THE BALLROOM TEMPERATURE SPIKED AS HUNDREDS OFย faces turned toward
Cinder.
Perhaps the crowd would have turned away a moment later, indifferent, if they hadnโt found the emperorโs personal guest to be a girl with damp hair and mud splatters on the hem of her wrinkled silver dress. As it was, the gazes halted, pinning Cinder to the top of the stairs. Her mismatched feet stuck to the landing as if concrete had hardened around them.
She looked at Kai, his jaw hanging as he took her in.
Heโd expected her to come the entire time. Heโd reserved a spot for her as his personal guest. She could only imagine how he was regretting that decision now.
Beside him, Pearlโs face had begun to burn beneath the glowing chandeliers. Cinder looked at her stepsister, at Adri, took in their speechless mortification, and reminded herself to breathe.
It was already over for her.
Pearl had almost certainly told Kai that she was cyborg.
Soon, Queen Levana would see her too and know she was Lunar. She would be taken, maybe killed. There was nothing she could do about it now.
But she had taken the risk. She had made the decision to come. It would not go to waste.
She squared her shoulders. Lifted her chin.
Gathering up the full silk skirt, she fixed her gaze on Kai and made her way slowly down the steps.
His eyes softened into something almost like amusement, as if such a ragged appearance was all one could expect from a renowned mechanic.
A murmur rippled through the crowd and as the heel of Cinderโs boot hit the marble floor with forced precision, the sea of gowns began to shuffle aside. Women whispered behind their hands. Men craned their necks to catch the hushed gossip.
Even the servants had stopped to watch her, holding trays of delicacies
aloft. The scent of garlic and ginger clouded around them, twisting Cinderโs stomach into knots. She realized suddenly how famished she was. All the preparations for running away had left little time for eating. Coupled with her anxiety, it almost made her feel faint. She did her best to ignore it, to be strong, but nervousness was expanding through her taut muscles with every step. Her pulse was a drumbeat inside her head.
Every eye swept over her, mocking her. Every head turned to whisper, rumors already taking flight. Cinderโs ears rang, picking snatches of conversationโAย personal guest? But who is she? And what is that stuff on her dress?โuntil Cinder adjusted the audio interface, silencing the words.
Never in her life had she been so glad she could not blush.
Kaiโs lips twitched, and though he still looked baffled, he did not look angry or disgusted. Cinder gulped. As she got nearer, her arms burned to wrap around herself, to cover her filthy, wrinkled, water-stained dress as best she could, but she didnโt allow them. It would have been futile, and Kai didnโt care about her dress.
If anything, he was probably trying to discern how much of her was metal and silicon.
She kept her head high, even as her eyes stung, even as panic filled her vision with warnings and precautions.
It was not her fault he had liked her. It was not her fault she was cyborg. She would not apologize.
She focused only on walking, one thudding step after another, as the crowd parted before her, then closed again in her wake.
But before she reached the emperor, a figure pushed out of the crowd and into her path. Cinder froze, halted by the seething glare of her stepmother.
She blinked, dumbfounded, as reality stumbled in on the still, silent moment. Sheโd forgotten that Adri and Pearl were there.
Blotchy red cheeks showed through Adriโs translucent white makeup, and her chest was heaving beneath the modest neckline of her kimono. The confused tittering hushed, pushing the questions toward those in the back of the crowd who couldnโt see what was happening but could no doubt feel the tension expanding around them.
Adriโs hand snatched forward, capturing Cinderโs skirt in her fist. She shook the material. โWhere did you get this?โ she hissed, her voice low as if she were afraid of causing more of a scene than Cinder already had.
Setting her jaw, Cinder stepped back, whipping the dress away from her stepmother. โIko saved the dress. Peony would have wanted me to have it.โ
Behind her mother, Pearl gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Cinder
glanced at her and found Pearl looking down at her feet with horror.
Cinder shuddered, imagining her cyborg leg visible for all to see, until Pearl pointed at her feet and shrieked, โMy boots! Those are my boots! Onย her!โ
Adriโs eyes narrowed. โYou littleย thief.ย How dare you come here and make a mockery of this family.โ She jutted her finger over Cinderโs shoulder toward the grand staircase. โI command you to go home this instant before you embarrass me further.โ
โNo,โ she said, clenching her fists. โI have as much right to be here as you do.โ
โWhat?ย You?โ Adriโs voice started to rise. โBut youโre nothing but aโโ She caught her tongue, even now unwilling to share the mortifying secret about her stepdaughter. Instead, she raised her hand over her shoulder, palm flat.
