Oops!

Oh my goodness, it has been weeks since I updated and I'm sorry. I wrote a new fanfic for the Throne of Glass fandom and I didn't feel up to updating both stories at the same time. I try to update faster next time. :/

For once, Cinder, said nothing as the familiar scene filtered its way into her mind. It was always the same dream. She had always fought this but... it was as all the energy had been sucked out of her. A cloying perfume wafted toward her and she squeezed her eyes shut, the only defence she was capable of. Auburn hair brushed her arm and Cinder flinched slightly.

"Aunt," she breathed, "please."A light titter. Cinder's eyes fluttered open and she regarded Levana with trepidation. Levana's papery, dry hands caressed her cheek.

"My dear girl," she murmured, a smirk evident, "You poor thing. Why didn't you listen to me? I warned you every night. I told you to remember. Why didn't you listen?" she asked, her onyx eyes glittering.

Anger flared through Cinder. "You told me nothing! Why go through the effort of telling me anything? You hate me!" she shouted. "Why help me? When did you ever warn me about Reece? Using the nightmares that left me screaming for my life and the lives of my friends in the middle of the night? I'm going insane!" she snarled. "Is this your idea of revenge for what I did to you? I won't regret what I did, Levana. You deserved your end."

"Did I?" Levana murmured. Cinder ignored the sliver of guilt that pierced her conscience.

"Yes," she said viciously, "You did. You deserved everything that came that you because stars know that if it were any other person other than you, you would have agreed that they would have."

She withdrew with a sad smile. "Perhaps you are right. But who are you to say anything when you made the poor boy like this?" Cinder's mouth opened, denial threading through her face. "Yes," Levana replied to her unspoken question. "You did. You might not remember, but is that not just as bad? There is no excuse. I tried to discipline him once. Clearly it didn't work. He was too obsessed with you. Your glamour was too powerful, your three year old self already able to bind his will to yours. You spun webs of nonexistent memories of the activities that you did together, practically created this unwavering loyalty out of nothing, and when you disappeared, your influence was stripped from him without warning, a rapid withdrawal. It wasn't healthy for him. So much of his being was yours already that when you were ripped from him, you took pieces of him with you."

"Stars," Cinder breathed, her eyes wide and filled with self-loathing. She pressed her hands to her forehead as if to push away the consequences of this information. "It's my fault that-" Cinder covered her mouth. "No wonder he wants to kill me. I caused him so much suffering."

Levana inspected her meticulous nails and smirked. "Well then I guess I made things a bit worse by commending him to electroconvulsive therapy, didn't I?" Cinder froze, her stillness only marred by the slight working of her jaw.

"You did what?" she shrieked. "Why?"

Levana gave her a bored sneer. "The little bugger annoyed me. The people were supposed to love me after Channary died. But I saw how everyone waited for you to grow up like it was the greatest thing that could ever happen to them and I couldn't take it!" Her hands clenched into fists. "The throne was always supposed to be mine. Mine! All Channary did was to lounge around and be born first. It was all given to her on a silver platter. Me? I worked for the approval of my parents. Helped them negotiate treaties and write official documents. Did anyone appreciate me? No. Then a traitor shell killed mother and father. Father had promised me a change in the line of succession if I proved to be better at coordinating the affairs of the country than Channary, but they were murdered before they got to changing their will," she said bitterly. "Channary got the throne by default and everything was bequeathed to her. All the handsome suitors courted her instead of me only seeing the title, wealth and beauty she possessed in abundance. Nobody noticed the sister. To the Lunar court, I might have as well been a ghost roaming the halls, just another decoration, another trinket for Channary to give away to the highest bidder."

"How is that my fault? Reece," Cinder hissed, "did not deserve to be tortured for his loyalty to me. He was innocent."

Levana crossed her arms. "Not so innocent now, is he?" Cinder ground her teeth.

"He would not have tried to kill me if your ill treatment had not sent him over the edge," Cinder snapped. "I had only been three. I did not know what I was doing."

