Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 51

"Again."

I stumbled to my feet, clutching my side.

"You need a rest," Wolf said.

"Do you think Levana's been resting in the time since Kai came aboard?" I wiped blood off my chin. "Again."

Wolf sighed and lowered into a fighting stance. I did the same, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

Then I lunged.

Wolf lazily blocked my blow with his forearm, then half-heartedly swiped the knee away that I had jabbed upward toward his ribcage.

I caught him in the jaw and he grunted, then slammed the side of his hand into the crook of my neck like a blade. I went down, gasping.

"Rest," Wolf repeated.

I shot to my feet again. "Why won't you fight me?"

Wolf didn't answer, just disappeared out of the cargo bay. I ran a hand down my face and fell against the wall with a little growl.

I knew why, of course. Ever since Scarlet had been captured, he's been like a ghost haunting the Rampion—lurking in Scarlet's room, only moving to creep down the halls when he needed another can of tomatoes from the galley or when Cinder called us for a meeting in the cargo bay.

It had taken a great deal to convince him to spar with me. Even after that, he didn't hit with any effort. It was frustrating. It was like fighting a corpse.

On numerous occasions, I had wanted to tell him that Scarlet was going to be fine, that she was a tough girl, that every day we were getting closer to rescuing her—but I bit my tongue every time. The words had been tossed around so much lately they were beginning to lose their meaning.

"Oh."

I dropped my hand from my forehead. Kai was standing in the doorway.

"I didn't realize anybody was in here," he said. "Cinder sent me here...something about getting a flat-headed tool, or..." He glanced at the many crates along the wall of the cargo bay. He looked incredibly lost.

"There might be one in this mess, Your Maj—Kai." The emperor had discouraged my continuous use of his title. It felt strange calling him by one name, but I was a soldier, and soldiers followed orders.

I moved toward the bins. "I'll help look."

There were a few moments of us rustling through the junk Thorne had collected on his ship over the years.

"I'm sorry about before."

I looked up. "Hm?"

"With the whole"—he rolled his wrist toward me—"assuming you were a guy thing."

"Oh, it's fine," I said. I tossed aside a wrench. "Though you might want to worry about the fact that you did it on international television."

He blinked for a moment, not following my train of thought, before it clicked.

He slapped a palm to his forehead. "Stars, the press conference!"

I hid my laugh by clearing my throat. "It was a very small mistake, Your—Kai. I'm sure no one noticed."

Kai sighed heavily. "No, but that doesn't change the fact that I didn't even know who one of my leading commanders was."

"I've faced worse," I said, shrugging with one shoulder.

I continued to dig through the crate in front of me, but Kai's movements had stopped. He squinted his eyes as if really looking at me for the first time. "Just how old are you, exactly?"