Stories Unknown

August Eighteenth

When Cinder woke up on August the eighteenth, her heart felt particularly heavy— as if made from metal like her left hand. All she wanted in the whole world was to sleep and sleep and sleep until the day ended and August the nineteenth began. But of course, she was an empress, and she and her husband had too many duties to fulfill for her to stay in bed all day.

So Cinder got up as usual, kissing Kai good morning and rushing off to her meetings. She went through the motions of an ordinary day, all the while reliving the events of this day only three years before.

The anniversary of her little sister's death had never before hit her so hard as it did now. The past two years she had been on Luna and away from the place where she had known Peony. But since her marriage to Kai only months before, Cinder had moved back to New Beijing and seen her sister in everything around her.

Throughout all of Cinder's life at the Linh's, Peony had been her only friend— save for Iko. She had been the one to tell her about Prince Kai, and Cinder wished that she could have introduced her sister to her now husband. Peony had been the only human to ever touch Cinder, or say kind words to her. She had been the one to cut Cinder's hair and give her hugs. Peony had been the only bright spot in Cinder's life for five years, and even three years after her death, Cinder still missed her fiercely.

By the end of the long day, Cinder's head throbbed from the tears she couldn't shed. She was both grateful and annoyed that she couldn't cry— for if she could, she would have been a mess of waterworks throughout the entire day. But the release of emotions would have been nice. She felt like a bomb that couldn't explode.

When Cinder got back to her and Kai's quarters, she longed for nothing but sleep. She adored Kai, and knew that he understood her pain— she had held him as he cried two days before on the anniversary of his father's death— but she needed that temporary oblivion.

"Hey," Kai smiled, looking up at Cinder from his desk as she entered the room. He had a stack of papers in front of him, but he pushed them aside.

Cinder returned his smile, though somewhat weakly. She just didn't have the energy to pretend anymore. The entire day she had acted as if everything was normal when really she felt like her synthetic heart had been stabbed yet again.

Kai's eyes squinched with worry as he took her in. Then he stood from his chair, walked toward her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Cinder held him tightly to her, some part of her breaking as she let out a sob. She buried her face in his crisp shirt as her entire body shook.

He held her for a long time, rubbing his hand up and down her back soothingly and whispering words of comfort in her ear. He led her to their bed and sat her down next to him so as to hold her even better. He even pulled the too-tight elastic from her hair, and played with the locks in a gentle, soothing manner.

After Cinder had cried her fill, she stayed within Kai's arms, breathing in his clean scent of laundry detergent and soap. She didn't know how she had not longed for Kai's arms all day— they were more comforting than any form of oblivion.

"I have something for you," Kai muttered in Cinder's ear, his lips tickling her. His fingers twisted in her hair, pulling gently at the ends just as Peony had always done with Cinder's hair. "Something special for today. Something for you to remember her by."

Cinder pulled back from Kai, her head throbbing, but her heart somehow less empty. His own eyes were somewhat wet, and she could tell from the subtle redness that he had shed a few tears while Cinder had been crying. She felt her heart expand, somehow managing to love him even more in that moment.

"What is it?" Cinder asked, brushing her hair back behind her ears. Kai gave her a sad smile, then walked back over to his desk and pulled out a small book.

He sat down next to Cinder once more and handed her the book. It was a small, red leather bound scrapbook with Peony's name etched into the cover. Cinder felt her heart squeeze just looking at the careful lettering and the imprints of peony flowers on the cover.

Cinder glanced at Kai, her eyes wide. He scootched in closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She opened the book, and on the very first page she found a photograph of Peony, smiling and waving at the camera from within her shared room with Pearl in Phoenix Towers.

Leaning her head on Kai's shoulder, Cinder looked through the entire book, finding a new picture of Peony on each page— all with her smiling or laughing or making goofy faces. Every photo displayed her from the time that Cinder had known her, showing Cinder's sister from ages nine to fourteen. There were even occasional photos of Cinder with Peony, arms thrown around one another, or both staring at some piece of machinery in concentration, or pretend concentration.

By Cinder's count, there were over thirty photos inside the scrapbook, all the Peony that Cinder had known and loved so well. And by the time she reached the end of the small book, Cinder felt an overwhelming rush of emotions.

"How?" Cinder asked, her voice choked with emotion. "How did you get these pictures?"

"Iko," Kai replied simply. His arm was still wrapped around her comfortingly, and his fingers gently stroked the bare skin of her arm. "She used to take pictures of you and Peony when you guys were particularly happy. I didn't know she would still have images like that, but apparently Cress backed them onto a drive or something like that. Anyhow, we both thought that you would appreciate the memories."

Cinder stared at the front cover, gently tracing Peony's name with her finger. She had no words to express how much she loved the scrapbook— how much it meant to her to have such precious memories.

She wrapped her arms around Kai's neck, holding him tighter than she ever had before. "Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder, her body trembling with the tears she couldn't shed. "This... this means so much to me. Thank you, Kai."

Kai let out a sigh and continued to hold her. They didn't say anything else for a long time, but simply clutched one another. Both had lost so much too soon in life, but at least they had one another, to have and to hold until their dying days. Even with all the loss in their life, they were enough for one another.