Peeta

I woke up in front of the fireplace, sitting in my favorite armchair. "Katniss?" I croaked out when I noticed her bandaging up my arm. "What are you…?"

"Shh, stay still. You were terribly wounded…."

"Well I wouldn't have been if you had only listened to me!" I snapped.

She scowled at me, a gesture that I had found greatly endearing, but I wasn't about to admit that at the moment. "I wouldn't have run away if you hadn't threatened me!" she pointed out as she pressed harder on my arm to stop the blood.

I winced. She was right, of course. I shouldn't have threatened her, and treating her like this wasn't going to make her fall in love with me. "You're right, Katniss. I'm terribly sorry. Will you please forgive me?"

"Hmph." She frowned at me as she finished up the task. "There, you're all done."

"Thank you. Where's Lavinia?" I asked, ignoring the fact that she hadn't accepted my apology, even though it stung. I looked around the room to see if Lavinia was anywhere in sight.

"She went to get us some tea. Oh, there she is." I looked up behind me and sure enough, there was Lavinia, holding up a tray with a teapot and two mugs.

"Thank you, Lavinia, you may go now," I told her as she set them down in front of us. Lavinia huffed at me the same way that Katniss had done before turning and leaving, so that Katniss and I were alone again. I frowned. I hated it when she did that- not that she could do much else since she couldn't actually talk, but still. Even mute, Lavinia could be impertinent.

Katniss looked at me expectantly. "Even your Avox seems to think you're a handful," she said, picking up her teacup and blowing on it softly.

I picked up my own teacup, careful not to burn myself as I brought the delicate china up to my lips. "No one asked you," I replied curtly before taking a sip, scalding my tongue in the process. I winced.

She laughed airily. "I would have told you it was hot, but I figured that's what you get for having such a temper."

"I do not have a temper," I growled.

"Oh that's right, you're the happiest individual in the world," she said sarcastically.

"And you're the most stubborn woman on the planet," I muttered.

"It's a pity you're a stuck with me."

"Touché."

There was an awkward moment between us then, one of those pregnant pauses that never seem to end. I knew I needed to excuse myself and go to bed, but I did not want to say goodnight to her just yet. Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only a few seconds, she sighed.

"Peeta…"

"Katniss…"

"I forgive you. But please don't threaten me again. I do not like that."

"Very well then," I agreed heartily. "I also apologize that we did not get to finish our tour. You are welcome to roam the hallways if you'd like, just stay out of the west wing. And I can also show you the garden tomorrow."

"What's in the west wing?"

"It is off limits."

"And why is that?" she persisted.

I tightened my lips. She was trying my patience. "Because it leads to my private chambers."

"Oh," she blushed and looked away from my gaze.

I coughed. "Yes. Well. Speaking of which, I should go to bed now. I shall see you in the morning for breakfast. Goodnight, Katniss."

"Goodnight, Peeta."

Katniss

I could not help it. I was curious. What was it about the prince's chambers that he was trying so hard to hide? Surely it couldn't be that he was just being private. He seemed too upset by the idea of me going anywhere near it—keeping me away not only from his room but from the entire hallway—for it to be just that. No, the prince had secrets, dark secrets. And I was going to figure them out.

I followed Prince Peeta at a safe distance as he retreated from the living room. I wasn't sure if he could tell that I was following him, but he seemed much too distraught to notice, and years of hunting in the woods had taught me stealth as my feet stepped soundlessly on the carpeted corridors.

My heart beat fast against my chest as I hid behind deformed marble statues so that he wouldn't see me, praying that he wouldn't turn around and discover me. Soon, he reached a large doorway and slipped in, shutting the mahogany doors firmly behind him. I released a breath I didn't realize I had been holding and then panicked. How in the world was I supposed to go in after him? I gulped and padded silently towards the closed doors, staring at them for a minute.

Maybe, just maybe, if I carefully prodded one open just an inch or two, I could peek in and check to see if the chambers were big enough so that I could slip in and slip out without being spotted. I bit my lip. No, that was ridiculous, what was I thinking? Of course I would get caught. Why did I always get myself into these uncomfortable and troubling situations?

Just go back to your room, Katniss, the rational part of my brain insisted.

So what if you get caught? the louder voice in my head pointed out. I was already a prisoner. Peeta seemed to want to stay in my good graces, but so did I with him. And it wasn't so much that I was afraid for myself as much as I was for my family. And, yet, part of me knew that he would eventually be forgiving.

