And it all Went Wrong

P A R T | 5

KAI'S HAND TRAILED along the wall. With the weight of the lost princess partially on his right arm, and the pain of being manipulated by two Lunars at once, he was growing weaker by the second and had found it helpful to use the wall as support with his left hand. He shook his head, shaking strands of black hair away from his field of vision.

He let his gaze slip to his right where Cinder was using him as help. His right arm was wrapped around her back, his hand just below her right ribcage. Cinder's features were scrunched with concentration and discomfort. Her brown eyes were squinting, a bead of sweat was on her left temple, and her lips were pursed, her brows furrowed. Strands of tangled brown hair had fallen into her face, and Kai found she looked adorable. Her left arm was strung around his neck, her prosthetic hand loosely on his left shoulder (it didn't bother him), and her right hand was clasped above his own right hand.

Frowning and remembering he was still slightly irritated at her, he looked away, glad she hadn't noticed him staring. He still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact Cinder thought he had wanted to be with Her Majesty. He wondered how she didn't see it. How could she be so blind? He sighed, looking up to see the hallway before him. Not even he had been able to look on the bright side of the situation.

"Do you think we're almost there?" he whispered.

Cinder opened her eyes, frowning. "I downloaded the blueprints of the palace. We're ten halls away."

Kai cringed. "Ten?" he asked, exasperated. "That's so far," he whispered again, looking down. They'd been walking for a long time now, and so far, the only trouble they had run into had been when Thorne had been taken in. It all seemed far too suspicious.

Kai scoffed. That criminal.

Though he supposed he shouldn't be mad at him. After all, he had helped Cinder very much. Yet still when he looked at him he couldn't shake away the feeling that he was bad news. Kai didn't like him, but he couldn't feel glad he was taken. Well, he could, technically. It was more of a he wouldn't. It wasn't like him to hate people. Unless they were Lunars. Then he had no problem hating them.

He thought again. With the exception of the Lunars who didn't want to end the Earthen Union. He smiled. That was better.

"Kai," a voice repeated with annoyance. "Stars, are you even listening, Your Highness?"

Kai blinked twice amd looked at Cinder, who had a very agitated look on her tanned face. He felt his ears turn pink as he shook his head. "Sorry," he mumbled as Cinder groaned with frustration. "Could you repeat that again?"

She glared at him but did as he asked. "I've been repeatedly calling your name for a whole minute, Kaito."

"Oh, wow. A whole minute? Stars, Cinder, I don't know how you did it to wait that long," he said, sarcasm laced all over his words. He rolled his eyes. "Can you just get on with it now?"

He saw as a small flicker of pain flashed through her brown eyes, but quickly hid it. She looked down, as if it hurt to look at him. Kai's heart winced. "Cress sent me the coordinates for Princess Winter's location, via her ID chip. I, umm, know where she is, and we, umm, went the wrong way."

Kai bent down, forcing her to make eye contact, like he had done that day at the booth. It felt like that had happened eons ago, but was really only about two and a half months ago. Cinder looked up. "Do we know we have the right ID? Because I have two, and..."

"We're positive, Kai," she interrupted, rolling her eyes and averting her gaze again.

Kai straightened. "Okay. Lead the way." Cinder nodded, but didn't move when Kai started pulling her along. He frowned. That look on her face... He knew the look on her face. "What's wrong?"