Chapter Text
Kai's Perspective:
Kai patiently waited for his comm to be connected, fingers drumming against the hardwood, as he tried to keep his nerves in check.
A few seconds pass, before he comes across the hovering image of Carswell Thorne, cooing to his rugged fur baby.
" O h Kai!- we didn't expect you to call so late, " Cress whispered, knuckles rubbing against her eye, as she wiped the sleep off it.
In haste, it had completely slipped his mind to check the time before reaching his comm to call Thorne, desperately.
"S tars, it's too past midnight, I'm sorry, I'd call- " His apologetic ramble, was cut short as Cress intervened, " Kai, it's ok, we hadn't slept yet. "
He sheepishly nodded, asking if he could talk with Thorne. Cress nods, muting herself before she talks with her boyfriend.
Kai doesn't quite understand the conversation that takes place, likely about himself, before Carswell appears at last .
"I f you missed me so much, you should have mentioned it, Your Kai-ness, " he jokes, shuffling on his feet, as Bandit takes her spot on his lap.
He foregoes the usual roll of eyes at his antics, instead pulling himself closer towards the desk, as he hisses, " This isn't funny. "
Thorne is quick to read the accusation in his voice, as his brows furrow further, fingers no longer removing knots from Bandit's white hair, "What isn't funny?"
" D on't play coy, Thorne! " Kai exclaims, tugging his hair as he holds back a groan.
"Kai," Thorne remarks, "-I really don't know what you're on!"
"S omeone sent in an invitation card -"
" I sn't that normal? "
"- It's the invitation to Cinder's wedding! Had to send it by Palace Mail it seems," Kai bellows.
"WHAT?!" Thorne starts, finally matching his anxiousness and outrage, "-that isn't possible, Cinder wasn't going to make it a public affair. Are you sure it is her wedding invitation?"
" I 'm an Emperor, Thorne- I can comprehend what " cordially invited to the sweet knot of Selene Blackburn and Tristan Padilla " means, " Kai snaps, his irritation and resentment from earlier coming back in full force.
"I don't know," Thorner admits, "-this is insane."
"Obviously," Kai muttered, "I didn't even know she was engaged, imagine the shock of receiving an invitation for your past lover's wedding, from the Palace Mail Delivery."
"I really don't know what she was thinking, like Cinder isn't stupid to do something like that, " Thorne pointed, pulling Bandit closer to his chest, as the cat curled in his arms. If Kai hadn't been very stressed over his condition, he would have adored the resting baby, instead choosing to throw another glance at the invite, checking if he had imagined it. If all of this was just a big nightmare, but then he heard Bandit meowing, before jumping off Thorne's arms, leaving the two alone.
"D o you think it was a prank? Like Cinder won't be foolish to do this , it's likely something that stupid people do for fun- "
"T horne, it came in a formal scroll, " Kai said tightly, " There's the Luna's Crescent Sign, and it was sent through the Lunar System. My people might be looking for a scandal, but they aren't this desperate or foolish. "
The said scroll crushed between his fingers, as he waited for Thorne to say something , however , he stayed quiet, at last voicing Kai's outlandish ideas, " .. Do you think, like it was Tristan Padilla who sent it? "
"I f the wedding is real, I can't fathom why he would want to have me at his wedding to Cinder, " Kai said, obviously cringing at the mention of Cinder's name.
"W hat if he's a sadistic individual that wants to rub your loss in your face , what better opportunity than their- " Thorne said, without thinking, but catching a glimpse of Kai's fouled face, he tried keeping the words to him, but failed, " -wedding! "
"Thank you for rubbing it in my face, Thorne," Kai snarked.
"I didn't mean those," Thorne tried, trying to secure some sense of consideration,"- It was just a suggestion-"
"A re you my friend, or Tristan Padilla's ? "
"O bviously yours, I haven't even heard about Tristan Padilla, " Thorne exclaimed, feigning offence.
