Our New Empress

Chapter 3

Cinder could see Earth coming into view. It was as beautiful as she had remembered it. She could see the mountains in the far distance and the city where her Emperor now was.

They were getting closer and closer with every minute that passed. Her human palm was becoming sweaty and cold. Now all she could do was fidget with her sleeve and wait.

A flash of text came into her vision.

INCREASING LEVELS OF ADRENALINE, DOPAMINE, CORTISOL...

She shooed the text away. She could remember the short time when she couldn't see that text, but now she could. She had requested that her system be fixed, so now all of the statistics from her control panel, all of the feeds, all of the fakeness of the glamours—all of that was visible again.

Though she had reasons to not want all of that back, the benefits outweighed the costs. She had been like a deer in headlights without that constant stream of information. Though she didn't love anylyzing every Lunar's glamour, she didn't want to be stuck in manipulation if a person like Levana ever came around again. There were one too many people who were probably plotting to stab her in her sleep just like they did to her grandparents.

The only thing that had absolutely no benefit was seeing the text about her hormones and her vitals. It always just made things more nerve-racking, but she was sure that she would find some use of it someday.

Unfortunately, that day would have to wait. The palace was coming into view and they were prepared to land in the landing dock before taking the path to the palace. Everyone was ready except her.

She felt an extremely light thud when the ship touched the ground.

Everyone was busily moving around. Her thaumaturges and guards came to aid her to the exit. Iko was right behind them. The rest of the court was waiting for her to exit. The few servants that had come were gathering luggage and standing far from the aristocrats.

She slowly walked to the open hatch. She could see the beautiful landscape of New Beijing all around her. She had not seen it properly, since every visit she had made thus far had been quick and diplomatic. The city was so much more beautiful when you could savor it.

Once she adjusted to the light and caught her breath, she stepped outside. She was very careful not to step on her dress or bump into one of the guards. Iko put a hand on her back and urged her to keep moving.

As the whole procession stepped out of the ship in a line, Cinder felt truly terrified. She had seen Emperor Kaito many times before, but this trip wasn't about the alliance. This was a much livelier trip, though she tried to tell herself that it was strictly for improving the ties between Luna and the Earthern Union.

She could see his copper eyes and shaggy, black hair up ahead.

Her breath caught in her throat. She had to tell herself to breathe or her cybernetics would constrict her and she really would be breathless.

Slowly, her court approached the Earthern leader and his entourage. Cinder was in front of her group and Kai was in front of his.

"Welcome back, Selene."