Cress by Marissa Meyer Read Free Book Online Page A

spying on Earth’s leaders and reporting back to Queen Levana. And you also knew that once Levana became empress, she planned on having Kai assassinated so she could have total control of the Commonwealth and use that power to launch a full-scale attack on the other Earthen countries.”
    Cress nodded, perhaps too vigorously.
    “Well, we need the people of Earth to know what lengths she’s willing to go to in order to stake claim to Earth, not just the Commonwealth. If the other leaders knew that she’s been spying on them all this time, and that she has every intention of invading their countries the first chance she gets, there’s no way they would condone this wedding. They wouldn’t accept her as a world leader, the wedding would be canceled, and … with any luck, that’ll give us a chance to … er. Well, the ultimate goal is to dethrone her entirely.”
    Cress licked her lips. “So … what do you want me to do?”
    “Evidence. I need evidence of what Levana’s planning, of what’s she’s been doing.”
    Pondering, Cress sank back in her chair. “I have copies of all the video surveillance from over the years. It would be easy to pull up some of the most incriminating vids and send them to you over this link.”
    “That’s perfect!”
    “It’s circumstantial, though. It would only prove that Levana is interested in what the other leaders are doing, not necessarily that she plans on invading them, and I don’t think I have any documentation about her wanting to murder His Majesty, either. It’s largely my own suspicions, and speculation on the things my mistress has said.”
    “That’s fine, we’ll take whatever you have. Levana already attacked us once. I don’t think Earthens will take much convincing that she would do it again.”
    Cress nodded, but her enthusiasm had waned. She cleared her throat. “My mistress will recognize the footage. She’ll know it was me who gave it to you.”
    Cinder’s smile began to fade, and Cress knew she didn’t need to clarify her point. She would be killed for her betrayal.
    “I’m sorry,” said Cinder. “If there was any way for us to get you away from her, we would, but we can’t risk coming to Luna. Getting through port security—”
    “I’m not on Luna!” The words tumbled out of Cress, coaxed on by a twist of hope. “You don’t have to come to Luna. I’m not there.”
    Cinder scanned the room behind Cress. “But you said before that you couldn’t contact Earth, so you’re not…”
    “I’m on a satellite. I can give you my coordinates, and I checked weeks ago if your Rampion has compatible docking gear and it does, or at least the podships that come standard with it do. You … you still have the podships, right?”
    “You’re on a satellite?” said Thorne.
    “Yes. Set to a sixteen-hour polar orbit around Earth.”
    “How long have you been living in a satellite?”
    She twisted her hair around her fingers. “Seven years … or so.”
    “Seven years ? By yourself?”
    “Y-yes.” She shrugged. “Mistress restocks my food and water and I have net access, so it isn’t so bad, but … well…”
    “But you’re a prisoner,” said Thorne.
    “I prefer damsel in distress,” she murmured.
    One side of Thorne’s mouth quirked up, into that perfect half smile he’d had in his graduation photo. A look that was a little bit devious, and all sorts of charming.
    Cress’s heart stopped, but if they noticed her melting into her chair, they didn’t say anything.
    The red-haired girl leaned back, removing herself from the frame, though Cress could still hear her. “It’s not like we can do anything that will make Levana want to find us even more than she already does.”
    “Plus,” said Cinder, exchanging looks with her companions, “do we really want to leave someone in Levana’s care who knows how to track our ship?”
    Cress’s fingers began to tingle where her hair was cutting off circulation, but she hardly