Kai could hardly even breathe. There he was, sat down in the Emperor's office chair, watching the loop of pictures from the scene in France on repeat. It was like his worst nightmares, of late, had come to life.

His princess, his best friend, his fiance, held at gunpoint by that criminal scum. Kai was surprised his heart was even still in his chest.

And in the photo, Cinder looked pained and sad. It reminded him of how she looked right after he Levana had told her she was manipulating him.

Like she's lost all hope.

Kai could hardly think as his legs mindlessly trudged back to his room. His head caught up in a thousand thoughts of tortures and punishments Cinder could be experiencing at this very moment. Cinder was giving up hope, and now, so was he.

Not only this, but the fact that Torin had tried to hide it from him. Now, Kai was finding hard to trust his own adviser. Even if he'd been serving the E.C. since before Kai was born. He'd tried to keep this from him, and he knew how much he cared about Cinder and her safety. But he'd still be able to keep leads on the case from him.

Speaking of which, Kai needed to have a serious chat with Torin about telling him about possible leads. He hadn't even heard about the lead on the ID chip Iko had taken until a few hours ago. And that had been from Levana.

Then again, if Kai had known about the lead, he probably would be feeling worse now than he already was. Even so, if he'd known, he'd be feeling more despair, and not an absence of trust, or that he was being treated like a child.

Kai made it to his room, thankfully without falling over and pulling himself into a ball.

And in all this madness, and all this horror, Kai actually felt a little ...

relieved.

Up to this point, Kai had dreamed that this wasn't a kidnapping at all. But an elaborate plan that Cinder had made to get out of their relationship. That had been the last time he'd slept, two days ago. And it had almost been as bad as when he dreamed of Cinder killing herself.

He'd been walking alone in the gardens and trying to get his head on straight. When all the sudden, he saw her. She was standing by a large Willow tree, with her back turned to him. Still, he knew it was her, and couldn't help but run to her.

"Cinder," he cried. He was almost to her when she turned to him, and began to hold up her hands. He bolted to her even as she told him to stop.

Kai threw his arms around her and his momentum forced them back to the ground. He started laughing, almost hysterically. "Cinder, you're back."

"Ugh," she groaned. "Get off of me you idiot." Kai's laughs caught themselves in his throat. She was glaring up at him sternly, which told him she was being utterly serious. So, he rolled onto the ground next to her.

Cinder sat up and pulled herself to her feet, and she didn't look at all amused. "What is you're problem, Kaito?" she asked as she rolled her eyes.

Kai had to blink a few times to get rid of the daggers Cinder was shooting hat him. "What are you talking about, Cinder?"

She groaned again. "Stop calling me that. My name is Selene. Princess Selene Blackburn. Is that so hard to say?"

Kai may have been disoriented, but he was sane enough to know that Cinder wasn't acting like herself. "Cinder, what's going on with you?"

She scoffed, but before she could answer, someone else came out from hiding in the garden.

Carswell Thorne.

Kai immediately launched to his feet and stood up in front of Cinder. "Stay away from her," he warned. He didn't have a weapon, but if he needed to, he would defend Cinder with everything he had.

"Calm down, Kaito." Again, Cinder called him by his first, full name. She knew how much he hated that, and how he would rather be called Kai. The fact that she was neglecting to call him by his nickname was a little unraveling. "He's just here to see me."

"Here to see you?" Before he could protest further, Cinder pushed passed him, near the criminal, and-

into his arms?

"I guess you couldn't stay away from long, huh?" Cinder asked, playfully.

"Not after I've met a woman as gorgeous and amazing as the princess herself," Carswell flirted. He leaned down, closer to Cinder ...

And kissed her.

Kai felt sick to his stomach. The urge to go over to them and pry them apart, or to run away, gnawing at him. He felt betrayed, devastated, jealous, and deprived. Betrayed by the fact that his fiance was kissing another man. Devastated that Cinder was now in love with her kidnapper and not him. Jealous that Cinder was now in someone's arms that weren't his. And deprived of the way Cinder made him feel, and how she lifted the weight of an entire country off his shoulders when she was with him.

