Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) - Marissa Meyer Page 0,46
be if anyone found out?
Kai shifted on his feet, casting a nervous glance toward the doctor.
“I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. “Thank you—I…Thank you, Your Highness. But I must respectfully decline.”
He blinked. His eyes fell as he processed her response. Then he lifted his chin and attempted a grin that was almost painfully dejected. “No, it’s all right. I understand.”
Dr. Erland leaned back against his desk. “My sincerest condolences, Your Highness. In more ways than one, it seems.”
Cinder cast him a frosty glare, but he focused his attention on cleaning his spectacles again.
Kai scratched behind his neck. “It was nice to see you again, Linh-mèi.”
She flinched at the return of the formality and made to speak, her voice catching at apologies, explanations, but the prince didn’t wait for them. The door was already shutting behind him.
She snapped her jaw shut, thoughts sparking in her head. Dr. Erland clucked his tongue, and Cinder prepared to rail at him with those budding explanations, but he turned away before she could and paced back to his seat.
“What a shame you cannot blush, Miss Linh.”
Chapter Nineteen
DR. ERLAND HELD BOTH HANDS TOWARD A CHAIR ON THE other side of his desk. “Please sit down. I only need to finish up a few notes, and then I will tell you some things I’ve learned since yesterday afternoon.”
Cinder sat down, glad to get off her weak legs. “The prince just…”
“Yes. I was standing right here.” Dr. Erland reclaimed his own seat and tapped at the screen in his desk.
Cinder leaned back against the chair, gripping its arms to quell her shaking. Her mind was replaying the conversation while her retina scanner informed her that her body was producing mass amounts of endorphins and she should try to calm down.
“What do you think he meant by his motives being based on self-preservation?”
“He probably doesn’t want to be mauled by all the young ladies at the ball this year. You know there was nearly a stampede a couple years back.”
She bit her lip. Of all the girls in the whole city, she was…
The most convenient.
She forced these words to resonate, to stick. She was here and she seemed to be sane and she was a safe bet for him to ask to the ball. That was all it could be.
Besides, he was in mourning. He wasn’t thinking straight.
“Emperor Rikan is dead,” she said, snatching for anything else to think about.
“Indeed. Prince Kai was close to his father, you know.”
She lowered her gaze to the screen Dr. Erland was hunched over. She could see only a small diagram of a human torso, surrounded by boxes of dense text. It did not appear to be hers.
“I would be lying,” Dr. Erland continued, “if I said that I had not harbored secret hopes of finding an antidote in time to save His Majesty, though I knew from the moment the diagnosis was made that it was unlikely. Nevertheless, we must proceed with our work.”
She nodded in agreement, thinking of Peony’s little hand gripping hers. “Doctor, why haven’t you told the prince about me? Don’t you want him to know that you’ve found someone who’s immune? Isn’t that important?”
He pressed his lips, but he didn’t look up at her. “Perhaps I should. But it would be his responsibility to share the news with the country, and I don’t think we’re ready to draw attention to this. When we have solid evidence that you are…as valuable as I hope, then we will share our news with the prince. And the world.”
She picked up a portscreen stylus that was lying abandoned on the desk and examined it like a scientific mystery. Twirling it like a pinwheel over her fingers, she murmured, “You also didn’t tell him I’m cyborg.”
The doctor made eye contact now, his crow’s-feet crinkling. “Ah. And that is what you’re most concerned about?”
Before she could confirm or deny, Dr. Erland waved his hand as if to dismiss her defensiveness. “Do you think I should tell him you’re a cyborg? I will if you want me to. But I frankly didn’t see that it was any of his business.”
Cinder dropped the stylus into her lap. “No, that isn’t—I just—”
Dr. Erland snorted. He was laughing at her.
Cinder huffed in irritation and glared out the window. The city was almost blindingly bright in the morning sun. “Not like it matters. He’ll find out eventually.”
“Yes, I suppose he will. Especially if he continues to show, erm, interest in you.” Dr. Erland pushed his chair back from the desk. “There.