Scarlet

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.”

A strange sound escaped Cinder’s throat—a squeak or a whimper—and she clamped her metal hand over her mouth to stifle it.

“Because of this, I feel it is my responsibility to end these attacks and prevent a full-scale war so long as it is within my power to do so. So that is what I’ve done, in the only way I could.” His gaze pierced the back wall of the press room as if he were too mortified to look any of the journalists in the eye. “I have accepted an alliance of marriage with Queen Levana of Luna.”

A shocked scream ripped from Cinder and she launched herself to her feet. “No. No!”

“In return,” Kai continued, “Queen Levana has agreed to withhold further attacks. The wedding has been scheduled for the next full moon, the twenty-fifth day of September, to be followed immediately by Queen Levana’s coronation as empress of the Eastern Commonwealth. The removal of all Lunar soldiers from Earthen soil will begin the following day.”

“No!” Cinder screeched. Grabbing the boot off her foot, she heaved it at the screen. “Idiot! You idiot!”

“My cabinet and I will have further updates in the coming days. I will not be taking any questions tonight. Thank you.” The room filled with barking questions regardless, but Kai ignored them all, slinking off the platform like a defeated general.

Cinder spun away and kicked the nearest crate with her bare metal foot. “He knows this was her doing but he’s still going to give her everything she wants! She is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Earthens, and now she’s going to be empress!” She paced the floor, spotted the two bloodied ID chips beside Scarlet, and mercilessly stomped them to pieces, grinding them into the floor with her heel. “And how long will she be satisfied with that? A month? A week? I even told him! I told him she planned on using the Commonwealth as a stepping stone to wage war on the rest of Earth, and he’s still going to marry her! She’s going to have complete control over all of us, and it will be all his fault!”

Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest. “It sounds to me,” she said, her voice rising to compete with Cinder’s, “that it will be all your fault.”

Cinder’s tirade ceased and she gaped at Scarlet. Between them, Thorne settled his chin on his palm as if watching a great show—though his free hand still held the shotgun aimed at Wolf’s head.

“You know why she did this,” said Scarlet, climbing to her feet despite the protests of her angry muscles. “You know why she’s after you.”

Cinder’s fury simmered off. “Your grandmother told you.”

“Yes, she did. What sickens me is that you let this happen in the first place!”

Glowering, Cinder bent down and ripped off her other boot. Scarlet shied away but Cinder only tossed it into a corner. “What would you rather I did? Just hand myself over? Sacrifice myself in hopes that would satisfy her? It would have come to this anyway.”

“I’m not talking about when you were arrested at the ball. I mean before that. Why haven’t you done anything to stop her? People are relying on you. People think you can make a difference, and what are you doing? Running away and hiding! My grandmother didn’t die so you could live as a fugitive, too much a coward to do something!”

“Uh, I’m confused,” said Thorne, raising a finger in the air. “What are we talking about?”

Scarlet glanced at the captain. “Would you stop pointing that gun at him?”

Thorne tossed the gun to the side and folded his hands in his lap.

“He doesn’t even know, does he?” Scarlet rounded on Cinder. “You’ve put his life in danger—all of our lives in danger—and he doesn’t even know why.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Is it?”

“I haven’t even known for a week! I found out who I was the day after the ball, when I was sitting in a jail cell preparing to be handed over to Levana like a trophy. So between breaking out of prison and running from the entire Commonwealth military and trying to save your life, I haven’t had much time to overthrow an entire regime. I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, but what do you want me to do?”

Scarlet drew back, a headache pounding at her temple. “How could you not have known?”

“Because your grandmother shipped me off to the Commonwealth without bothering to tell me.”

“But isn’t that why you were at the ball?”

“Stars, no. You think I would have been stupid enough to face Levana if I’d known the truth?” She hesitated. “Well. I don’t know. For Kai, maybe, but…” She grasped her head with both hands. “I don’t know. I didn’t know.”

