Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 5

"Hey Cinder! Are you watching the net?"

I blinked rapidly, trying to jolt myself from my daze at the sound of Thorne's voice pouring out of the hallway. While I was still restrained, I had been allowed the wonderful luxury of having my wrists bound to each other and nothing else. They rested in my lap in my position on the floor, where I leaned against the wall.

"What is this, nap time?" Thorne asked. I envisioned him leaning against the doorframe of Cinder's room. "Turn some lights on."

"Can't you see I'm busy?" An image of Cinder glaring up at him was prompted to the forefront of my mind.

"Yeah, good one."

The bed squeaked. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"Well. Keep up the good work, mate. In the meantime, you should come watch this. They're talking about us on all the channels. We're famous."

"No, thank you. I'd rather not see myself acting like a maniac at the most important social event of the year."

I knew which video she was referring to. It was the clip that had been played over and over again across the web—the one of her crashing down the palace stairs, landing in a heap of wrinkled silk and muddied gloves.

"They already showed the clips," Thorne assured. "And now you've achieved the dream of every red-blooded girl under the age of twenty-five."

"Right, my life is a real dream come true."

"Maybe not, but at least dreamy Prince Kai knows your name."

"Emperor Kai," Cinder corrected.

"Precisely. They're starting a press conference, to talk about you. Thought you wouldn't want to miss"—Thorne's voice turned breathy—"his heavenly, chocolate-brown eyes, and perfectly tousled hair, and—" I heard something slam, and he cut off with a yelp. Cinder must have shoved him.

I forced the beginnings of the smile creeping onto my face to fall.

Thorne's voice grew louder as they traveled back to the cockpit. "What's got your wires crossed?"

Cinder and Thorne took a seat in the cockpit chairs. I leaned my head back against the wall. Cinder adjusted the screen's volume.

"—thing we can to find the escaped convicts," Kai was saying. The circles beneath his eyes suggested that it had been a long time since he'd experienced a proper night's rest.

"We've deployed our fastest ships with the most advanced search technology and the best pilots in order to track down the fugitives. They've been lucky in their evasion of us so far, but we don't expect that luck to last. The class of ship they're inhabiting is not meant for extended periods of orbit. Eventually they will have to return to Earth, and we'll be ready for them."

"What kind of ship are they on?" asked a lady in the front row.

Kai checked his notes. "It's a stolen military cargo ship from the American Republic—a 214 Rampion, Class 11.3. Its tracking devices have been stripped, which is largely responsible for the difficulties we've had in apprehending them."

Thorne proudly poked Cinder in the back.

On the screen, Kai nodded at another journalist near the back.

"You said our military would be waiting for them when they return to Earth. How long do you suspect that to be, and are you abandoning the space search in the meantime?"

"Absolutely not. Our primary objective is to find them as soon as possible, and we plan to continue the search in space until they're found. However, my experts project the ship will be returning to Earth anytime from two days to two weeks, depending on their fuel and power reserves, and we will be prepared for that return if necessary. Yes?"