The first time Clove steps into the training room, Cato barely notices the scrawny slip of a girl. Mistake, he remembers thinking. At sixteen, Cato is already larger than the other boys and stronger. He could break her in two.
But he never gets the chance to. The first time she beats him in training, the first time she embarrasses him, he starts paying attention.
The first thing he notices is her hands, how deftly she throws her knives. It's not long before he notices too her eyes (sharp and cold like her knives against his throat, with a glint that unnerves him in a way he can't explain) and her mouth (the way it settles into a smirk every time she wins). He wants to rip the smirk off her face and see those eyes dulled by the blunt of his sword.
Cato doesn't know why he thinks of her. Cato did not spend much time thinking about others.
He tells himself it is to prepare himself to kill her.
- x -
The last time Clove sees her parents, they are with soldiers. At ten, she promises herself she would never feel helpless again. Survive, she remembers thinking. And she does.
Three years later, she almost kills a girl three years ahead of her, a girl who would never walk again and certainly never get her chance at the Games. It's the last time anyone underestimates her.
They learn to fear her – because unlike the others, Clove has nothing to lose. Careers fight for glory, fame, and wealth; Clove fights for power and the right to kill. Clove fights for the thrill.
Fighting with Cato is thrilling.
- x -
The only time Clove feels helpless in the Games, she calls for Cato.
Only then does she realize that she might have something – or someone – to lose after all. Ironic because it was the one thing she was guaranteed to lose, even if she wins.
Only then does he realize he had never been prepared to kill her or even to watch her die.