Wow. Um, yeah. We've had a few emotional chapters coming through, haven't we? Hopefully, you've had enough time to marinate on Mr. Fox's choices and the questionable heritage of the remaining slaughter-children.

To those who have stayed with me from the very beginning, has it been worth the wait? I hope you are not disappointed.

Kindly, remember to VOTE and COMMENT! 

***

District 14

Scarlet Wolfe

     After Violet had destroyed their first bedroom situated on the first floor of the Victor's home in a fit of rage, she and Cadmium had moved up to the attic. It wasn't as if their old bedroom had been beyond repair, but Scarlet had not wanted to go back.

     A fresh start. She had told Cadmium, as she pulled him up to the dusty, cold, completely bare attic space. Unlike the rest of the home, the attic had been completely left untouched, aged by time. But it was, as Scarlet had called it, a fresh start.

     Now, standing at the base of the attic stairs, Scarlet felt that same urge creeping under her skin, warning her to never ever go back to that worn down fabric store again. Like their destroyed bedroom, it was better to leave it where it belonged. In the past.

     But something had held her tongue, tempering her anger and confusion as she left that fabric shop, unable to outright refuse his request for a new beginning.

     The part of her that found it hard to forgive—wanted to bask in her bitter resentment. Especially as she thought of the death that may have been avoided—Aureolin and Crimson—and her own time in the Arena—how her future had both been granted and stolen from her in the aftermath. And then there was Aurora—the innocent, tenderhearted fool raised with love and kindness while Scarlet and her siblings had been left to fight for their survival just one day at a time.

     And even with all of this running through her head, she could still feel the sincerity of his words; she could still see his plea, begging her for one more chance.

     If she did, she knew Cadmium would follow. His heart was much bigger than hers, which made this her decision, and ultimately, her fault if they were hurt once again. Could she give him one more chance? Should she?

     Scarlet grabbed the threaded rope rail and climbed the folding stairs that would take her to the attic. Once there, she pulled on the string, closing the stairs up behind her.

     A sanctuary separating them from the rest of her family.

     Oh, the irony was not lost on her.

     The attic was colder than usual, the summer months taking the stinging bite from the constant cold, but with the sun already set, the night chill was seeping through the thin walls and slanted roof. And even the constant fire that roared down below, warming the rest of the home up considerable, could not penetrate the closed off room.

     Scarlet's boots padded softly against the smooth grained wood flooring as she crossed her and Cadmium's room. Her fingers brushed over the lacquered dresser, where their favorite crystal carvings sat proudly on display. In each of the drawers, new clothing sat neatly folded. Hand-stitched with care and given with kindness. But was it kindness that had driven Mr. Fox to give them what they'd never had before? Or was he trying to atone for his past choices?

     Regardless of his intention, it felt like a bribe. A quiet, insidious bribe that dared her to forgive him. And in the bitterness she felt, she was reminded of waking up in the Capitol's hospital, dazed and numb, with only Finnick by her side.

     "You may be a Victor of the games. You may have left the Arena, but no one who wins, ever truly wins." At the time, his words hadn't had barely registered, slipping through the fog of drugs coating her mind, leaving only numb acceptance. "They are already calling you the Wicked Wolfe of District 14. The girl with a kiss of death. That's who you were before the Games, during it, and now, it's who you have to be afterwards."

     His words had become her reality in only a matter of days. The weight and truth of them sinking into her down to her bones.

     She had fought to win in the Arena, because the only other option had been to die. But she hadn't known what winning would truly cost. And by the time she had learned, it was already too late.

     She knew she could never forgive the Capitol, or President Snow, or whoever stuck her in this hellish fate. But if forgiveness was denied to them, could she give it to Mr. Fox?

     Through the small straight-edged circular window shined enough of the moon's light tonight that no candles were needed. Scarlet paused at the base of their shared bed, the pile of blankets lay uneven and rumpled, empty of the person she was in search of.

     A slight shift of shadows caught her attention, drawing her eyes to the darkened corner of their room. Though most of him remained in the shadows, wrapped in the thin scratchy blanket from before, she would recognize those thin little legs and bony ankles anywhere.

