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“Thank you, Aimery. This could be the answer I’ve been seeking. If the people do not see their errors and come crawling back to my good graces, I may have to employ new means of persuasion. It would break my heart to see my people suffering, but that is one of those difficult decisions a queen finds herself making from time to time.”
Her heart fluttered as she imagined the people filling up the courtyard beyond the palace walls and kneeling before her, tears on their faces. They would wors.h.i.+p her for having saved them. She would save them all with her goodness and charity.
Oh, how they would adore her, their savior, their rightful queen.
“Your Majesty!”
She pivoted toward the voice. A woman had stood up and was adjusting an invisi-screen. “I think I’ve found something.”
Levana shoved past Aimery to get a better view. The screen showed the central square of an outer sector—regolith mining, perhaps, judging by the dust that covered every surface, smudging even the camera lens. The fountain depicting her likeness could be seen in the footage, a thing of beauty in their drab world.
The square was full of people, a rarity in itself. Her mandated curfew ensured that the people focused on their work and their rest without being tempted to converge with their neighbors during off-work hours.
“Is this live?” she asked.
“No, My Queen. This was filmed not long after the end of the workday.” She hastened through the footage, and Levana squinted to try to make sense of it. Guards, civilians, a just punishment, and then …
“Pause the video.”
The woman did, and Levana found herself staring into the face that had haunted her for months. If there had been any doubt, the monstrous metal hand dispelled it.
“Where is this?”
“Regolith Mining 9.”
Levana’s lips curled upward.
The cyborg was hers.
“Aimery, a.s.semble a team for immediate deployment to this sector. Linh Cinder is to be arrested and brought to me for a public trial and execution. Use whatever methods you see fit to detain her.” Her vision bled with loathing as she stared at the screen. The haughty girl with her ignorant words and her proud displays. “We are not to tolerate any sympathizing with her or her allies. This uprising must be brought to an end.”
BOOK Three
“Your stepmother will soon know you are here,”
warned the kindly dwarfs. “Do not let anyone in.”
Thirty-Nine
Levana’s reb.u.t.tal video was playing for the third time that hour. Cinder was doing her best to ignore it, but every time Kai started speaking the sound of his voice made her jump, only to be reminded all over again that he wasn’t here. He was under Levana’s control, as Levana had so deftly ill.u.s.trated.
From her spot around a worktable on the third floor of a regolith factory, Cinder could see most of one of the screens embedded on the dome. It showed a contented Levana and a peaceful Kai. So happy together. There was one moment when Kai turned to Levana and smiled all dreamy-like that made Cinder’s skin crawl. For the billionth time, she wished Cress was with them. She would have known how to turn it off.
Cinder turned away from the video to concentrate. She had no way of knowing how Levana’s message was being received across Luna, just as she had no way of knowing how her video was being received. The best she could do was move forward.
She was gathered among her allies—Iko, Thorne, Wolf, and Scarlet. Wolf’s mother was there, too, along with a handful of sector residents who had been nominated to represent the others. They had worked through the night, plotting and organizing, too energized to sleep.
Two runners had returned that morning from neighboring mining sectors and were reporting good news. The guards had been restrained, their weaponry confiscated, and the people would join Cinder on her march to Artemisia. Additional messengers had taken on the dangerous a.s.signment of traveling through the mines, lava tubes, and maglev tunnels to confirm the truth of Cinder’s video and rally as many sectors as they could to the cause.
It was a promising start.
The rest of the sector residents had been sent home after Cinder encouraged them to get some rest. In truth, she needed s.p.a.ce from their curiosity and awestruck whispers. s.p.a.ce to think.
When they regathered, she would divide the people into teams and a.s.sign each team a task. Though some volunteers had already been put on watch guarding the maglev platforms, she would soon have to establish a rotation to make sure they stayed alert. Some groups would be tasked with gathering what food and medical supplies they could find, another would watch the guardhouse, and still others would be sent to ransack the mines for potential weapons and tools. Wolf promised to spend time training any able-bodied citizens in basic combat techniques, to commence that afternoon.
She stared up at the holographic map of Luna, her brow drawn, as Wolf indicated what routes he thought they should take to the capital. Everyone agreed they should come at the city from as many directions as possible to force Levana to divide her own defenses against them.
“We should avoid Research and Development, and also Technical Services,” Wolf said, pointing out two sectors in Artemisia’s near vicinity. “Most people there will be Levana supporters.”
“RD-1 seems easy enough to get around.” Cinder spun the holograph for a better view. “But TS-1 and 2 are right in our path if we’re going to hit these agricultural sectors on the way.”
“Maybe we don’t avoid them,” said Thorne. “Is there some way we can blockade the platforms under those sectors, trapping anyone inside? It would allow us safe pa.s.sage through, and also keep anyone from sneaking up behind us afterward and trapping us in these tunnels.”
