𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏.
-𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗 𝙳. 𝚁𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚝
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I woke up happy with Finn's beating heart under me. We don't have much to do today besides the Capitol Party. We can hang out until I have to get ready. I really just want to stay in bed and hang out.
I hear Finnick start to wake up from under me. "Good morning." I say looking up at him.
"Morning, love." He says looking down at me. I move up to give him a kiss, which he gladly returns.
"I don't have to start getting ready until later." I say.
"Okay, what do you want to do today?" He asked me.
"I was thinking we should stay in bed and hang out. I really need a break from everything just before the party." I say smiling.
"Anything for you. Breakfast in bed?" He asks.
"Of course!" I beam. He gets up from the bed and walks out to the kitchen leaving me in the room.
I'm only going to brush my teeth and hair because I don't feel like getting out of my pajamas until I have to. It's only 8 a.m so me and Finn have 4 hours until I have to be taken away and dolled up by my prep team who is going to be here too.
Finnick walks back into the room a couple minutes later with a tray full of food. "I'm really hoping you got me something on that plate." I say with a smirk.
"Are you calling me fat?" He asks, setting the tray on the bed and moving to sit next to me.
"Maybe you should start working out more." I say, hitting his stomach. Obviously I'm lying. This guy is ripped. I swear if I would punch him in his stomach I would hurt my hand and he probably wouldn't even feel it.
"That hurts, princess." He says with a hand on his chest.
"You should cut all the donuts from your diet." I smirk.
"Maybe I should cut you out of my diet too." My jaw hangs open and he leaves me speechless.
I hit him on the arm. "That was dirty."
"Maybe it was, but I loved the way your cheeks turned a bright red." He says with a smirk.
"Alright, you're done. Eat the food." I say turning my head back to the food.
While we eat we talk about what we are going to do when we get back to district 4. A couple of the things being the training room, Maisly's party, a little of my birthday, and of course training the tributes.
We start acting like children after that though. Finnick thought it would be a fun idea to throw grapes and blueberries in the air and try to catch them. So we started to throw them in each other's mouths to see who could catch the most. I obviously won because I'm just better than him.
Now we are laying on the bed spread out like starfish laughing. "You definitely cheated." Finn says.
"You're just mad that I'm better than you."
"You are not!" He gasps.
"Oh yes I am." I smirk. The bed suddenly shifts and now he is on top of me and tickling my side. I'm too ticklish for this.
"Finn, no-no-st-stop." I say laughing uncontrollably.
"Not until you admit that you are not better than me."
"Ok-ok-s-so-sorry. I-I'm not better than you." I say laughing.
"Okay. Thanks for admitting that." He says still on top of me smiling down at me.
I pull his face to meet mine. Whenever Finnick kisses me I feel this warmth. This warmth keeps me wanting more. It makes my head all fuzzy and I can't think of anything else around me. I only think about the man in front of me.
"I love you so much." Finn says in a low voice.
It's like my stomach flips. This man has me wrapped around his finger and he doesn't even know it. "I love you, too." He smiles and leans back down to peck my lips.
He moves from on top of me and moves the now empty tray onto the nightstand. He lays back down and I lay down with my head on his chest. This is how I want to live the rest of my life. Me with Finnick by ourselves with no disruptions.
"How do you see your future now?" I ask to break the silence.
"I see it with you. In the victor's village. With a new world. Maybe even with kids." He says softly. "How do you see your future?"
"I see it with you. I'll go anywhere with you, so we could live in a shack for all I care." I say giggling. "I really hope we have a new world by then, but with the way it's going I don't think there will be." I sigh. "I hope Casp and Maisy are alright and still let me take care of them no matter how old they are. I might see kids, but we might never get that with how the world is." I say looking at him.
"We'll try our best to get the world we dream of." He says, smiling down at me."
The time flies as we lay in bed making jokes and talking about our future. I honestly had no idea how much time had passed until I heard a soft knock at the door. We must have made it to the Capitol by now.
"Come in!" I yell sitting up. I now feel the cool air without Finn's body against mine. Tigris and Winnie walk through the door.
"Finnick, darling, you best get out before the prep team comes in here and starts making a whole scene and then they go tell the whole Capitol." Winnie says.
"Okay. I'll see you later." He says getting out of the bed and giving me a kiss. He walks out of the door leaving me in the room with Tigris and Winnie.
"Can you go take a shower and then the prep team should be here by then." Tigris says. I nod my head and go into the bathroom.
When I get out of the shower I hear a lot of voices. My prep team must be here. I walk out in my robe and see my prep team, Winnie and Tigris talking about the latest fashion. There is also a chair and a table with things to help me get ready.
