𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞 ᐅ 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙧

𝙎𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉

⌌⊱⇱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊷⊶⊰⌍
You're a bad liar.
⌎⊱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊷⊶⇲⊰⌏

"Our wedding planning will have to be paused."

My head snapped up to the sound of Yvette's voice. Wedding? Did she mean her and Dawn's?

My two mentors were talking in hushed tones in the Justice Building of District Two — much grander than that of One, if that were possible. The purple feathers adoring the golden flowerpots that crawled across the eerily perfect walls towered over me, reminding me of my place. I seemed so small compared to their elegant refinery, so delicately structured, their purpose to make guests marvel. Making people marvel seemed like something we had in common. I didn't belong here. I didn't think I belonged anywhere now that I was a Victor. Neither did I deserve to be.

Jameson sighed, dragging calloused hands down his face. "You think that's a good idea? You know Snow wants the wedding as soon as possible."

My brow arched. Since when was Snow involved in their wedding?

"I know that," Yvette snapped, "but we're in the Career District's, if you haven't cared to notice."

"I did care to notice, Ettie."

"You clearly didn't."

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't put your joy on hold because of Lynx," he reasoned.

My eyes shot to the floor, tracing the swirl of marble with the tip of my golden shoe. They must've not realised I could hear them — my face stayed impassive and blank. To anyone else, I would have seemed a lost Victor troubled by their thoughts, perhaps by the nightmares that plagued me. But that wasn't the reason my nails were digging into my palms.

What possible reason could Snow have involving himself in their wedding? I wasn't naive; the president was a busy man, what with the recent success of Finnick and I's ruse along with the organisation of the Tour, surely he had no business with Yvette and Dawn. And was Yvette putting her joy on hold for me? Was she putting love on hold for me?

I really shouldn't have zoned back into their conversation.

"Right, okay, bad wording there but you know what I meant!" Jameson defended as Yvette's nostrils flared.

"My first priority at the moment is Lynx. Dawn completely understands, in fact, she encourages it. It would be stupid of you to not see her that way, too. Lynx should be your first priority too, not an event that can be easily rescheduled," she said, making me feel a surge of gratefulness for her, the guilt dissipating like smoke in a dying fire, although ashes of regret still lingered.

"She's been my first priority since she and Helia were reaped," Jameson snapped. "Even then I knew she was a Victor. I told you that but you wouldn't hear of it."

"Because you can't afford to be biased!"

He scoffed. "So you're saying that you blame me for Helia's death? I did so much for that boy! So much! I loved him Yvette; do you realise how much it killed me that he died? To see Lynx's face?"

Even his name still stings. His tousled ebony hair, the dimple of his left cheek when he smiled...

"I blame Snow."

"Not the damn murderer who killed the kid?"

I bit the inside of my cheek.

"The both of us are murderers," Yvette hissed. "Lynx is a murderer—"

"What—"

"—Finnick is a murderer. And they're also children! Have you not lost sight of that? They were thrown into those games and told to kill or be killed, and so they did, and so did everyone else who was reaped into that fucking shit show—"