Without any further thought, I cracked the door open an inch and winced when it creaked, hoping that he hadn't heard. Maybe he had gone to bed already. I hoped that he had. I waited a few seconds and then I opened it further and further until I managed to open it large enough for me to slip inside and then closed the door behind me quickly.

I gasped when I realized that the only source of light was coming from the full moon outside, reflecting on a white rose inside a glass dome that stood on a small table in the center of the room. My eyes widened in disbelief when I noticed that the flower seemed to be floating in midair, of all things. Surely it was some sort of trick, perhaps an optical illusion.

I spun around the room and wondered if there was any other mysterious object that could explain things further. I did not have to look long; my eyes instantly landed on a portrait of the prince that I had never seen before. I clutched my hands over my chest as I took in the majestic sight of a younger and healthier Peeta. He was sitting in a plain, straight-backed wooden chair wearing ivory from head to foot, his boots matching his suit, one hand leaning on the arm of the chair while the other held a white rose identical to the one in the vase. The look in his eyes was all too familiar, sad, but determined. It was the face of a young man who had seen and suffered too much in his lifetime and was still waiting for the worst. His golden hair was combed back neatly, his prominent jaw clenched, his posture rigid. He was trying to look strong. He was a tragedy yet to come. And he was undeniably beautiful.

"Come to finish me off, Sweetheart?"

I spun around and ended up face-to-face with the person from the portrait, his blue eyes dark with challenge and…lust? I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for my response.

"I'm sorry, Peeta…" I began.

"I thought I told you to stay away from this part of the castle." He sounded eerily quiet, like the calm before a storm.

I knew then that I must be in deep trouble. "You did."

"Well?"

"I was curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat, Katniss," he mused.

"Where did you get that white rose? Is it the same one from the portrait? When was it painted?"

He hesitated for a few seconds, as if trying to decide if he should answer me or fight with me. "The painting is a few years old. Yes, that is the same rose. But you are not allowed to touch it," he finally replied carefully.

"Because it floats in midair?" I snorted.

"No. Because it is a cursed, evil plant. It is meant to bring my downfall."

"It's just a white rose."

"It has dark magic in it."

We stared at each other for a few seconds, his blue eyes icy. He was holding something back. And I wanted to know what it was. "Why were you cursed with it?"

"It is part of the curse I told you about earlier. You see, roses are vain, much like King Snow is. It wasn't enough for him to emotionally and mentally destroy me by murdering my family and stealing my kingdom. He wanted to humiliate me. He wanted to control me. And he couldn't do that if I was dead. So he gave me this rose, this hideous hope, which loses petals as time melts away until it runs out and I die along with it, unless I find my true love before then."

The pain in his voice was palpable. Peeta wasn't the true enemy here, I realized. He was just a piece in Snow's games. And he was hurting. There was simply something about the vulnerable look on his typically guarded face that clenched my heart. I couldn't explain it, but I felt protective of him, knowing that I could do something to help him take the pain away. It also did not escape me that he had decided to answer my questions freely rather than evading them and raging at me, like I had expected him to. He was more than his tough exterior; he was a beautiful, wounded soul. And as he licked his lips, desire coursed through me, and I finally made up my mind. Before I could think any further, I leaned towards him and crashed my lips against his, waiting for his response as I clutched at his collar, his lips unbelievably soft and pliant against my own. His large, strong hands grasped my waist and pulled me towards him, pressing me closer to his warm, muscular body. He stole my breath away.

Too soon, he pulled back. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I didn't want you to see me like this. Not at my most vulnerable point…"

"I want to be your true love." The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them.

"Katnisssssss," he hissed softly, his eyes lonely, dark, and deep, an unexplored ocean, his voice a whisper from the forbidden woods. Yes, he reminded of the Frost poem, but he also reminded of sailors stranded at sea, lost and closer to death than anything else. He didn't hesitate this time. He took me in his arms, and my body fit perfectly against his as our lips reconnected.

His mouth claimed mine instantly, biting my bottom lip and opening the seam between my lips with his tongue, gaining access to it as I stroked my tongue against his own. I let him take charge. I had never been kissed by anyone else before, and I was only grateful to whoever had taught him to kiss like this. He pushed me against the wall, right beside his portrait, and my fingers tangled in his hair as he gripped my hips even tighter. I couldn't get enough of him. I wanted to claim him. I wanted to be his. I wanted everything and anything with him. I had never felt this irrational before.

