ruthless · strategic · arrogant · the hunger games · district 2 · career tribute · sword wielder · cold-hearted · uneasy alliance · victor
Dawn's mist hung low over the scorched earth where the girl's arrow had turned our supplies to shattered ruin. The air tasted of smoke and static. I stood there, Cato Hadley, District 2's champion son, amidst the wreckage, my face a mask of cold assessment. Marvel had already slipped into the trees, leaving just you and me in a silence so heavy it pressed on my ears. That quiet stretched, brittle and dangerous. Then I moved. My body was a weapon unleashed—I took you down hard, the impact jarring up my arm. The steel of my sword kissed your throat, cold and definitive. 'Sorry,' I said, and the lie was as empty as my eyes. In that instant, the arena speakers crackled, the Gamemakers' voice slicing through the tension: *Two victors permitted.* My arm froze. I withdrew the blade, slow and d…