Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)

by Marissa Meyer

“Thank you, Fateen.” And kept walking. Cinder frowned. Not a dozen steps later, they were halted again by a man carrying a handful of clear vials in his fists. “My condolences, Your Highness.” Cinder shivered as her feet came to a pause beneath her. Kai stopped and peered back at her. “You haven’t seen the net this morning.” A heartbeat later, Cinder was accessing her netlink, pages flashing across her eyesight. The EC news page, a half-dozen pictures of Emperor Rikan, two pictures of Kai—the prince regent. She clapped a hand to her mouth. Kai seemed surprised, but the look quickly faded. He ducked his head, his black bangs falling into his eyes. “Good guess.” “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

I would personlly love to be a cyborg

“Excuse me?” “No more ‘Your Highness.’ I get enough of that from…everyone else. You should just call me Kai.” “No. That wouldn’t be—” “Don’t make me turn it into a royal command.” He hinted at a smile. Cinder scrunched her shoulders up by her ears, suddenly embarrassed. “All right. I suppose.”

R

“I hope our paths will cross again.” “Really? In that case, I guess I’ll keep following you.” She regretted the joke for half a breath before Kai laughed. A real laugh, and her chest warmed. Then the prince reached for her hand—her cyborg hand. Cinder tensed, terrified that he would feel the hard metal, even through her gloves, and yet even more afraid to pull away lest he find it suspicious. She mentally urged the robotic limb to go soft, to be pliant, to be human, as she watched Kai lift the hand and kiss the back of it. She held her breath, overwhelmed and embarrassed.

Cuteeeee

“Would you consider being my personal guest at the ball?”

WE ARE GOING TOTHE BALL

“I assume you are going to the ball?” “I-I don’t know. I mean, no. No, I’m sorry, I’m not going to the ball.” Kai drew back, confused. “Oh. Well…but…maybe you would change your mind? Because I am, you know.” “The prince.” “Not bragging,” he said quickly. “Just a fact.” “I know.” She gulped. The ball. Prince Kai was asking her to the ball. But that was the night she and Iko would be running away, if the car was fixed in time. The night she would escape. Besides, he didn’t know who, what, he was asking. If he knew the truth…how mortified would he be if anyone found out? Kai shifted on his feet, casting a nervous glance toward the doctor. “I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. “Thank you—I…Thank you, Your Highness. But I must respectfully decline.” He blinked. His eyes fell as he processed her response. Then he lifted his chin and attempted a grin that was almost painfully dejected. “No, it’s all right. I understand.”

Aww

“What a shame you cannot blush, Miss Linh.”

hers. “Doctor, why haven’t you told the prince about me? Don’t you want him to know that you’ve found someone who’s immune? Isn’t that important?” He pressed his lips, but he didn’t look up at her. “Perhaps I should. But it would be his responsibility to share the news with the country, and I don’t think we’re ready to draw attention to this. When we have solid evidence that you are…as valuable as I hope, then we will share our news with the prince. And the world.” She picked up a portscreen stylus that was lying abandoned on the desk and examined it like a scientific mystery. Twirling it like a pinwheel over her fingers, she murmured, “You also didn’t tell him I’m cyborg.”

C

“You were eleven when you had your operation, correct?” The question was not what she’d been expecting. “Yes…” “And before that, you don’t remember anything?” “Nothing. What does this have to do with—” “But your adoptive parents? Surely they must have told you something about your childhood? Your background?” Her right palm began to sweat. “My stepfather died not long after the accident, and Adri doesn’t like to talk about it, if she even knows anything. Adopting me wasn’t exactly her idea.” “Do you know anything about your biological parents?” Cinder shook her head. “Just their names, birth dates…whatever was in my files.” “The files on your ID chip.” “Well…” Irritation burst inside her. “What’s your point?” Dr. Erland’s eyes softened, trying to comfort, but the look only unnerved her. “Miss Linh, from your blood samples I have deduced that you are, in fact, Lunar.”

I FUCKIBG KNEWWW ITTT

She was indeed beautiful, as if someone had taken the scientific measurements of perfection and used them to mold a single ideal specimen. Her face was slightly heart-shaped, with high cheekbones barely flushed. Auburn hair fell in silken ringlets to her waist and her unblemished ivory skin shimmered like mother-of-pearl in the sunshine. Her lips were red red red, looking like she’d just drunk a pint of blood. A chill shook Kai from the inside out. She was unnatural. Kai risked a glance at Torin and saw that he held Levana’s gaze without outward emotion. Seeing his adviser’s resolve sent a jolt of determination through Kai. Reminding himself that it was only an illusion, he forced himself to look at the queen again.

Plastic

Levana did not acknowledge her thaumaturge, but her gaze softened, and the world changed. Kai felt that the ground lurched beneath him. That the air had been sucked from the earth’s atmosphere. That the sun had gone black, leaving the ethereal queen the only source of light in the galaxy. Tears pricked at the back of his eyes. He loved her. He needed her. He would do anything to please her. He jabbed his fingernails into his palms as hard as he could, nearly yelping from the pain, but it worked. The queen’s control disintegrated, leaving only the beautiful woman—not the desperate adoration of her.

Yuck that witch

“You resisted her well, Your Highness. I know it was difficult.” Kai brushed his hair off his forehead, seeking a breeze, any breeze, but it didn’t come. “It wasn’t so hard. It was only for a moment.” Torin’s eyes met his. It was one of the few times Kai had seen true sympathy in that gaze. “It will get harder.”

“I can’t let you come with us because you don’t have any clothes to wear and you don’t know how to dance. We’d only be ashamed of you!”