"I wasn't hungry," Selene said dryly.
"Well you should have come to breakfast anyway, young lady," Levana scolded. "You have to keep on glamouring him all the time for this plan to work. Or do you want me to dispose of your cousin and her friend?"
"No, my Queen."
"Good. Then do as I say and continue to make the prince 'fall' for you." She slammed the door to Selene's room and Cinder fell against a nearby wall.
"The next time I talk to that witch, it'll be too soon." Cinder was so torn. She wanted to stay at the palace with the prince. But she had to leave to save him, Winter, Jacin, and everyone else in the solar system.
"I'll say," Iko chuckled. "So ... what do you want to do until Cress finds someone to help us?"
"Just walk around the palace and try to stay out of Kai's line of sight, I guess."
"Sounds boring. But it's better than staying cooped up in here." The two left Selene's room and wondered around for what felt like hours. They visited the kitchen, the ball room, and a multitude of other locations. The place they spent the most time however, was the Med Center.
They were walking past one of the quarantine rooms when Iko looked in the window and froze. "Peony!" she cried. Iko bolted to the door and flung herself into the room. Cinder chased after her to see who Iko was so upset to see. When she entered, Cinder saw why Iko was distraught. One of the girls she had met the day before was lying in a white bed. Her face pale and arms decorated in rings of varying shades.
Iko stood over the girl as she store up at her with a smile. "I never thought I'd see you again, Iko. The new body really suits you. How's life with the princess? Is she like the queen, or is she nicer?"
"Oh she is much nicer than that woman." Iko's vocal modulator cracked. "And you were supposed to see me again at the coronation. Not ..." She bent down and took the girl's hand. "Not in this place."
"I wish I didn't have to meet you here too. But I guess I missed you so much that I got Letimosis to see you," she joked. "Oh, I'm sorry Your Highness. I didn't see you there."
"No need to apologize." Cinder walked over to the girl's bed. "A friend of Iko's is a friend of mine. You can call me Cinder."
"I'm Peony. It's a pleasure to meet you, Cinder."
The three talked and talked as if they were old friends. Even when they brought up the topic of Adri, their cruel guardian, Cinder could relate. Her horrific aunt was the devil compared to Adri. After what seemed like mere minutes, Cinder and Iko were asked to leave because visiting hours were over. "Will you come to see me again?" Peony begged.
"We'll try our bests to see you again, Peony. I promise." Iko let go of her friend's hand and strode to the door beside Cinder. They walked down the hall to the elevator and began to enter. As the doors closed, Iko faced the ground. "We're never going to see her again, are we?"
"Over course we are. She only started showing sighs yesterday. That means she has at least two weeks before ..." That sentence did not need to be finished. "That's after the coronation. We can visit her after this is all over."
"Okay," the android's tone radiated sadness. "I just want to make sure the first friend I ever had doesn't have to be alone when ... it happens."
"I know," Cinder completely understood. When you're hated by someone who should care about, you tend to stay very close to the people who do care for you. In her situation, Iko was her and Peony was Winter. They both needed to stay with their friends until the end.
As they approached the first floor, Iko stopped the elevator. "I need the go do something. Before we have to leave this place." She stepped out and the metal rectangles were just about to close when someone else slipped in. Oh no. Kai had been the one to walk in. She hoped he hadn't seen her when he entered.
"Sorry to intrude. Don't mind me." He spoke so casually. There was dead air between them for a minute. He broke the silence with, "Have you seen the princess or have any idea where she is?"
Selene tried to make her vocal pattern change to mask her identity. "No, Your Highness. I have not see the lunar princess today." She sounded like a little girl with a shrilly voice. Cinder did her best to control the giggles bubbling to the top of her lungs.
"That's a shame. She is truly beautiful." His words shocked her and softened her outlook. If she wasn't trying to hide from him, she would have said 'thank you'. Her joy was crammed away by alarm when the prince turned to face her. "And she's ..... Cinder? You little liar."
"Kai, uh ..." Her tongue was tied in a hundred knots. He came closer to her and her immediate reaction was to back up. "I didn't look in a mirror today. So I haven't seen the princess yet."
