Katniss stared at herself in the mirror. As always, Cinna had designed a beautiful dress for her to wear to the party, shades of red intertwined with yellows and white to create, as always, the illusion of fire. She half-heartedly twirled, watching the dress practically ignite, but today she could barely appreciate its beauty. Gale may have set her mind at ease at the lake but without him stroking her back, reassuring her, she had begun to panic again. Gale didn't know the Capitol like she did, how they acted, what they were capable of. Underhand and unexpected were how they worked, she was certain that if they wanted to, they could find a way to punish her even something designed for fun such as a party.
She heard her prep team's excited voices outside her room before they burst in, ready to start her makeup. She had grown fond of them, which wasn't surprising since before every public appearance they were always there to make her camera ready, and she made a lot of public appearances these days. She tried to focus on their idle chatter as they dabbed at her face and tugged at her hair, hoping that maybe it would calm her nerves.
Once her appearance was finally deemed acceptable, she was allowed into the car with Peeta to be driven to the mayor's house for the party. Upon arrival their star-crossed lovers act was back on, only this time Katniss knew she had to try to be even more convincing to avoid suspicion, but her guilt was stronger than ever, making her feel sick in the bottom of her stomach. They circulated round the party, Katniss hanging off Peeta's arm, smiling, gazing into each others eyes, laughing in all the right places to a boring story from a Capitol official. She was beginning to relax, maybe Gale had been right, maybe they were safe.
Just then she caught site of President Snow, staring at her from across the crowd and her heart quickened in her chest. She tried to steer Peeta away but he caught site of him and Snow had began to beckon them. "Come on, lets get the conversation with Snow over with," he said under his breath smiling at her. Katniss tried to hide her dread but she could tell by the worry in Peeta's eyes told her she wasn't very convincing, "I'm right here, it'll be okay." She gripped his arm a little tighter and made their way across the party.
"Ah! There's my little love birds!" He cried, throwing his hands up. The smell of perfume as they approached him was overwhelming, and behind that Katniss thought she could detect the stench of blood, but it seemed too out of place to be real, so she just forced a smile at Snow, hoping she looked calm. Luckily Peeta took over the conversation whilst Katniss just smiled and tightly gripped his arm.
But Snow's eyes were back on Katniss, steering the conversation in her direction. "So Katniss, what's it like finally getting to be with your devilishly handsome young man here?" Katniss felt her heart drop to the floor and to hide her faltering smile she nuzzled against Peeta and tried to laugh.
"Oh it's wonderful!" She didn't look back at his face and Snow must have known he'd had the desired effect because he took that moment to leave.
"Well it was great that we got to have this little chat." He told them, shaking Peeta's hand. After he was gone Katniss allowed herself to exhale.
"He's so creepy," Peeta murmured to her, "are you okay? I thought you were going to faint." He looked at her with concern; she tried to smile back at him then admitted,
"No not really, he unnerves me so much I'm going to go splash water on my face, might help calm me down." Peeta nodded and she quickly made her way to the bathroom.
Before she could reach it she heard Snow's chilling voice behind her in the corridor, "Katniss, I'd like a word with you in private please." She turned slowly; it took all her strength not to run for her life. He had opened a door to an office and he gestured her inside. Once she was in he locked the door after them and sat behind the large, rather grand desk. She gingerly sat down on the edge of a chair, desperately hoping Gale's name would not be mentioned.
"It's been noted you've stopped sleeping at Peeta's lately." He told her, eying her keenly. She remained silent. "In fact you don't seem to spend much time with him at all." Still she remained silent, scared that whatever she said would incriminate her more. "Do you know we have eyes everywhere Katniss?" She nodded slightly, looking down at her feet. "Even in the forest." She closed her eyes; this is what she had been expecting.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked quietly, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor. She could definitely smell blood under the scent of the roses now.
"I've thought long and hard about that," he replied slowly, enjoying watching her squirm, "and I thought about having Gale publicly killed for his sins of … hunting what is not his." Katniss let out an involuntary gasp and looked up to see Snow smiling.
"Well I'm not Peeta's, you know that!" She cried before she could stop herself, she slapped her hand to her mouth and looked back down at the floor.
"I never said you were dear, you belong to me, all the victors do." Surprised by this comment she looked up at him again, "and as much as I don't appreciate people taking what is not there's to take, I very much enjoyed watching it." Katniss began to feel sick, what she and Gale had was private, it was hers, and now Snow was making it his, watching them, mocking them. "So I decided that since he was so entertaining I would keep him alive, for a price."
He waited for her to reply, she felt utterly dismal and it took a while to get the words out, "what price?" she managed eventually.
"Well, we don't want it to look like you defied the Capitol do we? But I think there is definitely a market for what I saw in the woods. So if you could just replicate that, but with Peeta-"
"You want me to do what?" She gasped; this was a new low, even for him.
"I want you to convince the nation of your love for Peeta, and I want them to enjoy watching it." He smiled, either way he won, he got to use her as his little porn star or he killed Gale, possibly her family too. Check mate.
She stared at him for a long time, bewildered. Finally she asked in a slow, shaky voice, "so you want me to have sex with Peeta, and let you film it?"
"Don't sound so appalled, you already assumed there were cameras in the woods, watching you and Gale, but that didn't stop you. Wouldn't think you'd be camera shy now." She remained silent, this was not the situation she had envisioned, it was far harder, more complicated. "Well, you know the stakes, if I don't see a performance tonight I'll assume you weren't interested in my offer." With that he left the room, leaving her alone in her distress.