The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)

by Suzanne Collins

“You’re good at games. Maybe one day you’ll be a Gamemaker.”

“My mother always smelled like roses,”

“Oh, Lucy Gray, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry about all of this.” “It’s not your fault,” she said. “You must hate me. You should. I would hate me,” he said. “I don’t hate you. The Hunger Games weren’t your idea,” she replied.

“You matter to me,” he insisted.

“You matter to me, Lucy Gray,”

His girl. His.

What he desired had little to do with nobility and everything to do with being in control.

When I told you that you mattered to me, I didn’t mean as my tribute. I meant as you. You, Lucy Gray Baird, as a person. As my friend. As my —” What was the word for it? Sweetheart? Girlfriend? He could not claim more than a crush, and that might be one-sided. But what could he possibly have to lose by admitting she’d gotten to him? “I felt jealous after your ballad, because I wanted you to be thinking about me, not someone from your past. It’s stupid, I know. But you’re the most incredible

girl I’ve ever met. Really. Extraordinary in every way. And I . . .” Tears welled in his own eyes, but he blinked them away. He had to stay strong for them both. “And I don’t want to lose you. I refuse to lose you.

“You’re all I’m going to think about in that arena,” she whispered.

Then she gave him a kiss. Not a peck. A real kiss on the lips, with hints of peaches and powder.

Star-crossed lovers

What happened if no one was in control of humanity?

His girl.

“Can’t remember. But some girl will be singing. Supposed to be pretty good. Lucy somebody.” Lucy somebody. Coriolanus’s heart leaped and a grin nearly split his face in two.

had his beard filled in?

Her eyes followed Maude Ivory’s finger until they landed on him. A look of confusion crossed her face, then recognition, and then joy.

in love with him.

It’s him, Coriolanus thought with dead certainty, his stomach twisting unpleasantly. It’s the lover from the song.

Are you, are you Coming to the tree

Where they strung up a man they say murdered three? Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where the dead man called out for his love to flee?

Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

thoughts of becoming a legendary military leader like his father.

Maybe this had been his destiny all along.

just the two of them against the world.

You’re pure as the driven snow.

Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man they say murdered three?

“You’re all that matters to me now.”

You’re my life now.

What was there to aspire to once wealth, fame, and power had been eliminated?

“I think I’ll go dig up some katniss, since we got the fire going anyway. There’s a good patch by the lake.”

he’d have laughed at the irony of how quickly their relationship had deteriorated into their own private Hunger Games.

They’re not just to punish the districts, they’re part of the eternal war. Each one is its own battle. One we can hold in the palm of our hand, instead of waging a real war that could get out of our control.”

“Oh, I think half the credit for that goes to your father,” said the dean.

And he didn’t like love, the way it had made him feel stupid and vulnerable. If he ever married, he’d choose someone incapable of swaying his heart. Someone he hated, even, so they could never manipulate

him the way Lucy Gray had. Never make him feel jealous. Or weak. Livia Cardew would be perfect. He imagined the two of them, the president and his first lady, presiding over the Hunger Games

He’d continue the Games, of course, when he ruled Panem. People would call him a tyrant, ironfisted and cruel. But at least he would ensure survival for survival’s sake, giving them a chance to evolve. What el...

What all of Panem would know one day. What was inevitable. Snow lands on top.