The Roses and Hibiscus Chronicles - Coriolanus Snow

Chapter 25

Indila knew, from the first announcement of the Hunger Games she witnessed, that her husband was a murderer. This was information she had tried to push out of her mind; it's unsettling to share a bed with someone capable of such deeds. However, it became impossible to avoid this thought after witnessing Coriolanus poisoning multiple people with her own eyes.

Coriolanus locked the bathroom door, coughing incessantly. Indila couldn't believe that he had actually consumed poison and made up the pregnancy just to make people believe they were safe drinking that thing. It was insane. How many times had he done it? The sores in his mouth...

Indila realized that Julliard was dead and cried in silence; she couldn't let him hear it. Pulling herself together, she acknowledged that there were bigger problems at hand. Did Coriolanus know? Was he aware that she knew? Did he suspect her involvement? The fear of potential harm to her children overwhelmed her. What would he do to her? The same fate as Livia, perhaps, and she might never see her kids again. The mere thought of him hurting her children was unbearable. Yet, she reassured herself that he loved Elana and Crassus; he would never harm them.

Amidst the silence, the absence of coughing, she needed to think clearly and act swiftly. The blazer lay on the bed; she sat down and began searching for the poison. It should be there; it was always there. And there it was, she took it with her hands. As Coriolanus opened the door and looked at her, Indila was still crying.

There was silence for a moment as they simply looked at each other, absorbing the situation. Coriolanus chuckled.

"Why?" he questioned.

Indila didn't respond. His chuckle turned into anger, and he yelled, "Why? Won't you tell me why? I trusted you with all my life. I'm the father of your children. I gave you everything you have. And you were conspiring, trying to kill me? I have the right to know. Tell me why."

Indila felt afraid but remained silent, keeping her head down. In that moment, a rush of memories with Coriolanus flashed through her mind. She recalled the sweetness and politeness he initially displayed to seduce her, and the subsequent betrayal she felt upon discovering the extent of his actions for power. The games, the avoxes, the hunger in the districts, the tortures, the poison — all revealed a darker side to him. She wondered about the countless lives he had taken and how he had deceived her all this time.

Indila was still afraid, but the rage fueled by these thoughts gave her the strength to confront Coriolanus, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Why? You wanna know why? Okay." She stood up and hurled a vase to the ground, watching it shatter into a million pieces. "I'll tell you why." She continued throwing anything she could find against the walls and floor.

"I loved you, and you made me a fool!" Another vase shattered. "I loved you with all my heart, and you made me believe that, for the first time, I was truly loved too, that I was respected, that I was heard." Everything breakable in the room was already broken, so she turned to destroying books and flinging open drawers to throw their contents at Coriolanus. He remained unresponsive. She felt a sense of madness but also liberation.

"I'm tired of pretending to believe that you care about me. I'm tired of knowing that you kill innocent children just like our own. I'm so tired of you cheating on me and pretending we are such a happy family. I'm tired of pretending I don't know about all the shit you did to Livia and to me. You drugged me, made me believe it was a dream. I'm tired of obligating myself to forget that you are a monster to be able to sleep by your side!" Indila yelled these words as loudly as she could; her lungs hurt, but she still had something to say. Coriolanus stood in silence, looking at her with a smile on his face. "So, go ahead, kill me like you kill everybody that opposes you!" She gathered some more breath to scream, "For your sake and mine, for the sake of our children, kill me, so I can finally meet Livia and Lucy Gray and we can all talk shit about you in hell!" Indila was breathing heavily, trying to summon the strength to stand. In the last drawer of her nightstand, there was a paper box. She threw it against Coriolanus, and a flurry of tiny pieces of paper scattered through the air as it opened.

Coriolanus appeared very calm. He picked up a piece of paper from the ground and read it silently. Chuckling, he remarked, "I can't believe you've kept all the notes I sent you; it's pathetic." Indila sobbed intensely, and he seemed to be indifferent to what was happening. She sat on the bed, breathing heavily, and could hear Elana crying in the children's bedroom.

Coriolanus moved closer, taking her chin with a smile and maintaining a serene expression. "Here is your punishment, my princess," he said. Indila shuddered in fear when his skin touched hers.

"I'm doing nothing. However, you will never live in peace; you betrayed me, and now you shall never trust again. And far more than that, I will never lie down with any other woman but you. You will sleep by my side every single night, just you and me, and every night you shall remember how you broke this entire room for me, and I would never break a glass for you."

She took a deep breath as he continued, "You shall carry the sanction of being aware of everything and be able to do nothing about it. You are staying here with me, as my wife; you are giving me children. If I die, you will cry, maybe because you will miss me, maybe because you love me, or maybe because you will feel relief. However, you are living the rest of your life knowing that if you die first, I'm hugging our children, and I will not shed a single tear for you."

Indila fell, lying in their bed. His words hurt her so much that she could swear the pain was all over her body. Coriolanus headed to the door, and Indila felt a surge of fear, especially for the children.

"I'm calming Elana, and I'll send avoxes to clean up here, so nobody will ever know about your little show," he said. She couldn't stop crying.

"Get yourself ready to sleep, but don't shut your eyes before I'm back; you are never sleeping alone again." His words hung heavy in the air as he left the room. The weight of the situation settled on Indila, leaving her feeling trapped and broken. He meant it, he truly did. That was her life now. The weight of his words pressed heavily on Indila, marking a stark and unsettling shift in her reality forever.