Scarlet (39 page)

Which is why he would forever hate himself for what he was about to do.

“Torin, will you give me a moment?”

“Your Majesty?” Torin’s eyes were wrinkled in the corner, as if carved into his skin. Perhaps they’d all aged unfairly this week. “You want me to leave?”

He bit the inside of his cheek and nodded.

Torin’s lips perched, but it seemed a long time before he could form any words. Kai could see knowledge on his adviser’s face—Torin knew what he was planning.

“Your Majesty, are you sure you don’t wish to discuss this? Let me offer guidance. Let me help you.”

Kai tried to smile, but it came out nothing more than a painful grimace. “I can’t stand here, safe in this palace, and not do anything. I can’t let her kill anyone else. Not with these monsters, not by withholding the letumosis antidote, not by … whatever she has planned next. We both know what she wants. We both know what will stop this.”

“Then let me stay and support you, Your Majesty.”

He shook his head. “This isn’t a good choice for the Commonwealth. It may be the
only
choice, but it will never be a good one.” He fidgeted with his collar. “The Commonwealth should not be able to blame anyone but me. Please, go.”

He saw Torin take in a slow, painful breath, before bowing deeply. “I will be right outside should you need me, Your Majesty.” Looking supremely unhappy about it, Torin left, shutting the door behind him.

Kai paced before the netscreen, his gut twisting with anxiety. He straightened his shirt, wrinkled from a long day, but at least he’d still been in his office when the alert had come. He believed he might never experience a full night of sleep again after this.

After what he was about to do.

In his frenzied thoughts, he couldn’t help thinking of Cinder at the ball. How happy he’d been to see her descending the stairs into the ball room. How innocently amused he’d been at her rain-drenched hair and wrinkled dress, thinking it was a fitting look for the city’s most renowned mechanic. He’d thought she must be immune to society’s whims of fashion and decorum. So comfortable in her own skin that she could come to a royal ball as the emperor’s own guest with messy hair and oil stains on her gloves and keep her head high as she did so.

That was before he knew that she’d rushed to the ball to give him a warning.

Cinder had sacrificed her own safety to plead with him not to accept the alliance. Not to marry Levana. Because after the marriage ceremony was done and she had ascended to the throne of the Eastern Commonwealth, Levana intended to kill him.

He felt sick to his stomach, knowing that Cinder was right. He knew that Levana wouldn’t hesitate to dispose of him as soon as he’d served his purpose.

But he had to stop these murders. He had to stop this war.

Cinder was not the only one capable of sacrificing herself for something greater.

Inhaling, exhaling, he faced the screen.

“Establish vidlink to Queen Levana of Luna.”

The small globe in the corner turned over only once before it brightened with the image of the Lunar queen, draped in her lacy white veil. He imagined her face old and haggard and decrepit beneath its sheath, and it didn’t help.

Kai sensed she’d been waiting for his comm. He sensed she’d been listening in on everything, and already knew precisely what his intentions were. He sensed she was smirking behind the veil.

“My dear Emperor Kaito, what a pleasant surprise. It must be quite late in New Beijing. About two hours and twenty-four minutes past midnight, is that correct?”

He swallowed his disgust as best he could and opened his hands wide to her. “Your Majesty, I beg you. Please stop this attack. Please call off your soldiers.”

The veil shifted as she listed her head to the side. “You
beg
me? How delightful. Do go on.”

Heat flooded his face. “Innocent people are dying—women and children, bystanders, people who haven’t done anything to you. You’ve won, and you know it. So
please,
end it now.”

“You say I’ve won, but what is my prize, young emperor? Have you captured the cyborg girl who started all this? She is the one you should be appealing to. If she turns herself over to me then I will call off my men. That is my offer. Do let me know when you are prepared to bargain with me. Until then, good night.”

“Wait!”

She folded her hands. “Yes?”

His pulse thrummed painfully against his temples. “I can’t give you the girl—we thought we had her, but she’s gotten away again, as I suspect you already know. But I can’t let you continue to murder innocent Earthens while we try and find another way to track her.”

“I’m afraid that’s not my problem, Your Majesty.”

“There’s something else you want, something I
can
offer. We both know what that is.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you speak of.”