"Y ou don't know Tristan Padilla? " Kai asks, shocked at the exclamation. It was one thing for him to be unaware of Cinder's love life status, another for Thorne, who spent a significant amount of time travelling through Luna, to be unaware of this fiancee of Cinder's .
"N ever heard of the man, before tonight. Is he some Lunar aristocrat? "
"I haven't heard a more fictional name than this, and that's huge coming from a guy who doesn't have a surname."
“L isten, I’ll ask Cress, ” Thorne said after a beat. “ Maybe she knows something—maybe this Padilla guy is just some political alliance thing. Maybe it’s not real. Maybe it’s …”
But Kai wasn’t listening anymore.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
He had tried to look up for the man but ended up not finding anything, not even his ethnicity. It was as if Cinder decided to get married to someone who didn't even exist. It would be foolish to think, she would do something so dire, only if it meant to get Kai's attention. Very Foolish.
She didn't need to go for this much trouble, a look in his direction would get the same result faster, Kai thought. He didn't remember ending the comm with Thorne, or how he ended up coming to this guest suite, that always remained booked for Cinder on her visits.
There was a t-shirt, from the time she'd worn it on her last visit. That was 3 years ago when they had been something .
Kai hadn't bothered to get it cleaned, and his staff knew to keep it untouched. It didn't smell like her anymore, just stuffy.
Cinder was getting married.
The thought rewrote itself over and over in his mind like it didn't want to settle something permanent. But the invitation in between his fingers was proof that despite his preferences, the wedding was happening. And he'd be helpless to do anything about it, just like how it had been when they'd separated.
He traced the gold-embezzled edges of the Lunar insignia, the words underneath it mocking him.
You are cordially invited...
It felt like a cruel joke. Like someone had cracked open a piece of his history and scribbled over it in another man's handwriting.
to Selene Blackburn and Tristan Padilla
The mention of her regal name pierced him the most. It was 'Selene's Marriage' and she'd never been that to him. It was Cinder— witty, stubborn, pretty; that he had fallen in love with, the crown came later. Much later. He had come to love the girl who fixed 'droids, and decided to save the world, instead of going on her Europe escapade, because she thought 'If not her, then who?'
But that girl was gone. And in her wake, he found a diplomat, who put her nation at the front everywhere, and in the midst of it, he had been forgotten, replaced to be the second to the said nation.
Now, he wasn't part of her story. Not even on the footnotes, and it would move on without his presence.
Kai sighed, and in his grief mixed with anger, he crushed the invitation, and pulled at his hair, a loud yell leaving him.
"T his is stupid, Kai! She left. Cinder left fucking years ago, and now dared to send a wedding invite?! " He berated himself, slamming the door in his wake.
-
It took 9 days, for him to come back to the room, only this time with more civic sense. Kai had tried to not think about the wedding, or who Tristan Padillac was, and if he was the man, Kai could never become.
In one way, he was going to be something, Kai would never become. Selene's Husband.
Cress wasn't able to find much about the man, except for the name of the college he passed out from . That was all the trace he had on the internet, and that he was a Lunar.
In a way, Kai was relieved, better to not know anything about the man, than to know something and dismiss himself.
The longing he felt the first time was gone, even the anger to some extent. In its place was hurt, undefined hurt. What hurt wasn't the knowledge, that Cinder had moved on, but the way she had sent a wedding invitation, mockingly.
He wondered if she had looked at his name, before sending this. Flinched at their shared history, or at the thought of how Padilla would react.
Kai didn't want to think about how, she didn't care, just sent it to him, for not sending one, would cause a bigger scandal.
For some reason, he had considered going, but then thinking about the magnitude of the absurdity of it, he decided against it.
He didn't tell anyone except Thorne about the invitation.
Kai didn't bother to write his reply , instead , he sent the t-shirt Cinder had forgotten in his house, all those years ago.
It would reach a day before her marriage, and just like how the invite had shocked Kai, the t-shirt would surprise her too .
But it would matter little to Kai, for he felt free from the years of imprisonment he had to the illusion of his yearning.
fin