Tilting forward, Iko pressed her flat, cool face to Cinder’s brow, no doubt leaving a smudge of lipstick. Cinder laughed.
“You’ll find out what’s wrong with His Highness’s android. I don’t doubt it.”
“Thanks.”
Cinder rubbed her clammy palm on her pants, listening as Iko’s treads got farther away. The text continued to repeat across the screen. It seemed whoever was on the other side of the link had no intention of answering.
A series of clicks startled her, followed by telltale humming. She turned around, propping her knuckles on the gritty floor.
The android’s control panel was glowing as the system ran through its routine diagnostics. It was turning back on.
Cinder stood and dusted her hands just as a calm female voice began to emanate from the android’s speakers, as if it were continuing a speech that had been rudely interrupted.
“—pected that a man by the name of Logan Tanner, a Lunar doctor who worked under the reign of Queen Channary, first brought Princess Selene to Earth approximately four months after her alleged death.”
Cinder froze. Princess Selene?
“Unfortunately, Tanner was admitted into Xu Ming Psychiatric Hospital on 8 May 125 T.E., and committed bioelectric-induced suicide on 17 January 126 T.E. Though sources indicate that Princess Selene had been given to another keeper years before Tanner’s death, I have thus far not been able to confirm the identity of that keeper. One suspect is an ex-military pilot from the European Federation, Wing Commander Michelle Benoit, who—”
“Stop,” said Cinder. “Stop talking.”
The voice silenced. The android’s head rotated 180 degrees. Its sensor flashed bright blue as it scanned Cinder. Her internal control panel dimmed. The fan in her torso began to spin.
“Who are you?” said the android. “My global positioning system indicates that we are in the 76th Sector of New Beijing. I have no memory of leaving the palace.”
Cinder straddled her seat, draping her arms over the back. “Welcome to New Beijing’s mechanic suite. Prince Kai hired me to fix you.”
The loud humming in the android’s torso died down until it was barely discernible, even in the quiet room.
The bulbous head rotated back and forth, scanning its unfamiliar surroundings, then refocused on Cinder.
“My calendar tells me that I have not been conscious for over twelve days, fifteen hours. Did I experience a system crash?”
“Not exactly,” said Cinder, glancing over her shoulder at the netscreen. It continued to repeat the same line of text, unable to establish the direct link. “It seems someone installed a comm chip that didn’t meld well with your programming.”
“I come preinstalled with vid- and text-comm capabilities. A new comm chip would be unnecessary.”
“This was for a direct link.” Cinder settled her chin on her wrist. “Do you know if it was Prince Kai? If maybe he wanted to be able to get in touch with you without going through the net?”
“I was unaware of any direct communication chip in my programming.”
Cinder chewed her lip. Clearly the comm chip had been responsible for the android’s sudden malfunction, but why? And if Kai hadn’t installed it, then who had?
“When you woke up just now,” she said, “you were talking about…you have information on the Lunar heir.”
“That information was classified. You should not have heard it.”
“I know. But I think you were probably communicating it to someone when you were disabled.” Cinder prayed that it had been Kai, or someone loyal to him. She doubted that Queen Levana would be too happy to know that the soon-to-be emperor was searching for the rightful heir to her throne.
“Hold still,” she said, reaching for her screwdriver. “I’ll put your panel back on, and then take you back to the palace. In the meantime, you should download the news broadcasts from the last few days. A lot’s happened since you’ve been out.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
CINDER COULD HEAR DR. ERLAND’S WARNINGS IN HER HEAD, echoing like a damaged audio file, the entire six miles to the palace.
Queen Levana will stop at nothing to ensure her control, to terminate any resistance. That means killing those who could resist her—people like you.
If she were to see you, she would kill you.