"I think you knew very well," Levana replied calmly. "Mother like daughter, you see. Daughter like aunt too, it seems. Power runs in our blood, niece. Remember that."

"I will never be like you," Cinder whispered. "Never."

Levana giggled, the sound building into a cackle. "Don't you know, niece? You are already me. You've always had a piece of me in your mind," she tapped her temple. "Why do you think you're seeing me in your dreams? I haven't become me, you already are me."

"No," Cinder whimpered. "NO!" She backed up, knowing what was about to happen, but still couldn't change anything as the familiar plastic bar of the playpen bumped into her back. Levana stretched her lips into a mocking imitation of a smile and flicked her fingers. The darkness receded back into a room, a nursery. A wallpaper of grinning moons and stars. A rocking chair.

"Haven't I enough of this?" Cinder seethed, trying to tamp down the fear. There was still no spark of memory. Levana drifted closer, trapping her in like an animal. She was the rabbit, the woman, a wolf. She shuddered.

"You don't remember?" Levana asked in a lilting voice, a blunt edge of spite warping her tone. Cinder could feel her aunt curling around her, suffocating, pressing, trapping her in. She covered her ears and shook her head violently.

"No!"

Her aunt pressed her hands around her face. "Remember!" Against her will, Cinder opened her eyes. The walls closed in. The stench of charred flesh and ash permeated the air. Blackened holes in the plaster glared at Cinder. The moons and stars shrivelled up and curled at the edges. Cinder was burning. She felt for her forehead. Too hot.

She couldn't breathe. Cinder wheezed in a laborious sharp breath and coughed. Then, distantly, a boy sobbing her name. "Selene! Selene!" Over and over. She opened her mouth to call back, but could only cough as smoke billowing into her face, obscuring her vision. Cinder cried, the real human tears streaming down her face, black from the smoke. "I'm coming," the boy sobbed back, but no one came to save her. Then white hot pain seared into her hand, her leg. Cinder cried out and collapsed to the burning floor. Everything was blurred and indistinct. Levana walked toward her, untouched by the smoke and fire. In fact, she seemed to stand in it. The flames danced and rippled higher where she stood. "Remember," she said quietly, her face, undulating in the heat.

And there in the fire and pain, she remembered. Everything.

When she came to, Cinder found herself tucked into a bed with smooth silk sheets. Her internal clock read near midnight. Cinder's arms were pulled awkwardly above her head, chained with cool steel. The chains clinked, alarmingly loud against her metal hand as she shifted. Her ankles were unbound, and she kicked at the bed attempting to sit up. Cinder winced as her arm joints strained in the wrong directions and she gave up, collapsing back onto the sheets with a gasp.

She glanced around the room. It was as sterile and bright as a hospital. The spare furnishings were all white and grey, the colour scheme too simple to be called dignified. Surgical instruments and various beeping machines occupied one wall, none of which were connected to her, thank the stars. Her muscles felt as if they had been liquefied and she dangled limply by the chains. Cinder craned her neck and noticed that the chains had been clamped tightly unto the steel bedposts. She would not be getting out of these for a long time. The door was across from the bed. Cinder let out a sigh and sank back down.

The remnants of her dream wisped back to her. The new memories flooded over her again, her brain easily picking up the threads, weaving them into her conscious seamlessly, as if her whole life had been unbroken, whole. Cinder inwardly prodded at her expanded awareness. For a reason she could not decipher, Cinder felt a harsh tug of longing for... something. As if she had lost something dear to her, but she could not identify who or what it was.

Cinder was abruptly shaken out of her thoughts as she heard the slip of a key into her prison's door. Reece swung open the door, and Cinder could only see a glimpse of a darkened corridor before he shut it again. He wasn't wearing his grey seventh-tier uniform anymore, instead, Reece stood in sweatpants. His chest was bare and his muscles shifted threateningly as he strode toward her. Cinder glanced away hastily, but just as quickly looked back, her eyes drawn to the shining waves of wet gold hair. Goldie. Of course. He had dyed it brown.

