Katniss swallowed the uncertainty and fear as she followed the Capitol man down the hall to the study. She had never once seen that door closed and the second she realized it, she no longer felt at home. Something was horribly wrong and she wasn't sure why until the door opened and the man gestured in. Katniss watched the Capitol man with uncertainty until he closed the door behind her and she saw a white haired man reading a book almost lazily. He held up a finger absently while telling her,
"Give me a moment." She felt her skin crawl as he spoke and the sudden scent of roses and blood registered stark fear in her mind. It took her only a moment to realize who the man was. President Snow. A man she had only seen in paintings, on the television, and in her darkest nightmares. Her mind began to race as did her heart. President Snow had never once left the Capitol. She had every reason to believe that Snow hated the Districts. He had never shown any interest in any of them until it was time for the Reaping and had never celebrated any occasion with any District, but there he stood in the home of a girl that had played his Games and his precious Capitol for fools. Only he knew the true meaning of her decision and how it really reflected on his Games and his Gamemakers, there would be little to no option of playing the 'crazed by love' card with this man.
A creaking caused every twisted nerve in Katniss to release in one very obvious jump as she quickly looked over to a corner. A chair she hadn't noticed had been propped between the connecting walls to Snow's left; a brimmed peaked cap was hiding the upper-half of a woman's face. She wore a large deep green buttoned jacket adorned with ornate gold badges and pins along the loose front ends, the brass buttons catching the light as she leaned further back in her chair, arms lazily draped over the back as if she hadn't a care in the world. Black polished boots clung to long legs clad in matching green trousers and the black undershirt she wore fit perfectly against her torso where silver tags hung on a thin chain. She was most definitely part of Snow's personal guard the highest ranking soldiers in the Capitol were reserved for Snow's guard and the Capitol's Peacekeepers.
She must have sensed Katniss' staring, or maybe she could somehow still see from under that dark polished brim, because her lips curled up ever so slightly on one side. Katniss suddenly realized how it must feel to be a rabbit caught in a wolves' ambush. She stood in a room with two of the most terrifying people Panem had to offer and she knew she was in trouble from the get-go. There was no other reason for Snow to travel all the way to District Twelve to what? Congratulate her on tricking him and the Gamemakers forcing there to be two Victors when there had always ever been one?
Katniss looked from Snow to the woman in the corner as the President slowly put his book aside and turned to face her, now she stared at him-hard. She remained unblinking and motionless; perhaps Snow was like the snakes he reminded her of. If she didn't move, who was to say he wouldn't see her? All she had to do was keep her ground and watch him as closely as she could possibly stand.
"I think we'll make this whole situation a lot simpler by agreeing not to lie each other," he said, "What do you think?"
Katniss' mouth was dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she studied the man in front of her. He didn't look like a snake up close. His lips were overtly full and his skin tight but no scales. His eyes were that of a predator though. She's not sure how she managed the steady response of,
"Yes, I think that would save time." President Snow smiled, a haunting and monstrous turn of those too puffy lips that caused another wave of insects to seemingly crawl just under her skin.
"My advisors were concerned you would be difficult, but you don't intend on being difficult do you?" he asked. Katniss replied with a curt,
"No."
"Oh good," Snow said as he took a seat at the desk. The woman shifted her feet, she had one ankle propped on her knee and so when Snow sat she had to shift so she wouldn't accidentally kick the President as he relaxed. "See, that's what I told them. I said any girl who would go to such lengths to preserve her own life wouldn't throw it away with both hands. And then there's her family to think of. Her mother, her sister and all those…cousins," he lingered on the word cousins implying he knew all about Gale. The woman to Snow's left scoffed with a knowing and very much amused smile as Snow went on, "And even if that were the case, you wouldn't be so inclined to test your strength against that of my personal guard now would you?" At that, the woman tilted her head up to glance at Snow and then smile at Katniss.
Now those were the eyes of poisonous snake, a shard and darkened green. The color of drying moss that held no concern, no worry or understanding just pure and undiluted preparation, hers were the eyes of a woman constantly ready to kill and possibly even anxious to do so. It was also just enough for Katniss to remember who the woman was. She was just a girl when she first saw those eyes peering from behind the bloody and torn body of a Tribute, blood dripping down that face six years younger than the one Katniss was looking at now. Ricochet Sanders from District 3.
Snow smiled again seeing the recognition on Katniss' face. The younger woman now knew, in great detail, how much trouble she truly was in and it was obvious that the ripple of punishment would spread to swallow her friends and family as well if she didn't play her cards right. He glanced to Ricochet, still lounging as if she hadn't a care but very capable of springing into action like a poised mountain lion or a coiled snake. She lifted her eyes off of Katniss to look at Snow with that upturn still on her pretty lips.
Ricochet was a natural sort of pretty as far as Katniss could tell, but more than pretty she was sneaky. Katniss distinctly remembered her winning the Games by a combination of appearance and manipulation and brute almost animalistic brutality. There wasn't anything in the Games that woman hadn't done to win, and once she did win when others just wanted to crawl back home and hide from shame and grief, she opted to join the Capitol Guard to further fight and kill to the President's specifications. There was no telling how much blood was on those pretty hands, but if Katniss didn't watch herself she knew for a fact she'd put more blood on them.
"Let's sit," Snow said as he took a seat at the large polished desk. Katniss hesitated only a moment before taking the seat across from him, all the while feeling those deadly eyes of Ricochet following her every move, every twitch of her eyes, every tremble of her hands. Katniss wouldn't be surprised if Ricochet could hear her heartbeat and was counting the beats just to monitor any remote change in Katniss' body. If Katniss so much as looked up too fast, there was little doubt Ricochet would have a blade in her neck before she could move any further.
Katniss sat in front of two venomous snakes, naked, and if it came down to it she wasn't sure who was deadlier. She had to be extremely careful and honest if she were to survive this and the worst part was that as she sat there terrified for the lives of her mother and Prim and Gale, Ricochet and Snow sat there as if it were just any other day and they were to talk about the weather.
