Wolf pulled the portscreen that the doctor had given him out of his pocket and passed it to Cress. She yanked out a connector cable and plugged it into the android, stopping the automatic diagnostics scan before it could begin. She began a manual search for the security override settings.
“—stop tampering with official government property. Tampering with a royal android could result in a fine of up to 5,000 univs and six months of— Identity confirmed: Royal Adviser Konn Torin. Security override complete. Awaiting instructions.”
“Elevator to main floor,” said Cress.
“Proceed to Elevator A.”
Cress ejected the cable. Wolf pulled her to her feet as the nearest doors opened and tugged her inside.
Her heart was thumping as the elevator descended. She imagined those doors opening again onto an army of guards, their guns aimed and ready. She figured that by now they were no doubt being watched. Thorne’s distraction could only count for so much, and there were two cameras in each elevator in the palace. The only question was how long it would take any guards to reach them once they figured out where they were heading.
The elevator came to a stop. The doors hesitated for too long, and her pulse fluttered wildly, until they opened onto an empty hallway. She released a long-held breath.
This floor of the palace was mostly business space, used for diplomatic meetings and the offices of a multitude of government officials. She recognized bits and pieces of it. The name plaque on that desk. The painting on that wall. In her head, Cress was back in her satellite, even as she and Wolf jogged through the carpeted corridor. She was seeing Wolf and herself through the cameras along the ceilings. She was picturing how the two of them would have looked to her from up there, always disconnected and uninvolved and watching, watching. As they rounded a corner, she imagined herself clicking to another feed. As they passed one camera, she pictured it changing from their front view to their backs.
They reached the next elevator bank without issue, though this one had no watchful android.
She tapped the elevator key, but it remained blank. The words ELEVATORS TEMPORARILY DOWN DUE TO LV. 1 BREACH were scrolled across its screen in red text. Cress scowled and dug her fingernails around the frame. Surely there was a way to get clearance in the event that someone important enough needed to get past, but without a designated android—
She was grabbed by the elbow and hauled back. She yelped, thinking for a moment a guard had captured her, but it was only Wolf pulling her toward an alcove.
“Stairs,” he said, yanking open a door. As it shut behind them, Cress heard the sounds of boots clomping in the distance.
Her heart leaped into her throat and she glanced at Wolf to see if he’d heard, but before she could speak, he swept her over one shoulder and was jumping over the stairs, leaping down to the landing in a single bound. She squealed, but then clamped her hand over her mouth to rein in her sudden terror.
Down, down, down. Finally they passed a plaque labeled SUBLEVEL D: MAINTENANCE / SECURITY.
This time, when Wolf set her down and pushed open the door, it felt as if they were no longer inside the palace at all. The walls were plain white, the floors dull concrete gray. The stairwell had spilled them into a small lobby, with the elevator off to their left and a cluttered desk in front of them. Behind the desk was a room fully enclosed in tinted glass, where an empty chair sat before a bank of three dozen screens showing security footage within the palace and the surrounding property. Four of the screens were flashing security-breach warnings.
And then there was the guard, aiming a gun at them.
“Stay where you are! Put your hands where I can see them!”
Cress shakily moved to follow his command, but before her fingertips could even brush her hair, Wolf had shoved her out of the way. She cried out and fell to the ground. Her dress ripped somewhere in the lining and a gunshot echoed off the concrete. She screamed and covered her head.
“Cress, get up. Now.”
Pulling her arms away, she saw that the guard was unconscious and slumped against his desk. Bending down, Wolf kicked the gun away, then slid the guard toward the glass door and held his wrist over the ID scanner. A light flickered green.
“Come on. There were more guards right behind us.”
Trembling, Cress pushed herself off the floor and followed Wolf into the security control room.
Fifty
“Am I wearing this right?” Cinder said, fidgeting with the belted wraparound blouse that had three different ties that were supposed to lace together in some mysterious fashion.
“Yes, it’s fine,” said Iko. “Would you stop moving your head?” She slapped her hands on Cinder’s ears to hold her head still.
Cinder shifted from foot to foot, trying to calm her racing thoughts while Iko twisted her hair into a pinching bun that made her scalp throb. It seemed as if it had been hours since Thorne and Dr. Erland had left them, though the clock counting the seconds in her head claimed it had been less than seventeen minutes.
In one corner of her vision was a newsfeed hosting its own countdown. The countdown to the start of the royal wedding.
Cinder shut her eyes and tried to will away another bout of nausea. She’d never been so nervous in her entire life, and it wasn’t just the waiting or the knowledge that so many things could go wrong or the terror that she could be caught and returned to prison at any minute.
What really terrified her, what really made her nerves hum, was knowing that she was going to see Kai again. Face to face. Looking into his eyes for the first time since she’d fallen in the palace gardens.
At the time, his expression was so filled with shock and betrayal her heart had split in two, especially when not an hour before she had stood dripping wet at the top of the ballroom stairs and Kai had looked up at her and smiled.
Smiled.
The two expressions could not have been more different, and they’d both been directed at her.
She didn’t know what to expect when he saw her now, and the uncertainty was terrifying.
“Cinder—are you watching the news?”
