57240 seconds. 954 minutes. 15.9 hours.

Cress didn't need her portscreen to make such simple calculations. Unconsciously, her mind kept track of the time ticking past until it became the only thing she could bare to think about in the cold cell. She had been captured nearly sixteen hours ago – it should have been close to midnight – and had spent most of it keeping time. Once she hit 57300, she finally gave in.

No one was coming.

She didn't expect General Ze'ev to come after her, he was probably thrilled to be rid of her, but she expected her captor to at least make an appearance. Her memory of him was nothing but flashes of blue eyes, bluer than the sparkling, frozen lakes on the moon, as he scooped her up and made off with her. And his warmth . . . people on the moon didn't possess such warmth. Except for–

Well, except for her.

To distract herself from the endless waiting, Cress found other things to count. Four metal walls – three paneled with steel, or something like it, and another made of long bars with only enough space to squeeze her hand through. Twenty-six screws keeping the metal panels in place, three that were loose. Two ventilation shafts spewing in the chill from outside. One cot with a blanket thinner than the material of her clothes. Zero ways to escape.

Once it was clear she would be spending a lot longer in the cell than she originally thought, the dread finally set in. Behind rows of long bars in the belly of the ship, Cress curled up into a ball against the far wall and let herself cry. She didn't know exactly what she was crying for – that the enemy was able to capture her so easily? That Ran's deadly grip no longer blocked her airways? That the princess had managed to escape?

No. She knew it wasn't the last one. When the princess had managed to escape she felt relief swell up inside of her. She must have been smiling, or at least not hiding her joy well enough, when Ran had caught sight of her. Her only real memory of the event was his face twisting into a grimace before a searing pain enveloped the left side of her face. Yelling – Ran's harsh words directed at her and Ze'ev's orders for him not to hurt her – filled the darkness that followed.

Tears, silently trailing uneven paths down her cheeks, soaked the thick material of her shirt. When was the last time she cried with sound? Her parents deaths, probably. She remembered screaming for days afterward until Sybil Myra held a knife to her throat and threatened to splatter the walls with her blood if she did not silence herself. Her crying became silent ever since.

Metal clawing against metal alerted Cress to company. Voices piled on top of each other, a thick door creaking open then shut, and boots clomping down a stairwell. Quickly she drew her sleeves across her eyes to disguise the puffing. She would not give them the pleasure of seeing her cry.

On instinct, Cress slid her finger to the bridge of her nose to adjust her glasses, glasses that were no longer there. Feeling suddenly very exposed, she moved loose strands from her braid to cover her face as the footsteps came closer and closer.

He lingered just outside the bars for a solid minute, Cress only able to glimpse at his sturdy feet without looking up. Though she couldn't see who exactly was staring down at her, she knew it could only be a soldier. His stance told her of his history in the military and his silence extended long enough that knew she he had experience. Interrogation; that was what this was.

"Who are you?"

The voice was clear and hard as an uncut diamond; General Ze'ev had a similar voice. But where General Ze'ev's was tinged with an animal's snarl, this man's spoke only of authority. Every word called for respect, deserved respect, and compelled Cress to raise her eyes slightly if only to catch who the strong voice belonged to.

Instead of the rough guard that first pushed her into the tiny cell after her arrival, she was met with the piercing blue eyes of her captor. Again she was entranced by the dancing colors in his gaze, brighter than azure of the sky, brighter than the shimmering of ice. They said the people of the moon held all the beauty of the world, but where their beauty had edges sharper than razors, this man's beauty was something else entirely.

For a solid minute he stared at her, blinking with a dark look of puzzlement crossing his features. His lip twitched occasionally, showing faint signs of dimples that would appear when he smiled. Cress doubted she'd see ever see them.

Noticing her eyes on him, he demanded again. "Who are you?"

Cress turned her gaze forward, refusing to acknowledge his presence further. She had nothing to say to Earthlings.

She could hear his nostrils flare from the other side of the bars. "What were you and the other soldiers planning? What did your queen order you to do?"

Cress bit down on her lip when she felt the urge to correct him – she was certainly not a soldier and the queen was not hers.

"Why do you want to kill Princess Cinder?" he continued, without relent. "How did you find her? How did you even get on Earth? You might as well tell us since I have no intention of letting you go without information."

