14 years later

I spent the First Quarter Quell with Barb Azure and my children. Of course they didn't know they were mine. They called me auntie.

Barb took great care of them and always let me spend time with them even though I knew we were both hurting this way.

Every year I trembled with fear that one of the twins would be chosen.

Rosaline reminded me most of Snow with those beautiful curls and blonde hair. Bobby was more like me. He would survive in the arena, but Rosie... didn't have the will to survive. She was delicate.

Barb Azur's husband - Robert Everdeen - had been dead for a year. He died in the mine. However, he left his surname for my children and for that I was grateful to him.

Barb Azur and I cultivated our tradition of giving middle names related to color. However, Robert gave us one condition. The son's name must have been associated with him - Robert (Bobby) Crimson Everdeen. I wouldn't have named him Corio anyway. I could choose my daughter's name myself. Barb Azur burst into tears when she heard how I named her - Rosaline Snow Everdeen.

I was sure that she was the only one in this world who was as pure as snow.

I participated in my children's lives as their aunt. I secretly sang songs to them and taught them how to play the guitar. However, no one ever guessed the truth. Even Maude Ivory, who knew my history with Snow.

As for him, before I knew it, he became president - the youngest president in history. After all, he was only 32 years old.

He got married. His wife was Livia Cardew. I barely knew her as a mentor to one of the tributes. She was an incredibly beautiful woman. She suited Coriolanus more than I did. She had no qualms about killing innocent children. She was able to close her eyes to the injustice of the entire country. I couldn't.

I returned to the district when I realized that few people actually knew me. The Peacekeepers were replaced by others - much more stringent ones. The drunks who frequented the bar remembered a young girl, not a woman in her twenties destroyed by life.

So we went out to the large square where the harvest festival was always held. As usual, I was worried about my children's lives when the mayor showed up.

"This year the rules are slightly different. The tributes will be selected by voting. Write down the names of one girl and one boy who you think should represent our district."

Reactions of dissatisfaction and fear could be heard among people. I was terrified too. Was I supposed to put someone else's child to death so that mine could be left alone?

We had no choice. Everyone wrote their names and surnames on a piece of paper. We waited for the verdict as if it were a conviction. I knew perfectly well what it meant to be chosen. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

"The boy is… Johnnie Wildman," the mayor announced, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

As a mother, I was happy that my child was not chosen. As a woman, I felt sorry for Joelle Wildman, who was crying, held by her husband.

"The girl is... Rosaline Snow Everdeen" he read after a while, and my world collapsed.

My daughter was supposed to go to the arena.

"NO!" I heard an excruciating scream.

I realized with shock that it didn't belong to my cousin. It was me who screamed.

"She's only fourteen! No one under fifteen has survived the games," I shouted, but no one listened to me.

People were absorbed in themselves and their joy that their child had not been drawn.

"Barb Azur..." I whispered to my crying cousin. "You have to go say goodbye to her. Tell her she's not alone. I won't leave her."

"What do you want to do to Lucy Gray?" she asked with fear in her voice.

"What I should have done fourteen years ago... I'll go to Coriolanus." I announced with complete seriousness.

I made a decision that could have saved my daughter or killed us both.

"Lucy..." she tried to stop me, but she had no chance. I already knew I had no other choice.

I managed to disappear before Corio found me. Jumping on a departing train didn't seem any more difficult than escaping from a murderer.

Especially since this time I had nothing to lose.

Everything he could have taken from me has already been taken.