Unexpected

Chapter Nine

KAI

The two bodyguards sat next to Kai and next to Clover on the ride back home. They'd decided to call in a hover to save more time. Kai nervously glanced to left and right, feeling terribly awkward as the atmosphere continued to drag on it's stone-cold air.

"Clover, mind telling me a bit of yourself?" Kai finally broke the tense silence.

The girl glanced at him with her eyebrows raised. "Sure. I am a human being. I am Lunar. I am related to the Blackburn's. I'd like to talk to Queen Selene. I am supposed to be on Luna." she paused. "Happy?"

Kai shook his head, running his fingers through his tousled black hair. "No, not happy. Because I already know all that about you. You told me at the booth," he gave her a look. "and I need to know as much as I can about you before I can bring you into the palace."

"This again?" She sighed, turning to face Kai.

"Well, forgive me for taking precautions. It was your queen who launched a full-on war on Earth."

Clover's eyes flashed. "Do you mean Queen Selene?"

"Queen Levana."

"Be careful of who you speak of, Your Majesty." Clover's voice dripped with venom and Kai glanced out of the hover's window, feeling disconcerted as he pondered. Clover looked very much alike to Cinder, and Cinder was Channary's daughter. Could Clover be Cinder's sister or something? They both looked the same age. If so, Clover would be the princess of Luna as well.

And that would trigger a bunch of not-so-happy events.

"Can you tell me who you actually are?" Kai probed.

Clover ran a hand through her brown hair, giving him the stink-eye. "Fine. Would you believe me if I knew who Channary's second daughter was?"

Kai frowned, thinking it over. "Second daughter? Something's clearly wrong with you but the answer is no."

"Exactly."

"Wait are you saying you do?" Kai cut her off.

"Maybe."

"How come you're saying you're related to the Blackburns then?" Kai snapped, his arms tensing as he laid his elbows on the leather armrest. The hover began descending, the palace coming into view. He stared at Clover, who wore a small smile.

"A person can lie, my dear Emperor."

"Oh you little-"

The hover landed on the ground with a slight thump, and the bodyguards wasted no time in jumping out the vehicle and dragging Kai along. Clover blinked calmly and hopped nimbly down after him, dust gathering in a cloud by her feet. Kai dusted himself off, glaring at Clover.

"You're not related to Cinder?" Kai snapped, ignoring as Nainsi rolled to a stop behind him.

Clover offered him a smug smirk, reached up and yanked her hair out. Kai jumped back a full meter, eyes widened as pale blond hair tumbled down in soft waves around her shoulders. His gaze snapped back up to her as Clover tossed the brown wig aside. Her features completely changed, her amber eyes sparkling.

"A...a...a wig?" He finally sputtered.

Nainsi came to a stop in front of Clover, who raised her eyebrows. "Aww, a wittle android. Isn't that cute?" she cooed, poking Nainsi with a slender finger. Kai was still ogling at the girl.

"Hey, you! Clover," Kai frowned. "is Clover even your name? Nevertheless, how dare you lie to me like that? There's no way in Luna I'd allow you to come into my palace now after that dishonest stunt."

Clover scowled at him. "Of course that's my name. I had to disguise as if I looked like Linh Cinder, otherwise you wouldn't hear me out and would just let your buff bodyguards arrest me."

"So you're fake?" Kai muttered gesturing to her whole body.

"Idiot of an emperor," she snapped. "just because I wore a wig doesn't mean I faked everything."

Nainsi interrupted them with a red beep. "Your Majesty," she addressed Kai. "This woman is a Lunar. Would you like me to call your guards to apprehend her?"

Kai waved his hand dismissively. "No, that will not be necessary." he shot a glare at Clover, who smirked. "she and I have acquainted at the marketplace already, and she'll be of no threat," he paused. "right?"

"Oh, absolutely not." Clover purred in a honey-smooth voice.

Kai felt sick. How could he even compare this phoney to his Cinder? How stupid could he get?  

The green light on Nainsi blinked. "Alright, Your Majesty. I hope no danger came to you in public?"

"No, not a single thing."

Kai beckoned Clover, and they marched up to the palace's front entrance. Kai could not afford for Torin to barge into them and fire them questions; he intended to find out who exactly this Clover claimed to be, if she wasn't related to the Blackburns then who was she?

"My, my," Clover muttered as she followed him to the elevator. "Aren't you in a hurry today."

"Just a warning, Clover, please restrain from using your Lunar powers on me."

Clover rolled her eyes. "As if I would."

Kai held up his palms. "Hey, you lied. How am I supposed to trust you now?"

Clover pursed her lips. "Now that you know I'm not related to the Blackburns, are you interested in knowing about Channary's second daughter?" she stole a glance at him as they slipped into the elevator. Kai reached over and pressed the button labeled K.

"You're not going to give up that blasphemy, are you?" Kai sighed, running a hand through his tousled black hair.

"But it's the truth," Clover persisted.

Kai merely stared at her. "We've got Cinder who escaped a fire when she was three and now the queen of Luna. We've got a crazy queen AKA Levana who's dead. We've got a little crazy princess called Winter. We've got a woman who claimed to be related to Cinder and who's proven to not be. And now we've got a girl who's Cinder related?" he finished, out of breath, "are you really going to try and sell the whole another-lost-princess idea on the whole world again? They had a hard enough time getting used to Cinder and-"

"Shut up, Kai."

He shut up.

Clover's eyes were flashing hard glimmers of malice. "Let. Me. Speak. To. Cinder and you'll understand everything."

"Yeah, well, that's going to be hard to arrange," Kai snorted.

"And why is that?" Clover asked, tone clipped as the elevator chunked to a stop.

"Because she's preparing for a visit to Earth this week and she's got a foreign nation to take care of." Kai snapped.

A/N: I know I know this is a really horribly written chapter and I apologize. I really didn't mean it to come out as bad as this :( but I'm really busy lately and I don't have that much time to put in nuance with vocab and pay attention to the plot. Anyways, comments and reads? What do you think of Clover? Who is she?