"It is so nice to see you again dear!" Zelena says.
"It's nice to see you guys too." I say with a sweet smile.
"Please, sit down so we can get you all dolled up!" Cas says. I move to go sit in the seat and then start getting to work. I saw a piece of rope sitting in the corner of the room so I asked Tigris to go get it for me which she gladly did.
Tigris has been keeping me preoccupied with talking to me about drama going on in the Capitol. I really try to focus, but I really don't care so I just pay attention to the knots I am doing.
I have no idea how long this damn makeup look took, but it felt like forever. My prep team is now working on my nails and I can't tie knots anymore because of that. My nails are naturally on the longer sides, but when I didn't have knots to tie I would chew on the skin around them and my prep team did not like how beaten and dirty my hands were.
They ended up scrubbing my hands raw, but the nails that they did were pretty cute. They added a kind of green teal as a base coat and then added a shimmery white to make it look somewhat like a pearl.
My prep team finally leaves after what feels like forever and it's now just me, Tigris and Winnie.
"Finally, I had no idea how much longer I could deal with them." Winnie said with a sigh.
I laugh. "I thought you liked them."
"I do, but I can only deal with them so much." She smiles.
"What are you going to be doing with my hair today?" I ask Tigris.
"I'm going to leave you natural and braid two pieces in the front. I'm going to add the charms to the braids and then after I braid them I am going to add in this charm." She says. She holds up a long gold chain with different colored pearls on it with a pink cong shell in the middle. "And then I'm going to add on a starfish crown with blue pearls."
"Sounds fancy!" I say in a sing-song voice. I hear her laugh, but I practically can feel her rolling her eyes.
My hair is still semi-wet so she adds in some product to make sure it doesn't get frizzy and then she dries it with some sort of special hair dryer.
"We are going to add the crown last because I don't want it to get ruined." I nod my head and she goes to get the bag that has my dress in it.
"I have seen the dress. It is going to look so pretty on you." Winnie says with her high pitched voice. I think she only goes up an octave with her voice when she is excited and it's kind of funny.
Tigris comes back into the room with a white bag and another smaller bag around her wrist. She tells me to close my eyes and she helps me step into the dress while I am closing my eyes.
She zips up the back and comes back to see the final outfit. I hear Winnie gasp.
"It's so beautiful, Tigris." She says.
"Thank you. It's one of my best pieces. I made it special." I see her smile. "Okay. We have some final touches and then I want you to put on some lotion that will make you glowy and then I have some perfume that will make all the men want you."
"But I don't want all the men to be all over me." I say.
"I'm sorry, but I was just told to use it." Tigris says with a low voice.
She grabs the crown and it's so beautiful, but it looks kind of small. She must have seen my face and told me it was adjustable. She fixed the crown to fit my head and then got the lotion from her bag.
I put the lotion on my arms and chest. Tigris had to help me apply some to the parts of my back that aren't covered.
"You might hate me for this, but I just love it so much." Tigris says.
I already know what she is going to pull out. I haven't had to deal with taking glitter off my body in so long that it doesn't surprise me that she wants to torture me with doing it again. I'm pretty sure I still have some glitter from the last time she used it.
As always she sprays it in my hair and all over my body. She then takes out the perfume bottle. I've never used perfume, but I guess I'm going to have to start using it.
I'm not going to lie. The perfume smells good, but I don't like how it hides the smell of the ocean that I usually have.
"Okay we are finished so you can look now." Tigris says. She covers my eyes with her hands and leads me to the mirror being careful not to touch my face.She takes her hands away from my eyes as I take in my appearance.
The dress looks strapless, but it has clear bands stopping it from falling and flashing the whole capitol. It hugs the curves of my body and gives the illusion of it being see through. There are gems all over the dress and where the dress starts there is a small amount of teal tulle with a small diamond. There are cut outs on my thighs that start just below my butt and end just above my knee. The bottom flows out and gives the impression of multiple seashells being stuck together to make the bottom.
It is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen Tigris put me in. I look at the makeup that my prep team did and I see that they went full out.
I have false eyelashes on. There is a shimmery blue that starts in the middle of my eyelid and comes around to the under part of my eye, but instead of the same eyeshadow it turns into different shades of glitter and pearls. The eyeliner has a small white thing around it and when I look closer I realize that it's a snake.
I look amazing with this entire outfit put together. Tigris never disappoints. "Thank you Tigris. I look amazing." I smile.
"Not just amazing, you look gorgeous." She says putting her hands on my arms. "Let me get your shoes. You're going to hate me again." She yells.
Ugh. I hate high heels so much. They are so uncomfortable and make my feet hurt after wearing them for like two minutes. Tigris walks back into the room with a pair of heels with a chunky heel with diamonds all over them. Diamonds!
