to ascertain what information our prisoner might have that will be useful in our ongoing search for the cyborg.”
Queen Levana nodded.
Scarlet, kneeling in the center of the stone-and-glass throne room, had a very good view of the queen, and though part of her wanted to look away, it was difficult. The Lunar queen was as beautiful as she’d always been told—more, even. Scarlet suspected there had been a time when men would have fought wars to possess a woman of such beauty.
These days, Emperor Kai was being forced to marry her in order to stop a war.
In her famished, delirious, mind-weary state, Scarlet almost laughed at the irony. She barely swallowed it back down.
The queen noticed the twitch of her lips, and frowned.
Pulse quickening, Scarlet cast her eyes around the throne room. Though she had been forced to kneel, they had not put her in any restraints. With the queen herself present, plus a handful of guards and a total of ten thaumaturges—Sybil Mira, plus three in red and six in black—she supposed they hadn’t been too concerned that she might try to escape.
On top of that, the velvet-draped chairs to either side of the throne were filled with at least fifty … well, Scarlet didn’t know who they were. Jurors? The Lunar media? Aristocrats?
All she knew was that they looked ridiculous. Clothing that twinkled and floated and glowed. Faces painted to look like solar systems and rainbow prisms and wild animals. Brightly colored hair that curled and wisped, defying gravity in order to create massive, elaborate structures. Some of the wigs even housed caged songbirds, though they were being remarkably quiet.
With that thought, it occurred to Scarlet that these were all probably glamours that she was looking at. These Lunars could be wearing potato sacks for all she knew.
Sybil Mira’s heels tapped against the hard floor, drawing Scarlet’s attention back to her.
“How long had you been a part of Linh Cinder’s rebellion prior to your capture?”
She stared up at the thaumaturge, her throat sore from days of screaming. She considered saying nothing. Her gaze flicked to the queen.
“How long?” said Sybil, her tone already growing impatient.
But, no, Scarlet did not care to remain silent. They were going to kill her, that much was obvious. She was not so na?ve that she couldn’t see her own mortality closing in around her. After all, there were bloodstains on the throne room floor, streaking toward the wall opposite the queen’s throne. Or, where a wall should have been, but it was instead an enormous open window, and a ledge that jutted out, leading to nowhere.
They were fairly high up—three or four stories, at least. Scarlet didn’t know what was beyond that ledge, but she guessed it made for a convenient way to dispose of the bodies.
Sybil grabbed her by the chin. “I suggest you answer the question.”
Scarlet clenched her teeth. Yes, she would answer. When would she ever be given such an audience again?
When Sybil released her, she turned her attention back to the queen.
“I joined Cinder on the night your special operatives attacked,” she said, her voice hoarse but strong. “It was also the night you killed my grandmother.”
Queen Levana had no reaction.
“You probably have no idea who my grandmother was. Who I am.”
“Is it relevant to these proceedings?” asked Sybil, sounding annoyed that Scarlet had already hijacked her interrogation.
“Oh, yes. Incredibly relevant.”
Levana settled her cheek against her knuckles, looking bored.
“Her name was Michelle Benoit.”
Nothing.
“She served twenty-eight years in the European military, as a pilot. She received a medal once, for piloting a mission here, to Luna, for diplomatic discussions.”
A slight narrowing of the eyes.
“Many years later, a man that she had met on Luna showed up at her doorstep, with a very interesting parcel. A little girl … almost dead, but not quite.”
A puckering around the lips.
“For years, my grandmother kept that little girl hidden, kept her alive, and she ultimately paid for that with her life. That was the night that I joined Linh Cinder. That was the night that I joined the side of the true queen of—”
Her tongue froze, her jaws and throat icing over.
But her lips still managed a smug smile. She’d already said more than she thought Levana would allow, and the fury in the queen’s eyes made it worthwhile.
The onlookers were rustling softly, no one daring to talk, even as they cast confused glances at one another across the room.
Sybil Mira had gone pale as she looked from Scarlet to the queen. “I apologize