His heart caught, overwhelming him with emotion he hadn’t been prepared for. The last time he’d seen this crown it had been worn by his mother. She had worn it during the annual ball celebrating world peace every year. She had always been so beautiful.
He shivered at the memory, and at the blasphemy he was about to commit.
On the other side of the altar, Levana emerged with her own crown. In comparison to the Earthen jewels, the crown for Luna’s king was simple. Seven spindly tines carved of moon rock, the white stone shimmering in the candlelight. It was ancient. The monarchy of Luna had been formed long before the Fourth World War had led to the formation of the Eastern Commonwealth and its own royal family.
Steeling himself, Kai lifted his mother’s crown from its protective box, and together, he and Levana faced the crowd again, holding their symbolic crowns overhead. Kai found Torin and saw sadness mirrored in his expression. Perhaps he, too, was thinking of Kai’s mother.
Before Levana could launch into her speech about the symbolic importance of this crown and how it symbolized the sovereign’s power and so on and so forth, the doors at the back of the room crashed open.
The gold-haired woman marched down the aisle, and though her expression was horrified, her movements were robotic, keeping her heading toward the queen.
Kai lowered the crown, his palms growing warm. Hope expanded in his chest. As the crowd turned to watch the woman’s approach, a titter spread through them. Something was happening. Kai did not sense fear from the crowd so much as excitement, like this was nothing but a fictional drama to them.
The woman arrived at the stairs and dropped to one knee. “Forgive me, My Queen,” she stammered. “We have received notice that there is a disturbance in several nearby sectors, including the outlying domes of Artemisia City.”
Kai risked a glance at Wolf, but Wolf was still twitching and snarling. He looked ready to snap his enormous jaws around the first throat that passed too close.
“What sort of disturbance?” Levana growled.
“We don’t know how, but the barricades around the rebellious sectors have been lifted, and the people are … they are coming here. Swarming the maglev tunnels. There is word that … that Princess Winter is among them.”
Levana’s face reddened. “That is not possible.”
“I … I do not know, My Queen. That’s only what I was told. And … and also, supposedly, the cyborg is with them as well.”
Kai grinned. He couldn’t help it, and he did nothing to hide it when Levana turned a scowl on him. With a shrug, he told her, “She did warn you.”
Levana’s jaw clenched. She turned back to the woman. “The cyborg is dead and I will not tolerate any rumors to the contrary.”
The woman’s mouth hung.
“Are the barricades holding around Artemisia?”
“Y-yes, My Queen. To my knowledge they’ve been unable to breach—”
“Then we are not under any immediate threat, are we?”
“I … I suppose not, My Queen.”
“Then why are you interrupting this ceremony?” Levana flicked her wrist. “Guards, escort this woman to a prison cell. I will suffer no more interruptions.”
Her eyes were flaming, merciless, as the woman stood and stumbled back. Two of the guards caught her.
The crowd was trying to stifle their enthusiasm, but was failing. Kai saw a number of mocking looks cast toward the woman as she was dragged away, even though surely it had not been her idea to bring news of the insurrection to Levana.
Kai’s own thoughts were teeming. He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, while Levana’s face untwisted, transforming back into pleasant serenity.
“Now then,” she said, raising the Lunar crown over her head. “Let us proceed.”
Seventy-Nine
Cinder stayed at the front of their small army, along with Alpha Strom. The subway tunnels were wide enough to walk in rows of five and Strom had made sure everyone knew this was to be their formation—to deviate in such confined quarters could lead to panic and confusion. They tried to be quiet, but it was impossible. They progressed like a roll of thunder. Thousands of feet pounding against the rocky terrain inside the lava tubes.
The mutant soldiers stayed near the front, the first line of defense, while the people from the outer sectors followed behind.
It had become a numbers game, and their numbers were growing. Every sector they passed through had new civilians joining their cause, many who had been preparing from the moment Cinder’s first message had broadcast.
Cinder kept running the calculations over and over in her head, but there were still too many variables to factor. They needed enough civilians to overthrow the queen and her thaumaturges, and enough un-manipulated fighters left to take on the guards and any wolf soldiers Levana brought to her defense. She was relying on Jacin and Winter to spread the word, and fast. If they failed, it would become a massacre, and not in their favor. If they succeeded …
The tunnels were pitch-black but for the lanterns scavenged by the people in the outer sectors and a handful of flashlights. Cinder wished she had a map in her head telling her how far they’d gone and how much farther they had to go. She’d become accustomed to having infinite data within her grasp, and it was disconcerting now to be without it. After five years of wishing she was like everyone else, now she missed all those conveniences that had come with being cyborg.
Four times they came across stalled trains and shuttles that filled up the confined space of the tunnel. These had at first seemed like insurmountable obstacles, but the soldiers went forward with zeal, prying off the panels, tearing up the interior seats, trampling their way through the other side. They made for an efficient, destructive machine, and their makeshift army was given passage through.