#tl&tr progress

She reaches up and unclips the armor from one shoulder. The bullet proof material is designed to look feathered. She holds it out to the camera.

“The forests of Twelve are full of beautiful songbirds, called mockingjays,” she says. “A jabberjay is a mockingjay’s father, and a wild mockingbird is its mother. They are both Capitol and district … and neither of those things. People of Panem — ” She puts the armor back on, and then stops, suddenly at a loss for words. Finally, she manages a soft, “please” and hopes that will suffice.

And here we are! Last chapter of Burning Brightly! There is one more story left to go in this series, the four-perspective epilogue, And the Rain Comes In, that will wrap up the war and the postwar for the Mellark family. I hope you’ll stick around for that … but in the meantime …

Here is Chapter Three!

Please heed the warnings in the tags and in the author’s note. There are some elements of this chapter that are not “The Usual Cate Brand” so to speak, so just be aware of that. Onward!

Thank you to everyone who has commented and reblogged and liked. It means the world. ♥️

“I want you,” he says, strained and miserable. “Or — I wish — I wish I could want you.”

“I wish I could want you too,” she says. “It’ll be easier when this is over, when we’re home. It — it has to be. You promised me, remember? This is ours.”

“Yeah,” he says sourly. “Ours and half of Panem’s.”

Katniss and Peeta fight for their family and their freedom, from the Games, the Capitol ... and from the secrets that still plague them.

Burning Brightly is up!

I have had to split this fourth installment of The Light and the Red into three chapters, to be published within a few days of each other.

Here is Chapter One!

“I wish,” she breathes into the hollow of his throat after the hiccups are gone, “I wish we could live in this moment forever.”

“I wish that too.”

Maybe there’s something to it. Something about the enchantment of this house. Maybe if they don’t move or make a noise, they’ll be washed away on the current to a place where sunrise never comes.

Thank you to everyone who has shared and commented on Burning Brightly! You’ve made my week!

Chapter Two is up!

It is shorter than the previous chapter, and sweeter, so enjoy the family fluff while it lasts. The third and final chapter will be up near the end of the week!

At long last (for me at least), Burning Brightly, my spin on the ever popular “married in Catching Fire” AU is on its way! I’ve decided to split it into three chapters, and the first of those chapters will be posted tonight or tomorrow! I’m linking the three previous stories here in case any new readers might be intrigued! I’m so excited on a personal accomplishment level, because I’m such a slowpoke writer. Stay tuned! 🥰

And the Rain Comes In is the four-perspective epilogue that ties up the war and the post war experience for the Mellarks

I promise it will be shorter … and probably still not published for another ten years … but damn if I’m not ready to give my darlings some peace (and some of that aesthetic but highly impractical outdoor intimacy)

“Ash?” she calls. “Will you sing with me?”

He straightens up excitedly. “Really, Mama?”

“Of course. C’mere, my little jackrabbit.”

He hurries to her side and she ruffles his hair. “A goodnight song, I think. You know the Parting Glass well enough to harmonize?”

“Yes ma’am,” Ash says brightly, taking a deep breath and waiting for her cue, looking every bit like she must have looked to Peeta on that first day of kindergarten, like a bird about to take flight.