Kai didn’t realize he was gripping his hands, practically pleading with her, until his knuckles started to ache. “If your offer of a marriage alliance still stands, I accept. Your prize for calling off your men will be the Commonwealth.” His voice broke on the final word and he clamped his jaw shut.

He waited, breathless, knowing that every second that passed meant more bloodshed on the streets of Earth.

After an agonizing silence, Levana tittered. “My dear Emperor. How could I resist such a charming proposal?”

Forty-Four

As the ship entered neutral orbit, Scarlet released the air from her burning lungs and slumped into the pilot’s seat. Moaning, all the aches and wounds catching up to her at once, she turned herself around to face the ship’s bay.

Linh Cinder was sitting on the floor with her legs splayed out before her. Wolf, unconscious, was spread-eagle on his back. A streak of blood followed him from the ramp where he’d been dragged. The other man was flopped onto his stomach.

“You’re a pilot,” said Cinder.

Linh Cinder.

Princess Selene.

“My grandma taught me. She was a pilot in—” The words evaporated, her heart aching. “But your ship does pretty well on its own.”

“So glad to be of service,” said the disembodied voice. “I’m Iko. Is anyone hurt?”

“Everyone’s hurt,” said Cinder, groaning.

Scarlet hobbled over to Wolf’s body and sank down beside him.

“Are they going to be all right?”

“I hope so,” said Cinder, “but I’ve never stuck around long enough to see the aftereffects of these darts.”

Scarlet unzipped her shredded hoodie and tied it over the open wound on Wolf’s arm. “You said you had bandages?”

She could see Cinder’s dread at being forced into action again, but soon Cinder pushed herself up and disappeared through a door on the far side of the cargo bay.

A low moan drew her attention to the stranger. He rolled onto his back, cringing.

“Whererewe?” he muttered.

“Oh, you’re awake already,” said Cinder, returning with salve and gauze. “I was hoping you’d stay knocked out awhile longer. The peace and quiet was a pleasant change.”

Despite her tone, Scarlet could sense the relief rolling off the girl as she dropped a tube of salve onto the man’s stomach. She passed the gauze to Scarlet along with another tube of salve and a scalpel. “We need to cut out your ID chips and destroy them, before they track you.”

Easing to a seated position, the man gave Scarlet a hazy, suspicious look and she thought for a moment he’d forgotten where she’d come from, before his attention dropped down to Wolf. “Managed to get the loon on board, huh? Maybe I can find a cage for him in one of these bins. I’d hate for him to kill us in our sleep after all that.”

Scarlet scowled, unraveling a strip of gauze. “He’s not an animal,” she said, focusing on the claw marks on the side of Wolf’s face.

“Are you sure?”

“I hate to agree with Thorne,” said Cinder, “I mean, I
really
hate to agree with him, but he’s right. We don’t know that he’s on our side.”

Scarlet pressed her lips and pulled out another strip of tape. “You’ll see when he wakes up. He’s not…” She hesitated, and realized a moment later that she couldn’t even convince herself that he was on their side.

“Well,” said the man. “I feel much better.” Tearing a hole in his pants, he dabbed the ointment on the puncture wound from the tranquilizer.

Pulling her hair out of her face, Scarlet ripped open Wolf’s shirt and slathered the medical salve onto the deep gashes across his abdomen. “Who are you?”

“Captain Carswell Thorne.” Recapping the salve, he propped himself against the cargo bay’s wall. His hand landed on the shotgun. “Where did this come from?”

“Scarlet found it in one of the crates,” said Cinder, facing the netscreen on the wall. “Screen, on.”

The screen showed a shaking image of a bloodied man running full speed toward the camera. There was screaming, and then static. A male anchorman behind a desk replaced the video, his face pale. “This is footage fed to us from the attacks in Manhattan earlier tonight, and sources have confirmed that more than a dozen cities across the Union are also under siege.”

Scarlet bent over to cut the ID chip from Wolf’s wrist. She noticed he already had a scar there, as though it hadn’t been very long ago when the ID chip had been put in him to begin with.

The anchorman continued, “Citizens are urged to stay in their homes and lock all doors and windows. We are now going to a live feed from Capitol City where President Vargas will be making an address.”

