"Ready to land, in fifteen!"

Selene braced herself not for a bumpy landing, but for what came after it.

The Eastern Commonwealth and their royal family. Selene's future home for eight months. When her mother had told her that she was going to stay in the Commonwealth for such a long period of time, she had immediately protested.

"Mother, we barely know them and now you're asking me to stay with them for nearly a year?"

"Selene." Channary's voice was stern, with absolutely no visible sympathy for her daughter. "You understand how important this alliance is to us, yes? Good. Then you see that it is essential for your visit. This could be the final point where Luna and Earth become one!"

Selene had sunk back at that point, completely defeated. She had known of her mother's dreams and plans to take over Earth for quite a while now, but this... this was almost cruel. Sending Selene into the Commonwealth and commanding her to stay there, maintaining an air of democratic alliance when she was actually the "inside spy" for Luna?

Maybe she was overreacting. Yes, that must be it. Channary would never do anything to hurt her daughter.

Selene quickly brushed that out of her mind. She knew about her mother's intentions, and she knew of how deceptive they were.

"Five seconds until landing!" A loud voice echoing over the loudspeaker jolted Selene back to the present, and she scrambled up from her seat and threw open the doors of her room, hurrying down the hall towards the entrance. The queen was already there, veil on. Even thought she couldn't see her mother's face, Selene still felt her eyes burning into the back of her head, and she grimaced.

Then, she heard the trumpets. Then sunlight.

"Announcing Her Royal Majesty the Queen of Luna, Queen Channary, and her daughter Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Luna, Princess Selene!"

Oh stars.

With a gulp of air, Selene stepped out of the ship.

Home sweet home.

Selene had heard of the beauty of the palace of New Beijing. And indeed it was beautiful. The sunlight glittered off of the rooftop tiles with an elegance that rivaled even that of the Lunar palace. Flowers crawled up the sides of the grand building, exploding in bursts of red, pink, yellow, and a myriad of other brilliant colors.

But the view was simply too peaceful to suit the things that needed to happen that day, and as soon as Queen Channary composed herself accordingly, they began their descent down the ramp towards the emperor and his son.

Emperor Rikan stood in front of several guards, flanked on one side by a man that Selene recognized as Konn Torin, the emperor's chief advisor. Emperor Rikan appeared older than her actually was, it seemeed, but his eyes still held the slightest spark of light in them as he greeted Channary and Selene. "Welcome, Your Majesty, and Your Highness, to our kingdom. We hope that you will enjoy your stay here, and if you have any need for something, please, feel free to —"

"—oh, there's no need for such formalities right now!" Channary tittered. She gave the emperor a smil that was not write visible under her veil. "We can sort that all out later. Is this your son?" She turned suddenly to face the young man flanking Rikan's other side, and Selene caught the first glimpse of Prince Kaito.

Indeed, he was as handsome as his net pictures bragged. He had dark hair that had been combed back, an elegantly poised nose, and brown eyes that were the color of cocoa. The only thing marring his handsomeness was the half-scowl he had on.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Rikan gestured towards Kaito. "This is my son, Prince Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth."

Channary stepped forward and examined the young man. Then she broke out in a delighted tone. "Why, I can certainly see the father-son resemblance! It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Kaito."

Kaito bowed stiffly. "The pleasure is all mine, Your Majesty."

"Oh, how could I forget?" Channary placed a hand on Selene's back and essentially pushed her forward a little, towards the prince. "This is my daughter, Princess Selene."

Selene heard the emperor mumble a few words of welcome, but she wasn't really listening. All of her attention was focused on the prince.

She suddenly realized that he was examining her, but not in the way that Channary had been examining the prince just a couple of minutes ago. The prince was looking at her as if he was genuinely puzzled about her.

Oh, stars. Selene suddenly realized that unlike her mother, she didn't have her veil on. A bet search that she had once conducted showed that most Eartherns thought that all Lunars wore some form of a veil. And in a way, they were right. But Selene had given up her veil years ago, the same week she realized that beauty was a mirage. Was the prince gaping at her because of the absence of her veil? Was that it? Did she have another loose hair again? Was she projecting an awkward glamour?

But she didn't get an answer, because at that very moment, a roar rose up from the people who were crowded around the palace. They were chanting, screaming, "NO LUNARS. NO LUNARS, NO TROUBLE. NO LUNARS, NO TROUBLE."

Selene's heart sank as she looked out at the crowd. They were chanting and holding up signs that depicted messages of hate towards the Lunar family, along with messages of "WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE" and "STOP ENDANGERING OUR PEOPLE!"

Suddenly, the crowd fell silent, and Selene knew what had happened. Her head whipped toward her mother, fearing the worst. Her mother was looking out at the crowd, doing absolutely nothing but staring. But that in itself was one of the most horrifying things Selene had ever experienced.

Being under her mother's bioelectricity manipulation.

The silence was deafening, but eventually, Channary turned back to the emperor. "Well, where were we?"

The crowd stayed silent. The emperor looked uncertain, but began conversing with both Konn Torin and Queen Channary in low tones.

Selene looked back at the prince. He had his eyes narrowed, still staring at the crowd. He looked back at her, though, and Selene felt herself being examined once more.

Finally, the prince stepped forward. "A privilege to meet you, Princess Selene."

Selene felt her heart contract, for some strange reason. "And you, Prince Kaito. I look forward to my stay in New Beijing."

"I look forward to my stay in New Beijing?" Selene's inside voice mentally berated her. Oh, stars. She sounded so much more condescending than she had initially intended. Not that she had intended to sound condes— god, why was this so hard?

She could feel the prince's eyes on her, but all he said was one sentence in reply.

"You can call me Kai."

A/N: I'll admit, I did steal that "glamouring the crowd" thing from Cinder. Thank you all sosososo much for all of your support! I'll have the next chapter up soon!