Everyone says I did. Everyone says that’s why Snow had you tortured. To break me.” “That’s not an answer,” he tells me.
Wait until I’m in the arena and sic starving wild animals on me.
You have to promise me that you’ll fight through it.
Do you understand what I mean?” he presses me. I nod. He means there’s only one future, if I want to keep those I love alive and stay alive myself. I’ll have to marry Peeta.
Each hour begins a new horror, a new Gamemaker weapon, and ends the previous.
Later, there’s a lot of kissing. Didn’t seem very genuine on your part. Did you like kissing me?” he asks. “Sometimes,” I admit.
Then she gave him a kiss. Not a peck. A real kiss on the lips, with hints of peaches and powder. The feel of her mouth, soft and warm against his own, sent sensations surging through his body. Rather than pulling back, he held her even tighter as the taste and touch of her made his head spin. So this was what people were talking about! This was what made them so crazy! When they finally broke apart, he drew a deep breath, as if surfacing from the depths.
So it’s almost entertaining to see Caesar Flickerman, the eternal host of the Hunger Games, with his painted face and sparkly suit, preparing to give an interview. Until the camera pulls back and I see that his guest is Peeta. A sound escapes me. The same combination of gasp and groan that comes from being submerged in water, deprived of oxygen to the point of pain.
What about Gale?
The thought of being left to my prep team’s fashion whims only adds to the miseries competing for my attention – my abused body, my lack of sleep, my mandatory marriage, and the terror of being unable to satisfy President Snow’s demands.
I am right in front of him, my hand resting on the screen. I search his eyes for any sign of hurt, any reflection of the agony of torture. There is nothing. Peeta looks healthy to the point of robustness. His skin is glowing, flawless, in that full-body-polish way. His manner’s composed, serious. I can’t reconcile this image with the battered, bleeding boy who haunts my dreams.
You’re not afraid of fire, are you?
It wasn’t part of my plan, that’s for sure,” says Peeta with a frown.
There wasn’t. But there should be, he thought, given how fractured families were by the war. There should be a place for anyone who cared for you at all. In fact, maybe that should be the question to start with: Who cares about you? Or even better, Who can you count on?
I think it was clear to all of us what your plan was. To sacrifice yourself in the arena so that Katniss Everdeen and your child could survive.
This sends Effie into a state. She pulls out her schedule and begins to work out how the delay will impact every event for the rest of our lives.
Happy birthday To someone special! And we wish you many more! Once a year We give a cheer To you, Commander Hoff! Happy birthday!
But other people had plans as well.
I heard her singing.
How my rescue was arranged from the beginning? And finally, how our mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, betrayed us both for a cause he pretended to have no interest in?