New Wings

Chapter 13

Cinder-

Cinder felt ready to scream. It didn't seem to be enough for fate to be cruel. It could give her a rotten life and a eternally hungry belly, a broken family and a leadership role she didn't think she could fill, on top of not enough pay to make it through the week. But no, that wasn't enough. It had to give her a perfectly safe and generous man who actually looked at her and cared, only to rip it back the second she started believing her eyes weren't playing tricks.

It only took a few seconds to run through every good moment in her life. It sounded incredibly pessimistic to think that way, but when you wake up worried about survival, your psychological view on life doesn't seem that important, oddly enough.

So now she stood, her glance darting between the one person who gave her hope and the one person who could truly destroy it.

Life really is a jerk sometimes.

Kai was stumbling away, still staring at her the way he did in her nightmares; the moment where he realizes she's nothing, worth less that dirt. She had enjoyed the game of the wealthy while it lasted, but at least she could talk normally.

"Kai, please let mes explain--" Levana interrupted, slapping Cinder across the face. She shocked in surprise, forgetting what she was going to plead.

"Explain what, you idiot? How you borrowed a dress and pretended you were a high class lady so you could get information to help with your rallies?" She paused to grab a fist full of Cinder's skirt in demonstration, ripping a tear from her knees to ankles. Cinder cried out, pulling away. "Or maybe seducing Kai would give you money for those little rats you feed?" She reached out and shoved, throwing Cinder against the wall so hard her back cracked. Cinder retaliated, pushing away and popping her knuckles, ready to punch the living daylights out of the witch. "Or, and this is the worst of them all, it was all in fun? To humiliate my fiancée?" Levana tilted her head like some kind of demonic puppy, grinning as her eyes flashed. (Still her dark beauty could be seen. Where Cinder was light and blonde, Levana had long dark locks and snow pale, unblemished skin.)

Now it was Cinder's turn to stumble back. "Fiancée?" She gasped, hurt crossing her eyes as she whirled on Kai for an explanation. So this whole time, from the first smile to the almost-kiss, she hadn't been the one doing all the deceiving. He'd lied to her. He'd been engaged, to someone else, and had made her fall in...she grit her teeth, pain tightening her chest against the blasted corset.

Kai glared, his lip wrinkling in disgust.

"You're even worse than she is." He nodded towards Levana, who narrowed her eyes but said nothing.

That comment alone was enough to bring Cinder to her knees. The anger at him faded, because deep down she knew he was right. Levana was everything she never wanted to be; cold, deceitful, and a lowlife. Now within a short few days Cinder had become all three.

Police had arrived at the doorway, holding a fresh pair of handcuffs. In a single step she was being dragged away from freedom.

The gleam of the captivity sparked panic, and she lashed out, aiming for Levana. One of the men grunted and wrapped his forearm around her waist as she kicked in midair. The only thing she had to lose where her boys, her family, and they were safe for now. If she was going to lose Kai, she wanted to at least get a satisfying kick in.

But Kai was the first to get to her ripping her away from the men and grabbing her roughly by the shoulders to shove her back in the cell. She stretched her hand through the bar, trying to keep him from leaving.

"No, no please! Kai, Ise is begging youse please listen youse ain't got the right--"

He spat on her shoes through the bars. Slowly the peace-offering hand retreated back to her. Levana was smugly tightening the lock around the door. Cinder grabbed the bars and shook with all her might, rattling it so much everyone had to put their hands to their ears.