The Scent of Roses || Coriolanus Snow

Chapter XXIV

Your eyes widened with fear at Tigress's words. Her honesty was unmoving as she tried to usher you to the door, not making a loud enough fuss for Coriolanus to notice.

"I'll tell him you started not to feel well," she tried to say calmly. "He won't question anything. You'll be safe."

"Tigress," you protested, trying to stop her from pushing you out of her home. "You need to explain yourself. I don't understand what's going on." She bit her lip nervously, checking her shoulder every few seconds, panicking that Coriolanus would come back before she got you out.

Tigress took your hands in her own, clasping them and holding them up to her face, placing her lips against your knuckles. "Please," she begged. "I can't talk here. I'll find you after tonight. I'll see you, and we will talk. But now, now. Not here."

While her face showed genuine concern, you didn't want to leave without being told why. You didn't want to leave Coriolanus's side after his family member, a stranger to you, was insinuating he was some monster. Without any explanation, you were left to your assumptions, and you knew Coriolanus Snow; you did not know Tigress.

"I can't," you said, pulling your hands away from her face. Tigress clenched her face together, trying to fight back what looked like tears. The longer you looked into her pained expression, the harder your body fought against your heart.

Your legs were screaming to run, but your soul wanted Coriolanus. You couldn't leave him now, not without discovering why you needed to.

Footsteps sounded behind Tigress, and you both knew what that meant. You watched as Coriolanus wrapped his fingers cautiously around his cousin's bare shoulder, her dress bearing a simple strap around her collarbone.

"Grandma'am is settled in," he said in a tone unfamiliar to you. "Should we start dinner?"

Tigress clenched her jaw, her eyes going numb as she obliged to his statement. She walked away from you towards the cabinets and began hauling out spices, her body still showing signs of tension.

You stood in the doorway's frame, shocked and slightly mortified at what had happened. Even as Coriolanus reached for your hand to walk you around his home, you flinched at his touch.

Your response did not go unnoticed. Coriolanus slowly reached for your hand again, and this time, you allowed him to, but your body was rigid.

He looked over to his cousin, whose back was turned to you both, and then he looked back at you. "Let me show you around," he said. You nodded in agreement. Though, your eyes still looked to Tigress to see the shifts in her body language.

When both you and Coriolanus's footsteps sounded out of the kitchen, you could see her collapse into her hands in defeat, and the movement made your mouth run dry.

Coriolanus led you into a grand living room, his grandmother at one end, watching the television with great concentration. You wondered how old she must be, as she didn't seem aware of her surroundings.

"She's not all there anymore," Coriolanus said just as you had finished your thought. You shifted your gaze to him, alarmed at how he had read your thought. He looked at you with understanding, like most people visiting. He and his cousin knew his grandmother was too old to remember things.

His eyes grew sullen the longer he looked at her. "She grew up in a time before and during the war. Sometimes, she wakes in the night thinking she's back during that time. She can't talk much now, and if she does, it doesn't make much sense."

Though your conversation still shook you with Tigress, the more you saw his face begin to break as he looked at his grandmother, you could see he had a heart. It might've been buried behind shields made of platinum, but there was a good man somewhere deep within his being.