Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)

by Marissa Meyer

They took away her beautiful clothes, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes.

I would feel broken.

She was met with startled copper-brown eyes and black hair that hung past his ears and lips that every girl in the country had admired a thousand times.

That must be the prince.

Linh Cinder?”

That is her full name.

Lunars were a society that had evolved from an Earthen moon colony centuries ago, but they weren’t human anymore. People said Lunars could alter a person’s brain—make you see things you shouldn’t see, feel things you shouldn’t feel, do things you didn’t want to do. Their unnatural power had made them a greedy and violent race, and Queen Levana was the worst of all of them.

Ok so lore.

Some conspiracy theorists thought the princess had survived and was still alive somewhere, waiting for the right time to reclaim her crown and end Levana’s rule of tyranny, but Cinder knew it was only desperation that fueled these rumors. After all, they’d found traces of the child’s flesh in the ashes.

He could never marry a Lunar.

Girl: prediction she is a luner.

“I’m not sure I would label it a ‘survivor,’” said Iko, her sensor darkening with disgust. “It looks more like a rotting pumpkin.”

Oh thats sad. Wow a gasoline car.

“I’m sure I’ll feel much more grateful when I find a guy who thinks complex wiring in a girl is a turn-on.”

“Perfectly all right? Are you crazy? What happened to her?”

Oh kai are we concerned. But you barely know her.

Kai cleared his throat. “I found your pretty new mechanic down in the lobby, and she tells me she’s here to check on the med-droids again. You know I could get you funding for some upgraded models if you require it.”

He called her pretty.

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. The prince released her, bowed—his hair falling into his eyes again—and left the room.

Ok so he still doesnt know she is a cyborg.

“I know this sounds like very poor timing, but trust me when I say my motives are based on self-preservation.” He inhaled a sharp breath. “Would you consider being my personal guest at the ball?”

He whants to preserve himself also he wants to go to a ball with her even though she is a mechanic.

Kai cleared his throat. Stood straighter. “I assume you are going to the ball?”

He is just so sweet.

“Miss Linh, from your blood samples I have deduced that you are, in fact, Lunar.”

Knew it.

“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!”

“Maybe her programming was overwhelmed by Prince Kai’s uncanny hotness.”

“Right. Well.” Gulping, he freed his hands from his pockets and rubbed his palms down the sides of his pants, realizing how hot his bottled anger had made him. “I really hope she has.”

Kai tilted his head, peering at her as if he could see right through to the metal plate in her head. The intensity of his gaze didn’t mellow. “I think you should go to the ball with me.”

“I’m hoping for a more favorable answer this time. And I seem to be getting more desperate by the minute.” “How charming.” Kai’s lips twitched. “Please?”

Oh my i don't know how to act.

“Well there are about 200,000 single girls in this city who would fall over themselves to have the privilege.”

“200,000 single girls,” he said. “Why not you?” Cyborg. Lunar. Mechanic.

True those are good points but like.

“Come to the ball with me.” She froze. Everyone in the hallway froze. Cinder turned back. Kai was still standing in elevator B, one hand propping open the door.

Please go with him.

Her nerves were frazzled, and all the emotions of the past hour were converging into a single, sickening feeling—exasperation. The hall was filled with doctors, nurses, androids, officials, technicians, and they all fell into an awkward hush and stared at the prince and the girl in the baggy cargo pants he was flirting with. Flirting.

Kai’s gaze burned into her, and he gave her a slow, determined nod. “It would be my pleasure.”

Kai seemed to think this was an acceptable answer, but only barely. “If you need funds to do the research…or special equipment, or anything.”

Yes a very reasonable answer.

He had all the stairs coated with pitch, and when Cinderella went running down the stairs, her left slipper got stuck there.