"You're awake," Reece said. Cinder didn't reply. Her muscles locked up as he came closer and her hands clenched onto her shackles, the cold metal biting the flesh of her palms. Reece hopped onto the bed and Cinder swallowed realizing the vulnerability of her position. He had stripped her of her evening gown and left her in her thin shift. She discreetly inched away from him bit by bit, but froze as Reece lightly touched her ankle. "I'm sorry I had to do this," he murmured, "but I had no choice. You would have run away to your precious emperor the first chance you got." Cinder could help the sudden tightness of her throat and the stinging burn in her eyes.

"Why?" she whispered. "You framed Sage, didn't you?"

Reece closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. "It was always supposed to be Danto. He was the most obvious choice and I had complete control of him. I could have gotten him to do anything for his family, even admit to the crime. Sage was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I let him take the journal knowing that you would eventually suspect him."

"That day," Cinder said dully, "Danto gave you the Tarsus'." It wasn't a question. "How did you hear about it? You were not there the day we discussed it."

Reece smiled thinly. "Father told me. We might not have the best relationship, but I am still his only heir and the Scion-Elect of the Blackcrest house. I started the fire in the restaurant and left."

"You glamoured me into thinking Ginger was in the storage room," she said, "How?" He touched her face gently, a small grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Cinder," he said amused, "You don't actually think you were the only one who was exempted from the bioelectrical disrupters do you?" At her alarmed expression, Reece gave her a reassuring smile. "I am the only one that I know of on Luna that lacks one."

"Why should I trust you? How can you expect me to believe any of the words you're saying?" Cinder asked bitterly. "You've never been truthful in the past. They were all lies!" Reece shushed her with a finger, his gold eyes flashing.

"I hardly ever lie!"

Cinder snorted. "Yeah, that's real reassuring."

He growled. "I. Never. Lie. I might conceal the truth at times, but downright lying? Never." Cinder stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you jealous of Kai? Do I not give you enough attention? Is that what it is?" She shook her head. "Nobody deserved to die, Reece. Why did you hire a rogue? You would have had to. Someone had to have been back at the palace to use glamour and keep everyone from suspecting. Who is it?"

Reece shook his head and laughed. "Haven't you realized it yet? With such powerful glamour, I would have thought you would have been faster to detect its loss." Cinder froze and immediately reached for the familiar surge of tingling warmth. It was gone.

"You!" Cinder choked out. "You- you took the-" She shook her head. "Nobody knew about it except me!" Reece chuckled.

"You know," he said with a syrupy sweet tone, "You know that you talk in your sleep. All your deepest secrets poured out just like that." He snapped his fingers. "I took it, yes, glamoured the guards at the police headquarters while I was 'helping'." Reece crooked his fingers into air quotes. He shrugged. "And forced the Selkirk family to kill themselves. They drew on the wall with their own blood as it drained away bit by bit." He smiled. "Your device is very useful. Thank you, Cinder, for letting me take it."

"You stole it," Cinder growled. "Thief, traitor. Murderer!" Reece caressed her cheek and tilted his head. "Soon, it will only be you and me, darling. We shall rule, you and I, until you succumb to a very, very unfortunate accident. And of course, by then, I will be the only optional possible as king." He gave her a grin, one filled with childish delight. "I will fix the mistakes all you bitchy Lunar queens make. Wouldn't your little emperor be heartbroken," he said singsong.

"You bloody bastard!" she snarled. "Leave Kai out of this! Leave everyone out of this! This is between you and me!" Cinder was beginning to get desperate. She yanked on the chain and there was a sharp burst of pain. A trickle of something wet ran down her arm. She ignored it and tugged again. Reece merely gave her a calm, lingering look.

"It's too late," he said coolly. He easily pinned her arms down as she screeched at him and writhed on the bed. Cinder's furious expression turned to one of utter horror as she looked past him to see a familiar figure slouch in.

"Aunty?"

So? What is the device? What does it do? Tune in to find out in later chapters! See ya around!

-Silverleaf