Cinder and Iko crept back into the palace, luckily before they were missed. Iko took the communication device and was about to start her long way back to Thorne's ship. They would need it later for their trip to talk to Cress. Hopefully, Thorne wouldn't become completely brain dead and somehow break the machine.

"I'll be on the ship with Thorne. To make sure our friend doesn't try to take off without us," she was just about to leave when she turned back to Cinder. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine. Just go before he decides to leave." With that, Iko left for the night. Selene knew she would see her friend the next day, but she felt a little abandoned without her android's company. She wouldn't go pester Kai, that would just end weirdly. Cinder also didn't fancy the idea of spending time with her aunt.

As she lay on her back on her bed, she tried to run her plans for tomorrow in her head. Every time she thought of ditching Kai, her heart dropped about a yard. Why couldn't he come too? Why did he have to stay here, alone? Because this is his country. Because he is not the niece of the crazy woman trying to force a royal marriage.

Cinder let these thought swirl in her head for almost an hour before an all to familiar feeling crept up her skin. It was the nausea of a thick, heavily used glamour. A sickness that became ever so recognizable over the years. Levana. The fake woman strode through the room while radiating a sense of victorious evil.

"Hello, darling," her voice laced with a devilish pleasure. "Did you spend time with the prince like a good girl?"

"Yes," she replied plainly.

"Well, I hope this isn't straining your glamour too much, Selene," the witch turned, as if to head for the exit. But spun back around just as quickly. "Or should I say ... Cinder?"

She did her best to conceal her anger, betrayal, and feeling of intrusion. She knew. How in the name of Luna did Levana know about her and Kai? "That's right. I know what you've been doing with the prince. And I have to say, I'm quite impressed."

"What?" confusion swept over the princess. Why was she 'impressed' with the fact that she had fallen in love?

"The way you manipulated Prince Kaito after he found out you're a filthy cyborg. That must have taken a great deal of control. And how you made him stay with you afterward to 'care' for you even though he knew what you are. That is something that not even I have mastered. I implore you for your talent in glamouring."

"You think I'm glamouring the prince?" What is she ranting about?

"Well it's completely obvious." She flashed her a fake smile that faded as she took in Cinder's misconception. "Oh, you poor thing." She stepped closer to her bed. "You think that the prince really loves you. Don't you?" Selene sat their, speechless. Kai was being glamoured, by her? "You must be doing it subconsciously. You must be incredibly strong, then."

"You're lying. Kai loves me for who I am. He doesn't care what you turned me into!"

"Darling, you're forcing him to love you through some crazy delusion you have about finding someone that loves you for the repulsive creature you are. Why do you think he hardly showed any surprise when he saw your foot fall off?"

Why hadn't he? She shook the question from her mind. This was just a jealous, evil queen trying to mess with her head. But the doubts kept resurfacing. The wondering of why he loved her could be answered by this. Did she force him to love her? No! She couldn't have. And he said that he loved her. He said that no matter who she was, he always would. Yet, that is exactly what she would have wanted him to say. That is how she would have wanted him to act. Calm, collected, caring, loving, and sensitive. She would have wanted him to stay with her, to hold her, to love her.

The whole time, she had been doubting her plans to run. Had that been the side of her that was controlling Kai? Was he even really himself around her? Cinder's worries plagued her as she sat on her bed, helpless. What had she done? It all made sense now. How he was constantly drawn to her. How he always came to her aid when she was restless. And the night before, just previous to Kai saying 'he loved her', he left her side for the door. Had she given him a moment to think for himself? Was her desire to control Kai keeping her from leaving?

"Selene, ... or whatever it is you go by now. You have to accept that no one could ever love you. Every lunar, every earthern, and everything in between, hates you. Even if the prince could care for your cyborg parts, do you really think he would love the lunar side of you?"

Selene pulled her legs into her chest. She lay on her side to avoid Levana's glamoured face. What was she? What was this monster that she had become? And what had ever made her think that someone, especially Kai, could ever show genuine kindness towards some ... thing like her?

Cinder had to release the emotions coursing through her veins. To give off the screams of sadness threatening to explode in her lungs. To destroy the demon within her that took out unspoken orders of cruelty. She grabbed her pillow and pressed it into her face. With all her might, she screeched into the rectangle of plush. But the pillow did little to muffle the sounds of her cries. She screamed like a dagger was being shoved into her heart. As if a creature was wolfing down her insides. Like every limb she had was about to be torn from her body.