"Tigris, you do know that no one is going to be able to see these heels."
"Oh, yeah. I know. They were just really pretty and went so well with the outfit."
I sit back down in the chair and have Tigris put them on for me because I am not willingly putting on those torture chambers.
"Okay, we really need to get out. It is 6:45 and her entrance is at 7:30 and it is a 30 minute drive to the palace." Winnie says.
"Damn, that took 6 hours?" I ask.
"Nope, it took longer. We started at 11 instead of one because I had found out what the prep team wanted to do with your makeup." Tigris says.
"What! You took more time from my day just to get me ready for this party?" I ask.
"It's not like you were doing anything important, but if we do not leave now there will be no party and you would have gotten ready for no reason." Winnie says.
We quickly got off the train and to the car. When I say quickly I mean as quickly as I could walk with these death traps on my feet.
When we got in the car I had asked why we weren't going with Finnick and Cody, but they said that they had already left and we would see them before we entered the mansion.
Winnie is currently stressing about being late, but I doubt we will be. We have to drop Tigris off because I guess she wasn't invited or if she was she didn't want to for some reason.
It's now just me and Winnie in the car. I take in Winnie's appearance. She is wearing a very poofy dress. It starts with a bright red and moves into a darker red and then into a black at the very bottom. She is wearing a burgundy wig and burgundy heels. She also has a bright red strap around her neck. I don't even know how to describe her makeup. The best word to describe it is... a lot.
We finally make it to the palace and we walk out of the car. I am very careful with the shoes I have on my feet. They already hurt.
"I love it here. The presidential palace. Here you must keep your eyes bright, chins up, and your smile on." She says, looking at me. I nod my head and we start walking to the front.
While we are walking up a set of stairs Winnie says, "There will be interviewers and photographers. Everyone will be looking at you and everyone will be here to celebrate you."
"Sounds fun." I say sarcastically.
"Keep the attitude in check." She says. She doesn't wait for a response as she keeps walking forward. When we start to get to the crowds of people she turns to look at me. "Smile." I nod and smile at the people as we walk past.
I feel someone touch me as we walk. I also see people blowing fire out of their mouths. I can't imagine doing that. This place could house all of the orphans in district four. This just proves how much money Snow has and doesn't use to have a better society out in the districts.
When we get inside I see Finnick in the room waiting for us with Cody. Winnie walks me over and when she does she quickly leaves going to hang out with someone called 'Effie'.
"Why are there so many people here?" I ask. My eyes are wide looking around the room.
"They're all here to celebrate the end of your victory tour." Cody says with a smirk. I just roll my eyes.
"Hey, Dels." I give my attention to Finnick. "I'm not going to be able to stay with you."
"Why?" I ask right away.
"I have an... appointment." He says with a low voice.
"Oh..."
"But I'm making Cody hang out with you so you don't feel lost." He says quickly.
"No, it's fine. Thank you." I smile at him.
"Just know I love you." He says.
I smile. "I love you, too" He quickly walks away and brushes my hand as he passes me.
"You're going to be fine. That kid loves you too much." Cody says.
"I know." I sigh.
"Let's go." Cody says.
He leads me out the door and to the dance floor. There is so much food out here. I take only a couple of foods and I talk to Cody who is drinking some fancy Capitol cocktail.
I see a waiter walk by me with some champagne. I quickly drink that because I have no idea how I'm going to get through this day without it.
"Woah there. Didn't take you as a drinker." Cody laughs.
"I'm not, but I can't take being here." I go to grab another drink, but Cody quickly stops my hand from grabbing the one I was about to pick up.
"Don't drink that one unless you want to throw up."
"Oh.." I set the drink back down and he hands me another champagne glass.
We are mid conversation when someone comes up to me and asks me to dance with them. I look at Cody to help me, but he just laughs and tells me that he will be at the bar. Remind me to get revenge later.
It feels like an eternity that I have been dancing with different men. I still haven't seen Cody anywhere which means he is probably still at the bar. I have seen Finnick with some blonde bimbo hanging from my arm and it kind of hurts to see.
I feel someone tap on my shoulder and I turn around to see Gloss. Thank God. "Mind if I take her for a little?" Gloss asks the man I am currently dancing with. He is obviously scared of Gloss so he mutters a yes and quickly hurries away.
"Thank you." I say with a sigh.
"No problem. I saw you dancing with all of these boys. I thought you could use a break for a little and not have to talk to strangers."
"I really did." I then think about it. Why is he here? "Hey Gloss."
"Mhm."
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Hmm. It depends, has your boy toy told you about what happens to the desirable victors?"
"Yes. He's with someone right now."