She refocused on the news broadcaster who was reporting word of a temporary delay to the ceremony. They were being told that all was well and the ceremony would begin shortly, but that the security team was taking extra precautions—
“That’s it. Let’s go.”
Only once they peered down the service corridor in each direction, confirming both that no one was around and that the pale lights on the nearest ceiling cameras were off, did Cinder begin to appreciate the extent of her vulnerability.
She was the most-wanted criminal in the world, returning to the scene of her crime.
But there was no changing her mind now.
She sent the news broadcast away, pulling the palace blueprint over her vision instead. “Locating now,” she said, using her internal positioning system to mark where she and Iko stood, before inputting the tracker code for Emperor Kai that Cress had given them.
She held her breath while it searched, and searched.
And then—there he was. A green dot in the north tower. Fourteenth floor. The sitting room connected to his personal chambers. He was pacing.
She shivered. She was so close to him, after being a galaxy apart.
“Got him.”
They kept to hallways that she expected to be unoccupied. She found herself continuously glancing at the cameras on the ceilings, but not one of them moved or flashed or indicated that it was turned on, and slowly Cinder’s paranoia began to fade.
Cress had done it. She’d shut down the security system.
Then they rounded a corner into the elevator bank of the north tower and Cinder crashed into a woman.
She stumbled back. “Oh—sorry!”
The woman eyed Cinder. She was a member of the staff, dressed in the same blush-toned top and black pants that they were.
Cinder called up her glamour, turning her cyborg hand into a human one and
giving her complexion the same flawless tone as an escort’s. She flashed a smile that she hoped hid her surprise and bowed.
It took a few heartbeats more to realize why she was so startled. Not because they’d run into someone here in the hallway, but because she hadn’t sensed this woman around the corner.
It was a feeling so subtle she’d hardly known she was doing it before—reaching out with her consciousness and lightly touching on the bioelectricity that shimmered off every human being. She’d gotten used to feeling Thorne and Wolf and Jacin and Dr. Erland when they were nearby, their presence like a shadow in her subconscious. It was instinctual, no more difficult than breathing.
But this woman was a blank slate to her. Like Cress, a shell. Like Iko.
“My apologies,” said the woman, returning Cinder’s bow. “This wing of the palace is off-limits to anyone without a crown-issued pass. I must ask you to leave.”
“We have a pass,” said Iko, smiling brightly. “We’ve been asked to check with His Imperial Majesty and see if he requires any refreshments while we wait for the ceremony to begin.” She made to step around the woman, but a palm shot out and pressed against her sternum.
The woman’s serene gaze, though, remained on Cinder.
“You are Linh Cinder,” she said. “You are a wanted fugitive. I am required to alert authorities.”
“Er, sorry, but this is a bad time for me.” Stepping back, Cinder raised her prosthetic hand and fired a tranquilizer dart at the woman’s thigh. It clanged, the tip catching briefly in the fabric of her pants, before it fell to the floor.
That was all the confirmation she needed.
Cinder clenched her jaw and swung for the side of the woman’s head, but the woman ducked and whipped a leg up, her foot catching Cinder in the side.
She grunted and stumbled away, her back crashing into a wall.
With an impassive expression, the woman leaped after her, aiming an elbow for Cinder’s nose. Cinder barely blocked, using the momentum to spin around, locking her elbow around the woman’s neck.
The woman bucked her hips, sending Cinder tumbling over her head. She landed on her back, her vision spotty.
“Iko—she’s a—”
She heard a click and the fighting stalled around her.
Cinder moaned. “An android.”
“I noticed,” said Iko, holding up a control panel studded with snapped wires. “Are you all right?” Iko crouched beside Cinder, her expression a perfect model of concern.
Though she was still panting, Cinder found herself smiling. “You’re the most human android I’ve ever known.”
“I know.” Iko scooped a hand beneath Cinder and helped her sit up. “Your hair is a mess, by the way. Honestly, Cinder, can’t you look presentable for more than five minutes?”
Cinder braced herself on Iko and climbed to her feet. “I’m a mechanic,” she said, an automatic response. She glanced at the woman, whose arms had fallen limp at her sides and whose eyes were staring emptily toward the elevators.
Shaking her head to clear it, Cinder tapped the elevator call button. The screen flashed twice with a warning about a level-one security breach, before turning green. The nearest elevator opened.
Somewhere, many floors underneath the palace, Cress had just given her clearance.
Together, she and Iko dragged the android into the elevator and left her in a corner. Cinder’s hands were shaking so hard with adrenaline she almost pushed the button for the wrong floor. As the doors shut, she pulled the last few bobby pins out of her hair and instead whipped it into a quick, messy ponytail. Five minutes of being presentable had been plenty enough.
In her head, she narrowed her focus down to those two separate dots, merging ever closer.
Herself—gliding up between the tower floors.
And Kai.
* * *
Something was wrong. Thaumaturge Sybil Mira could sense it in the way the Earthen guards were acting, in how there were too many whispers and hands resting on gun hilts. As she followed behind Queen Levana, Sybil found herself growing tense.
Her queen would not be happy should anything go wrong.
