Strictly Prohibited ➳ THE HUNGER GAMES ✔️

|18| Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter 18 x 😏🤫

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Storm's POV

I watch the sun rise every morning, as if somehow, a new dawn is going to bring some sort of respite. I'm always left disappointed. Every day is the same, dragging along painfully with usually only Hyperion for company. His caresses disgust me, and when he kisses me, I pretend that it's Gloss. I know what he's done now, the crimes he has committed against Gloss and I. He has hurt Cashmere. He likely authorised her death, and certainly Gloss's imprisonment. It's his fault, not Gloss's, that I lost my child.

"Look what came today." Hyperion is all smiles as he enters the kitchen with a package in his hands, and I look up from my mug of green tea and watch as he places a hand over the item. "It's your wedding dress."

I frown. "I thought that was bad luck..."

"Only for the groom to see the bride in the wedding dress before the event," Hyperion corrects me, setting the package down on the table in front of me. I trail my fingers over it and peel back the wrapping. The wedding dress is...exquisite. Of course it would be. Only the best for Capitolians, while in the districts, people are literally starving to death. I hold the dress up to the sunlight.

"It's beautiful," I breathe. I already know that there will be no wedding though. There have been ideas running rampant in my mind, ever since I discovered the truth of what Hyperion has done, how he has turned me away from those I loved and tried to push the blame onto them instead. The only problem is, am I strong enough?

"Did you want to try it on?" Hyperion inquires, taking the empty mug and setting it on the kitchen counter.

"Of course, just let me cut the last of the packaging off first." I wander into the kitchen with the dress and take out a pair of scissors, cutting away the last of the plastic. The dress is perfection. I slide the scissors back into the drawer and take out a knife, sliding it into the myriad folds of the white dress.

When I walk into my room and close the door, my hands are clammy and I can feel myself shaking as I slide the knife out. I was not born for this, but I have been made into something I can't undo. I scramble out of my pyjamas, sliding on the wedding dress and examining my reflection in the mirror. I'm stunned into silence. I should look radiant. But all that's looking back at me is a corpse bride, the ghost of a woman who once was.

I take a deep breath. It's now or never. Brushing aside the sheets concealing the knife, I pick it up and run my finger along the edge, hissing when it nicks a small indent my skin. The blood welling there makes me feel more alive than I have been for a very long time. I open the door and walk into the kitchen to find Hyperion, with a knife pressed tight behind my back.

Gloss's POV

I wake to the sound of loud shouts and muffled thuds. This is far from normal. I push myself to my feet, curious. The dullness that drags on every day has been broken by the sound of violence outside my cell. When the door opens, I find myself looking upon an unfamiliar face – but I can immediately tell that this is no Capitolian. He lowers his gun when he notices me, a frown crossing his features.

"Who are you, then?" he demands. He's young, even younger than Storm – perhaps only in his late teens. I'm forced to wonder what he's doing here, although judging by the fact that he hasn't shot me, I think he might be part of the rebellion that Storm was begging us to join with.

"Gloss Delucan, District 1 Victor," I reply flatly. The young man's eyes flash with recognition and he nods slowly, holding out a hand. I know better than to be too proud, to refuse this offer. If I can escape then I will...but I won't do so alone. I can't leave Storm here in the Capitol, not now that she knows the truth.