He meant everything to her. Three years later and she'd still do anything to keep him safe, sacrifice everything to protect him- even if that meant keeping him at an arm's length.
She was the one person who truly knew him. The one person he'd choos...
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— — —
Sunlight filtered in through the window, casting a glare on the screen. Snow had a slight grin attached to his expression, attention wholly devoted to the Winterton girl. The gas had been terminated hours ago, yet she was still lying on the floor. She hadn't moved much, only shifting here and there.
Cassiopeia Winterton was exhausted. Her mind had been pushed to the brink of insanity, forcing her to relive memory after memory after memory. But she'd brought it upon herself. She'd betrayed him and killed multiple people just under a week ago.
And the punishment for that?
Well, making her reminisce on the tragedies of her past was well deserving. But, she was depleted and weaker than he'd ever seen her. His eyes flickered back to her moving body, intently observing as she struggled to prop herself up against the wall. The second she'd gotten there, her eyes fluttered closed again out of utter exhaustion.
"What are your thoughts?" Snow questioned, eyes remaining on the footage.
Daisie let out a strained breath, the sound nearly inaudible. "I don't know how much more she can take."
"She's experienced more than thirty memories in the past week. Her brain scans show that she's suffered minimal damage to the nerve cells and connections in her brain." The scientist paused momentarily. "Miss Yearwood is right. These are uncharted waters. I don't know what will happen if we put her mind under any more stress."
Snow didn't say anything, his head subsequently lifting to meet their gazes. "Perfect. It's time for phase two. You both know your roles." His gaze shifted to Daisie. "I think it's time Cass experienced something more tangible. Don't you?"
She swallowed hard. "Of course."
"You said you were willing to pledge your loyalty to the Capitol. Is that still true?"
"Yes."
Snow tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "Good. I'll see you at the Tribute Center in one hour. For your sake, I hope you're telling the truth."
✯✯✯
Peia's breathing was ragged and uneven, her chest gradually rising and falling. She could barely keep her head up, let alone stay upright against the wall. None of it mattered though. She didn't care about anything that happened to herself anymore.
All she cared about was her brother.
Kai was alive. He'd been taken by Snow and she had no idea why. All she knew was that he'd faked his, Thresh's, and Caydence's deaths. He'd saved them so that he could torture them for years? It wasn't adding up. Kai had been on the verge of telling her everything when they'd been caught.
And that had to have been days ago. She didn't really know how long it'd been since she'd attempted to escape though. Time had painstakingly blended together, leaving her mind in shambles. She could hardly tell which way was up and down, let alone if the whole thing had just been another memory fabricated by Snow.
