Th_omas

" How about we help each other?" He says and I look up at him, eyes still wet from the tears streaming down my cheeks, heart freshly broken from the public humiliation and betrayal that was Lucas's breakup. I can faintly make out the first droppings of snow floating magically under the light of the street lamps. It's that time of the year, a time for wool coats, a time for relaxing, none of which I'll be doing. "I'm an orphan with a wicked aunt and a boyfriend who left her because she has nothing to her name, how could I possibly help you?" I say another sob escaping my lips. "Marry me" he replies and my eyes widen in anger. Is he mocking me?. I look into the eyes of this stranger and see he's dead serious. "I need a wife, you need a home, marry me and you'll have all you want". I nod.

A Snowy Marriage (A Christmas agreement)

I think this is exactly how I we spend the rest of the day, being called in and out for briefings, and little explanations on the scope of the Winter games.

So it seems that the main aim of the game is to get as much connections as you can and amass the number of people around you. It is to make sure that you prove yourself worthy to another person, worthy enough to make them trust you with everything they have. I can almost imagine the impossibility of that notion.

It seems the only way to prove that someone's allegiance is pledged to you is by getting their family crest. Adrian shows me the one which identifies him as a member of his family, it depicts a ship sailing on the seas and I can't help but imagine how this little thing I'm holding seems to hold so much power.

People will do anything to get it as I had seen before, it seems the little accident that happened in the hall which led to the death of one of the members of this place wasn't such an accident after all. It was a deliberately planned poisoning.

The crazy woman who seems to run this place explains everything in surprisingly detailed explanations to us, everyone seems to have heard of this before and I can't seem to wonder where they have. Adrian said the winter games only take place once in every fifteen years, and as I look around at the multitude of people standing close together in pairs I don't think the oldest is past twenty.

It seems they must know their family history if they are even to be here, and I'm guessing the Winter games isn't as trivial to them as it seems to me. I can't seem to understand why getting people to place their trust in you is such a hard thing to do. Adrian's father's condition comes to mind again, and I think that is what truly enlightens my mind.

It would be a lot harder now for me to make at least a new connection every week, when everyone is vying for a chance to get on the others good side.

I look around at the room full of people and I can see clearly that there is no intention of getting to anyone's good side on their minds. They will get the crest whichever way they have to, and a foreboding feeling tells me that there will be a lot more death to come.

Adrian feels me shifting at his side and he gives me a worried expression. He's worried about my safety, he's worried about how I might feel at the brutality of all this. I am standing in a room full of murderers and possibly the most dangerous people in this place, and yet I'm expected to gain their trust. How is that even going to happen?.

The look in my eyes tell him all he needs to know, as he takes my hand in his and squeezes it sparingly. It gives me some sort of reassurance I breathe in deeply. However this goes, as long as I'm alive that's what matters.

Chapter 45