     Without a word, she tugged a thicker blanket off the bed and closed the distance between them. Scarlet sat on the floor a few feet away from him, in the beams of moonlight, wrapping a part of the large blanket around herself, leaving plenty of room for him to join her.

     "I think we have some things we need to talk about." She said quietly. "But unless you want to just listen, you'll have to come out of the dark." They all had choices. And this was his.

     Scarlet kept her eyes on the ground, her fingers tracing a small gap between the floorboards. Her heartbeat pulsed in her fingertips, an odd but steady rhythm. She waited, giving him time to decide, because she wouldn't allow Cadmium to ignore this. Vulnerability was the price of ignorance, and that could get him killed.

     He would listen to the words she needed to say. But she could not make him engage or accept. For now, it was enough.

     His footsteps were the first indication of him moving, followed by the newly formed shadows as the moonlight was blocked by his body. The blanket shifting around her drew her attention away from the floor, and she watched him settle next to her, the heavy blanket she'd brought was now wrapped around both their bodies, blocking out most of the cold air. The thin itchy blanket that they used to share with their other slaughter-siblings was folded and rolled neatly, pressed tightly against his chest.

     There was nothing remotely comforting about that blanket. It was neither warm nor soft nor beautiful or even clean. Yet Scarlet remembered the craving for it just the same when the luxury of the train had overwhelmed her the first time she'd gone to the Capitol. Instead of the reality of the Arena and death that loomed ahead, all she had wanted was the cold familiarity of her home and her siblings.

     Times were worse back then. Or, perhaps harder was more accurate. Back before Aureolin had been forced to volunteer. Neither Scarlet nor Crimson had had to volunteer, nor go into that Arena together. There had not been a vicious, ruthless battle as they both fought for life. Back before Honey was too afraid to go near her. They had been poor, hungry, and cold, but they had had each other.

     Scarlet felt the emptiness and the coldness left by her brother's death. They had never really agreed on anything, and at times she had wanted nothing more than to smother him in his sleep, but his steady presence was something that she had grown to rely on—and even after six months of being gone, it was something that she still expected to feel next to her.

     Here in the darkness of their dimly lit attic, Scarlet felt her eyes begin to burn, the telltale sign of tears soon to fall. She sucked in a steadying breath and wrapped her arm around her younger brother's shoulders, pulling his lean frame against hers. It was crazy how he was now just a bit taller than her. She was always surprised when she had to look up to see his mouth as they conversed. He still felt like the small boy that she could pull into her lap, holding tightly as she tried to keep him warm in the coldness of their old home. How tall would Crimson be now?

     Cadmium's cold hand settled on top of hers, drawing her attention to his drawn face. His eyes were veiled in shadows, masking his emotions, but his lips were made visible by the moonlight shining through the window.

     "Just tell me Scarlet." Cadmium said. His words felt heavy and weighted, resigned to hearing a truth he probably didn't want.

     Her own hand gripped the edge of the blanket, squeezing the fabric tight between her clawed fingertips, as she pulled it closer to her body. His words repeated in her head, an order to tell him while trusting her to know what to tell him, and maybe what to keep to herself.

     A hoarse chuckle left her suddenly. The roughness of the air moving through her throat let her know that the sound was broken and would be odd sounding and nothing like her normal carefully crafted cadence. She didn't care.

     "Scarlet?" Cadmium questioned, probably confused by her inappropriate response.

     "Sorry." She muttered, stifling another laugh. "I came up here to talk to you, got you sitting next to me, and it wasn't until just now, that I realized I never thought about what I was going to say."

     "I'll wait." He answered after a short pause. His hand squeezed hers firmly and that comforted her. I'll be here.

     In her mind, she recalled the words from Mr. Fox. The story in which he told. Before she'd gone, Cadmium had told her his suspicions and that he had gone there to get answers, but he left before he got them.

     Mr. Fox didn't know all the truths—no one person ever did—but his truth was likely the only one they would get. Hale was dead. Sunny was dead. And Harmony, if she spoke, would weave a thousand lies. Scarlet would never trust a word that left her mother's mouth. Scarlet would rather remain completely ignorant than ever ask Bash.

     She drew in a long breath through her nose and let it out evenly from her mouth, steadying herself.

