The Hunger Games: Continued

Cinnamon and Dusk

Katniss' POV

2 years later

The meadow smells like my mother's perfume.

The bed of flowers where my father once bathed petals in water and bottled the liquid into a sweet fragrance. I remember the smile it coaxed from her, the warmth of their love. Their love made me feel safe. I used to think about how lucky they were to have found something so deep, so undeniable.

I never thought I would get that lucky.

Peeta smells like cinnamon and dusk. His lips are sweet and warm. His touch is electric. No one has more power over me than he does.

We are fire and rain. Young and ancient. Foolish and wise. Beautiful and scarred. Two pieces of a puzzle.

We are whole.

I don't imagine alternate universes anymore. My story always ends this way.

Emotion is the most powerful force in the world. It can change lives, start revolutions, heal wounds. And love is the most powerful of all. It will always find you. It is inevitable.

I love him. I love him.

There is no other way to name something so overwhelming. I laugh at odd moments, giddy without reason. Hours slip away unnoticed. The thought of spending the rest of my life with him fills me with a happiness I didn't believe was possible.

When I wake in his arms, I pray it is always this way. When he kisses me, I pray his lips are the last I will ever taste.

Nothing has ever made so much sense. It doesn't matter where we are, or what waits ahead. We will always have this. We will always have us.

It's too late to be any other way.

Peeta Mellark is a part of me, and I am a part of him. That can never change. I want to give him everything he's ever wanted.

There was a time when Peeta would have fetched me the moon if I asked, and I would have forgotten by the time he returned. Not anymore. He is the first thought of my mornings, and the last of my nights.

And the meadow smells like my mother's perfume.

Peeta kneels in front of me, a small box in his hand. He snaps it open to reveal the pearl — my pearl — set into a beautiful ring.

My hand flies to my mouth.

"Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?"

I love him.

"Yes!"

I love him.