Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 46

I rubbed a towel through my hair as I exited the washroom, freshly showered. My boots clomped on the metal grating that led back to my bunk.

The mattress dipped below my weight and I threw the towel over a bedpost.

I took a deep breath.

We had made it. We had kidnapped His Majesty and he was currently on this very ship. Sybil was no longer a threat, and no one had been fatally injured. Overall, the mission was a success.

So why did I feel like punching something?

The image of Thorne and Cress on the rooftop flared up in my memory. He had held her so tenderly, so gently, as if she would break apart at his fingertips. There was a care in the way his arm looped around her waist and drew her against him.

I shook my head. Why was I dwelling on this?

I didn't care what Thorne did. I didn't even care about him! He was an egotistical, conceited, selfish, and arrogant asshole who...

Who had dropped everything to assist Cinder in her journey. Who had held me against him during the satellite crash, resulting in him going blind instead of me. Who never pushed me about Isaac once we found out he was alive. Who freed me the first night on the Rampion.

Who gave a lonely girl a kiss on a rooftop in the face of death.

Are we friends yet?

Yeah. Yeah, Thorne, we are.

I stood, suddenly determined to talk to him. See him. Just be there with him, wherever he was. There was no good reason, only that I wished to ensure he was doing alright.

These thoughts carried me through the rest of the ship until I came to the cockpit, where I spotted the back of his head.

Grinning, I moved to cross through the doorway.

"Captain?"

At Cress' voice, I pulled back out of view.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it was destiny that brought us together?"

"No, I'm pretty sure it was Cinder," his voice responded. "Why?"

"I guess I have a confession, too," Cress said. "I ... I had a crush on you, before we even met, just from seeing you on the netscreens. I used to believe that you and I were destined to be together, someday, and that we would have this great, epic romance."

A beat of silence. "Wow. No pressure or anything."

"I know. I'm sorry. I think you might be right, though. Maybe there isn't such a thing as fate. Maybe it's just the opportunities we're given, and what we do with them. I'm beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don't just happen. We have to make them ourselves."

"You know, if it was a bad kiss, you can just say so."

"That's not at all what I ... Wait. Did you think it was a bad kiss?"

"No." An abrupt, clumsy laugh followed his voice. "I thought it was ... um." He cleared his throat. "But there were clearly a lot of expectations, and a lot of pressure, and...we were going to die, you know."

"I know. And, no, it wasn't...I didn't think it was a bad kiss."

"Oh thank the stars," Thorne exclaimed. "Because if I'd ruined that for you, I was going to feel like such a cad."

"Well, don't. It met every expectation."

With every word that was spoken, my smile grew dimmer and dimmer until it was long gone.

I whirled around and made my way back to my bunk. The tiny fire of determination that had sparked before was now extinguished.

What had I even been expecting to happen? I'd slide into the cockpit chair beside Thorne and what, talk to him? About what?

But there was no need to even worry about that. Because he was there with Cress instead.

Cress. Even though I was only a year her senior, every time I looked at her I saw a little girl. A little girl in need of protection.

And Thorne could give that to her better than anyone. In her mind, he was her knight, her savior. And she was in need of saving.

She needed a prince. I wasn't going to take that away from her.

Thorne and Cress were good together. They meshed well, they fit.

That's what I told myself, anyway.