A groan drew everyone’s attention to Wolf. From the corner of her eye, Scarlet saw Captain Thorne cock the gun and level the barrel at Wolf’s chest.

Scarlet set aside the scalpel and both their ID chips and tilted Wolf’s face toward her. “Are you all right?”

He lifted bleary eyes to her, before suddenly wrenching away and rolling onto his side, vomiting onto the ship’s floor. Scarlet winced.

“Sorry,” said Cinder. “That’s probably a side effect of the drugs.”

Thorne gagged. “Aces, I’m glad that didn’t happen to me. How embarrassing.”

Swiping at his lips, Wolf collapsed again onto his back, cringing with every movement. He furrowed his brow, then squinted up at Scarlet. His eyes had returned to their normal vibrant green—no longer filled with animal hunger. “You’re alive.”

She tucked a curl behind her ear, baffled at her own relief. This was the man who had handed her over to those monsters. She should have hated him, but all she could think of was his desperation when he’d kissed her on the train, when he’d begged her not to go looking for her grandmother. “Thanks to you.”

Thorne scoffed. “Thanks to
him
?”

Wolf tried to look at Thorne, but couldn’t twist his neck enough. “Where are we?”

“You’re aboard a cargo ship orbiting Earth,” said Cinder. “Sorry about the whole tranquilizer thing. I thought you were going to eat her.”

“I thought I was too.” His expression darkened as he took in Cinder’s metal hand. “I think my queen is looking for you.”

Thorne quirked an eyebrow. “Was that supposed to make me feel better about having him on board?”

“He’s better now,” Scarlet said. “Aren’t you?”

He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have brought me here. I’ll only put you all in danger. You should have left me down there. You should have killed me.”

Thorne released the safety on the gun.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Scarlet. “They did this to you. It’s not your fault.”

Wolf eyed her like he was speaking to a stubborn child. “Scarlet … if anything happened to you because of me…”

“Do you intend to harm anyone aboard this ship or not?” said Cinder, cutting through their conversation.

Wolf blinked at her, at Thorne, then at Scarlet, his eyes lingering. “No,” he whispered.

Three heartbeats later, Cinder’s body relaxed. “He’s telling the truth.”

“What?” said Thorne. “And
that’s
supposed to make me feel better?”

“Kai is going to make an announcement!” Iko’s voice blared through the ship, then the volume of the netscreen rose.

An anchor was speaking again. “—appears that all attacks have ceased. We will keep you posted as news develops. Now, we connect you to the feed from the Eastern Commonwealth where we are expecting an emergency announcement from Emperor Kaito to begin—”

He was cut off, the screen turning to the EC’s press room, where Kai stood behind a podium. Cinder bunched the material of her pants in both fists.

“Cinder has a bit of a crush on him,” Thorne stage-whispered.

“Don’t we all?” said Iko.

Kai seemed momentarily disconcerted beneath the bright lights, but it passed as he squared his shoulders. “You all know why I have called this press conference in the middle of the night, and I thank you for coming on such short notice. I hope to answer some of the questions that have been posed since these attacks began nearly three and a half hours ago.”

Wolf hissed in pain as he sat up to see better. Scarlet’s fingers tightened around his hand.

“I can confirm that these men are from Luna. Some of our scientists have already begun conducting tests on the body of one of these men, killed by a police officer in Tokyo, and have confirmed that they are genetically engineered soldiers. They appear to be Lunar males whose physical makeup has been combined with the neural circuitry of some sort of wolf hybrid. It seems clear that their surprise attack was orchestrated in a way to ensure terror, confusion, and chaos throughout Earth’s major cities. In this, I feel it is safe to say they succeeded.

“Many of you are aware that Queen Levana has been threatening to declare war on Earth for nearly her entire rule. If you are wondering why Queen Levana chose now to initiate this attack after so many years of threats … it’s because of me.”

Scarlet noticed Cinder pulling her knees into her chest, squeezing them until her arms began to shake.

“Queen Levana is angry at my inability to adhere to a treaty between Luna and Earth that states that all Lunar fugitives be apprehended and returned to Luna. Queen Levana made her expectations quite clear in this regard, and I failed to meet them.”