Scarlet

Cinder practices her glamour and tries to make the Rampion undetectable, but Thorne interrupts and tells her that “they’re talking about [Cinder and Thorne] on all the channels” (248). Cinder watches as Emperor Kai holds a press conference, and “seeing him [makes] Cinder both warm with longing and miserable” (249). Kai tells the reporters he is trying his best to find the escaped convicts. When the reporters bring up that Cinder was invited to the ball by Kai himself, he adds that he didn’t know she was Lunar at the time. Kai emphasizes that “Queen Levana wants Linh Cinder to be found [...] and brought to justice” (253) and that he is “doing everything in [his] power not to further unravel [their] fragile relationship with Luna” (253). The press conference ends, and Cinder is overwhelmed with guilt at the thought of Kai having to deal with the aftermath of her actions at the ball. Thorne assures Cinder that Kai “still likes [her]” (255), and he tries to distract her by sharing his theory about Michelle Benoit. Thorne has discovered that Scarlet Benoit, Michelle’s granddaughter, “doesn’t have any hospital records” (256), and she might actually be the Lunar princess.