𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬

𝟎𝟗. 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧

— 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐱 —

━━━━━━ ☽【❖】☾ ━━━━━━

"Isn't this a little much?" I asked Cypress, but my stylist just tilted back his head and laughed.

"Honey, this isn't even close to what I originally envisioned," Cypress admitted almost as if disappointed. "Caius told me to dial it back."

"You planned to send her out with a crown of sparkles," Caius growled.

"You're still mad," I noted.

"I said no higher than an eight," Caius snapped. "And that was being generous. I really didn't want higher than a six, but no. You went and doubled that with a perfect fucking score!"

My eyes widened with alarm at the increase of his volume. I'd only seen glimpses of his anger, but never directed toward Harlan or myself.

"I wasn't trying to get a twelve," I tried to defend myself. "I just needed to get their attention."

"By poisoning your opponent?" Caius questioned with an incredulous look.

"He didn't die," I said as if that made any difference. "And it certainly caught their attention.

"Along with the rest of panem," Caius countered pointedly. He then pinched the bridge of his nose before dragging his hand down his face. "So now we've got to play this up."

"What?"

"You need to be the Capitol's darling tonight," Caius continued. "Whatever it takes to get that audience on your side because once you step foot inside that arena you are going to need all the support you can get to keep yourself and that kid alive."

"So how strong of a poison was it?" Cypress asked while addressing the headdress that he'd made. It was much subtler than the spoked crown from the parade; however, it could still be recognized as a crown.

"I scratched him," I replied. "I think it was a little over a minute when he started seizing."

"Color me impressed." Cypress nodded then took a step back to look at his craftmanship. "Perfect. Absolutely Flawless."

"I better be," I scoffed. "My arms were red for ten minutes after all the scrubbing. Was that really necessary after everything I went through in preparation for the tribute parade?"

"Honey," Cypress chuckled. "Art doesn't stick to a dirty canvas. You need to prep it each time you intend to use it."

"How's Harlan doing?" I asked Caius while keeping still so Cypress could continue undisturbed. I'd made the mistake of moving the first time around, and it was not something I'd like to repeat.

"He's doing fine," Caius replied. "Esmé's with him now. As much as I give her a hard time, she's better than most of the Capitol's cronies. Besides you worry about the kid too much. There—"

"Can only be one," I agreed, finishing the statement I'd heard at least a dozen times before. "Yeah, I know. But if one of us is getting out of this arena, I'm making sure it's him."

Caius lifted his brow with curiosity. He'd obviously noted how protective I was of the boy, but he'd never taken the time to ask about my most prominent weakness.