𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐒 | hunger games ✓

chapter 33

━━･❪ 🌸 ❫ ･━━

Glory sharpened her knife on a stone, her silver eyes fixed on the back of Wade's neck.

Stupid, stupid boy, she thought with a soft snicker. Don't you know better than to fall asleep when there's only six of us left in the Game?

Only six, and that cursed ranch-girl was somehow one of them. Glory was utterly confused at how the brat had lasted so long, but at least nobody had claimed her trophy just yet.

Glory's knife sliced a line down the stone. She would get revenge. She had to. Nobody humiliated her like that in front of all of Panem and got away with it.

Not when her parents made a fool out of her day after day back home, and she could never fight back. Now, she could fight, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let the opportunity slip through her fingers.

But first, she had to get rid of just another obstacle standing between her and victory. Glory stood, her newly polished knife glinting in the early morning sun.

Wade's eyes flew open, but it was too late. With one clean swipe of Glory's knife, Wade was dead before he even fully woke.

Stupid, stupid boy, she thought once again, a dangerous smile blossoming across her face. Don't you know better than to think I would really show you mercy?

***

Daphne sat with her head propped on Caelum's shoulder. The sun had long since risen, but there was something relaxing about sitting on a dock watching the rippling water with your favorite person.

Caelum's legs were stretched lazily out in front of him, one crossed over the other. It was pristine, how they'd managed to catch a moment of such serenity and contentment. In this dangerous arena where anxiety and bloodshed was the norm, it felt delightfully heretic. Daphne was afraid to say or do anything, feeling that any small disturbance would send this peace slipping right through her fingertips.

Caelum eventually reached up to poke her on the cheek. "Should we start talking about the elephant in the room?"

"No, shut up," Daphne grumbled, swatting him away. "I'm pretending we're at the lake behind the schoolyard, and everything is fine and normal."

Caelum chuckled, shaking his head affectionately. Daphne's own lip quirked. She wanted to commit this image of him to memory, to never forget how beautiful it was to see him laughing and enjoying himself after so long spent in the shadows of his own prison.

But Daphne knew she was only delaying the inevitable. She huffed a sigh of defeat.

"Fine, I suppose we should probably start discussing it. Since, you know, it's kind of important to figure out how to both survive."

"And with only six left-" Caelum was interrupted by a sudden cannon shot in the distance, making Daphne jump in surprise. The timing was almost comical. Foreboding began to build in Daphne's chest.

"Five," Caelum corrected himself. "Five left, damn it-"

"I hope it was Glory. Or Sylla." Daphne muttered bitterly.

"You know what this means, right?" Caelum said, looking around as if expecting someone to jump out at them. "It's the endgame now, Daph. The Gamemakers are going to start driving the remaining tributes together for the final stretch."

"We can do this," Daphne quipped quietly, more to convince herself than Caelum. "Sylla and her stupid little girlfriend Lua should be easy enough to get rid of. Plus, it would be pretty funny if we were the ones to kill Sylla after all her racist raving. I'm just worried about Glory and the other Career."