone burst into her line of sight, straight above her, only ten or so feet away.
She noticed first that the person wasn’t breathing, and did not look tired or sweaty at all for someone who ran down the stairs in heels. The next thing she noticed was the blue, braided hair pulled to the top of their head, and the shiny grin that greeted her.
What the spades was Iko doing down here?
“Where are you—” Iko started, but Scarlet cut her off with a look. “Oh. You’re on a mission, aren’t you? And I just—oh no. Did I just blow your cover?” Even at a whisper, Iko’s voice carried more than Scarlet would’ve preferred.
“Not yet,” Scarlet said, glaring pointedly. “But you will if you don’t stop talking. And keep walking in those heels. And continue following us. What are you doing here?”
“I just...I just wanted to go to the party.”
Scarlet felt a twinge of pity. Iko spent most of her life in a small, metal frame, dreaming of being human, of fitting in. Now was her only real chance to walk around in public, showing off the body she’d spent so long looking for.
Any other party. Any other party but this one.
“I’m sorry, Iko. Really. But...this isn’t the right time. I don’t think we can let you go back up there, since they might see you coming from this hallway, and, well, stealth isn’t exactly your strong suit.” Iko didn’t object. “So I guess just take off your heels, carry them, and follow us. But be quiet. And if we run into anyone, hide.”
Iko nodded, slipping her shoes off. As long as she didn’t have to leave such fine boots behind, she was okay. She would have preferred a night at the party, and she certainly didn’t like where this was going, but if this was how the night was going to go, this was how she was going to act.
Wolf nodded, a smile his only greeting, before facing forwards again and continuing down the stairs.
CINDER SENT ANOTHER COMM, NOT TOO LONG AFTER THE first, but either Scarlet hadn’t heard the ping or she was no longer in a position to check her port screen. It wasn’t logical to wish for a reply back, after all, not when they were on a mission, but she felt lonely again, knowing that her friends were out there, and yet not close enough to see her.
Not close enough to rescue her.
Kai had his eyes closed, and while she doubted he was sleeping—they had to stay awake, in case Scarlet and their team burst in at any second—she didn’t feel the need to disturb him.
Then Kai’s stomach grumbled, and it reminded her just how hungry she really was. She hadn’t eaten anything since before the ball, and the clock in the corner of her eyes informed her they’d been down there almost a day. No one brought food the entire time.
She wondered if the Lunar queen simply planned on starving them to death. But the hunger pains were the least of her troubles, after her bruised ribs and possibly chipped tooth and the gash on Kai’s forehead. Not after the knowledge that she was Princess Selene, that a throne waited for her somewhere, if she even escaped, and would taunt her until she claimed it.
Oh, what a mess this world was in. What a mess she was in.
Then the sirens went off, and she promptly forgot all about princesses and hunger pains and bruises.
Scarlet and the team were in. And it seemed like they were in trouble.
IT WAS ONLY NOW THAT SCARLET PULLED OUT HER GUN. Before, a gunshot would completely mess up any stealth they’d been trying to maintain, but after the alarm went off, there wasn’t much to lose.
Holding the gun in her hand was a relief, especially since, while Wolf specialized in hand to hand combat, Scarlet’s marksmanship was not only impressive, but downright legendary. At least, that’s what she told herself.
She thought of her grandmother when she shot. She didn’t aim to kill—the leg or arm would disable most soldiers just as well as a shot to the heart, if not because of the pain—but it didn’t hinder her firing. In less than a minute, she and Wolf cleared ten royal guards and were on their way again, fighting to keep their breathing even. Iko popped back up from behind the boxes she hid behind during the fighting, and along they went, sprinting. They were outrunning time now; the more seconds passed, the more Lunars there would be to fight. And while she felt confident with her gun, she didn’t feel the need to test it against anything more than eleven guards at a time. Heck, more than five, at such close range. It was a good thing Wolf was there. Only together were they strong enough.
Scarlet knew they were close now. Empty cells passed her this way and that—at least, she assumed they were empty. She didn’t bother to check. She thought Cinder would be near the end, and that if they did pass by hopefully one of them would alert Scarlet to their presence.
She turned around the next bend, and stopped. The end. Three cells. One empty. Two not.
And there, right before her, the Queen herself, smiling as she held a pistol up and pointed it straight at Scarlet’s head.
“What have we here? A crow?” Levana laughed, pushing a red lock of hair away from her face with her free hand. “How fitting for—”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence, for at that moment a long, brown object went sailing past Scarlet’s head, knocking the pistol clean out of Levana’s hand and whacking her face on its path to the floor.
