Strictly Prohibited ➳ THE HUNGER GAMES ✔️

|14| And Then There Was One

Chapter 14 x

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I have had to change the timeline of the 2nd Hunger Games book slightly so my new plot makes more sense. Xx

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Storm's POV

Involving Hyperion in the rebellion is not an option. He will go running to President Snow, tell him everything – and then we will all be worse than dead. It's hard to keep such things from him, especially as several others, including the District 4 escort, are aware of what is going on. Cinna says that under no circumstances am I even to attempt to involve him. Not that I would – the baby within me kicks in protest, kicks to mark the fact that I am now around three months in. Can there still be any going back?

I wake on the morning of the Games. The throwing up has stopped, to my immense relief. I was so scared that Gloss would begin to question me about it, and no matter how much I throw up my walls of lies to keep the truth safe, he would break those walls down eventually. This morning, the stylists will take Cashmere and Gloss and then their only existence in this world will be on the screen of a television. It will all seem so surreal. At least one of them, I will never see again. I feel a wave of nausea that has nothing to do with morning sickness.

So I decide that today, I stop playing games. I stop pretending that I don't feel this, that there isn't anything between Gloss and I. I will admit the truth even as it tears me apart. Not about the child – it might break Gloss to know that, or perhaps he won't care. Nonetheless, for some reason I am oddly protective of the child's existence, as though telling Gloss will somehow have repercussions.

"Gloss?" I approach him tentatively. He's dressed simply, for he won't be in his arena clothes until he reaches the Launch Room. It's easier to see him as another human being this way, as though we are just two people in the world and it doesn't matter that one of us is a Victor and one of us is a Capitolian. I embrace him. He is like steel, cold and unyielding, but that doesn't stop me from trying.

"You shouldn't be so affectionate." He is trying to scold me, but his voice hitches slightly and for the first time in many years, perhaps Gloss feels something. I offer him a thin smile and try not to cry myself. People aren't meant to know about us. I can't afford to get all emotional now.

"Storm." Cashmere is considerably warmer. I hug her tight and I don't want to let her go. She has always been the balance, the only thing keeping Gloss from tearing into me with his verbal barbs and his hand across my face when the animal escapes from its cage. She is perhaps my one true friend, and now I risk losing her. If I could pick between she and Gloss...it hurts, but I would pick her.

"I'm not worried," I lie, "You two are Careers. You stand a fighting chance in that arena. One of you is bound to win."

Cashmere notices that my gaze lingers on Gloss. How can she not? Cashmere notices everything. She offers me a meaningful glance and murmurs some excuse, sauntering back to her room. Perhaps she thinks that I'll tell Gloss about the baby. Guilt squirms inside me, for I have no intention of doing that.

"There's something I have to say." The words are bold, much braver than I feel. I lift my chin up and I can tell by the resignation in Gloss's blue eyes that he already knows what I'm about to say, and that no matter how hard he tries, he can't stop me. "Gloss...I...I love you."

He watches me with impassive eyes for what feels like forever. I want him to say something, anything. I don't care so long as he actually acknowledges what I've just told him. Instead he just inclines his head, as if I've wished him luck or told him the weather's going to be sunny today. Desperation claws through me. The baby kicks. A baby that will more likely than not never know its father.