Rosetta

25

Esmerelda fixed her glamour to hide what the aftermath of the 'oath' had done to her. Cinder was still lying down.

She snapped back around to her. "I have decided I no longer have use of you. You are battered enough to return to your darling husband. Who knows, maybe your child will not survive and my damage affected you more than I had hoped." She shrugged, "If only."

Cinder gave herself time to think. Could all of the beatings really have affected her child? Would they survive?

Information overtook her vision. She jumped and tried to take it in. Hospital reports of miscarriages-

But her retina display was working again. She tried to flex her metal fingers, watching as she opened and closed her own fist.

Her prostheses were working.

She waved the information away and stared up at her vile captor. She had a portscreen in hand, which she now chucked carelessly into the pile of smashed glass.

She began to laugh. Happily, horridly and crazily, but a laugh all the same. "Getting all excited, are we? Awwwww, you can run to your family," she drawled. "But Rosetta will be dead by the end of three nights."

                                       *

Cinder stepped shakily off the maglev train that Esmerelda had placed her on. She was in RM9. She was walking towards Wolf's old home. She was walking towards Kai, and Iko, and Scarlet and Winter and Jacin and Cress and Thorne and Kai. She was going to see him again. She was going to be able to tell him the news that had been eating at her chest since she found out.

She stopped. She was outside the house now. What was she supposed to do? Walk in half hanging onto consciousness? Go to the poor girl, Rosetta, and tell her she was going to die on her birthday? And that there was nothing they could do to stop it?

No. Wait. Cinder hadn't stopped. Someone had stopped her. Esmerelda was near her, controlling her. Cinder was pulling something out of a pocket she didn't know was there. A spindle, one that had the intricate initials of M.L on them. Her retina display told her that these spindles were famous in a motel gift shop, one owned by Matéo Luciana, his wife Maria Luciana and-

Rosetta Luciana.

What had the witch said in her strange 'oath'? That Rosetta would pick up a spindle given to-

Cinder cursed. When Esmerelda silenced her, she began to swear in her head.

She was setting the trap.

She was putting Rosetta up for dead.

She was causing this.

And then it was done.

She had placed the spindle underneath an abandoned stall.

And the hold on her snapped like a twig.

Cinder knew she couldn't run. She didn't have the energy for that. But she could scream. So she did.

She screamed as loud as she could, turning down her audio so she didn't damage her ears.

Then Cinder saw them all, running out of Wolf's old home. Cress and Winter and Iko, looking shocked, and shouting, "It's her! It's Cinder! It's not a glamour!"

Then it was Wolf and Scarlet and Thorne and Jacin, all looking relieved and ready to fight. Her gaze found Rosetta, limping and clasping hands with a boy her display picked up as Carlos Alvaro from the news.

Then him.

Then Kai.

His eyes had bags under them, his hair was a ruffled and chaotic mess, his eyes were as dark and bright as ever, and he was running towards her.

Cinder tried her best to stand upright until his arms wrapped around her and picked her up. She nestled her head into his chest, and tried to cling onto the edge of consciousness. She had to force herself to these few words.

"How," she rasped with a weak smile. "How do you like the name Dad?"

                                      *

Her eyes fluttered open. She was staring into his eyes. His worried, gorgeous eyes.

Kai leaned forwards and kissed her forehead. Tears pooled into his eyes as he sat down. "Cinder..."

"I'm alive," she whispered. He picked up her hand, her real one, and began to trace circles in her palm. Then he brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "I thought I lost you forever, again."

"I do have that flair for evading death, don't I?" She chucked, but her voice was sore. Kai jumped up and grabbed some water and held the glass to her lips. She took in some sips before saying, "Where are we?"

She was not in the house. She was in a sterile white room that had only one desk fitted into the wall, only holding some doctor tools and an abandoned portscreen.

"We are in a clinic, in RM9," he answered.

"Where's Juliette? I didn't see her earlier," she asked.

"She stayed at home in Rieux with Émilie. Scarlet and Wolf haven't said anything, but I can tell they miss her," he answered.

"Where's everyone else?" She asked.

"They're at Wolf's house. They're all worried about you, Cinder." She could tell he didn't want to be talking about this.

"What's on your mind?" She asked softly.

"What's on my mind?" He snapped. "That I almost lost my wife, and a child? When were you going to tell me?"

"Father's day," she rasped. She needed more water.

Kai slumped into his chair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry it's just- I almost lost 2 people at the same time, one that I hadn't even got to know yet."

She gave him a wry smile. "It's a girl, if you were wondering."

His eyes brightened, and he smiled before bringing her palm to his forehead and keeping it there.

The could have stayed like that forever until-

"No!" Cinder screamed, making Kai lurch back.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"The-the girl, Rosetta," she stammered

"Yes, the girl."

"Her- her starmother made and oath, or a-a sort of curse on her."

"Cinder, curses don't exist," he deadpanned.

"But this is real, Kai. She looked as if she had aged 10 years, and didn't Melina Petrov make a study-"

"About Lunars changing the future!" He exclaimed.

"Kai! She-she said that Rosetta-" she couldn't say the last few words.

"What's gonna happen to her?"

"On her birthday, she'll drive a spindle into her heart and die!"