The Third Everdeen

Chapter 52

Silence. That's all there was as I slowly came to. My eyes fluttered open and I felt the pain come back. I smelled the familiar scent of an infirmary and snapped back to reality. I painfully tried to sit up but was gently pushed back into the bed. 

"No, please you need rest," the gentle voice told me, being as weak as I was I didn't fight back, I put my head back on the pillow and took a few deep breaths, "You're okay. Everything is going to be okay." 

Then there were footsteps and I heard a familiar voice tell the nurse to leave. "I'll stay with her," my mother said as she sat down by my bed. She held my hand and we just stayed there, not speaking a word.

After some time Haymitch joined us; I looked to him to tell me what had happened after I was out, "The fight was over after The Capitol dropped those bombs to defend the palace. The rebels walked right in."

My eyes were glued to him but there was suddenly a stinging sensation on my arm, I flinched it back in pain and my mom stopped me, "No Lily. The ointment is working on healing your burns." She told me. 

"Everybody felt it. Peacekeepers, palace guards." He lowered his head, "They had kids in there too. It was..." He held back tears- I'd never seen Haymitch so upset like he was in that moment, "It was over after that."

I looked over to my mom, I saw Katniss and Prim right before the explosion but no one verified with me if they had... I needed some kind of confirmation. "Mom...?" I looked at her, she continued to apply the ointment to my arm. A single tear trailed down her cheek. There's my answer.

~

Once I was able to walk around again Effie scooped me up and took me to the palace. "I remember the first time I brought you here," She reminisced as we walked the steps to the foyer. She led me to one of the rooms and opened the door in a grand fashion- Same ole Effie. "Here we are. I took the liberty of bringing your belongings ahead of time for you," She motioned to the table were the few items I had left in my possession sat. 

The first thing that caught my eye was the photo of my father, next to that was the locket that Peeta had given to me. Peeta.  His name clouded every thought in my brain. I hadn't seen him since I'd said good-bye. Effie felt the atmosphere around me change and felt it was best if she left.

"I'll leave you to get settled," She told me and politely shut the door on her way out. 

~

I couldn't be alone in my room so i took to the palace walls, exploring each and every lavish room. There was a study filled with books, I used to love to read, when I could I would remember reading old stories about before the games. They'd all seemed too good to be true so I always thought of them as fiction more so than history. There was a dinning room with a round table, it reminded me of this story I'd read years ago about some king and his knights. Turning away from the table I started out the window at the glass building across the garden. Fuck it. Without bothering to grab a jacket I went out to the cold winter air and tread through the garden to the building. 

Two soldiers were stationed in front of the door, one took a step forward with his hand out, "So sorry ma'am but we can't let you pass."

I rolled my eyes, I was about to snap back a snarky remark but someone stopped me before I could get a word out, "Let her through," I turned and Commander Paylor was on the steps just at the end of the garden, "On my authority," she ordered, "She has a right to anything behind that door."

I gave her a grateful smile and mouthed, "Thank you," she simply nodded back to me. I turned back to the guards and strutted through the doors.

I don't know what I was expecting to see inside; but the preserved white roses that belongs to Snow wasn't on my list of expectations. They looked so pale and pure, yet I shuddered knowing the sinister underlying truth to the flowers. I looked at one that stood out to me and picked it. As I lifted it to my face I was surprised to hear a voice approach me from behind.

"Good choice," His baritone voice was unmistakable. I turned and there he was. Coriolanus Snow, he walked cautiously toward me in his red suit with one of his flowers pinned to the front, "The colors are lovely, of course. But nothing says perfection like white," He sat down on the edge of the fountain in the center of the room, I carefully stood a few feet away. "I was hoping you'd find your way here. There are so many things we should discuss." I stole a glance to the door but there stood the guards, eyes glued to us. "But I have a feeling your visit will be brief, so first thing's first-" Suddenly he caught a coughing fit. He lifted up the handkerchief to his mouth and politely coughed into it, I got closer and eyes the cloth to see that when he lowered it, it was filled with blood. He looked at me calmly, not even acknowledging what was on the cloth. "I just wanted to say how very sorry I am about your sisters. Both of them. I know you loved them very much. So wasteful. So unnecessary. Anyone could see the game was over by that point. In fact I was just about to issue an official surrender when they released those parachutes."

The game. I started to get angry. My sisters' death was not/SHOULD NOT have been part of his little game. 

"You mean when you released the parachutes." I spat, glaring. 

Snow inclined his head at me, "You really think I gave that order?" He shrugged, "We both know I'm not above killing children," he seemed to have a sinister smile but he raised his eyebrow at me in a matter-of-fact way, "But we know I'm not wasteful. I take life for specific reasons. And there was no reason for me to destroy a pen full of Capitol children. None at all...." he lifted the handkerchief to his mouth and started coughing again, cleaning his mouth and smiling at me before continuing, "I must admit, it was a masterful move on Coin's part. The idea that I was bombing our own helpless children to hold back the rebels...it turned the rest of my guards against me. There was no resistance left inside the Capitol of in the mansion. Did you know it aired live?" My brain was swarming with thoughts as he spoke to me, I didn't know what to believe, he could very well have been lying to me; yet it does seem like it could have been some sick part of Coin's plan to turn the loyals against the Capitol. "There's a particular savvy in that, isn't there? I'm sure she wasn't gunning for your sister- I know I didn't plan older one's escape once she was in custody but... these things happen in war." 

If Katniss hadn't escaped...maybe she could've lived...If Prim wasn't there... I forced myself not to let those thoughts consume me in front of that man. 

"My failure was in being so slow to grasp Coin's plan. She let the Capitol and the Districts destroy one another, and she stepped in to take power with 13's arsenal." He nodded his head at me, "Make no mistake. She intends to take my place now. But...I've been watching you. And you watching me. I'm afraid we'd both been played for fools."

More thoughts swarmed, He's manipulating you! He's trying to get in your head! Don't be stupid Lily! "I don't believe you." I told him as confidently as I could.

He looked at me, sensing my hesitation, "Oh Miss. Everdeen. I thought we'd agreed never to lie to each other?" 

His words haunted me as I made my way back to my room. The white rose still in my hand.