Before Scarlet even fully registered what had happened, her gun was up as well, pointing directly at the Queen’s heart. She fired, but Levana hit the ground, one hand to her nose, another scrabbling for her weapon. Scarlet re-aimed and fired another shot, but Levana rolled over, gun finally in hand. Luckily for Scarlet, though, Levana was a queen, and Scarlet was a spy. With one more shot, she hit the pistol out of Levana’s hands, and then sent the next bullet straight into her calf.
Levana cried out, red blossoming across the gossamer fabric of her dress. She curled into herself, hugging her leg, tears wetting her cheeks. How very unqueenly, Scarlet thought, aiming at her head.
But then Levana’s face flickered and changed, and Scarlet was so horrified her arm dropped.
The person in front of her, the scared mess that was crying and hugging her leg and bleeding, she wasn’t a queen. She was a monster.
Scarlet leaned over, stomach heaving. If she had anything to throw up, she would have. As it was, only bile rose to her throat.
It wasn’t, per se, that Levana’s scars were so ghastly. They were ugly, and sharp, and cruel, but they weren’t fresh, grown over as if they’d been there for decades. What had been so startling was the contrast of how Levana normally looked, with flawless skin and complexion nothing like the shapeless lump Scarlet now saw.
“Scarlet!” Wolf ran up, pulling an arm around her shoulder. “Scarlet, are you alright?”
“I—I’m fine.” She wiped her mouth. “I swear, I’m okay.”
He watched where Levana lay sobbing, face contorting.
“May I...?”
Scarlet shook her head. Now that she thought about it, Levana’s death wasn’t their decision to make, after all. Maybe Kai’s decision, but not hers.
Wolf averted his eyes from Levana’s form, instead taking a set of keys from one of the fallen guards and unlocking Cinder and Kai’s cells. They both made to stand up and leave, but only Kai made it to the door. Cinder fell back to the ground, catching her fall meekly with her cyborg hand.
“Cinder! Cinder, are you alright?” Kai moved towards her, eyes wide.
“It’s just my ribs.” She gasped, holding them tighter. “I’m okay. I’m...fine.”
Wolf walked in and scooped her up, and she cried out in pain, but they didn’t seem to have any other options.
They had to go. Scarlet knew this. The longer they waited, the sooner the guards would come to get them, and judging by the gash on Kai’s forehead, Cinder’s state, and Iko’s inexperience, now was not the time to get caught in a situation they had to fight their way out of.
But part of her didn’t want to leave yet, not with Levana alive, not without checking in on Kai and Cinder and figuring out what happened in the first place.
“Wolf,” Scarlet heard Cinder whisper. “There’s something you all need to know. Something...important.”
“We have to go now,” Wolf said gently. “Or else we’ll get caught before we get out of the palace.”
“I know, but this is important. You have to realize what’s happening, because...because things are even worse than you think.”
“Worse than Levana guarding your own jail cell?” Scarlet laughed, but there was little genuine about it. “I don’t think...Wait, why was she—”
“Turns out I’m Princess Selene.” Cinder winced again, gingerly positioning herself in Wolf's arms.
Scarlet’s mind reeled. “Wait, so—”
“No time for questions,” Kai cut in. “She just needed to tell you because it means escaping will be near impossible.”
“Wait, just...Levana tried to kill her. But she—you—escaped. And that means that out of any of us here, you are the only one who can decide Levana’s fate.” Scarlet nodded at Cinder. “She’s here, wounded. We could kill her, quick and easy and painless. It’s all up to you.”
Levana hadn’t moved from her position. It seemed like it would be a while before she’d be up again.
Cinder seemed to ponder, or perhaps it was pain that scrunched up her face.
“No one deserves to die,” she whispered. “No one. Not even her.”
“Are you sure? Because—”
“No one.”
Just then a shot rang out, and a blinding pain spread through Scarlet’s left arm, blood splattering. Before she could think, she turned on her heel and shot a bullet straight down.
It went clean through Levana’s skull.
Before she could see anything else, sense anything else, Scarlet crumpled, dropping her gun. She clutched her upper arm, tears already springing to her eyes.
“She shot me,” Scarlet croaked. “That filth just shot me.”
Wolf moved to lean towards her, Cinder still in his arms, but then froze, fear stopping his face. Scarlet couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked afraid. Then, through the tears, through the pain, she looked up as well.
Guards. Maybe thirty of them, all in royal uniform. Blocking the hallway. One stood in front, handgun trained on them.
“Drop your weapons and kneel,” he commanded. The five of them knelt, Scarlet falling to the ground, trying not to scream out.
Then all thirty of the guards raised their firearms and took aim.
