The Scent of Roses || Coriolanus Snow

Chapter XXXV

Coriolanus had to carry you back to your apartment. Though he was the last person on Earth you wanted to be near, you didn't have much of a choice. There was no way you would've made it up the stairs on your own.

He had tried to comfort and reassure you, but he was promptly interrupted by howling sobs that left your lips. They weren't voluntary, but your emotions were a tidal wave splashing against his shore. He couldn't have stopped you even if he tried.

You fell into yourself the second you stepped inside. Coriolanus shut the door behind you and tried to format a plan while you headed straight for your mattress. You hid between the sheets and hoped the world around you would disappear, taking you with it.

Coriolanus approached you slowly. You could hear his careful footsteps as he arrived at the foot of your bed. He didn't try and get inside with you. Instead, he sat quietly and offered a gentle touch against the back of your legs, giving what little comfort he could and that you would allow him.

You wanted to rip his face off and feed it to him, but what good would that do? Coriolanus hadn't been the one to make those suggestions; you had. Of course, he had revealed a secret he wasn't meant to, with the sole intention of ruining what you and Garnett had. But, he only released the beast; you had created it.

His hand gently stroked against your side, and you tried to reject the touch. It was hard not to want him to hold you. It would've been the same story if anyone else had been there. You wished it had been someone different on the foot of your bed, but it wasn't. You had Coriolanus, and that was it. That was shaping out to be the story of your life.

"I know you resent me," he told you, not realizing his words would do more harm than good. "But, I couldn't let him go back to 2 and leave you heartbroken. You aren't meant to live a life in love with someone from the Districts. None of us are, even I wasn't."

Your body curled with rage like a snake waiting to snap at a predator who had gone too close to her cave. He was skating on thin ice, and he wasn't even aware of it.

"You don't get to make those choices for me, Coriolanus." You felt the fire within you begin to burn brighter.

He felt it, too, stepping away from the sheets as he headed for a nearby wall, keeping himself at a safe distance from you. He could hear the hiss in your voice and knew it wasn't best to provoke you further, at least with physical advances.

"If we are going to talk this out, I'd at least like you to get up," he huffed.

He was so insensitive you felt yourself start to choke on it. Yes, Coriolanus, let me get up and look at you dead in the eyes and cause myself to vomit across my floor, you thought. He was becoming more difficult by the minute, unable to grasp that you were a human girl with emotions, and those emotions could be cataclysmic when needed.

You, however, obliged his request and threw your sheets off you. He shuddered at the sight of your posture. You were hunched like a wild animal, hoping the sight would be enough to intimidate him, and it did.

"You want to talk, Coriolanus?" you uttered. "Fine, let's talk."

He didn't say a word despite your invitation for him to. He stood, mesmerized at your stance, shading him. It wasn't the kind of look he had given you before when he was admiring your beauty. No, this was the look of a person threatened by what was before them. He was afraid of the person you had become, the person he had created.

"I was protecting you," he shuddered, his gaze shifting away from you as quickly as possible. "You know very well that they would have you hung for engaging with someone from the Districts."