Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 54

Kai waited until Thorne's podship was a glint in the distance before he pulled out the portscreen Cinder had given him. Without an official ID chip confirming his identity, his comm to Royal Adviser Konn Torin was intercepted by the palace communications mainframe. The face of a young intern appeared.

"New Beijing Palace. How may I ... direct..." Her eyes widened.

Kai smiled. "Emperor Kaito, for Royal Adviser Konn Torin, please."

"Y-yes, Your Majesty. Of course. Right away." Her cheeks bloomed red as she scrambled to redirect the commlink. Soon her image was replaced with Torin's.

"Your Majesty! Is it—are you—one moment. I'm stepping out of a meeting with the cabinet—are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Torin. But I'm ready to come home."

He heard the click of a door. "Where are you? Are you safe? Do you need—"

"I'll tell you everything when I get back. Right now I'm at our safe house on the Taihang terraces, and I'm alone. If you could alert the palace guard—"

"Right away, Your Majesty. We'll be there right away."

Torin suggested they keep the link open, afraid someone else would come for Kai before his own security team reached him. Although Cinder had ensured that the portscreen itself was untraceable, the link wasn't set up for direct communications and it was possible Lunars were listening in. But Kai knew Luna had lost their best method of surveillance when they'd lost Cress, so he insisted he was fine, he would be fine, before terminating the link.

He needed a moment to think before the whole galaxy spun out of control again.

Clipping the port to his belt, Kai climbed onto one of the large rocks overlooking the valley. He folded his legs beneath him, surprised at how calm he felt staring out at the terraces, plateaus that curled around the lush mountains, the teasing sparkle of a river winding at their feet. He could have gone inside the safe house to wait, but the weather was warm and there was a breeze that smelled like jasmine and it had been far too long since he'd admired the beautiful country he'd been born to.

After weeks aboard the Rampion, with its recycled air and reprocessed water, he was glad to be home.

And though he'd never seen Luna or its biodomes filled with artificial forests and man-made lakes, he was beginning to understand why Levana might want to dig her claws into Earth too.

Little time had passed when Kai heard the hum of engines. He kept his eye on the horizon, waiting for the podships. When they arrived, they arrived in force—a dozen military ships surrounding the safe house, many with guns drawn, and any number of personnel scanning the landscape for signs of a threat.

Squinting against the sunlight, Kai pushed his hair off his brow while the largest ship landed not far from the house. Uniformed officers poured out, establishing a perimeter and scanning for nearby life-forms, all jabbering into their headphones and holding ominous guns at the ready.

"Your Imperial Majesty," barked a gray-haired man, leading a team of four men up to him. "We are glad to see you, sir. Permission to conduct a security clearance scan?"

Kai pulled himself off the rock and handed the portscreen to one of the officers, who secured it in a crime evidence bag. He held out his arms while another officer dragged a scanner down his limbs.

"All clear. Welcome home, Your Majesty."

"Thank you. Where is Konn—"

A bang sent half a dozen personnel spinning toward the safe house, barking and leveling their guns at a cellar door that had burst open.