She glanced sideways at Thaumaturge Aimery. His eyes met hers. He’d noticed it too.
She looked ahead to her queen, who was wearing red and gold, traditional Commonwealth wedding colors. Her head was draped in a sheer veil and the long train of her gown had been embroidered with the ornate tails of the dragon and phoenix motif that converged in the front. The fabric billowed like a sail as she walked. Her posture suggested poise and confidence, as it always did. Had she noticed anything yet? Even if she had, she may only attribute it to her presence, and how the weak Earthens would simultaneously ogle and cower from her. But Sybil knew it was more than that.
The hair prickled on her neck.
They were nearly to the main corridor when a guard stepped in front of their escorts. Her Majesty came to a stop, her skirt settling at her feet. Aimery stopped as well, but Sybil continued forward to place herself at Her Majesty’s side, taking care not to favor her uninjured leg. She may have been forced to tell the queen about her failure in capturing Linh Cinder, but she’d so far managed to avoid the embarrassing fact that she was shot during the fight. By her own guard, no less.
“My sincerest apologies, Your Majesty,” the Earthen guard began with a quick bow.
Sybil glowered, and with a twitch of her fingers, the guard dropped to one knee. He grunted.
“You will show my queen proper respect when addressing her,” Sybil said, slipping her hands into her sleeves.
It took a moment for the guard to recover from his shock. She did not allow him to stand or even raise his head from its lowered, respectful position, and finally he cleared his throat and proceeded, his voice more strained than before. “Your Majesty, we are experiencing an unanticipated malfunction of our security systems. We’ve determined that for your safety, and the safety of Emperor Kaito, we must delay the ceremony.” He paused to inhale. “We’re optimistic that the delay will be short. However, I’m afraid I must ask you to return to your quarters. We will inform you immediately once this matter is cleared and we can proceed with the ceremony.” A drop of sweat traced down his neck. “Your escorts will happily return you to—”
“What sort of malfunction?” asked the queen.
“I’m afraid I can’t divulge any details at this point, but we are working to correct the—”
“That is not an acceptable answer to my queen’s reasonable question,” said Sybil. “You have suggested that my queen may be in danger. I demand to know what details you have of the situation, so that I may personally see to her safety. We will not be kept ignorant on these matters. Now, what sort of malfunction are you experiencing?”
She could see his jaw flexing, his eyes fixed on the ground before the queen’s feet. Sybil doubted he was high ranking enough to answer the question, but his fear was working against his resolve. The two lower-ranked guards that had accompanied him didn’t move or fidget, and yet their rigid posture hinted at their own discomfort. Perhaps she should prostrate them all.
“A manual one,” the guard said finally. “Our security system has been shut down, which can only be done at the central control room.”
“And that is within the palace?”
“Yes, Thaumaturge Mira.”
“You’re telling me that your malfunction is truly a security breach.”
“It is a possibility we are considering. Our number one priority is the safety of our guests. Again, I must ask that you return to your quarters, Your Majesty.”
Sybil laughed. “The palace may have been infiltrated. You can’t keep someone away from your own security mainframe, and yet you think we’ll be safe in the guest quarters?”
“That’s enough, Sybil.”
Sybil froze and glanced at her queen. Her long, pale fingers were interlaced over her skirt, but Sybil guessed that beneath the veil, her eyes would be sharp as needles.
/> “My Queen?”
“I am sure these men are well aware of the importance of this wedding ceremony, and the global repercussions that could follow should anything prevent this marriage from taking place. Aren’t you, gentlemen?”
The guards said nothing. The kneeling man was beginning to tremble. Sybil could guess that his neck was aching from holding his head at such an awkward position.
Two steps clicked on the floor to Her Majesty’s other side. “My queen asked you a question,” said Aimery, his voice both calm and menacing, like the roll of distant thunder.
The guard cleared his throat. “We have no desire to delay or prevent this wedding, Your Majesty. We only wish to resolve the problems swiftly so that the ceremony can continue as soon as possible.”
“See that you do,” said the queen. “Sybil, Aimery, let us return to our chambers and allow these men to fulfill their responsibilities without toiling over us.” She began to turn, before pausing. Her veil swished past her elbows. “Please, do send word immediately as to the safety of my groom. I will be in fits until I know he is well.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the guard. “We will be instating extra protection outside your chambers, as well as His Majesty’s, until this is resolved.”
Sybil waited until they were pacing away, following behind their escorts and guards, before she released her hold on the man. She wondered if those guards had any imagination for the wrath they would incur if this interruption wasn’t resolved.
The delay itself, though, was not what made Sybil anxious. It was what—or who—could have caused such a delay.
Though Levana refused to even speak about the escaped cyborg, other than to rail about the inadequacy of the Earthen military, Sybil had deduced what her queen would not say outright.
It had been easy to extract her hostage’s implications during the interrogation, and the redheaded girl had not been lying. Linh Cinder, the cyborg, was truly Princess Selene.
Sybil had seen the girl’s glamour at the ball. More telling, she had seen Her Majesty’s reaction to it. Her lost niece was the only person in the galaxy who could have caused such an uproar, and the idea that Princess Selene was out there, evading her, taunting her, would be driving the queen mad.