He kissed me until our lips were bruised and we had to come up for air, but even then I wanted more. I gasped when I felt something long and hard against my center, and I realized that it must be him. He wanted me. And I wanted him; I had never wanted anything so badly before in my life. I grabbed his hands and pulled them up towards my breasts, and he groaned against my mouth, suddenly kissing my chin, below my ear, and down to my neck. At the same time, his hands cupped my mounds and pinched my nipples over my clothes. I shifted my hips closer to his, seeking some sort of friction, a relief for the wet heat that had gathered at my core. He moaned when I came into contact with his own arousal.

"Tell me when to stop," he whispered in my ear as he continued kneading my supple breasts with his skilled baker's hands.

"I do not want to stop."

He released a deep, throaty groan. I wanted to hear his sounds of desire all night. I didn't want to lose him, I realized. "You're killing me," he gasped.

"I'm saving you." He was mine to protect now. I nibbled the outer shell of his ear. "Make me yours."

There was no need to say more. He picked me up and carried me across the room, laying me back on the bed. I relished the moment when I landed beneath him, the covers soft under my back, his body warm and firm over my own. I wanted to press him closer, but it was impossible; we were already devouring each other's mouths, his tongue dominating and discovering every corner and crevice of my mouth while his hands explored my body tentatively. I wanted to be closer to him than ever before, to mold beneath his skin so that he was part of me and I was part of him.

He did not protest when I tugged off his white long-sleeved shirt, and I did not stop him when he reached behind my back to untie my dress. "How do you do this?" he groaned impatiently after struggling for a few moments. I giggled and sat up along with him as I helped him finish untying it, grateful that I did not need Lavinia's help to take off my dress, and Peeta was here to pull it over my head.

He whispered something incomprehensible under his breath when he saw me in my corset. I placed my hands over the hard planes of his chest, caressing the fine blond hairs on his skin and trailing my fingertips down to his abdominal muscles. He shivered beneath my touch as he sat me down on his lap, my legs on either side of his waist. I reached the patch of hair that formed an enchanted trail down his waistline, and I stopped.

He gulped. I looked at him in question as my hands landed on his belt, and he nodded slowly. "I'm yours. All of me. Always."

I tugged on his belt and unbuckled it quickly, my hands shaking in nervousness and eager anticipation. He helped me through the process until I was pulling down his pants, and he stopped me right when I reached the part below his knee where his prosthetic met his flesh. I looked up at Peeta and saw fear and insecurity in his eyes. I leaned over and kissed his lips gently. "You're beautiful," I assured him.

He bit his lip as I tugged his pants all the way down to his ankles, pulling off his shoes and socks as well as my own heels and stockings in the process. I figured I might as well. By the time I had finished that, he was sitting up and struggling to remove his prosthetic, as if unsure if he should unbuckle it or not. "Here, let me help you," I told him.

He hesitated but agreed when I pushed him back gently. I kissed his lips again and made my way down his body, first his neck, then his chest, stomach, skipping his waist momentarily so that I could make my way to his thighs until I reached his knees and finally his prosthetic, where I paused to pull it off the rest of the way. I set it down on the floor and then kissed the nub that was left, the area tender and scarred. I stroked and kissed him lovingly as if my touch and kisses would heal him from everything bad that had ever happened to him.

When my gaze met his again, there were tears shining in his blue orbs, like raindrops clinging to glass. "Does it hurt?" I whispered.

He shook his head. "No," he murmured. "Nothing hurts now." And I smiled. He smiled back at me as he pulled me up so that we could kiss. He wrapped his strong arms around me tightly as I resumed my previous position on his lap. "You have no idea how long I have dreamed of this," he said.

"As long as I?" I kissed his nose, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Longer. You've brought me back hope."

"No. You always had it. I just reminded you of it."

He chuckled, his laughter turning into a soft moan when I rubbed my hips against his. His hands undid my corset even faster than he did my dress, pulling it off my body so that I was completely bare before him. He flipped us over, almost out of animalistic instinct, making sure to put all of his weight on his good leg so that I was underneath him once again.

Only this time, we were both completely undressed. Feeling his skin against me made mine pebble as I shivered beneath his tender touch. He looked at me as if he couldn't believe that I was here, that we were actually doing this. "You are so lovely." He said it so softly that I would not have heard it if he hadn't been less than an inch away from me. His eyes were bright, reflected by the moon outside, and I wondered if he saw the same thing in mine. "You are the love of my life."

