Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 52

When Cinder disappeared into the podship dock, I took to finishing her job of organizing weaponry on the cargo bay wall.

It was amazing Thorne hadn't accidentally blown up his own ship with all the explosives lying around.

I was just mounting a handgun on the wall when somebody appeared in my peripheral vision.

"Hey, stranger," Thorne said, flashing a toothpaste ad smile.

"Hey," I said. I shelved another grenade.

His eyes flicked over my face. "You've gotten tanner since the last time I saw you."

"Well, getting stranded in the desert will do that to you."

His index finger traced the side of my neck and I froze. "You've gotten a few more bruises, too."

I moved and his hand fell away. "I've been sparring with Wolf a lot more lately."

"How come?"

Because every time I see you I feel like hitting something. "Just keeping in shape." I shook my head. "But it's not really helping. He's not...he doesn't really give any effort when we fight."

Thorne glanced across the cargo bay at the Lunar operative in question. "He hasn't been giving any effort to a lot of things."

"Can you blame him?" I asked, heaving a shotgun onto the wall. "His love's been captured, no doubt tortured. All he can focus on is getting back to her."

"I didn't take you for a romantic."

I grit my teeth and unloaded another handgun. "I'm not." I mounted the weapon. "Besides, I know the feeling."

I haven't forgotten you, Isaac. I promise.

Thorne folded his arms and leaned against the wall, following my train of thought. "Any progress on finding him?"

"There hasn't been time," I replied. "But when we get to Luna, maybe..."

He dropped his usual sarcasm and swagger—he knew how important the issue was. "I just...I want to make sure that you know there's a chance he..."

"Might be unreachable? Unfixable? Dead, for real this time?" I supplied, my voice only slightly strained. I swallowed thickly. "Yeah. I know."

"We should probably go now," Iko said from across the way. I had almost forgotten the others were there, conversing with one another while we waited.

"Right." I latched the last weapon to the wall and brushed my hands on my pants. "Lead the way."

Iko grinned and grabbed a box, then headed for the door.

The walk to the podship dock was silent. Maybe because we all knew that this might be our last time seeing His Majesty.

Kai was...interesting, to say the least. During his time on the Rampion, he didn't act like I'd expect royalty to act. He dealt with the shower that would abruptly change water pressure. He ate soggy fruit out of cans for breakfast without complaint. He didn't say a word when he had to sleep on a rock-hard mattress at night. He adapted as well as any of us, maybe better.

That, and he was...well, normal. He was just a boy. If he'd been in commoner's clothing and I ran into him on the side of the road in New Beijing, I would have never guessed he was part of the royal family. He wasn't snobbish or stuck up. He was...well, he was actually quite funny at times.

I was surprised at how much I was going to miss him.

Thorne burst through the podship dock door. "Got everything we need?" he asked, chipper as ever, as we spilled into the room after him.