     "Okay." She said at last, after several minutes had passed and yet still no concrete plan had formed in her mind. It was jarring and frustrating, but she couldn't wait forever. "Hale was definitely Aureolin's father." She started with, feeling the weight of the words as they left her mouth. The facts were the easiest to deal with, it was all the questions that were left up to 'maybes' and 'we'll never knows' that were hard to think about.

     "So, the photo..."

     The photo. Her lip curled into an ugly silent sneer. If she could, she'd burn the thing to bits. She hated the lie being told, captured and frozen for all time. Happiness? Love? Protection?

     When had Harmony ever shown any of them that?

     With a tongue thick with bitter disgust, she answered, "It's Hale and Harmony. The boy is Barren—Aurora's older brother. The toddler is Aureolin."

    "And the rest of us?" He gave no outward reaction that the words were of any importance, as if he were announcing a potential storm was about to hit District 14. But she felt his body stiffen next to her, telling her the truth. He cared.

    She wished she knew what he cared about. He suspected it—had told her just as much before she went and confronted Mr. Fox. She knew he wanted the truth—or perhaps needed was more accurate. But what truth did he want? Did he want it to be true? Or did he want it to be false?

     "Mr. Fox doesn't know for sure."

     "Is that the truth?" Cadmium's bitter voice took her aback. Out of the two of them, she was always the one that was most cynical. She hated that Mr. Fox and Harmony's lies had hurt him this much.

     "I think so." She said slowly. Her teeth caught on her lower lip as she debated if she should continue or leave it be. Cadmium's head was lowered, so she couldn't gauge his reaction. Finally, she let out a breath. "Aureolin, Crimson...you and I, we all have the same features. Mr. Fox thinks," And Scarlet did too, if she were being honest with herself. At the very least, she did not think that they got any of their features from Bash—whether that made Hale their father or someone else, was what she didn't know. "That we are all Hale's children. He did know that Hale and Harmony continued to have an affair with one another for years."

     Cadmium's head lifted; his mouth set in a firm line. One she recognized at once from their youthful days. It would make its appearance most often when she gave him advice, he didn't want to hear but had already accepted it as truth. Resigned Acceptance.

     "And the others?" he finally asked. "Violet, Sienna, Auburn... and the rest...And Honey? Are they his?" His voice is hollow, already knowing the answer, but still needing to hear it from her.

     Scarlet's throat closed up, refusing to give voice to the answer of his asked question. She knew the answer too. Her fingers shook beneath Cadmium's. Not in grief or pain, but in anger. The lines. The divides. The difference in treatment.

     Minutes had passed already, the silence was thick and deafening as neither of them moved, and Scarlet knew she had to answer.

     "I'm pretty sure that Honey's not Bash's kid. She doesn't look like the rest of them. Or us."

      Resentment curled hot and thick in her gut. Them. Us. How naturally those words came to her. 

     Cadmium's fingers curled through hers, gripping her hand tightly in his with his palm pressed over the top of her hand. His body shook next to her slightly, causing Scarlet's own alarm to rise.

     "What, Cad?" She asked. Silence met her prodding and Scarlet was not as patient as Cadmium. "What are you thinking about?" Anxiety fluttered within her. She wanted to reassure him—but about what?

      "Do you think Bash knows?" Cadmium asked, his eyes meeting hers for a moment, but quickly lowered to the floor. "Is that why...he...took me there?"

     Her heart thrashed against her chest even as her lungs refused to let air enter or leave. Yes. The answer bounded through her mind, on the tip of her tongue—but she bit it back, refusing to say it out loud. This was one truth she could not voice. Not to him.

     "There is no reason or excuse, Cadmium." With her words hanging in the air, her hold tightened around his shaking shoulders. She let go of the edge of her blanket and brought her clawed hand up against the side of Cadmium's face, running her fingers over the wetness on his cheeks. "It was never okay."

     Her younger brother cried for a long time. His tears wetted her fingers and trailed down her arm. The cold air stung her skin, but neither of them moved from where they sat on the floor. It wasn't until his shutters stopped that Scarlet lowered her hand from his head. She grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it close to her body once more as she desperately searched for something good to tell her brother.

