mastermind | the hunger games

CHAPTER V

After the explosive situation in the bathroom, which led to new and unfortunate discoveries, both men kept an extremely close eye on the young girl, looking for any sign that something was wrong.

Therapy was definitely not an option; it wasn't an option for any of the Victors. If word got around that Persephone needed therapy, the Capitol would automatically label her as insane and start to view the Games in a way that was any less than rewarding, which is something that President Snow would not allow the blonde girl to do. The reputation of the Games would never be damaged, especially not by a small sixteen-year-old girl.

Chiron had gone over some rules of the deal that both teens had agreed to. The two Victors would both use public displays of affection, stay around each other at all times, openly talk about falling in love right after Persephone's Games, and Hades would essentially become an overprotective guard dog.

Their plan was foolproof, as long as they stuck to acting like a couple, Hades would scare away any admirers and Persephone would be safe. But it did get a little awkward in the living room when Hades asked what they were supposed to do after Persephone turned eighteen.

"What's the plan for when Percy turns eighteen? Yeah, Snow might not offer her the deal while we're together, but how long are we supposed to 'be together' for? If we broke up, he would probably offer her the deal after a month or so," the eighteen-year-old said, elbows resting on his legs.

"Good point, we'll hopefully get to that when that arises. Right now, we need to focus on building the foundation of your new relationship. There will be a lot of questions directed at you both since this is so sudden, and I want you both prepared," Chiron said, nodding his head.

"What about if Hades wants to be in a genuine relationship with someone later on? I don't want to hold him back from anything," the small blonde teen added to the conversation.

"You won't have to worry about that, Perce," Hades said, a glint in his eyes as he faced her.

"You don't know that, though. What if you fall in love with someone unexpectedly?" Persephone rebutted.

"You believe in love at first sight?" Hades asked, wonder casted in his eyes.

"I dunno. Depends on the people," the blonde said back, shrugging.

"Hm," the dirty-blonde boy nodded absentmindedly, "Well, like I said earlier, once your mine, I meant it. There will be no others for me while I'm committed to you."

"I don't want to stop you from finding your soulmate, Hades," Persephone said back, beginning to rub her arms.

Both men immediately dialed in on the anxious motion, knowing they had to calm her down.

"Let's just deal with problems as they arise, yeah? If a witch hexes Hades and he miraculously finds it in his cold dark heart to fall in love, we'll figure it out," Chiron laughed at his own joke, hoping Persephone would also find it funny.

It seemed to do the trick because the blonde girl immediately let out a deep sigh, relaxing into the couch.

"Alright well, now that the biggest part is over, let's focus on the dynamics of your relationship. You both have to be comfortable with each other. If you're not, the Capitol mutts will easily sniff out a lie," the older man nodded.

"I feel like we already can hold a good conversation together, Chiron," Hades said back, eyes narrowing in on the man, sensing he was up to something.

"There's no doubt about the conversational chemistry, I'm talking about touch chemistry. You both are so far apart on the couch right now, I have no clue how you'll convince the Capitol if your knees can't even touch," Chiron replied.

"Hades held me in the bathroom," the blonde teen said from her side of the couch, arms wrapped around her legs.

"He was restraining you, sweetheart. You both need to hug, hold hands, hell, even throw in a kiss or two if this will work," the older man tried to coach.

Persephone immediately blushed, eyes suddenly finding interest in her shoes as Hades smirked and looked over at her.

"This is exactly what I mean," Chiron rolled his eyes at the teens, remembering when he had his first crush and acted awkward, "I'm going to go check on dinner in the kitchen. When I come back, I want you both to have practiced holding hands at least. I'll throw in a scoop of ice cream if you hug."

Hades scoffed and rolled his eyes at the man, watching with glared eyes as he walked away. The taller boy then looked over, seeing Persephone messing with the threading on her dress.

"C'mere, Persephone," Hades broke the silence.

"What?" Persephone asked, eyes locking with his.

"Come sit next to me and let me see your hand," the taller boy said bluntly.

Persephone just nodded, standing up before plopping herself down on the boy's right side, turning her body to face him before lifting her hand up.

Hades gently grabbed her hand before interlocking his fingers with hers and rested their hands on her thigh, "See? Easy."

The boy only looked up from their interlocked hands when he hadn't heard the blonde respond. When he looked over, he noticed her eyes tracing the rings on his fingers.

"Your hand basically swallows mine," the girl mumbled, eyeing the skull ring on his middle finger and the snake ring on his pointer.

The boy then looked at what she meant, seeing how much larger his hand was than her's. As he looked at their joined hands, he noticed a scar on the back of her left hand.

"What's this from?" Hades asked quietly, untangling his right hand from her's to look at the line, tracing it gently.

"From my Games. Cashmere said it was from Glint's knife when I knocked it out of his hand," Persephone mumbled, "I'm sorry, by the way."

"About what?" the boy asked more blunt, calming the ache in his chest as he remembered watching Persephone kill the Career pack on screen from the party in the Capitol.

"Killing your tributes," the Chase girl said gently, wincing as she remembered the flashbacks from her blackout in the bathroom.

"You don't have to apologize. They were trying to kill you, too," Hades immediately said back.

"But still, you trained them and then watched me slaughter them. It had to have hurt you," Persephone said, reconnecting her hand with his without noticing.

"You get used to the pain after a while. I've only been a mentor for two Games now, including yours, but I've been trained for this my entire life. If you think what you did was bad, you should see what I did in my Games," the Grace boy said without missing a beat, not realizing he was messing with her fingers, sliding one of his rings onto her ring finger.

"I don't need to see it, even if I did, I would never blame you for anything. It was the way you were trained to survive," Persephone said to him, leaning her head back against the couch.

"I had one of the highest kill counts. I took down ten tributes myself," Hades added, seemingly trying to test her and see if it would scare her off.

"I sliced someone's head off," Persephone said back, not noticing the look in Hades eyes as she shrugged off his attempt.

The boy was about to say something else before a yell came from behind them, "Yes! This is what I'm talking about. You guys are holding hands!" Chiron exclaimed as he walked back in to check on them, wearing a black apron.

The two kids were confused for a moment before both looking down at their conjoined hands, Hades's smallest ring on Persephone's ring finger.

"Oh, here. Sorry, I didn't notice," the girl said, immediately removing the ring.

"Keep it, looks better on you anyways," the taller boy said back, placing the golden signet ring back on her ring finger with a shine in his eyes even Chiron had never seen.

"Well, maybe we can practicing hugging next, yeah?" Chiron asked, both hands on his hips.