The Rebel Queen

11

I lay my hand on top of Peeta's, stroking my fingers over the grooves of his bones and knuckles. My life seems to much less complicated, laying against him by our dwindling fire. In the dead of night, I accepted his proposal to court me, and for now, I will enjoy that part of my life.

Peeta stirs a little and his other hand brushes my hair from my shoulder, kissing my bare skin softly. I sigh and I lean back a little. Peeta chuckles and grips on to my hand. 

"I should probably go fetch more firewood," He says and I shake my head, groaning. 

"I don't wanna move," I groan and he sighs, gripping onto my hand. 

"Well, as comfortable as this is, that fire is going to go out and it's going to get cold in here," He says, kissing my cheek.  "Besides, I need to start drawing up plans for the winter food stores. It needs to be perfect if I'm gonna try to convince people to follow it." I sigh, sitting up. 

"You will be fine," I say. "You are good with your words. You will find something that translates well." I let go of his hand and get up, stretching. "I'll even let you skip training if you want to work on it." I grab a long green dress and duck into the shadows so I can get dressed. 

Peeta gets up and walks over to his own pile of clothes, carefully getting dressed for the cold outside. My warm woolen dress slides over my head and I use the ties to tighten it to my body. Smoothing it out, I move to my waist belt and tie it around my middle. I see Peeta coming over out of the corner of my eye and he gently lays his head on my shoulder his arms around my middle. 

"What is it?" I ask and he just shakes his head. 

"It still feels like a dream," He says, "Until I reach down and feel that hammer on my chest, and realize it was all real." I glance at him and sigh.

"I think it would be best not to brag outside this tent just yet," I say softly. "I want to be very certain that they have a better acceptance of you." I look down a little and he holds me tighter. 

"As long as I can call you mine here, I will not judge you for keeping me a secret. As long as it isn't permanent silence," He chuckles and I grip onto his hand. "It is not a permanent arrangement, right?" 

"I will announce it to my council when the time is right," I say. "When this isn't so brand new and the possibility of marriage is more imminently on the table."

"Oh I intend to marry you as soon as you would let me," He says. 

"Let's not be rash, Peeta," I say and he lifts his head from my shoulder. "I agreed to allowing you to court me. We are not betrothed and if you asked me this instant, you know my answer would be no. Now is not the time for me to think of marriage. Not with winter raging outside." He nods and kisses my cheek. 

"I just want a chance to see if this really could be something," He says. 

"I agree," I say. "And I'm letting that happen. But it just can't be anything too complicated just yet." Peeta nods and I feel one of his hands come up and stroke through my hair. 

"Can I at least tie up your hair?" He asks, his voice a little crestfallen. "Follow just a little of the tradition?" 

"Of course you can," I say. I turn around and look at him and hold onto his hand. "Just because I'm not ready to shout from the treetops doesn't mean I'm going to stop showing you any of the perks of courting me. That would be a losing battle with how we already spend every minute inside this tent and most of the time outside together. You can certainly try your hand at it." He smiles and tips my chin up. "I'll even take a stab at doing something with your ragged mop in return."