     "Do you want to hear something good, Cadmium?"

     She felt her brothers' body still beside her, felt his head raise up hesitantly, unsure but not unwillingly.

     Her lips curled up in a bitter smile as she looked down at him.

     "We aren't Bash's children."

     "We...aren't..." Cadmium hesitantly agreed, like he was trying out the words and unsure how to feel about them.

      Scarlet didn't share his hesitation though. For as long as she could remember, Bash had been a figure in their lives that they'd all hated and feared, someone who'd left his mark on them in the most painful of ways. Thinking that he was their father—that was far harder to accept than this new truth was. It didn't make it okay. And not just his choices or actions—and in fact, it might have made them worse in retrospect. But it also felt strangely liberating, like a weight she could finally cast off.

     Bash had never been her father. He had been a monster. A bully. A drunk. He had been many things to them over the course of their life. But now he was nothing.

      If there was a silver lining—a small shred of goodness coming from all of this—it was that. Bash was nothing.

***

     As they lay side by side on their bed later that night, Scarlet tried to sleep. Between the long Victory Tour, the warm welcoming she'd received from District 14, Cadmium's suspicions, Mr. Fox's revelations, and her and Cadmium's talk...Scarlet was drained. Her body was tired. Her mind was slow and sluggish.

     But her eyes remained open, fixed on the slanted ceiling of their room. She thought of nothing. Or everything, maybe. Mostly she thought about how much she wanted to sleep.

     A light tap on her arm drew her attention. She frowned over at Cadmium, his face masked by shadows making it hard to see anything at all.

     "What?" She asked, grouchy at being bothered even though it was a small relief, to not have to pretend to be asleep.

     "...D—...we...Hon—" Cadmium's words were broken by the darkness and Scarlet's frown deepened.

     "Hold on Cadmium." She muttered as she rolled from her side of the bed to her feet. A shiver ran through the soles of her feet, up her spine as the freezing floor touched her skin. Scarlet pulled out a candle and lit it. Carrying the candle, she crawled back into their shared bed, shifted closer to her brother. "Try again."

     "Do we tell Honey?"

     Tell Honey what?

     Scarlet stilled, as the meaning of his question took shape in her mind.

     About her not being Bash's kid.

     She swallowed. "Do we tell Honey?" she repeated, with the lingering small hope that she had misheard him.

     He nodded his head.

     And now there was no doubt.

     But Scarlet still didn't know.

     While being a slaughter-child herself, Honey had grown up with better treatment from their parents growing up. Now that Scarlet had become a Victor, Honey's designation of slaughter-child seemed all but forgotten.

     Did they tell her?

     Would it be better if she remained ignorant?

     "I don't know."

     The hypocrisy of her own statement was not lost on her.

     "You wanted to know. And I...know." Cadmium said, letting her know that he had heard the hypocrisy as well. Still his face said he was just as unsure as she was.

     "But does she need to?"

     Cadmium and Scarlet looked at each other, their faces bathed in the flickering light of the candle. Neither of them knew what to do, and perhaps both, finally understood the dilemma that had held Mr. Fox's tongue frozen for all these years.

     It didn't soften the betrayal, or ease the hurt, or answer unanswered questions. But maybe, maybe it gave them both a small bit of understanding.

     The truth could hurt someone just as much as the lie.

***

     When it became clear that sleep wouldn't fall within either of their grasp, Scarlet set the candle down on the small table beside the bed, letting its light cast dim shadows around the room.

     "Tell me about the Victory Tour."

     "Why?" She asked sharply, her voice hoarse from fatigue.

     "I can't stop thinking about it all." Cadmium answered, his face full of silent pleas she could not ignore.

     With a long-suffering sigh she pulled him close, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

     Scarlet stared up at the ceiling once more, as she allowed herself to be pulled back into her memories, hoping they might distract Cadmium—and hoping they might distract her too.

     "Let me tell you about District 10..."

--------

So, any big feelings? 

Any objections?

And now the biggest question... Where do we go from here?
(For anyone who just got scared, this is not the last chapter of this book)

If you have enjoyed this chapter or the book so far, kindly remember to VOTE and comment!

As always, Take Care and Stay Safe! ~CANGEL