Scarlet was suddenly dizzy from the anger, the rush of blood, the exhaustion. The only response she could form was a baffled “Oh.”

Thorne coughed. “I’m still confused.”

With a sigh, Cinder wilted onto a crate, staring down at her mismatched hands. She scrunched her whole face up, like preparing for a blow, and muttered, “I’m Princess Selene.”

Thorne snorted and they all turned to him.

He blinked. “What, really?”

“Really.”

The joking smile froze on his lips.

A heavy silence was followed by a vibration beneath their feet and Iko’s voice. “I don’t compute.”

“That makes two of us,” said Thorne. “Since when?”

Cinder shrugged. “I’m sorry. I should have told you, but … I didn’t know if I could trust you, and I thought if I could find Michelle Benoit and have her explain some things to me, tell me how I came to be here, how I came to be this…” She held up both hands before letting them fall limply back into her lap. “… then maybe I could start figuring things out.” She sighed. “Iko, I’m really sorry. I swear I didn’t know before.”

Snapping his jaw shut, Thorne scratched at his chin. “You’re Princess Selene,” he said, testing the words. “The crazy cyborg girl is Princess Selene.”

“Is your gift intact?” Wolf asked. He was sitting crookedly, trying not to put too much weight on his side.

“I think so,” said Cinder, shifting uncomfortably. “I’m still learning how to use it.”

“She controlled one of the … special operatives,” said Scarlet. “I saw her do it.”

Cinder glanced down. “Only barely. I couldn’t maintain control.”

“You were able to manipulate one of the pack? While Jael was there?”

“Yeah, but it was awful. I could only get to one of them and I nearly passed out—”

A sharp laugh silenced her, before Wolf coughed painfully. Still, an amused expression lingered on his face. “And this is why Levana wants you. You are stronger than she is. Or … you could be, with practice.”

Cinder shook her head. “You don’t understand. That thaumaturge had seven men under his control and I could barely manage one. I’m nowhere near as strong as them.”

“No, you don’t understand,” said Wolf. “Each pack is ruled by a thaumaturge who controls when our animal instincts take over, when all we can think about is killing. They’ve manipulated our Lunar gift and used it to turn us into these monsters instead—with some physical modifications. But it’s all connected to our master. Most Lunars couldn’t control us at all—we might as well be shells to them—and even our masters, who could control hundreds of average citizens at once, can only keep hold of a dozen or so operatives. That’s why our packs are kept so small. Do you see?”

“No,” said Cinder and Thorne at once.

Wolf was still smiling. “Even the most talented of thaumaturges can only control a dozen operatives, fifteen at the most, and this after years of genetic modifications and training. And yet you manage to take one away from his master on your first attempt? With some practice…” He looked like he wanted to laugh. “I would not have thought it before, but now I think Her Majesty might actually have cause to be afraid of you, Princess.”

Cinder flinched. “Don’t call me that.”

“I am assuming, of course, you do mean to fight against her,” continued Wolf, “judging from your response to your emperor’s announcement.”

Cinder shook her head. “I don’t have the first idea how to.… I don’t know anything about being a ruler or a leader or—”

“But plenty of people think you can stop her,” said Scarlet. “My grandmother died so you could have this chance. I’m not going to let her sacrifice be wasted.”

“And I would help you,” added Wolf. “You could practice your abilities, on me.” He slumped, his body tired from sitting up for too long. “Besides, if you are who you claim to be, that makes you my true queen. Therefore, you have my loyalty.”

Cinder shook her head and hopped off the crate again. “I don’t want your loyalty.”

Scarlet planted her hands on her hips. “What do you want?”

“I want—I want some time to think about this and figure out what to do next without everyone yapping in my ear!” Cinder stomped off toward the main corridor, every other step a loud clang as her metal foot struck the floor.

When she had gone, Thorne let out a low whistle. “I know, I know. She seems a little”—crossing his eyes, he swirled both fingers around his ears—“but it’s really part of her charm, once you get to know her.”