Splintered

Chapter Five: There's Snow Falling Over the City

Something about Senator Coriolanus Snow standing stoically in the empty cemetery, a flurry of flakes whipping around him, made him unearthly, alien even. Yet he seemed at home mired in the frigid tempest, death beneath his fine dress shoes. The Devil himself had nothing on the man before her.

She couldn't tell if she was shivering or if her very bones were trembling. Though it didn't matter, either way, it wasn't because of the weather.

"I thought you weren't arriving until dinner?" Hazel coughed as her lungs burned from the exertion, the biting winter storm, and undoubtedly the sight before her.

A smirk licked along the edge of Coriolanus Snow's lips, "Missed me, did you?"

Hazel bit her cheek to keep herself from saying anything else she might regret. Well, at least until there was one less peacekeeper in the audience. As if realizing her unusual quietness was due to the soldier watching them nervously, Snow's gaze flickered from her to Sable.

"Private Pytash." Snow briefly tilted his head to the peacekeeper.

"Senator Snow." Sable bowed forward from the waist, dropping his eyes in respect.

"You two are sure up early this morning."

Sable blew out a puff of heated air from his nostrils, "Didn't have much of a choice, sir."

Snow's attention shifted from Sable to Hazel, his lips curling at one edge, "I see."

"You are up early yourself." Hazel's attention locked onto the bouquet in his hands.

Snow bent forward, lying the fresh flowers at the base of Silus's headstone. "I thought I would pay my respects."

Petite flakes coated the flowers, blending into the slick pale petals. She wanted nothing more than to chuck them into the river. He shouldn't be here. And he most definitely shouldn't be laying a bouquet at the grave of a victim of his Games. And not just any victim, her Silus. Hazel swallowed down the searing irritation, leaving the flowers where they were. "Those are... lovely, Senator." The river was probably frozen, anyway.

Snow's attention shifted from Hazel to the lilies and back, "Private Pytash, would you give us a moment? You are welcome to wait in the car if you like."

Sable nodded in an abrupt salute, "Yes, sir." He briefly met Hazel's eyes before heading toward the mayor's idling car.

"How did you know I would be here?"

"Lucky guess, I suppose," Snow replied as he slid back from the grave.

Hazel cast a glance over her shoulder until she was sure Sable was out of earshot, "You've been spying on me."

Snow folded his hands behind his back once again. "I prefer to think of it as staying informed."

Hazel murmured, "That's a funny way to pronounce breaking and entering."

"It's hardly breaking and entering when the door is unlocked." Snow leaned back on his heels.

"So just entering then."

A knowing smile tugged at his mouth.

She didn't believe for a moment that he had left the gifts personally. "Who exactly did you have test the effectiveness of my home's door handles? "

Snow shrugged. "Everyone has to pay the rent somehow."

Hazel crossed her arms, fighting back another quiver.

"Walk with me?" Snow glanced around at the setting that should've been serene, but it was very much the opposite.

Hazel ignored his question. "Why are you here?"