Indigestion was part and parcel of Thanksgiving. As per tradition, Ma had cooked up a feast for the occasion. If their marble table could sag, it would have under the weight of everything from the likes of honey-glazed roasted turkey, sautéed greens, spiced summer squash, and buttery mashed potatoes to rustic apple pie and pumpkin tart on gingerbread crust—and all that fine china. The menu had witnessed some variations over the decade, but not so tremendously that Coriolanus could still be enticed into second helpings. He did so nonetheless. Concentrating on finishing his food took his mind off Lilith.
Lilith in his dining room, making Tigris laugh and the Grandma'am smile. Lilith in the window, looking inexplicably miserable about having to stay over. Lilith in his study—well, not really. She hadn't been in his study, not according to his butler, but that was a fact made known to Coriolanus only after he had imagined that she had.
He saw her being let in, entering on formal, diffident steps. When left alone to wait, she hesitated to seat herself on the lounger. Instead, she surveyed her surroundings with a curious glint in her eye. The snow-capped Capitol drew her toward his mantel, where, after some contemplative staring, she began examining the golden plaques on display in turn: one apiece awarded to his grandfather, father, and himself, for services to Panem. But that vision was soon replaced with her by the bookcase, scrutinizing the spines of his encyclopedia collection. This scene was much more natural, and it was here that she lingered until Sergeant had yanked Coriolanus back to reality.
His apprentice had not been here. Practically the minute the weather warning was downgraded to allow the resumption of transport services, she had gone. With such urgency that she could not wait for him to be awakened and readied for the morning to hand him the contract for their new stylist in person, no less. The documents had been entrusted to the head of the household staff, albeit not without emphasis on the importance of getting them delivered at once—together with her long string of apologies.
This hasty departure featured heavily in Coriolanus's mind throughout the holidays and over the course of the following week. Granted, Lilith was in every right not to be as eager as his version of her, but to act like the whole thing was an ordeal she wanted nothing more than to get out of seemed a little in the extreme.
She had not pounced on Tigris's offer to have her penthouse bedroom made up, so it wasn't a question of luxury. She had chatted with his cousin all night long, apparently discussing everything and nothing, so it wasn't a question of company. But then to hurry off without a proper goodbye... The only good thing that came out of this bewildering behavior was that his grandmother rather disapproved of it.
Tigris and the Grandma'am seemed to find no more engaging a topic with which to occupy themselves this festive season, and this was the only flaw the old woman was able to nitpick of whom she called "such a fine young lady." There was the fact that her father had married a gold digger for a second wife and bore a child that was, certainly, in the Grandma'am's opinion, conceived out of wedlock, but this only elevated Lilith to the status of poor stepdaughter with all she was forced to "endure."
Naturally, so, it wasn't just Ma's cooking Coriolanus had difficulty assimilating. It was one thing for Tigris to be singing praises of one of her favourite interns—as if she had very many of those to begin with—but the Grandma'am, a critical skeptic if he'd ever met one, dishing out compliments so freely toward the teenager was by far unprecedented. The whole thing was quite unsettling, to be frank, but his efforts to tune it out were in vain.
Somehow, Tigris's contributions were never enough, and Coriolanus was regularly called upon to furnish sentiments pertaining to his subordinate. He obliged, of course. What else could he do? In the eyes of his family—anyone who wasn't him, really—Lilith was but a well-bred daughter of high society. Cultured and honest, diligent and kind, she was one who was excelling at her role besides.
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HEART OF GOLD | CORIOLANUS SNOW
Fanfiction[ Updates every Wednesday & Saturday ] The blood has barely dried, the arena barely locked. It's only been a few days since the Twentieth Hunger Games declared its victor but preparations for the twenty-first are already underway. Not only is Corio...
