Winter (70 page)

The only instinct stronger than his ravenous hunger was the fear of what the thaumaturge would do to him if he misbehaved. He could not stand to be subjected to that agony again. The knife-sharp pain that shot through every muscle and ripped at every tendon.

His mouth watered, but he swallowed the saliva back. He did not move.

His attention locked on the queen. Already Emperor Kaito had knelt before her and accepted the Lunar crown and the title of king consort, to enthusiastic applause, although by the emperor’s expression he could have been accepting a vial of poison.

Now it was the queen’s turn.

The emperor raised the crown of the Eastern Commonwealth and repeated the queen’s speech, ruminating on the political power held by this position, the obligations and duties, the honors and expectations, the symbolism and history contained within that hunk of metal and a hundred glittering jewels.

Levana knelt. She glowed with anticipation. Her lips trembled with a restrained smile. Her eyes were feasting on the crown as Kai turned toward her.

Wolf swallowed another mouthful of saliva. The queen’s flesh was the most tempting of any of them, sweetened by the knowledge that she was his mistress and his enemy. She had commanded that Wolf be taken from his family. She had ordered that he become this monster. It was at her word that the thaumaturges tortured him.

He would devour her heart if ever he had the chance.

“Do you swear,” said Kai, “to govern the peoples of the Eastern Commonwealth according to the laws and customs as laid down by generations of past rulers, to use all the power bestowed on you to further justice, to be merciful, to honor the inherent rights of all peoples, to respect the peace between all nations, to rule with kindness and patience, and to seek the wisdom and council of our peers and brethren? Do you promise all this to do today and for all the days of your reign as empress of the Eastern Commonwealth, before all the witnesses of the earth and heavens?”

She was watching the crown, not the emperor. “I do,” she breathed.

Kai’s expression was dark. He hesitated, holding the crown aloft. His arms were shaking.

Wolf watched as Kai forced himself to set the crown on Levana’s head. She shut her eyes, her expression tantamount to euphoria.

“By the power given to me by the citizens of the Eastern Commonwealth and our allies in the Earthen Union, as the emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth, I do proclaim you—” He paused. Waited. Wolf could hear the hope shriveling inside him and he thought he understood the temptation to wait a second more,
one second more …

The second passed, and Kai set his face in stone.

“—Empress Levana of the Eastern Commonwealth. From this day until the day that one or both of us shall die, you are my wife and I will share with you my throne.”

His voice cracked on the last word. Kai tore his hands away from the crown as if it had burned him.

The crowd erupted, streamers and flower petals emerging from hidden pockets, turning the somber, sacred affair into a cacophony of noise. Levana stood. Arms outstretched, she paced to the edge of the dais, accepting the torrential praise of the Lunar aristocrats.

Before she could speak, the triumphant cheers were interrupted by a shrill screech, the sound stabbing at Wolf’s ears like needles burrowing into his brain. He crouched down, snarling. The audience cowered. The noise erupted from everywhere at once.

Wolf lifted his head. This was his chance. Though the sound had turned his vision white, his oversensitive ears making him want to fall to the ground in convulsions, his hatred for the queen was stronger than the pain.

He lunged forward, his vision full of her and her most fragile spots. Her throat. Her stomach.

He heard a war cry. A guard dove in front of him, blocking his path. Wolf slashed at him with his newly sharpened nails and grabbed the guard’s knife from the scabbard at his side. He raised the knife over his shoulder.

The guard’s yell had drawn attention, even over the screeching. The queen spun as Wolf’s hand whipped forward.

Agony locked down on him all at once, like searing metal vises clamping around his fingers, his wrist, his arm. He released the knife half a moment too soon, knowing it was wrong the second his frozen fingers were empty. The blade grazed the queen’s neck when it should have lodged into her heart, and buried itself in the heavy draperies behind the altar.

Wolf crumpled to the ground, blinded by the torrent of pain that cut through his flesh, ripping his mind apart.

The noise stopped and, with it, the torment.