"But you still know where she is." Her back was to the wall and he was less than a foot from crushing her. "She's in an enclosed space with a prince." His hand came to hold her cheek. At first, she tried to bend out of his touch. But his warmth loured her in. He stepped closer to her and their bodies could almost connect. "Why were you trying to hide from me?"
"You're not acting normally. I think that the queen is glamouring you." Her lie detector went off in her head. "The only cure for that is for me to stay out of your way."
"I don't think I'm being glamoured. I think I like you, a lot." His forehead fell onto hers and warnings flew across her vision. If this continued for too much longer, she might power down. His free hand snaked around her waist. He slowly began to shorten the small distance between them.
She had nowhere to go, nothing to do but let herself be kissed. Just as she thought it, his lips pressed to her cheek and her cruel past melted away. She couldn't help but take pleasure in his affection for her. He drew her into him even more. Cinder raised her hands to wrap around his waist.
Dozens of red blurs crossed her vision, only one of them knocked some sense into her. Vocal Comm request from Jacin Clay. Selene snapped her head back and unintentionally whacked it on the wall. "Ow!" Her metal hand rubbed the point of impact. "Uh. I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow, Your Highness." Just has her words were released, the doors swung open and Cinder slipped from Kai's grip.
She sprinted to her room and locked the door. Iko was already inside and was about to speak. Cinder shushed the bot and accepted the comm request. "Hello?"
"Selene? Oh, thank the stars you're okay." Jacin's voice was filled to the brim with relief.
"You should be the one to say such things. You're stuck on Luna!"
"Not anymore. The queen sent me to the E.C. to act as an extra guard for Sybil."
"You're on Earth? Why haven't you come to see me yet?!" Playful anger was woven in her words.
"Wait. Is Winter okay?"
"She's fine. I'm in connection with one of her guards. They're a friend of mine and can be trusted."
"Great! So why haven't you come to see me? I'm in desperate need of some company."
"Hey!" Iko yelled. "I think I'm doing a good job of not boring you to death!"
"Who is that?" Jacin sounded alarmed.
"An android I bought yesterday. Her name is Iko."
"Leave it to you to find an android that acts like it's human," Selene could hear the smirk on his face. "Also, I haven't been able to visit you because the queen wants you to think that I'm still on Luna. She said I couldn't go see you. But she never said I couldn't comm you."
"I don't think she knows that I have to ability to comm through my head."
"That's good. So, what is so dire that you need to talk to me about." For the third time, Selene gave the 'prince falling for me and I need to get out of here' speech. She include the plan in the making to have someone 'kidnap' her until the prince is crowned. "That is quite the problem you've gotten yourself into, Selene. Maybe I should have nicknamed you Trouble."
"I already have a nickname. It's Cinder."
"Where did you get the inspiration for that title?"
"A nightmare."
"Oh. That's nice. Well, for the scheme to work, you'll have to be with someone who will become a witness to the crime. Have any suggestions?"
"The prince could be our witness," Iko added. "He wants to spend time with you. He should be the last to see you before you leave."
"That's a good idea. But you'll have to be in a place where there aren't any guards or anyone armed," Jacin listed.
"The marketplace," Cinder blurted. "We went there without any guards last time. Maybe I could get the prince to take me again."
"Normally, I would yell at you for going to a place like that without protection. But I guess it's either that or getting married at sixteen. Letting Levana control the world after you lose your freedom." He paused for a moment. "You should have taken the throne at thirteen, Selene. Then we wouldn't be in this mess."
"I know," her guilt crashed into her in waves. "I'm sorry for being so selfish."
"No, Selene. It's your birth right to rule Luna. That's why you should have taken it. To stop Levana's rein of terror. I know you just want to be normal, but you can't. I'm sorry, but you can't."
Those words had hung over her head since she woke up in that preservation chamber on Luna. She could never be normal, and it was her curse to be the outcast. "I know that. Once I'm able, I'll take the throne back from Levana. I never want you or Winter to be in danger again because of me." With that, Cinder hung up. She could comm Jacin again tomorrow once Cress got back to her.