CINDER CLUNG TO WOLF’S SHIRT, EYES OPEN DESPITE EVERY inch of her screaming in pain. Drinking in the scene before her, the weapons and the uniforms and the blood, the blood, was too much to shut out, too much to ignore.
And she was Princess Selene. Wasn’t she supposed to swoop in and save them all? Wasn’t she supposed to be a hero? But she only felt pain and weakness. She couldn’t even stand. A nobody, a weak, dying nobody.
“Who are you?” the forward guard commanded. Before anyone else could answer, Cinder said what first came to mind.
“Peony.”
“Peony, eh?” He smiled, the corners of his eye crinkling. “Lie to me again and you and your friends are dead.”
Cinder breathed shallowly, trying to bite back her pain. Oh, what she would do to be out of this place, what she would do to be anywhere but here.
Then a tingling started at the base of her spine, washing over her entire body, a warmth spreading across her skin, touching from fingertips to toes. The pain didn’t go away, but it seemed secondary in comparison to this feeling, this wonderful, new feeling.
Then Wolf dropped her, and she rolled to the ground, crying out where she hit the stones.
Why weren’t they dead?
Glancing at her outstretched arms, she did a double take. Where her injuries and dirt were only seconds ago was now replaced with smooth skin, healthy and shiny and...wait.
Lunar.
The pain faded into the background. She rose, one foot and then the other, arms fisted at her side. Wolf kneeled behind her, still in shock. Everyone was in shock. Everyone but her.
“Put down your weapons,” Cinder commanded, feeling the guards’ energy, bending her own around it until... all their firearms fell to the ground.
“Turn around.” Their backs turned.
“Run.” They crashed into each other in their effort to get out, to get away. A smile itched at Cinder’s lips, but then the exhaustion and pain caught up to her. She collapsed, a vignette framing her vision until it felt like a dream.
Seconds later everything turned to black.
PART THREE
CINDER WATCHED THEM FROM THE WINDOW, HEAD PERCHED in her right hand. It was Iko’s idea, to play beach volleyball, despite none of them knowing the rules. Cinder didn’t know them herself, but she doubted that Thorne catching the ball, running to the other side, and touching it to the ground was legal.
Sighing, she closed her eyes, the hundreds of comms, news articles, and stats scrawling across her vision, just as she’d left them. After Levana’s death, there was chaos. The poor were barely affected at first, since they knew little about their ruler, but the court had been cold to Cinder, ever since she took the crown. It was only time before one of them tried to get her assassinated, or something ridiculous like that.
She wondered if this was what Kai felt like. She grew a newfound respect for him, now that she’d been in power for only a month and felt more stress than the rest of her life combined.
Dropping her head to the table, she sighed loudly. What she would give to be outside with the rest of them, running around like idiots and not caring in the least.
“I take it you’re feeling done with being queen, huh?” She felt a pat on her back, and she lifted her head, squinting up at Kai.
“If you can believe it, I was done with being queen as soon as I became one.”
“Me too. Well, not queen, emperor. But it gets better. I swear.”
“I hope so. Otherwise I might take a bullet to my head.”
The sentence hung in the air, meant as a joke, but it had lost any humor months ago, the first time they saw a person shot.
“You should join us. Well, them. I took a break to check on you.”
Cinder spotted sand on his grey sweatpants, and some fell to the ground when he moved to scratch behind his ear. She wanted to join them. That wasn’t the question. But with Luna in such a mess, she couldn’t very well be so selfish as to put herself before an entire nation.
“I’m busy. I can’t say that I don’t want to join you, but I can’t.”
Kai tilted his head. “You’ll make better decisions if you’re relaxed. The more stressed you are, the less quality thinking will be done.”
“I believe you. But...” Cinder sighed, raising a hand to her forehead. “It’s just...”
“You feel responsible for everything. You think it’s your fault, because now you’re in power and everything’s going wrong. And because of that, you think it’s your job to fix it, and yours alone, and there is nothing, nothing you deserve until you’ve found a solution. I know.
“The first thing you have to understand is that it’s not your fault. People die; that is a fact. I’m not telling you not to care, because caring is important, but I’m telling you to stop thinking of everything as good or bad. As long as you follow what you think is best for your country—well, you can go wrong, looking at Levana, but that’s what advisors are for.” He paused, smiling at her. “I mean, how much damage can one person do?”
Cinder laughed, shakily, hands going to tug up her nonexistent gloves.
“Fine, I’ll play volleyball. But under one condition.”
“Which is?”
“I set the rules.”
CINDER DIDN’T MIND BEING WET. HER CYBORG PARTS WERE more or less waterproof, after all, and she never said no to a warm (or piping hot) shower. But sea water was different, smelly and sticky and salty, and most definitely uncomfortable when sitting on plush couches, soaking to the bone in it.