The sudden absence was like a vacuum sucking out every other sound from the great hall. They were left in crystallized silence, hundreds of bodies paralyzed from shock.

Wolf lay gasping on the ground, wishing he were dead.

He knew the chance would not come again. He knew his punishment had only begun.

Levana was also panting, her eyes ablaze. Her lips looked more red than usual, matched by the blood that was beading up on the side of her neck. “
Control him!
”

“Yes, My Queen,” said Mistress Bement. “It won’t happen again, My Queen.”

Then, cutting through the heady silence, came a voice. The palace paused to listen. Wolf focused on the ceiling, wondering if the pain had made him delirious.

It was Cinder’s voice.

“Hello, dearest Aunt Levana,” she said, her tone light and taunting. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to make sure I had your
full
attention. First, allow me to congratulate you. It seems you finally have everything you’ve always wanted. Now, it’s my turn.”

There was a long pause. The speakers crackled.

Cinder’s voice was no longer jovial when she said, “You have ten minutes to come to the front gates of your palace and surrender.”

That was all.

The people waited for more. More taunting. More threats. More explanation. But the message was over.

Levana looked visibly shaken, while the emperor looked ready to burst out laughing.

Then Kai’s gaze landed on Wolf and the grin fell. His brow twitched with concern.

Wolf glowered and moved to stand on his weak legs, glad when the thaumaturge didn’t prevent it.

“It’s a trick!” Levana screamed, her voice fragmented. “She can do
nothing
to me!”

A patter of hurried footsteps broke through the queen’s outrage. They came through one of the side entrances, Head Thaumaturge Aimery Park flanked by two guards.

A snarl tried to rip out of Wolf’s throat and he barely slammed it down again. This man had killed his mother.

“What?” snapped the queen.

“We’ve been informed that since the security breach occurred, our system has been neglecting to relay information from the tunnels—”

“
Quickly
, Aimery.”

His mouth turned down. “They are inside the city, My Queen. All eight of our barricades are down.”

“Who is inside the city?”

“The cyborg. Civilians from the outer sectors. Even some of our own soldiers have joined them.”

Levana was hyperventilating, burning with rage. “The next person who uses the word
cyborg
in my presence will be losing a limb.” She took in a sharp breath. “Why haven’t they been stopped?”

“Our resources are thin, Your Majesty. So many of our men were sent to the outer sectors to tame the uprisings. We cannot send reinforcements to meet these rebels without weakening our position here in the palace.”

Gathering her skirt in her hands, Levana drew her shoulders so close to her neck that a spot of blood was left in the crease. “Fine,” she hissed. “This little rebellion will end here.”

“Also, My Queen, we found this in the system control center after we discovered that our security had been tampered with.” Aimery held up a portscreen. “It would appear that it belongs to none other than our honored king consort.”

Levana’s gaze spoke of murder as she turned to Emperor Kaito.

“I was wondering where that had gotten off to,” he said, his mouth twitching with a challenge. “And here I spent all morning looking for it.”

Levana’s nostrils flared, her expression vicious and calculating. She grabbed the portscreen from Aimery and threw it at the altar. The plastic casing shattered.

“This celebration is over,” she said, her voice amplified by speakers around the great hall as she faced the audience. “It appears that some of my subordinates have chosen this night to incite what they see as a rebellion. But do not be alarmed—I am sure it’s little more than a silly demonstration.” She was slowly claiming control over her emotions again. “For your safety, I must ask that all of you, as my distinguished guests, remain seated while I see to the disturbance.”

A rustle passed through the crowd.

“Wait,” said a man’s voice, speaking from the rows of Earthens. “You can’t expect us to stay in this room while the palace is under attack. This is your war, not ours. I demand to be allowed to return to my ship at once.”

The man had an Earthen-European accent, and a vision of the red-haired girl flashed through Wolf’s thoughts. He frowned, searching for the man in the crowd as a thrum of agreement rose up from the other Earthens.

Levana’s lips drew back. “You will stay here,” she said, each word hard and cold as an ice cube, “until I give you permission to leave.”

