Scarlet

struggle.
    The thaumaturge’s voice followed behind her, all benevolence. “You have my leave to rest until sunset, Alpha Kesley. I can see that your trials have wearied you.”

 
    Twenty-Eight
    Kai paced the length of his office from door to desk, desk to door. Two days had passed since Levana had issued her ultimatum: Find the cyborg girl, or she would attack.
    Time was running out and every hour filled Kai with growing dread. He hadn’t slept for over forty-eight hours. With the exception of five press conferences in which he still had nothing new to report, he hadn’t left his office in that time either.
    Still, no sign of Linh Cinder.
    No sign of Dr. Erland.
    Like they’d simply vanished.
    “Gah!” He pulled his hands back through his hair until his scalp stung. “ Lunars. ”
    The speaker on his desk hummed. “Royal android Nainsi has requested entrance.”
    Kai released his hair with a deflated groan. Nainsi had been good to him the past few days, bringing vast amounts of tea and saying nothing when she took the still-full-but-now-cold cups back out hours later. She encouraged him to eat and reminded him when a press conference was coming up or that he’d neglected to return the Australian Governor-General’s comms. If it weren’t for the title, “Royal android Nainsi,” he almost would have expected a human to walk through the doors every time she was summoned.
    He wondered if his father had felt the same way toward his android assistants. Or maybe Kai was just delirious.
    Shooing away the unhelpful thoughts, he rounded to the back of his desk. “Yes, enter.”
    The door opened and Nainsi’s treads rolled across the carpet. She was not carrying the tray of snacks he’d expected.
    “Your Majesty, a woman by the name of Linh Adri and her daughter, Linh Pearl, have requested an immediate appointment. Linh-ji ĕ says she has important information on the Lunar fugitive. I encouraged her to contact Chairman Huy but she insisted she speak with you directly. I scanned her ID and she appears to be who she claims. I wasn’t sure if I should turn her away.”
    “That’s fine. Thank you, Nainsi. Send her in.”
    Nainsi rolled back out. Kai glanced down at his shirt and buttoned the collar, but determined there was nothing he could do about the wrinkles.
    A moment later, two strangers entered his office. The first was a middle-aged woman with hair just beginning to gray, and the other was a teenage girl with thick hair that hung straight down her back. Kai frowned as the two bowed deeply before him, and it wasn’t until the girl attempted a shy grin that he felt like an idiot for his exhaustion-muddled brain not picking up on their names when Nainsi had first announced them. Linh Adri. Linh Pearl.
    They were not entirely strangers. He’d seen the girl twice before, once at Cinder’s booth at the market, then again at the ball. This was Cinder’s stepsister.
    And the woman.
    The woman.
    His blood curdled with the memory of her, made worse by the almost bashful, girlish look she was giving him now. He had seen her at the ball too. When she’d been about to strike Cinder for daring to attend in the first place.
    “Your Majesty,” said Nainsi, returning behind them. “May I introduce Linh Adri-ji ĕ and her daughter, Linh Pearl-mèi.”
    They each bowed again.
    “Yes, hello,” said Kai. “You are—”
    “I was the legal guardian of Linh Cinder,” said Adri. “Please forgive the intrusion, Your Imperial Majesty. I understand you are quite busy.”
    He cleared his throat, wishing now he’d left the collar alone. It was already strangling him. “Please, sit down,” he said, gesturing to the sitting area around the holographic fire. “That will be all, Nainsi. Thank you.”
    Kai moved to claim the chair, determined not to sit beside either of the women. They in turn perched straight-backed on the sofa so as not to crumple the bows on their kimono-style dresses, and folded their hands demurely atop their laps. The resemblance between the two was remarkable—and of course, nothing at all like Cinder, whose skin had been always sun darkened, whose hair was straighter and finer, and who had carried an understated confidence with her even when she was shy and stammering.
    Kai caught himself before he could smile at the memory of Cinder, shy and stammering.
    “I’m afraid we were not formally introduced when our paths crossed at the ball last week, Linh-ji ĕ .”
    “Oh, Your Imperial