She couldn’t quite remember who started it. Maybe it was when Wolf accidentally splashed Scarlet on their race to the water, after the ball caught a gust of wind and flew dangerously off course; or maybe it was when Cress kicked wet sand on Thorne’s ankles during a particularly slippery dive; or maybe it was when Iko tackled Kai for the ball, despite them being on the same team.
Either way, their “friendly” volleyball game turned into a full fledged water battle, and after the splashing, yelling, and playful pushing into the waves, all nine of them were cold and some awkward mix of tired and very much awake.
All except for Iko, of course, who was also wet, but as bright and beautiful as ever.
“So then Scarlet ran around the corner, because she hadn’t seen Levana, and Levana pointed her gun at her. Logically, I did the first thing I thought of: I threw my boot at her.”
The group laughed, and Cinder smiled to herself. Though they’d all heard the story countless times from various sources, and five of them had lived it themselves, it never got old. Not when Iko told it.
“And then I said—wait for it—I said, ‘Shame, I thought those boots would go well with your face.’”
Cinder laughed, despite not remembering Iko saying any such thing. But it was a story now, and stories were meant to be altered. No story was interesting on its own, after all. Not even her own.
“I don’t think anything goes well with her face, though,” Iko added, while everyone was still laughing. “Though if I had the chance to, I’d get another boot in.”
It was a wonder how fast Levana became a joke, nothing but a crazy Lunar with power too deeply engraved in her mind, now that she was dead. But Cinder couldn’t shake the image of Levana’s blood across the stones, and she noticed that Scarlet wasn’t laughing either, instead staring out the window ahead, as if trying to lose herself in the bright sky outside.
Scarlet was right in shooting her. That she was sure of. It was defense, and after all that happened, it was merciful, if anything.
But there was one moment, one image that jumped out at her whenever she closed her eyes too long, whenever she tried to sleep.
Levana’s face, without glamor. The scars. The scars.
There was a story behind them, Cinder was sure. And she didn’t know what they were from and what they did to shape Levana’s choices.
But whatever they came from, whatever they were for, Levana had no excuse for her actions. Because Cinder lost 36.28% of her body in a fire, a fire Levana started herself. Because Cinder didn’t end up killing anyone, because she found out right from wrong for herself, because she was wounded, but she didn’t take it as a right to rule the world, she took it as a right to fix the world. And fix the world she did.
Kai leaned into her side, sliding an arm around her shoulders.
“Hey, are you okay?” he whispered, quiet enough that no one else could hear. “You look a little pale.”
Cinder shook her head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He looked puzzled, but didn’t ask any questions, instead snuggling closer. Cinder burrowed herself in his warmth, watching the conversations play out before her: Thorne having a friendly argument with Wolf, while absentmindedly squeezing Cress’ hand; Iko continuing to give an in-depth explanation of what happened, with added sass; Winter speaking to Jacin animatedly, him smiling back at her, brushing hair away from her face in a way that made Cinder wonder if he even knew he was doing it.
And her. Sitting with Kai. Peaceful. For the first time in months—the first time ever.
“You know,” Cinder mumbled, “being queen might not be so bad, as long as you continue making so many visits to Artemisia.”
He kissed the top of her head, smiling.
“Don’t worry; there’s nothing that could keep me away from you. If anyone stood in our way, I’m sure you’d just hit them over the head with a wrench, and problem solved.”
Cinder laughed into Kai’s sweater, his only dry article of clothing after she’d dunked him in one of the taller waves.
“Oh, I wasn’t worried,” she said. “Not anymore.”
“Good.”
“Who wants to get some cake!” Thorne jumped up from his seat, Cress flying up after him. “Last one to the kitchen is a rotten Lunar! No offense to present company, of course.” He winked, and like that, dashed out of the room, Iko fresh on his tail. Then Winter got up, and Jacin, and after an exchanging of expressions, Scarlet and Wolf raced each other out the door.
Cinder and Kai were left alone in the room, the sudden silence washing over them.
“You think we should...?” Kai asked, nodding towards the door.
Cinder smiled, already moving to get up from his lap. “Why not.” She took a few steps away and burst into a sprint.
“Race you!” she yelled, already smashing through the door and down the hallway.
“No fair!” Kai called after her. “You got a head start!”
But she couldn’t hear him. She was too far away, already turning around one of the corridors that lead to the royal kitchen. Shaking his head, he stood up from the couch, smiling.
Things were as they normally were, with Cinder one step ahead.
And he wouldn’t change it for the world.
