"Her fiancée, Haymitch?" Coin hissed after the younger adults left the room where they had taken the young man to be looked at for his injuries. "How could you let that happen?"
"It happened. I had no control over it." Haymitch answered, a smile playing at his lips.
"She is the queen. She can't be marrying someone who comes from the land of her enemies. That will turn her people against her."
"Coin, she knows who her enemies are. You must not have been told, though."
"Told what?"
"The Games are not just in the Districts and Panem. There in the Capitol as well. That boy, he just turned eighteen and got free of them. But he has younger siblings who are still in danger of going into the Games. They were our neighbors for the past sixteen years and Katniss sees them as family and she fell in love with him. She almost didn't come."
"What do you mean she almost didn't come?"
"She only recently learned the truth about who she is. We were found by someone from Panem and she was seen. When I told her, she ran off. The boy, Hawthorne, found her and brought her back, but they had decided that they would go together or not at all. I had no choice but to let him come."
"I can't let her marry him. It'll cause war between Panem and the Districts."
"The prince?"
"Her parents promised them her hand in marriage when she was old enough. They will demand her hand in marriage when she takes the throne. If she is already engaged to someone else, they won't be happy about it." Coin crossed her arms over her chest while Haymitch leaned back in the chair he was sitting in.
"Coin, she won't marry the prince. She will marry Hawthorne. She loves him. She knows him. And if you try to force her to marry this prince, you will have a very dangerous enemy on your hands. Have you forgotten so easily how much the people of Panem hate the Districts because they have been the Capitol's lapdogs for as long as the Games have been going on? Panem will follow their queen no matter who she marries. Do you really want them set against you?" Coin glared. "How did you become president anyway? The last time I saw you, you were a high ranking official."
"A couple of years ago, I was in charge of a raid into the Capitol for supplies. I didn't know that the president at the time had been among those under me. The raid went well until the end when someone tripped a sensor and alerted the Peacekeepers to us. The fight was bloody. I lost at least half of those who had gone with me and the majority of the rest were injured. I was pulling the president from the carnage and out to the wagon when I took a shot to the shoulder. We were the last ones out. He died on the way back. That's when I realized that I had just gotten our president killed. But, he smiled at me and told me that it wasn't my fault. Instead, he told me that he was proud of me and that I was president. So here I am." Haymitch nodded and stood. The guard that had escorted Katniss and Gale was back.
"Well, I suggest you find a way to break the news to the Districts. I know you, Alma. I know you will want to announce that the Queen of Panem has returned. You will have to tell them that she is spoken for. I am going to go and check on my daughter and her fiancée." Haymitch turned to the guard and gestured for him to lead the way.
"So what went wrong? I thought Haymitch said that we could trust these people."
"They said that we trespassed on their land."
"Seriously?" Katniss nodded as she checked the bandage on his head for the twentieth time. "We didn't even know."
"I know we didn't. Dad must have though."
"Why do you keep calling him that?"
"What?" Katniss looked into his gray eyes.
"Haymitch, you are still calling him 'Dad' even though he isn't your real dad."
"He's the only dad I've ever known. For my entire life, he's been my dad. I don't think I'll ever be able to call him other than that. You understand-," a knock at the door interrupted her sentence. "Go away!" She called and turned back to her fiancée. "They really did a number on you after they knocked me out."
"They would have knocked me out to if they hadn't hit you first and you fell into me. That was their-," more knocking interrupted him.
"I said to go away!" Katniss yelled at the door and sighed. The knocking continued, this time accompanied by a voice.
"I will not be sent away like a common servant. Open this door." The two of them stood and Katniss grabbed her bow, Haymitch had gotten their weapons back after they had gotten Gale out of the prison cells. When she was ready, Gale opened the door and she aimed the bow. The boy outside stopped his tirade when he was suddenly looking at the point of an arrow aimed at his head.
"We said that we did not want to be disturbed." Katniss replied. "Now, what do you want?"
"I heard that the Queen of Panem was in this room. Is she behind you?"
Katniss lowered her bow. "She is standing in front of you. And she will kill you if you don't say what you wanted from her." The boy's mouth dropped. From the corner of her eye, Katniss saw Gale struggling to contain his laughter. "Who are you anyway?"
"Forgive my lack of manners." The boy said as he closed his mouth, his blue eyes still wide with awe. "My name is Peeta Mellark, Prince of District Twelve, the youngest prince of the Twelve Districts." Katniss raised an eyebrow at the lengthy title. Peeta bowed, his blonde hair covering his eyes. Katniss rolled hers. "I have come to call on the Queen of Panem who is my betrothed." Katniss glared at the prince as he straightened.
"Your betrothed is dead."
"But you are standing before me."
"Highness, the queen you were to marry was going to be raised as a princess in her castle in Panem. The queen who stands before you was raised in the woods with her guard acting as her father."
"I was promised to the Queen of Panem and she was promised to me. It doesn't matter how she was raised. May I come in?" He stepped closer to the door and Katniss raised the bow again.
"Do not come any closer. I will kill you."
"But we need to plan our wedding day."
"I will not be marrying you. I am spoken for."
"Yes, me."
"No," Gale said and stepped from behind the door. "She is engaged to me." Gale forced her arms down and took the bow from her. The prince glared at them.
"She was promised to me."
"In another life, that may have been true, Highness. But in this life, she is engaged to me and we will be married."
"Queens don't marry peasants from the Capitol. She marries princes and kings."
"I marry whoever I damn well please." Katniss replied hotly. "And I choose to marry a peasant from the Capitol who loves me for me and not for who I am supposed to be. I grew up in the woods. Not a palace. I know things about the world that only a peasant, in your eyes, would know. I have made my choice. Make yours."
Peeta reached in and grabbed her arm. "You were promised to me before we could even crawl. You will honor what your parents have promised." He hissed.
"Unhand her!" Haymitch's voice echoed across the hall. "You will not touch my daughter again, do you understand me?" Haymitch's eyes were like fire as he glared at the prince. Peeta let go and Gale stepped in front of her.
"Her parents promised my parents her hand in marriage to whoever they chose. They chose me to be her husband and king of Panem. Will you let her break the word of her parents?"
"I made no such promise."
"You are not her father." Haymitch laughed.
"She may not be my blood daughter, but she is my daughter. Her blood parents put her in my charge before they died. She will not be marrying you. She will marry who she chooses to marry. And she has chosen to marry her best friend." Peeta's face flushed red with anger.
"We will see about that." He turned back to Gale and Katniss. "You will honor the agreement between your parents and mine. I will not let you dishonor my family even though you choose to do so to yours."
"You've already done enough of that." Katniss shot back before Gale could stop her. Peeta growled and stormed away. Haymitch stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
hehehe, I hope that answers the Everlark question that I got. But, to be a little more clear, there will be no Everlark in this fic. I have chosen to pair Katniss and Gale. But this is not the last time we will see Peeta. hehehe. Thanks for reading and please review!
