The Victor's Shadow

Cashmere/Male OC

Cashmere Nicholo knows her fate-to volunteer for the Hunger Games, just as every tribute from District One before her. It's an honor, a privilege, a duty. But as the Reaping day dawns, the illusion of choice shatters. Her name isn't just called-it's drawn. Something isn't right. Her brother, Gloss, the district's last victor, wears a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. His whispered arguments with Neve, his insistence on a specific dress, the way pity lingers in the escort's gaze-it all tells her one thing. This was planned. But by whom? And why? Now, alongside Lysander-her fellow volunteer and the only person she might be able to trust-Cashmere must enter the arena with more than just survival on the line. Because the real Games didn't start with the Reaping. They started long before that. And she has no idea what game she's already playing.