Why was she with him now. The man who stole her from him. The criminal who kept them apart for too long. The guy who stole her away from the world and took her on his ship and-

Oh stars, she was in love with him now.

When they finally came up for air, Kai just had to ask, "Cinder ... why? I thought we were together ... We're engaged!"

She let out a sharp laugh. "Yeah, we were engaged. And I hated it for every second we were."

"What are you taking about?" he heaved. "We .. we had everything and, we were gonna-"

"Get married? Not a chance in Luna, Kaito." She pushed herself a little further away from Thorne. "I played along to fool my aunt. When you popped the question, I was half way to running away from the palace and hitching a ride back to Luna before my aunt could stop me."

She turned back to Thorne, and a smile grew on her face. One that Kai had thought was reserved for when she was with him. "But when I saw Carswell in the marketplace, I knew he could help me. Isn't that right, Thorne," she cooed.

He grinned, "I'd do anything for my princess."

"See, even he knows how to treat royalty. I thought that was something every prince knew."

This wasn't the Cinder he knew, this had to be some form of trickery. She hated being called royalty, just like him. She was kind and modest, more so that he could ever be. Why was she acting like this now?

"The truth is Kaito, you're nothing like the kind of man I want to be with. Stars, I'm not even sure you are a man. I mean, what kind of guy gets nightmares and begs a girl to ... how do you say, rock him back to sleep? And, I still can't believe this, but you are actually more clingy than a baby. What kind of girl would want a guy like that?"

He couldn't feel himself breathing, and he wasn't even sure if he was. He felt like he was about to ball his eyes out.

"And there you go again with the crying," Cinder complained. "You act like this needy child and stomp your feet around until you get attention. That's not even sort of attractive."

His heart was being wrenched from his chest. Sure, she was probably right. But hadn't Cinder told him that she loved him the way she was? Didn't she love him the way he was, and even empathize with how he got night terrors that left him speechless and unable to move? Had that all been an act?

"The truth is Kaito, I never loved you, and I don't think I ever will. If we get married, you can be sure that all you'll be getting from me are looks of disappointment."

She turned tail, and allowed Carswell to drape his arm over her shoulders. The two of them walked out of the gardens together, leaving Kai to wallow in his newly founded misery.

But thank the stars, that dream had been just that. A horrible, unrealistic dream. Still, the harsh truth was that Cinder was in danger now, and that there was undeniable proof.

Kai vowed that as long as he could, he wouldn't stop working until Cinder was back here, safe. Even though he was tired and emotionally wrecked, he couldn't sleep. Not while Cinder was still out there, or while he was still suffering these horrendous nightmares.

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

Scarlet had spent all of ten minutes allowing her eye faucets to leak. After that, she'd gone to the galley, directed by Cinder, to find more ammunition for her pistol. And possibly another pistol.

"Please tell me you aren't planning on shooting someone with that," Cinder pleaded.

"No," Scarlet answered. "But I plan on being prepared if I need to." She rifled through crates to find ammo and weapons, but was coming up with nothing besides army uniforms and packaged foods.

She didn't even know why she'd allowed herself to cry. She'd hardly ever cried before. Yet, she let herself, in front of a man who got her Grandmere killed.

Another thing she'd thought was odd was that she thought she'd recognized him. Maybe from Gally's tavern or around the town doing errands. Either way, she felt freaked out by it, and a bit violated.

And finally, why was she even giving that guy a second thought? He was tied up in the hanger, so why was it like he was right behind her?

"You're thinking about Wolf, aren't you?" Cinder questioned.

"How do you know his name?"

"You keep mumbling about him, and saying 'Wolf'. So I can only guess that that's his name."

Scarlet chastised herself. One, for actually mumbling her thoughts. Two, that she was still thinking about him.

At last, she found the right ammo for her pistol, and put two clips of the ammo in her back pocket. "Doesn't matter, since he's going to give us what we need, and then, he can get off this ship.