All at once, the Earthen dissent hushed. Levana directed her attention to the guards. “Bar all the doors. No one is to leave this room until I allow it.” She glanced at Wolf and snapped her fingers. “That one stays at my side. He will make the perfect shield should I need one.”

“My Queen,” said one of the guards, “we must insist that you allow us to escort you to safety. The lava tubes beneath the city—”

“Absolutely not,” Levana seethed. “These are my people. This is my kingdom. I will not abandon them now.”

She started marching toward the main exit, but Kai followed beside her. “These Earthens aren’t yours to lock up. We aren’t
hostages.
”

“Are you sure about that, Husband?” Levana snapped her fingers at two of the nearest guards. “Take him back to the others.”

They hastened to obey, dragging Kai away from the queen and toward the group of brainwashed Earthens. “Release me!” Kai yelled. “I have as much right to give orders now as you do, to any Lunar guard or soldier.”

Levana laughed, and she would have sounded entertained if it hadn’t been borderline hysterical. “I hope you don’t believe
that.
”

Wolf was standing right next to Kai as he was pulled away from the queen, but the knowledge of the thaumaturge watching his movements kept him from stepping forward in the emperor’s defense. A shudder rumbled through him at the mere thought of earning her disapproval again.

When the queen beckoned him to follow, he did.

Eighty-One

They sent scouts ahead to confirm there wasn’t an ambush waiting for them at the maglev’s platform. It was Strom’s idea, and while Cinder was a little annoyed to see someone else taking charge, it also felt nice to have another leader considering strategy and making sure Cinder wasn’t about to make a stupid tactical error. It was the sort of thing Wolf would have done, if he’d been there.

No, she didn’t want to think about Wolf. She’d had to tell Scarlet about how they were separated as soon as they were brought back to Artemisia and how she didn’t have any idea what had become of him. The memory opened up a wound that was still too fresh, one she didn’t have time to let heal.

She tried to still her thrumming pulse, focusing on the allies she still had. Iko was by her side again. Scarlet was off in one of the other tunnels along with another group of soldiers and civilians. Thorne and Cress were in the palace and, if the removal of the barricades was an indication, they were still safe. Winter and Jacin were making their way through the nearby sectors, recruiting as many reinforcements as they could.

She felt like she was playing one of Cress’s strategy games. All her pawns were in place and her final attack was about to begin.

A hand slipped into hers. Iko, offering one last moment of comfort.

A low howl echoed down the stifling tunnel.

The signal.

Cinder gave Iko’s hand a squeeze, then waved her arm. Time to move.

They slipped forward onto the empty platform, where the netscreens were announcing that the coronation had ended. Levana was empress.

They entered the stairwell, pushing toward the daylight. Though manufactured evening would soon be forced upon the domes, real daylight could be seen off the horizon, a faint sliver of their burning sun.

Sunrise.

It was beautiful.

Their footsteps pounded against the stone streets of Artemisia. She had expected the streets to be as empty as they had been before, but as the sound of their march echoed off the mansion walls and through the manicured gardens, silhouettes were drawn to the windows.

She tensed, readying for a surprise attack. But one of the wolves muttered, “Servants.”

Looking closer, she saw that he was right. Dressed in simple clothing, eyes overflowing with fear, these were the lower classes who lived in the shadows of the white city and attended to the needs and whims of their masters.

Cinder hoped some of them might be brave enough to fight. After all, now was the time to show it. But to her disappointment, most of the servants disappeared back into seclusion. She tried not to be resentful. No doubt they’d suffered from years of punishments and brainwashing.

It occurred to her that this might be the first they’d heard of the insurgence at all.

The palace came into view, shimmering and majestic.

“Alphas!” yelled Strom, his voice carrying over the clomping footsteps. “Spread out and surround the palace. We’ll come at it from every open street.”

They were a well-oiled machine, and watching the certainty with which the packs divided, each leading their regiment of civilians down various side streets, gave Cinder a chill. Though the people looked afraid, they also took confidence from the beastly men leading them. It was the type of confidence she wasn’t sure she could have inspired on her own.