HEART OF GOLD | CORIOLANUS SNOW

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 55

"We missed you at the cake-cutting."

As Coriolanus was vetting the final plans for the upcoming Victor's Festival, which were to be enacted in just under a fortnight, and therefore imperative to be hitch-free, before this particular interruption, he was quick to return his eyes to the document at hand. Was cake-cutting even a thing?

"I doubt that," he said, albeit with a polite smile.

"See for yourself."

A box soon slid into his view. A very fancy to-go box featuring a gold floral pattern repeated on a snowy white base. Carved out of the same paperboard, its handles protruded from the plane like flaps, leaving in their wake a transparent, inch-wide ring through which one could conceivably examine the inner contents.

Obliging to draw the box closer, Coriolanus glimpsed a triangular slice. Outwardly, it was pale yellow, bordered by tiny rosettes of matching frosting and sprinkled with gold flakes. But inside, sandwiched between the icing, sat layers of thick, shell-pink sponge.

In short: ludicrous.

Coriolanus snorted. "What is this? Strawberry banana?"

"Lychee rose," replied Tigris. "Lilith insisted I bring it back for you. You can't go to a birthday party and not have cake."

That statement just screamed Lilith Gold. He was sure it had come straight from her mouth rather than his cousin's.

"It's too late for sweets." He slid the box back to the edge of his desk. "You can have it."

"I've already had mine."

Indignance forced Coriolanus to his feet and he slammed the table with his palm.

"Then save it. Chuck it. Give it to the Avoxes. Do whatever you please, Tigris!"

He had had enough of that cool, detached, deprecating tone she had been using with him all night. She was the one who had acted as if attending the event with him was a chore. Who was she to be upset that he'd left without her?

Tigris scoffed. "Unbelievable!"

Stepping forward, she snatched up the box in a lightning swift swoop and pivoted around with such vigor that the giant ball of orange pleats around her waist and hips forming the upper half of her otherwise tubular skirt—a fashion trend he would never understand—bounced and quivered. The pumpkin-like mass, however, did not retreat.

Slowly, Tigris's profile was revealed to be staring at the family portrait nearest to them—the one with Coriolanus and both his parents, taken when he'd been just a boy.

"If I did whatever I pleased, I'd tell you not to mess with her." She looked him dead in the eye then, at last. Despite the heavy makeup that lent her thin face an unmistakably feline quality, her adamance was not masked. "She's a good girl, Coryo. Leave her alone."

Coriolanus did not blink as he crossed his arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said blandly.

"I see what you're doing," growled Tigris, jabbing a finger at him through the air. "Turn on that charm and the poor girl will fall for you in a heartbeat!" The cake box was tossed to the desk as her gesticulations grew wilder and emotion carried her around the room. "I know why you've chosen her, why you've singled her out. I know what you're planning, but I'm telling you: You don't need her. You have everything. You have everything you need to have everything. You don't need her, Coryo. Don't do this. Don't ruin an innocent girl for your sake."

"You think this is for my sake?" he snarled. Tigris had come face-to-face with him, and he seized her elbow. "Everything I do, I do for this family. What have you done?"