The Roses and Hibiscus Chronicles - Coriolanus Snow

Chapter 15

Indila woke up around 8 o'clock, feeling a bit hungover even though she hadn't had any drink. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, imagining how many women had occupied the exact same spot where she was now. Indila felt a twinge of jealousy. She wasn't a saint back home, true, but the thought of Coriolanus being there with other women, or at least with his wife, made her uncomfortable. She wished they had met earlier. Indila realized it would have been pointless because 10 years ago, he would have likely been involved in other relationships, and she was just 8 years old. How dumb of her. There was a significant age gap, and although Indila hadn't given it much thought, was it normal? After all, she was an adult now.

Indila found his note on the nightstand, and it was sweet that he sent one every single morning. She opened and read it. Who could this person be? Maybe some family, but he had mentioned having no family anymore. That was strange. Regardless, she had more pressing concerns—getting out of the room without being seen. People who worked in the palace, aside from the avoxes, were really into gossip. Even though she knew everyone would be aware she slept in Coriolanus's bed last night, the possibility of being seen leaving the room made her feel exposed.

She carefully opened the door, took a quick look side to side, and hurried down the hallway. She thought it was even more pathetic than being seen. But now she was okay inside her own bedroom and ready to start her day. She chose a navy blue dress, had something for breakfast, and headed to the garden where Mila should be with Crassus by this time. "Good morning, my baby boy," Crassus smiled instantly when he saw her. Indila greeted Mila as well, and she announced that Coryo had asked for them to have lunch together again. He had never asked for that; it was something about the guests they were expecting, for sure.

There were a lot of people working in the gardens this morning, removing plants and substituting them with roses. It seemed like a lot of work, and she wondered about Coryo's motivation for it.

She spent some time with Crassus outside, then met Julliard to discuss some details about the wedding. Julliard announced that the wedding was happening in six weeks, which seemed like a good amount of time to prepare herself. Indila hadn't realized how much work was involved in planning a wedding. This task was assigned to Julliard, who had a lot of work with the house too. Indila could tell he was overwhelmed, but she could also tell he would never assign this task to anyone else.

"First things first, do you have someone in mind to add to our list of guests?" How could she? She had met some of Coryo's friends, but she was really not fond of people from Panem. "Well, make sure my family will not be there, and I'm happy with that." Julliard laughed. "I never had a good relationship with my family too, Miss Trastámara. They won't be there, of course." Julliard showed her some pictures of parties they used to have in the Capitol. It was really different from everything back home. "I just want it to have flowers, Julliard, that's it." "Okay then, there will be roses, of course. We are replanting the gardens with them. Is there any other type of flower you would like to have?" Indila looked at her ring. "Hibiscus, red and white hibiscus would be nice, and red and white roses. So, do you think Coryo would like it?" Julliard smiled. "I think it would be lovely."

It was lunchtime, so Indila picked up Crassus and headed to the dining room. Coryo was there, seated at the table with a woman. She seemed very tall, white, and pale, with long silver-blond hair. Her arms and legs were covered in tattoos that reminded Indila of the skin of a tiger. She was wearing a rose quartz dress with many cutouts; it was very stylish. Coryo and the woman noticed their presence and stood up to meet them by the door. "Morning, my love." He had never called her that way. "I want you to meet the greatest stylist in all of Panem, Tigris Snow." Tigris shook Indila's hand. "I've heard only good things about you," she said in a sweet tone. "Tigris is my cousin, but we were raised like siblings. We are our only family left." Tigris was now looking at Crassus. "You are such a beautiful boy, do you remember me?" Crassus smiled at her, "you do? You do?". "Do you want to hold him?" Indila asked, and she assented. Indila was very surprised that Coryo had a cousin, which got her thinking that she knew very little about his family, in fact.

They had a pleasant lunch together. Tigris was cool person, like really cool, and the tattoos suited her. She couldn't be much older than Coryo, maybe a year or two. She was very sweet throughout the conversation. As Indila expected, since she heard Tigris was a stylist, she was there to talk about the dress. Indila hadn't thought about this part yet. It was funny to realize that, while she had always been aware of her role as a woman in her family, she had never really given much thought to details like the dress.

Coryo took Crassus to Mila, leaving Indila alone with Tigris. "So, I'm very excited about your dress. You're young and beautiful; I think we should go for a gorgeous princess-style dress." That was not Indila's style, and she didn't want a dress that would make her look as young as she was; maybe something sober would make her look older. "I don't know; I'd like to feel more comfortable." Tigris was thinking, "Why don't you show me some of your clothes so I can get a sense of your style, then I can draw some drafts, and you tell me how you liked them." That was a good idea. Indila took Tigris to her bedroom and then to the closet.

There were a lot of clothes. She didn't like the Panem style that much, but it didn't hurt when Coryo said she could buy some new dresses if she wanted to. Tigris was taking a look at every single piece. "I see your style is not too bridal, nothing white," Tigris observed. That was true; most of her dresses were in dark colors. "I have one white sleeping dress, okay?" "Perf, we already have your honeymoon dress then." They both laughed; it was not the kind of joke Indila would make to someone she met just a few hours ago, but Tigris was, as you can remember, a cool person; it just suits her. "I guess it's Coryo's favorite color." Indila tried to sound as cool as Tigris. "Is it? I didn't know. He used to like blue before; I guess I'm outdated."

"Alright, I got it." Tigris sat on the armchair near the window and started drawing something. There was silence, and Indila felt uncomfortable. "So, you and Coriolanus are very close to each other, right?" Tigris kept drawing. "Yes, I guess we used to be. I mean, I love him with all my heart, but now we just work too much. I have the atelier, and he is so busy." "Yes, he truly is; he has to be very organized to do everything around here." Tigris put the pencil in her mouth for a second to erase some parts. Indila imagined that it was easy doing it on a table. "He sure has; how are things between you two with this? I guess you didn't have that much time to get to know each other." "Well, he was very determined to spend some moments with me every day, even if just a little." Tigris was very concentrated but could still talk. "He is very determined with everything; he is not an easy person to deal with, but he surely gets what he wants." Indila disagreed; he was very easy on her. "Not easy?" Tigris giggled, "not the best thing to tell his fiancée, I guess. Let me explain; he likes things his way, but after all who doesn't, right? Ok, take a look, how do you like it?"

It was a dress of only one shoulder, a classic skirt without much volume, exuding a timeless and elegant charm. The one-shoulder design adds a touch of modern sophistication to the dress, creating a flattering and asymmetrical neckline. There was a veil covering the face of the model that was converted to a cape; it was very modern but at the same time classic. "We can do it in silk or satin; you choose, and then this part of your face can be removed for you to feel more comfortable later." It looked very light, Indila loved it. "That's amazing; I thought I didn't know what I wanted, but if I knew it would be something like this." Tigris showed a satisfied expression, "let's take your measurements then."

Indila really enjoyed meeting Tigris; she went home before dinner. Indila felt very excited to tell Coryo how much the two of them had gotten along, and she did. That night they had dinner and took a night walk; Coryo wanted to see how the new roses were doing, and he kissed her with a long goodnight kiss.

Indila felt happy by his side, truly. In the next six weeks, time flew. She was very certain that she would love this man for the rest of her life.