The crowd gasped and Cinder flinched, but the strike did not come.
Kai stood beside her stepmother, one hand firmly wrapped around Adriโs wrist. Adri turned to him, her face burning with anger, but the look quickly fell away.
She shriveled back, stammering. โYour Majesty!โ
โThat is enough,โ he said, his voice gentle but stern, and released her.
Adri shrank into a pathetic curtsy, head bobbing.
โI am so sorry, Your Majesty. My emotionsโmy temperโthis girl isโฆI am sorry she has interruptedโฆshe is my wardโshe should not be hereโฆโ
โOf course, she should.โ There was a lightness to his words, as if he believed his presence alone could dissolve Adriโs hostility. He fixed his gaze on Cinder. โShe is my personal guest.โ
He glanced around over the heads of the shocked audience, toward the stage where the symphony had gone silent. โThis is a night for celebration and amusement,โ he said loudly. โPlease, let the dancing resume.โ
The band started, shakily at first, until music again filled the ballroomโ Cinder could not recall when it had died out, but her hearing was still dulled to the swarming noise around her.
Kai was looking at her again. She gulped and found that she was shaking
โwith anger and terror and nerves and the sensation of being captured by his brown eyes. Her mind was blank, not sure if she wanted to thank him or turn away and keep yelling at her stepmother, but he didnโt give her a chance to do either.
Kai reached forward and took her hand, and before she realized what was happening, he had plucked her away from her stepmother and stepsister and taken her into his arms.
They were dancing.
Heart hammering, Cinder pried her gaze away from him and looked over his shoulder.
They were the only ones dancing.
Kai must have noticed it too, for he floated his hand briefly away from her waist, gesturing to the gawking crowd, and said in a tone that was part encouragement, part command, โPlease, you are my guests. Enjoy the music.โ
Awkwardly, those nearby traded glances with their own partners, and soon the floor was filling with bustled skirts and coattails. Cinder risked glancing toward where they had abandoned Adri and Pearlโthey were both standing still amid the shuffling crowd, watching as Kai expertly guided Cinder farther and farther away from them.
Clearing his throat, Kai murmured, โYou have no idea how to dance, do you?โ
Cinder fixed her gaze on him, mind still reeling. โIโm aย mechanic.โ
His eyebrows raised mockingly. โBelieve me, I noticed. Are those grease stains on the gloves I gave you?โ
Mortified, she glanced at their intertwined fingers and the black smudges on the white silk gloves. Before she could apologize, she felt herself being gently pushed away and spun beneath his arm. She gasped, for a moment feeling light as a butterfly, before she stumbled on her undersized cyborg foot and fell back into his embrace.
Kai grinned, coaxing her back to armโs length, but he didnโt tease her. โSo. Thatโs your stepmother.โ
โLegal guardian.โ
โRight, my mistake. She seems like a real treasure.โ
Cinder scoffed and her body started to ease. Without sensation in her foot, it felt like trying to dance with a ball of iron soldered to her ankle. Her leg was beginning to ache from carrying it, but she resisted the urge to limp, picturing ever-graceful Pearl in her ball gown and heels, and wished her body into conformity.
At least her body seemed to be memorizing the pattern of the dance steps, making each movement slightly more fluid than the last, until she almost felt as if she knew what she were doing. Of course, the tender pressure of Kaiโs hand on her waist didnโt hurt.
โIโm sorry about that,โ she said. โAbout her, and my stepsister. Can you believe they thinkย Iโmย the embarrassment?โ She made it sound like a joke, but she couldnโt help analyzing his response, bracing for that moment when he asked her if it were true.
If she really were cyborg.
Then, as his smile started to crumble, she realized the moment had come far too soon, and she desperately wished she could take the comment back. She wished they could go on pretending forever that her secret was still safe. That he still did not know.
That he still wanted her to be his personal guest.
โWhy didnโt you tell me?โ Kai said, his voice lowering even though the noise of laughter and tapping heels had filled the air around them.
Cinder opened her mouth, but her words snagged in her throat. She wanted to refute Pearlโs claim, to call her a liar. But what would that get her? More lies. More betrayal. The fingers of her metal hand tightened on his shoulder, the hard, unforgiving confines of the limb. He didnโt flinch, just waited.
She wanted to feel relief now that they had no more secrets. But that wasnโt entirely true either. He still didnโt know she was Lunar.
She opened her mouth again, unsure what she was going to say until the faint words came to her. โI didnโt know how.โ
Kaiโs eyes softened, little wrinkles forming in their corners. โI would have understood,โ he said.
