Scarlet begins with a prison break, a daring escape, and a chance at a new life. However, Cinder is running from more than just the Earthen authorities or Queen Levana. Throughout the novel, Meyer illustrates Cinder’s struggle to accept the truth of her identity and the newfound expectations that come with it. Meyer uses Cinder’s chapters to show that a person’s destiny cannot be outrun and that avoiding the truth only leads to self-delusion and denial.

Cinder refuses to tell Thorne or Iko that she is the Lunar princess until the novel’s final pages. This is partly because Cinder isn’t sure if she can trust Thorne, but when she doesn’t tell Iko right away, the reader is led to suspect that Cinder is in denial about her royal lineage, and she knows that speaking the truth to her friends will make it more real. Dr. Erland wants her to come to Africa so he can prepare her to take on Levana, but Cinder wants to go to Europe, track down Michelle Benoit, and “figure out where she had been during all those lost years” (195). In Cinder’s mind, this trip is crucial to understanding what happened in her early life and how she came to be

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