Without her consent, her eyes flicked up towards him again. Letting you go without information. Did that mean he would let her go if she gave some to him? She couldn't be sure. And when it came to trusting people–

She didn't really know. Cress never trusted anyone. The closest she came to trusting someone was Jacin, but she knew at the queen's word he'd chop off her head. Her own father couldn't be trusted, not with the Snow Queen hovering over everyone like a dark cloud about to storm.

Her captor was getting agitated. "Answer the questions!"

More than anything, Cress wanted to ask questions, for she was sure she had far more than him. Who was he? Why had he captured her? What did he plan to do to her? Was she a prisoner or hostage? And were prisoners on Earth treated the same as on the moon?

By the stars, Cress hoped not.

The man's voice chased away the memories of screams in Cress's mind, "We will keep you here until you answer our questions."

Despite her strongest efforts, Cress shivered. Not from her captor – in fact, compared to Ze'ev's soldiers he seemed unexpectedly polite. His voice never raised over a normal tone nor did he spew profanities her way. Her shiver was from the cold seeping in from the vents, vents she realized she would be getting accustomed to if her captor's threat held any credence.

For a moment, the man faltered, as if noticing her shiver and backing off slightly. After a deep breath, he decided to take a different approach at communication. "We're planning to find Princess Cinder and return to the Iceland castle. Afterwards, you'll be in their custody and face their trials."

Cress had read about this form of interrogation. Offer up information in the hopes to receive some in return. Coiling herself into an even tighter ball, Cress let her gaze fall onto the wall opposite her in clear protest. He would get nothing from her.

"Aces," he swore to himself. As his frustration grew so did Cress's doubts about why she was keeping secrets. The queen she was protecting with silence had given her nothing but pain and sorrow. Why should she keep the secrets of the woman she hated more than anyone else in the world?

Because she had no other choice.

The stomping of boots down the stairs interrupted her thoughts as one of the soldiers ran into view. She didn't think she'd seen him before, but Iceland's royal crest across his chest was unmistakable. He looked slightly disheveled and his voice sounded breathless as he said, "Prince Thorne!"

Prince, Cress thought, that explains a lot.

"Prince," he saluted when speaking. His eyes glanced hesitantly in her direction, keeping his words clipped to hide any information from her. "There's something we need to show you."

Prince Thorne refused to remove his eyes from hers for a full ten seconds. When the seconds dried up, he let out a frustrated sigh – maybe he hoped for her to at least say something – and moved toward the door. Burrowing her head back into her knees, Cress listened for the clang of the metal door and the solitude that would follow for more countless seconds.

But instead of a clang, Cress heard more footsteps trailing back down towards her. She felt a presence hovering from beyond the bars, though whoever it was said nothing. Suddenly, something soft hit the back of her head with enough force to bring her head up. She whirled on the figure, only to find the projectile was a wool blanket, dusty but without holes.

"Not that you'll need it," the prince snorted and it took Cress a long moment to realize he was referring to her supposed immunity to the cold. An honest mistake. He knew she was from the moon, but little else. "But it seems you're going to be staying with us for a while. And it might take your friends some time to come after you."

The thought, so utterly ridiculous, made a small laugh break from Cress's lungs. He said it like he was sure they would pursue, sure they would stop at nothing to follow her, sure they would attempt a rescue.

It was almost as funny as the thought of her being immune to winter.

The prince turned away, heading back up the stairs just as Cress let six hushed words pass from her lips. They were soft enough to make the prince wonder if she had really spoken at all.

"No one will come for me."

Prince Thorne was compelled to ask her more questions, but hearing the utter defeat in her voice convinced him to stay silent. He walked back up the steps and shut the door behind him, the hollowness of her voice echoing in his mind.

Kind of a short chapter, but at least Cress and Thorne got to have some quality time together :)

BookAddict510: You are so sweet :) Thanks so much!

Cheesehead101: I can't wait either! Thank you!

Human-at-Heart: 1) Thank you for that (no pun intended) I will put *that* in right away. 2) Oh my gosh thank you, thank you, thank you! Everything will soon be revealed, I promise!

LunarLover: THANK YOU! You are so kind, I greatly appreciate it! And I ship them too :) I can't wait for WINTER!

Thank you to everyone reading, favoriting, following and reviewing! This story would be nothing without you :)