CINDER WATCHED THEM FROM THE WINDOW, HEAD PERCHED in her right hand. It was Iko's idea, to play beach volleyball, despite none of them knowing the rules. Cinder didn't know them herself, but she doubted that Thorne catching the ball, running to the other side, and touching it to the ground was legal.

Sighing, she closed her eyes, the hundreds of comms, news articles, and stats scrawling across her vision, just as she'd left them. After Levana's death, there was chaos. The poor were barely affected at first, since they knew little about their ruler, but the court had been cold to Cinder, ever since she took the crown. It was only time before one of them tried to get her assassinated, or something ridiculous like that.

She wondered if this was what Kai felt like. She grew a newfound respect for him, now that she'd been in power for only a month and felt more stress than the rest of her life combined.

Dropping her head to the table, she sighed loudly. What she would give to be outside with the rest of them, running around like idiots and not caring in the least.

"I take it you're feeling done with being queen, huh?" She felt a pat on her back, and she lifted her head, squinting up at Kai.

"If you can believe it, I was done with being queen as soon as I became one."

"Me too. Well, not queen, emperor. But it gets better. I swear."

"I hope so. Otherwise I might take a bullet to my head."

The sentence hung in the air, meant as a joke, but it had lost any humor months ago, the first time they saw a person shot.

"You should join us. Well, them. I took a break to check on you."

Cinder spotted sand on his grey sweatpants, and some fell to the ground when he moved to scratch behind his ear. She wanted to join them. That wasn't the question. But with Luna in such a mess, she couldn't very well be so selfish as to put herself before an entire nation.

"I'm busy. I can't say that I don't want to join you, but I can't."

Kai tilted his head. "You'll make better decisions if you're relaxed. The more stressed you are, the less quality thinking will be done."

"I believe you. But..." Cinder sighed, raising a hand to her forehead. "It's just..."

"You feel responsible for everything. You think it's your fault, because now you're in power and everything's going wrong. And because of that, you think it's your job to fix it, and yours alone, and there is nothing, nothing you deserve until you've found a solution. I know.

"The first thing you have to understand is that it's not your fault. People die; that is a fact. I'm not telling you not to care, because caring is important, but I'm telling you to stop thinking of everything as good or bad. As long as you follow what you think is best for your country—well, you can go wrong, looking at Levana, but that's what advisors are for." He paused, smiling at her. "I mean, how much damage can one person do?"

Cinder laughed, shakily, hands going to tug up her nonexistent gloves.

"Fine, I'll play volleyball. But under one condition."

"Which is?"

"I set the rules."

CINDER DIDN'T MIND BEING WET. HER CYBORG PARTS WERE more or less waterproof, after all, and she never said no to a warm (or piping hot) shower. But sea water was different, smelly and sticky and salty, and most definitely uncomfortable when sitting on plush couches, soaking to the bone in it.

She couldn't quite remember who started it. Maybe it was when Wolf accidentally splashed Scarlet on their race to the water, after the ball caught a gust of wind and flew dangerously off course; or maybe it was when Cress kicked wet sand on Thorne's ankles during a particularly slippery dive; or maybe it was when Iko tackled Kai for the ball, despite them being on the same team.

Either way, their "friendly" volleyball game turned into a full fledged water battle, and after the splashing, yelling, and playful pushing into the waves, all nine of them were cold and some awkward mix of tired and very much awake.

All except for Iko, of course, who was also wet, but as bright and beautiful as ever.

"So then Scarlet ran around the corner, because she hadn't seen Levana, and Levana pointed her gun at her. Logically, I did the first thing I thought of: I threw my boot at her."

The group laughed, and Cinder smiled to herself. Though they'd all heard the story countless times from various sources, and five of them had lived it themselves, it never got old. Not when Iko told it.

"And then I said—wait for it—I said, 'Shame, I thought those boots would go well with your face.'"

Cinder laughed, despite not remembering Iko saying any such thing. But it was a story now, and stories were meant to be altered. No story was interesting on its own, after all. Not even her own.

"I don't think anything goes well with her face, though," Iko added, while everyone was still laughing. "Though if I had the chance to, I'd get another boot in."

It was a wonder how fast Levana became a joke, nothing but a crazy Lunar with power too deeply engraved in her mind, now that she was dead. But Cinder couldn't shake the image of Levana's blood across the stones, and she noticed that Scarlet wasn't laughing either, instead staring out the window ahead, as if trying to lose herself in the bright sky outside.

Scarlet was right in shooting her. That she was sure of. It was defense, and after all that happened, it was merciful, if anything.

But there was one moment, one image that jumped out at her whenever she closed her eyes too long, whenever she tried to sleep.

Levana's face, without glamor. The scars. The scars.

There was a story behind them, Cinder was sure. And she didn't know what they were from and what they did to shape Levana's choices.

But whatever they came from, whatever they were for, Levana had no excuse for her actions. Because Cinder lost 36.28% of her body in a fire, a fire Levana started herself. Because Cinder didn't end up killing anyone, because she found out right from wrong for herself, because she was wounded, but she didn't take it as a right to rule the world, she took it as a right to fix the world. And fix the world she did.

Kai leaned into her side, sliding an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, are you okay?" he whispered, quiet enough that no one else could hear. "You look a little pale."

Cinder shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He looked puzzled, but didn't ask any questions, instead snuggling closer. Cinder burrowed herself in his warmth, watching the conversations play out before her: Thorne having a friendly argument with Wolf, while absentmindedly squeezing Cress' hand; Iko continuing to give an in-depth explanation of what happened, with added sass; Winter speaking to Jacin animatedly, him smiling back at her, brushing hair away from her face in a way that made Cinder wonder if he even knew he was doing it.

And her. Sitting with Kai. Peaceful. For the first time in months—the first time ever.

"You know," Cinder mumbled, "being queen might not be so bad, as long as you continue making so many visits to Artemisia."

He kissed the top of her head, smiling.

"Don't worry; there's nothing that could keep me away from you. If anyone stood in our way, I'm sure you'd just hit them over the head with a wrench, and problem solved."

Cinder laughed into Kai's sweater, his only dry article of clothing after she'd dunked him in one of the taller waves.

"Oh, I wasn't worried," she said. "Not anymore."

"Good."

"Who wants to get some cake!" Thorne jumped up from his seat, Cress flying up after him. "Last one to the kitchen is a rotten Lunar! No offense to present company, of course." He winked, and like that, dashed out of the room, Iko fresh on his tail. Then Winter got up, and Jacin, and after an exchanging of expressions, Scarlet and Wolf raced each other out the door.

Cinder and Kai were left alone in the room, the sudden silence washing over them.

"You think we should...?" Kai asked, nodding towards the door.

Cinder smiled, already moving to get up from his lap. "Why not." She took a few steps away and burst into a sprint.

"Race you!" she yelled, already smashing through the door and down the hallway.

"No fair!" Kai called after her. "You got a head start!"

But she couldn't hear him. She was too far away, already turning around one of the corridors that lead to the royal kitchen. Shaking his head, he stood up from the couch, smiling.

Things were as they normally were, with Cinder one step ahead.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.