Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) - Marissa Meyer Page 0,63
from her wrist. Evidence did not indicate whether or not there had been a struggle. Two weeks later, her granddaughter, Scarlet, who had lived with Benoit for eleven years, traveled from their home in Rieux, France, to Paris. Tracking records indicate she was in Paris for two days before her identity chip went off the grid. Presumably, the chip was removed and destroyed. Timeline cross-examination indicates that her ID chip was last seen near an abandoned Paris opera house, at the same time that a nearby scan-bank machine recorded what appears to be the landing and takeoff of a 214 Rampion. Satellite feeds, however, picked up no such spaceship at that location. Deductive reasoning leads me to believe that this was the ship on which Linh Cinder is hiding and that Scarlet Benoit may have boarded the ship at that time.”
Kai frowned and was glad when even Torin looked intrigued by this information.
“Cinder made a special trip to Paris for this girl?”
“My logic aptitude suggests this is a possibility.”
“What else do we know about this … Scarlet?”
“According to her ID records, she came to live with Michelle Benoit in 115 T.E., two years after the recorded death of Princess Selene. Her birth date indicates that she is eighteen years old. However, there is no hospital record of Scarlet Benoit’s birth, and her data was not input until she was four years old, so we cannot confirm the validity of any of her records.”
“You lost me.”
“Scarlet Benoit was not born in a hospital. Neither was her father, Luc Raoul Benoit. Without official records, we must treat any information about their births as circumspect. It is possible that everything we know about Scarlet Benoit is false information.”
Kai pressed his hands onto the desk. “Are you saying there’s a chance this girl, this Scarlet Benoit … is really Princess Selene?”
“It is a possibility that cannot be proved or disproved at this time, but I have found no evidence to warrant a dismissal of this hypothesis.”
Kai filled his lungs, feeling that he hadn’t taken a full breath in weeks. “And Cinder knows it. Cinder figured it out … and now … she has her. Cinder’s found the princess.”
“Your Majesty,” said Torin, “you are jumping to some large conclusions.”
“But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Torin scowled. “I will withhold my opinion on the matter until we have some information that is based on more than speculation.”
“Android speculation,” Kai said, pointing at Nainsi. “It’s better than regular speculation.”
He pushed himself out of his chair and began to pace in front of the grand picture window. Princess Selene was alive. He just knew it.
And Cinder had found her.
He almost laughed.
“I’m surprised to see you taking this all with such good humor, Your Majesty,” said Torin. “I would think you would be horrified with this turn of events.”
“Why? She’s alive!”
“If this girl is the missing princess, then she is currently being held captive by a dangerous felon, Your Majesty.”
“Wha—Cinder’s not dangerous!”
Torin seemed unexpectedly furious as he, too, launched himself to his feet. “Have you forgotten that she’s Lunar? She is a Lunar who had contacts working within this very palace. She coerced you—the most protected person in the country—into giving her a personal invitation to our annual ball, then infiltrated it with, I can only assume, the intention of provoking Queen Levana. She escaped from a high-security prison and has managed to evade capture by our entire military, which ultimately led to an attack that killed thousands of Earthens. How can you possibly say she isn’t dangerous?”
Kai straightened his spine. “Levana attacked us—not Cinder.”
Groaning, Torin rubbed his fingers over his temples. It had been a long time since Kai had seen that expression on his adviser. The expression that indicated he thought Kai was a moron.
Indignation flared inside him. “And for the record, she declined my invitation to the ball. She only came to warn me. And Dr. Erland…” He hesitated. He still didn’t know what to think about her relationship with Dr. Erland. “Levana wants her killed. I don’t see that we’ve given her much choice other than to run.”
“Your Majesty, I worry that your … your feelings for this girl are causing a bias that could jeopardize your ability to make logical decisions where she’s concerned.”
Kai’s face grew warm. Was he so transparent?
“I’m still trying to find her, aren’t I? I still have half the military out searching for her.”
“But are you trying to find her, or this princess?”
He gestured at Nainsi. “If they’re together, what does