At the end of her cries with no reply or sympathy, she threw the pillow in Levana's direction and leaped from her bed. "You did this to me! You turned me into this monster! You're the reason no one can ever love me! You're the one who should have died instead of my mother! And you're the one who deserves to rot in a living hell for the rest of your days!" Her blade unsheathed itself from the compartment in her arm as she stormed to the devil in her misted.

"I'm glad you finally recognize that, you disgusting, pathetic, worthless child." Her grin was empty and her eyes contorted with fibs. She was afraid under her mask of distorted fantasies. Now, every ounce of sanity left the lunar princess, in fear of the new demon that lurked in her shadows. Cinder brought the blade to her aunt's throat. If she had pressed any harder, she would have drawn blood. Thoughts of rage left her blankly glaring at the queen who had earned nothing less than a life of eternal suffering.

For a flicker or time, Cinder realized, that if she killed her aunt now, she would be free from such a punishment. No, she has earned her right to suffer. Cinder retracted the blade, backed away from her aunt, and found a shred for sanity before speaking. "Once we go back to Luna, I will have you removed from the throne. And you will then spend the rest of your days rotting in a holding cell." Levana opened her mouth to object, but cinder cut her off. "You know I have the authority to do that. You also know that the people you put there would love to ... take a stab at you. You never should have tried to make me do this. You should have just appreciated the fact that I let you stay on the throne for five more years."

"Fine, then I'll just have your cousin and her guard killed."

"I don't think that you will." Cinder stepped closer to the soon to be removed queen. "I just don't think that anyone would be stupid enough to do that. Especially knowing that their future queen would have them punished, and even tortured for such an act." Not anticipating her words, she realized she was correct. It must have all been a ruse. A trick to keep her in line. Oh, this wretch was clever, and she was going to pay for the way she abused her intelligence.

Selene stood just inches from the witch that had been using her as a pawn. But now, she was the chess master. "We are going to leave, before the coronation. We will never come back to Earth. And you will leave all of the royal families of Earth alone for as long as you live."

The queen leaned towards Cinder and whispered. "And here I was, thinking that you noticed the prince standing in the doorway. My mistake."

Cinder spun around to see that she was, for once, telling the truth. Kai's eyes were full of shock, his face stitched with confusion. "He's been standing there since before you stopped screaming. He heard everything you just said."

"Cinder ..." He walked into the room with sympathy in his voice. But if she was controlling him, it was caused by her own imagination. Cinder jumped away from her aunt and stepped backwards in the direction of the wall. "Cinder. It's okay. I'm here now. You don't have to be afraid."

"No. Kai, leave. Now!" Her voice was stern and unfeeling. She strained to suppress any links she ever had to Kai. Him holding her, his words of caring for her. Because they were all fake, empty, and unrealistic. This relationship she thought she had with him was just a dream. A delusion that could never be real.

"Go on, Prince Kaito. Let her make you tell her how much you care for her. Let her manipulate your mind into giving her the love that she can never truly have."

"What?!" Kai shouted. He looked back to Cinder. "No, Cinder. She's lying. You're not controlling me." Cinder continued to step backwards to the wall. "You're not like her! I really love you!"

"That's exactly what I would want you to say!" She didn't mean to raise her voice. Even though he didn't really love her. Because there was one thing she knew was real in this situation. That she loved him. That she would always love him no matter what happened. And she could never deny that. But she also knew that she could never see him again after this trip. She could never feel the warmth of his body or see the sparkle in his copper eyes. If she did, she would release the creature that made her control the prince in the first place. And she could not allow that.

"Cinder, please. She's not telling the truth. She's just trying to turn us on one another! Please! Don't let her take you from me!"

"Kai, you have to leave, now! I may be unpredictable, but I know that I'm forcing you to talk like this. SO GO!"

"Cinder, I love you! You aren't making me, and I really love you!" He was trying and failing to stop the tears forming in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks. She fought the intense urge to run to him and brush them away.

"Leave, NOW!" she bellowed.

"I won't leave you here! Come on. You're coming with me." He began to speedily walk over to her with his hand outstretched. There was nowhere to run or hide. So she had one last resort. For Kai to leave, she would have to glamour him into doing it.