Almost imperceptibly, he inched closer, and Cinder found her elbow crawling up his shoulder in a way that felt impossibly natural. Still, he did not back away. Did not shudder or tense.
He knew, but he wasnโt disgusted? He would still touch her? Somehow, unbelievably, he still even, maybe, liked her?
She felt she would have cried if it had been an option.
Her fingertips tentatively curled around the hair at the back of his neck, and she found that she was shaking, sure he would push her away at any moment. But he didnโt. He did not pull away. Did not grimace.
His lips parted, just barely, and Cinder wondered if maybe she wasnโt the only one having trouble breathing.
โItโs just,โ she started, running her tongue across her lips, โit isnโt something I like to talk about. I havenโt told anyone whoโฆwhoโฆโ
โWho didnโt know her?โ Cinderโs words evaporated.ย Her?
Fingers stiffening, she eased them out of his hair and settled her palm back on his shoulder.
The intensity in his gaze melted into sympathy. โI understand why you didnโt say anything. But now I feel so selfish.โ His jaw flexed, his brow turned up with guilt. โI know, I should have guessed after you told me she was sick to begin with, but with the coronation and Queen Levanaโs visit and the ball, I justโฆI guess I forgot. I know that makes me the biggest jerk in the
world, and I should have realized that your sister hadโฆand why you were ignoring my comms. It makes sense now.โ He drew her closer, until she could almost lay her head on his shoulder, but she didnโt. Her body had gone rigid again, the dance steps forgotten. โI just wish you would have told me.โ
Her gaze shifted over his shoulder, focusing on nothing. โI know,โ she murmured. โI should have told you.โ
She felt as though all her synthetic parts were squeezing together, crushing her inside.
Kai didnโt know.
And yet to have felt the comforting presence of acceptance, only to be confined by secrecy again, was even more unbearable than lying to him to begin with.
โKai,โ she said, shaking herself from the misery that threatened her. She pushed back to armโs length, returning them to the acceptable distance of strangersโor of a mechanic dancing with her emperor. For the first time, Kai missed a dance step, eyes blinking in surprise. She ignored the guilt scratching at her throat.
โI came here to tell you something. Itโs important.โ She glanced around, ensuring that no one could hear them. Though she caught a few jealous scowls targeting her, no one was close enough to hear over the music, and the Lunar queen was nowhere to be seen. โListen. You canโt marry Levana. No matter what she wants, no matter what she threatens.โ
Kai flushed at the queenโs name. โWhat do you mean?โ
โShe doesnโt just want the Commonwealth. Sheโs going to start a war with Earth either way. Itโs just that being empress here will pave the way for her.โ
It was his turn to look around, simultaneously molding his look of panic into cool indifference, though up close, Cinder could see the worry in his eyes.
โAnd thereโs more. Sheย doesย know about Nainsiโฆabout what Nainsi found out. She knows you were trying to find Princess Selene, and sheโs taken the information you found and is hunting her down now. She has people out looking for herโฆif they havenโt found her already.โ
Eyes widening, Kai looked back at her.
โAnd you know,โ she continued, not allowing him to interrupt, โyouย knowย that she wonโt forgive you for trying to find the princess.โ She gulped. โKai, as soon as you marry her, and she has what she wantsโฆsheโs going to kill you.โ
The color drained from his face. โHow do you know all this?โ
She took in a deep breath, somehow exhausted from getting all the information out, as if sheโd only reserved enough energy to bring her to this
moment. โThe D-COMM chip I found in Nainsi. There was this girl, its programmerโฆugh. Itโs complicated.โ She hesitated, thinking she should give the chip to Kai while she had the chance. He may be able to get more information out of the girl, except in her hurry to leave for the ball, sheโd stashed it in her calf compartment. Her gut sank. To retrieve it now would be to reveal herself to Kai and everyone around her.
She gulped, shoving aside the rising distress. Was saving her own pride more important to her?
โIs there somewhere we can go?โ she asked. โAway from the crowd? Iโll tell you everything.โ
He glanced around. In their dancing, they had traveled almost the entire length of the ballroom, and now they stood before a set of massive doors that opened out onto the royal gardens. Beyond the steps, a willow tree was weeping from the heavy rain, a coy pond nearly overflowing. The pummeling of the storm came in waves, almost drowning out the noise of the orchestra.
โThe gardens?โ he said, but before he could move, a shadow fell across them. Glancing up, Cinder saw the unhappy expression of a royal official, looking at Kai with lips so tight theyโd started to go white. He did not acknowledge Cinder.
โYour Majesty,โ he said, his face drawn. โIt is time.โ