Scarlet

one a cross between a man and a beast. Protruding fangs and enormous claws, hunched shoulders and a fine layer of fur up their broad arms.
    The men who were attacking all over Earth were vicious and wild and brutal, that much was clear. But they were still only men. Kai suspected they were just the precursor to what Levana’s beast army could become.
    And he’d thought he couldn’t loathe her anymore. Not after she’d purposely withheld the letumosis antidote from him. Or attacked one of his servants to prove a political point. Or forced him to betray Cinder, for no other reason than she’d escaped from Luna years ago.
    But he could not have fathomed this cruelty.
    Which is why he would forever hate himself for what he was about to do.
    “Torin, will you give me a moment?”
    “Your Majesty?” Torin’s eyes were wrinkled in the corner, as if carved into his skin. Perhaps they’d all aged unfairly this week. “You want me to leave?”
    He bit the inside of his cheek and nodded.
    Torin’s lips perched, but it seemed a long time before he could form any words. Kai could see knowledge on his adviser’s face—Torin knew what he was planning.
    “Your Majesty, are you sure you don’t wish to discuss this? Let me offer guidance. Let me help you.”
    Kai tried to smile, but it came out nothing more than a painful grimace. “I can’t stand here, safe in this palace, and not do anything. I can’t let her kill anyone else. Not with these monsters, not by withholding the letumosis antidote, not by … whatever she has planned next. We both know what she wants. We both know what will stop this.”
    “Then let me stay and support you, Your Majesty.”
    He shook his head. “This isn’t a good choice for the Commonwealth. It may be the only choice, but it will never be a good one.” He fidgeted with his collar. “The Commonwealth should not be able to blame anyone but me. Please, go.”
    He saw Torin take in a slow, painful breath, before bowing deeply. “I will be right outside should you need me, Your Majesty.” Looking supremely unhappy about it, Torin left, shutting the door behind him.
    Kai paced before the netscreen, his gut twisting with anxiety. He straightened his shirt, wrinkled from a long day, but at least he’d still been in his office when the alert had come. He believed he might never experience a full night of sleep again after this.
    After what he was about to do.
    In his frenzied thoughts, he couldn’t help thinking of Cinder at the ball. How happy he’d been to see her descending the stairs into the ball room. How innocently amused he’d been at her rain-drenched hair and wrinkled dress, thinking it was a fitting look for the city’s most renowned mechanic. He’d thought she must be immune to society’s whims of fashion and decorum. So comfortable in her own skin that she could come to a royal ball as the emperor’s own guest with messy hair and oil stains on her gloves and keep her head high as she did so.
    That was before he knew that she’d rushed to the ball to give him a warning.
    Cinder had sacrificed her own safety to plead with him not to accept the alliance. Not to marry Levana. Because after the marriage ceremony was done and she had ascended to the throne of the Eastern Commonwealth, Levana intended to kill him.
    He felt sick to his stomach, knowing that Cinder was right. He knew that Levana wouldn’t hesitate to dispose of him as soon as he’d served his purpose.
    But he had to stop these murders. He had to stop this war.
    Cinder was not the only one capable of sacrificing herself for something greater.
    Inhaling, exhaling, he faced the screen.
    “Establish vidlink to Queen Levana of Luna.”
    The small globe in the corner turned over only once before it brightened with the image of the Lunar queen, draped in her lacy white veil. He imagined her face old and haggard and decrepit beneath its sheath, and it didn’t help.
    Kai sensed she’d been waiting for his comm. He sensed she’d been listening in on everything, and already knew precisely what his intentions were. He sensed she was smirking behind the veil.
    “My dear Emperor Kaito, what a pleasant surprise. It must be quite late in New Beijing. About two hours and twenty-four minutes past midnight, is that correct?”
    He swallowed his disgust as best he could and opened his hands wide to her. “Your Majesty, I beg you. Please stop this attack. Please call off your soldiers.”
    The veil shifted as she