When will I stop being afraid of her? Levana. My aunt? That seems so strange. And stars… to think the only family member I have left wants to kill me? The woman who tried to kill me when I was only three years old. Three. And it was all because she wants the Lunar throne for herself. Now look what happened because of her madness... she is going to lose it, her precious throne, to me. Someone who never wanted, or even known, that it was mine.
Cinder was sitting on the bunk bed in her room on the Rampion tapping my metal fingers against the bed frame. She let out a big sigh then sat up. She started pacing around the room. Once in a while taking the pliers out of her back pocket to fidget with, then putting them back. Again and again she did this. After about a half an hour of walking around her room, Cinder lay in her bed and buried her head in the plain white pillow. About five minutes later she heard the door open, but but she bother to look up and see who it was. After a minute or so, Cinder decided to look up and saw Kai standing in the doorway.
“Hey,” Kai said. His hair was all messed up and he wore one of the military outfits the rest of them were wearing. Kai sat on Cinder's bed holding her gaze for a few seconds.
Cinder snapped her eyes away from his, “I’m beginning to think ‘hey’ is too common a gesture in this situation.” She usually didn't like to refer to herself as a princess but this time she made an exception. Cinder Sat up and rested her head on Kai’s shoulder. He gave her a small laugh then wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the forehead. Cinder suddenly felt depressed, not about Kai, but about the revolution that she was supposed to begin. “I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off, Kai.”
“We are going to pull this off. Everyone believes in you. Dr.Erland did. Cress, Thorne, Wolf, Iko, and even Scarlet all believe in you... Cinder, I believe in you.”
“But I don’t believe in me.” Cinder said quietly as she shrank away. She lay down on her back and looked at the paneling on the bottom of the top bunk bed. A headache reminded her that she would be crying right now if she were normal. Kai lay down next to her and once again wrapped his arms around her. Although Cinder wanted to say something else, she couldn't think of anything to say. She reveled in Kai's embrace, though she wasn't really the cuddly type.
“Do you have any idea why I believe in you?”
“No,” Cinder looked at him with saddened eyes. “Frankly I don’t know why anyone believes in me.”
“I don’t believe in you because you’re Princess Selene…” He was looking at her now and pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. ”I believe in you because you are Cinder. You were, and still are, the girl who risked her own life to tell me that mine was in danger… Princess Selene didn’t do that, Cinder… you did.”