The moment Goldinia saw her, she threw her hood over her head to cover her features and slipped her hand from the soldiers'. She pulled in the sides of the cloak to hide the front of her figure as well, and moved away from the group that was now approaching them.

The soldier was confused by this, until he caught sight of the people coming towards them. He changed his line of sight from Cress to Goldinia at least ten times before moving to catch Goldinia and prevent her from leaving.

"Hi Cress .. and Thorne," greeted Cinder. Cress walked into Cinder's open arms and briefly hugged her before stepping away. Allowing Thorne to tackle Cinder with a bear hug.

He grunted playfully and shook Cinder to and fro for a few moments. "How's my favorite queen doing today?" he inquired with a large grin. Stars, this had to be the hundredth time he'd asked her that same question since she'd been crowned Queen of Luna. Thorne released her and backed up to be at Cress's side again. Cinder had been so glad to hear that they were finally together, and Kai even more so.

"It's actually been pretty crazy, especially today." Cinder explained what she'd meant when she commed them, saying that there was a possible emergency that would need all of their strength to handle. She told them about the woman in the metal cage and how she'd been given cyborg parts to accommodate for her lost limbs.

The two of them seemed rather alarmed that such a person could exist and still be alive in the Lunar palace. The worst part of it being that the woman had been hooked up to a liquid supplement I-V, so she was kept barely healthy enough to live. Cress had been appalled, and even wished to know where the woman was now.

Swallowing her speculations that this might be a bad idea, she pointed over her shoulder to where Goldinia had been before she started talking to Carswell and Crescent.

Both of them looked over Cinder's shoulders, confused. "There's no one there," Thorne said. Squinting at the space behind her.

It took one glance to see that he was right. The soldier was missing from the spot as well. The only ways they could have gone were down the other end of the hall and the Great Hall, were all of the remaining of the people who had died in the Revolution were being kept. In hopes that their loved ones would come for them and claim them as their own, even if it was just to say goodbye one last time.

Cinder bet that Goldinia had gone back into the Great Hall to visit her deceased brothers. Going inside and revealing that Cress had a sister would then show her that she also had three brothers. All of which were now dead.

And the horrible way that Cinder rationalized this was, She's going to find out anyway. It's better to get it over with now than later.

Cinder waved to Cress and Thorne to follow her into the Great Hall. Thorne was more cautious than Cress, as he lagged back the most from the group. Iko told them that she was going to run off to do some errand that needed to be finished. But Cinder's lie detector blinked in her head. It was odd though, because Cinder thought that it only worked on humans. Then again, Iko was the most human android she'd ever met.

It didn't take long to find Goldinia, standing with the soldier, over three of the capsules. Cinder felt disgusted with herself to be bringing someone to meet another person that was in mourning. But Cress had the right to meet her sister, right? Even if the timing was not the best and one of them had to fly all the way from the American Republic to see the other.

There's no going back now, thought Cinder.

The closer they got, Cinder could see that Goldinia was struggling to hold onto what little sanity she had left. And the soldier, he was on the brink of tears. Cinder could only imagine what was going through their minds at the sight of Goldinia's dead brothers.

.................

Goldi could barely stand to be in that room. With all of the dead left over from the Revolution. It was as terrible and frustrating as being locked inside that room for a decade. Something that Goldinia would never forget and live with for the rest of her life.

But worse than that, she hadn't been able to protect her brothers. She'd failed them. All of them. Because she hadn't been enough to keep the crown from taking them, they had all died painful deaths. Not one of them was left in the wake of the battle. Goldi had lost them all, and now, she would never see them open their eyes again.

Cad was holding her from her back, keeping his arms wound around her waist. She could feel his stress and sadness building up inside of him. No one needed to bare the burden of her dead family members besides her. And he was the last person she had left that cared for her. So she would dedicate her life to preventing anything from breaking Cad the way the world broke her.

"It's not your fault," she said. Placing her hands over his.

She could feel him trembling behind her. "You don't know that," he whispered.

Turning over in his grasp, she reached up and cupped his face with both of her hands. His eyes, now a sickly green rather than their usual luscious, dark shade. They were brimming with tears, and Goldi so badly wanted to wipe them away before they could run down his cheeks.

"I do know that," Goldi assured him. "And I'm the only one left to blame. I couldn't stop them from taking Crescent. I couldn't stop them from taking Darien, or even Cygnus and Corvus. I couldn't even prevent my father from killing himself. It's my fault and my fault alone."