Peeta

How we had fallen in love so quickly was difficult to explain, but I meant what I had just said. It had been inevitable for me since I first saw her. I sunk my head into her neck, making her writhe beneath me as I nibbled and lapped at her neck, my hands cupping her perky breasts, thumbing her pebbled nipples. I made my way down to her chest, one hand over her head to support my weight, the other one massaging her breast as my mouth enclosed the other one. She keened in pleasure as I teased, flicked, and suckled her malleable skin. She gasped and mumbled what sounded like my name, my erection throbbing painfully with need as it brushed against her thigh. I couldn't wait to be inside her. The hand that had been teasing her breast trailed down to her folds, parting them open with my fingers as I sought her swollen nub, as if I were imprudently opening up the petals of a newly bloomed flower. She held me tighter as her hips jerked, crying out and digging her fingernails into my shoulders when I began rubbing her needy bundle of nerves with my thumb. I looked up at her mischievously as I gently tugged at her hardened nipple with my teeth, my fingers exploring her feminine folds and dipping into her wet core, her mouth agape in pleasure-pain, her hips moving in tandem with my hand.

She pulled my head back up to kiss me; our tongues instantly mated heatedly, her fire burning through me everywhere we touched. I continued to pleasure her with my hand, building a steady and consistent rhythm until she insisted that I pick up the pace. So I did. I dipped my fingers into her arousal, using it to spread over her clit and thrust two fingers into her while my thumb circled faster and faster, waiting for that impending moment when she would fall apart beneath my arms, her eyes rolling back and her body boneless. And when she did, I felt as triumphant as her, knowing that I could give her this with only my touch. I could only imagine what it would be like when I was inside her, when she received me as I spilled into her.

"I need to be inside you," I whispered.

She nodded. "Yes. I want to. I want you."

That was all the permission I needed. She had no idea the effect that she had on me. I removed my fingers from her and took my cock in hand, pre-cum already leaking from it, her own body also dripping with desire. I moaned. I bent down and kissed her lips gently. "Do it, please. Now." I nodded, guiding myself to her opening, nearly losing it when I felt her drenched heat cover my tip.

"Am I hurting you?"

She shook her head. I pushed further. We both trembled. She opened her legs wider. "Kiss me," she said.

"I love you," I said as I kissed her. I sank all the way in, and she swallowed my moans as I gently brushed away her tears.

Time was nonexistent. Nothing mattered but this moment. For the first time in a long while, I didn't think about the curse. I didn't think about anything except for her, and the way my heart leapt in joy when she said I could move, and how warm and welcoming she felt around me, her hips rising to meet mine. I concentrated on the sheen of sweat gathering on her temple, sticking her dark hair to her skin, the way she looked at me and blushed, biting her lip wantonly. I was so fueled with passion in that moment that I knew I wouldn't last long. My hips jerked sporadically to meet hers, the sound of flesh slapping against flesh filling the room, accompanied by gasps and moans of pleasure from both of us.

I felt lightheaded when I was inside her; she caused me to burn and my stomach to coil, my emotions to spill unguarded so that I was almost overwhelmed. She was so tight, her walls clenching and fluttering around me as I thrust into her relentlessly. I relished the feeling of being inside of her, of ridges rubbing against me as I moved in and out, still overwhelmed by our breathless panting and high, soft-pitched cries from Katniss, followed by low groans emanating from my throat. I pumped harder and faster as she squeezed my ass, my hands splayed out on the pillow on either side of her before I felt the undeniable tightening in my sac. She fisted one of her hands into my hair as she drowned my moans when I spilled into her, shuddering and collapsing on top of her, incredibly exhausted and content by our fervent coupling.

Our skin seemed to be glued together by sweat as she stroked my hair, my face buried deeply into her breasts; my flaccid cock still inside of her because she kept holding me closer every time I tried to pull out. I rubbed her clit again to make sure that she finished too, and once I had exhausted her, I lay by her side and looked deep into her half-lidded silver eyes.

"You love me. Real or not real?"

And she said, "Real."


A/N- Thank you so much for sticking with this story and continuing to read it. I have been blown away by the response it's been given! There are two more chapters left, and then it's over. As usual, I would like to thank my wonderful and amazing beta, Court81981, for being the absolute best and always guessing what I'm trying to say. This story would certainly not be as good without her help.