Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 55

The communication link took ages to connect, while Kai stood before the netscreen with his hands clasped behind his back and his heart thudding louder than the Rampion's engine. He hadn't bothered to change from the white silk wedding shirt he'd been wearing when he'd been kidnapped, though it was wrinkled and had a tiny hole where Cinder's tranquilizer dart had punctured it. Still, he thought Levana might appreciate that contacting her was his first priority—above a fresh change of clothes, above even alerting the Earthen media to his return.

He was going to use every tactic he could think of to get on her good side. Anything to make this believable.

Finally, finally, the small globe in the corner stopped turning and the netscreen brightened, revealing Levana in her sheer white veil.

"Could it be my dear young emperor?" she cooed. "I had all but given you up for lost. What has it been, more than a month, I believe? I thought for sure your captors had murdered and dismembered you by now."

Kai smiled, pretending she'd made an amusing joke. "A few bumps and scratches here and there, but nothing so horrible as all that."

"I see," Levana mused, tilting her head. "That bruise on your cheek looks recent."

"More recent than some of the others, yes," said Kai. Pretending his time aboard the Rampion had been a trial, barely endured, was the first step in his strategy. "Linh Cinder made it clear from the start that I was a prisoner aboard her ship, not a guest. Between you and me, I think she was still bitter I'd had her arrested at the ball."

"How savage."

"I'm considering myself lucky for now. I was finally able to negotiate my freedom. I've just returned to New Beijing. Informing you of my return was my highest priority."

"And to what do we owe this happy occasion? I suspect those negotiations must have been cumbersome."

"My kidnappers had many demands. A monetary payout, of course, and also that I call off the ongoing search for the fugitives, Linh Cinder, Carswell Thorne, and Commander L/n."

The veil fluttered as Levana adjusted her hands on her lap. "They must have believed their capture was imminent," she said, her tone unimpressed. "Although I can't see how that would be, given that you could not apprehend them whilst they were in your own palace."

Kai's smile remained poised. "Nevertheless, I agreed to it. However, I made no guarantees for the rest of the Union, nor Luna. I expect these criminals will be found and brought to justice for their crimes, including my own assault and kidnapping."

"I expect they will," said Levana, and he knew she was mocking him, but for the first time the knowledge didn't crawl beneath his skin.

"They had one additional demand." Behind his back, Kai squeezed his hands together, forcing his nervous energy into them. "They insisted that I refuse to follow through with the alliance terms you and I had agreed upon. They asked that the wedding not be allowed to continue."

"Ah," said the queen, with a spiteful laugh, "now we get to the reason that contacting me was such a high priority. I am sure it killed you to agree to such egregious terms."

"Not really," he deadpanned.

Levana leaned back, and he could see her shoulders trembling. "And why should these criminals concern themselves with intergalactic politics? Are they not aware that they are already responsible for starting a war between our nations? Do they not believe I will find a way to sit upon the Commonwealth throne regardless of your selfish bargain?"

Kai gulped painfully. "Perhaps their interest has to do with Linh Cinder's claim that she is the lost Princess Selene."

A silence crackled between him and the netscreen, still as ice on a pond.