Cadmar shook his head as the tears began to flow. "No," he strained to say. "I promised them .. I promised the twins that I would get them out someday. I promised I would bring them home. And I failed them. I failed you."

A weak smile grew on Goldi, her heart aching as she desired nothing more than to cry instead of Cadmar. To take these memories away from him, because stars know that he never did anything to deserve this. She'd been the naughty, unruly child that couldn't have gone a day without getting into a fight with another kid. Who never succeed in rescuing her loved ones. Her punishment and torture were just for her crimes against her family and friends. Cadmar's were grossly unfair. He'd never hurt a fly.

Cad's own hands rose to brush her face, and she didn't argue with what Cadmar. His hand was calloused and rough from his years of training and fighting. Her hood fell off her head, but she didn't move to fix it. She knew that Cad wouldn't like that, and he would simply take it down again.

"When I saw them," Cad added. "I saw you, they had the same eyes as you. And I promised to bring them back to you someday, once we could escape. And, a month ago, two women came and led us out of the training area. I thought we would be free ... and then ... they .. they-"

He broke down, he cried and cried as Goldi brushed his tears away. Next to no one was left in the Great Hall with them. Goldi couldn't understand why Cadmar took it upon himself to protect her twin brothers from harm when that was her job. A job that she failed at years ago.

"There was nothing you could have done," Goldi assured him. "The crown took them. You couldn't have protected them from everything Levana would throw at them."

Weeping, and as if he hadn't heard her, he continued, "We were out, we could have left. But .. they wanted to help overthrown Levana. They wanted to help Princess Winter and the other woman. They wouldn't listen to me when I told them we had to go. I tried to convince them, but they wouldn't listen to me."

Stars, he looked ashamed of himself, while Goldi could only marvel at the fact that he'd given up so much and put so much into keeping the twins safe for her sake. Why would he do such a thing? She knew that Cad had always possessed a soft spot for members of her family. But this took that to a whole new level. He went to such great lengths to bring her little brothers back to her.

Learning this, compiled with everything she'd gotten to know about Cad over the years, was the final tipping point of uncertainty to complete understanding.

This was the first moment that Goldi truly knew she was in love with Cad.

Unable to show it, Goldi's headache grew as she yearned to weep for her fallen brothers and for her joy over Cadmar's loyalty and commitment. He was so kind, and she would never be enough to deserve him. But she could try.

She was always trying to be enough for Cad. As he tried to the best of his ability to do something that neither of them could accomplish.

Gingerly, she slid her hands from Cad's face. Giving him a temporal expression of anxiety and fear. Still, it was only for a split second. Until she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her.

"Thank you for looking after them for so long," she whispered to him with her eyes shut. "No one asked you to take care of them, but you did anyway. Thank you." Opening her eyes a fraction of what she normally would have, she took a long moment to take in Cadmar's appearance. Mainly his face, his eyes, his expression of worry and pain. She always did love his eyes, and his bright smile. His hair was so long now, so shaggy and messy.

She loved every bit of him. Every scar on his skin and hair on his head. What had she ever done for the stars to convince them to sent one of their own down to her to be her friend?

Hearing what Goldi had to say about what Cad had done for her brother only invoked him to blubber more in her arms. He too wrapped her up in his arms and even lifted her from the ground again. His head buried in the nape of her beck. She swore she could hear him whimpering, and it broke her heart.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the caskets of her three brothers. She would miss them always, and would never forgive herself for not doing more to stop them from ending up like this. Poor Darien must have been strained by that Aristocrat woman who'd attempted to get her snot all over his coffin. The twins, raised to be monsters and murderers, would never have the chance to find love and start lives of their own away from LSOP.

But all of this, it left her one person to take care of. Cadmar had been dealt a bad hand from the moment he was born. That was the only way to explain why he'd encountered so many unlucky events over the course of his life. When he'd been the kindest soul Goldi had ever met.

Just when she thought Cad was the only one for her to stand at her side for the remainder of her life, she saw the girl who freed her from the metal room with her two friends again. The group of them approaching fast. The girl she was with was so beautiful and graceful. Like a limber ballerina with golden locks and deep blue eyes.

Goldinia knew that face. She'd had to stare at it for years until she took out the lights that allowed her to see her reflection. That girl had her face, and there was only way that could be.

That girl was her baby sister, all grown up. That girl was Crescent, the girl Goldi failed.