"Yup. That's what I'm doing, but I told her I was going to the bathroom, so I have a good 10 minutes left before she gets angry."
"Gloss!"
"What?"
"You could get in trouble!"
"Ehh. Nothing left that Snow can take from me." Gloss says sadly.
"Does Cashmere get sold too?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You-" Gloss gets cut off when he hears President Snow clear his throat. "That's my que to go find the girl I am supposed to be with."
Gloss leaves me by myself, but Cody walks up to me a few seconds later.
"Tonight, on this the last day of her tour. I want to welcome this year's victor. She embodies our ideals of strength and valor. Your strength has inspired us all and I know it will continue to inspire us all moving forward." Snow says. At the end he holds up his glass as a toast. He makes eye contact with me though. Chills run up my back. Something about the look in his eyes doesn't sit right with me.
The fireworks take my attention away from him and when I turn back to look at him I see he is gone.
I turn to Cody and right before I say something a young waiter has come up to me clearing his throat. "Excuse me. Miss Benham."
I look at him. "Yes." I say smiling.
"President Snow has a message for you." He says handing me the letter. "He says it is urgent." He says and walks away.
My heart drops. This can only mean one thing. Cody sees the look on my face and brings me to a secluded place. I see him look back and I look where he is looking and I see Finnick. When Finnick makes eye contact with me he quickly tells his date something and walks toward us.
We are now in a garden where nobody is. A couple of seconds later Finnick is rushing into the garden. "What is it?" He asks panicked.
"She got a letter." Cody answers for me. I mentally thank him. I wouldn't have been able to answer him. I open the letter without listening to anything around me.
'Miss Benham,
Please meet me in my office right away. I have a proposition for you.'
A proposition. I'm going to be sold. I stand up. "I have to go see him." I say with a low voice.
"Cordelia, look at me." Finnick says. I look at him. "Please, do anything that he says. He will take something from you."
"What did he take from you?" I ask him.
"He...killed my parents."
"But they died in the boating accident with my parents." He shakes his head.
"No. When I was 15 he asked me and I said no and he sent my parents on a ship with your parents. The ship had blown up. It was never supposed to come back. He did it to hurt me because he knew how much you meant to me."
"Oh.."
"So please, whatever you do, do not say no to him. He could hurt Caspian and Maisly." I nod and I start walking away from him not saying goodbye.
The same server who gave me the note comes up to me and tells me that I took too long and that I must be escorted.
He takes me around the palace and we end up in front of two large doors. He knocks on the door for me and then leaves.
"Come in." I hear him say. I walk into the room and see him sitting at his desk. "Ahh. Just the person I needed to see. Please sit." He says, his hand gesturing to the chair in front of him.
"What proposition do you have for me?" I ask.
"So eager. So much bravery." He smiles. "You know, me and you, we both have a couple of things in common."
"And what would that be?"
"We both have killed a Plinth."
"What do you mean you killed a Plinth?"
"I had this friend back when I was younger and his name was Sejanus Plinth. You killed a girl from district 2 named Selena Plinth. I believe we both killed them by using rope."
"I did mine to survive. What reason did you have to kill him?"
"Oh I have a reason. He was a rebel." He smirks. "I don't like rebels. After he died and I became president I kicked his parents back to district 2. They were never meant to live in the Capitol."
"Respectfully, please get to the point you called me here for."
"Oh right." He says smiling. "As you might have been told by your little boyfriend," I freeze. How does he know? "If you are considered desirable in the Capitol you will be given to them. I have lines and lines of people wanting one night with the Capitol's Siren."
"What is in it for me?" I ask, trying to sound confident.
"You get all of the money and jewels you could ever want. Also, you get to keep whatever is going on between you and Mr. O'dair. Only if you keep it a secret and there are no pregnancies." I nod my head.
"I want one thing." I say.
"Of course."
"I want my siblings to be safe from the reaping." He laughs at me.
"That's going to cost you."
"What would it cost?"
"Two nights a week in the Capitol."
"Alright." I sigh.
"Great. I will give you your time to get back home. You will have your first client during the 69th games."
I take a deep breath. "Okay." I turn around and I am about to leave when I hear his voice.
"Oh and if you miss any, there will be consequences." I nod and walk out of the room. I stop in the hallway to take off my heels. I can't breathe in this damned dress.
I make my way out of the palace and back into the garden. People have been following me. It must be Finnick and Cody.
"What did he say?" Finnick asks. I look around trying to find something. I walk to a bush and I throw up into it. I feel Finn rubbing my back. Tears are running down my face.
"He asked me..."
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𝐎𝐌𝐆 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬. 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝟒𝟑𝟐𝟑 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬.