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corporalicent · 6 months

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when duty becames pleasure

nikolai lantsov x alina starkov

sinopsis: Nikolai Lantsov asked the Sun Summoner to be his wife, but just because that would be a great alliance for Ravka... right? (Inspired by the last scene of episode s2 e3)

rating: explicit (nikolai being a boobs man)

a/n: English isn't my first language, sorry if there's a grammatical error!

I'm so mad because netflix cancelled the show, but at least we got nikolina as endgame??

And sorry for not being here in two months but personal reasons kept me from writing.

Enjoy this one-shot!!

ao3

His words ran through Alina's mind. "Marry me", he said the day prior. "Our marriage is a great alliance to Ravka", at that moment Alina saw Nikolai's potential as King.

His words said one thing but his blue eyes said another. She knew he wanted more out of this marriage, she knew he couldn't say anything in front of Mal. And she knew she felt the same way.

"Please think about it, don't give me an answer right away", he told her. And since that moment, she was thinking about her answer. She had Mal on one side, her childhood and freedom. Her life without being a Grisha, without being the savior everyone is counting on.

And on the other side, she had Nikolai. He was her future. He was her future King. With him, she could be herself without having to compete with her past-self.

Her thoughts kept her up that night as the moonlight was the only source of light in her room. Alina turned and turned on her bed trying to find an answer or her sleep. And she found one of them.

Ravka needed a strong union, and whether she liked it or not, Nikolai became an important person for her the moment they met. They had so much in common, how they became an important figure for each other's people in one night; Alina becoming the Sun Summoner and Nikolai becoming Ravka's King after his brother's death.

With her answer on her mind, she decided to tell him tonight. It was dark, and he would probably be sleeping but she needed to tell him before would regret it.

She stood from her bed and walked towards the door. Her sleepwear wasn't exposed, thus she didn't need something to cover her up.

The hallway to Nikolai's bedroom was full of light as if he was waiting for her that night. With every step she took, her anxiety grew. Her doubts flooded her mind and in any second she was ready to get back to her room.

But her loyalty for Ravka made her go on.

His white bedroom door was in front of her, without even thinking of it, she knocked on his door hoping no one would answer. She heard noise coming from his room and it was getting closer to her.

Alina took a long breath before the door opened, she felt his annoyed face coming just because she woke him up. Instead, she met a surprised face from him as he opened the door. His blond hair was messy, confirming he was in bed. But from his face, it looked like he was sleeping at all, he was waiting for her.

Her eyes went directly to his exposed chest. Her gaze went quickly up to his face, but he noticed her eyes looking at him.

"Alina" he whispered. He didn't have to, his room was far away from everyone else's room. "What are you-" he was starting to ask her, but Alina cut him off with her voice. "I have my answer" her voice came out without any emotion.

"If your answer is as exciting as your tone, maybe I don't want to hear it," he replied jokely. A small laugh came out from Alina's mouth. "I'm just nervous," she said.

He didn't say anything again, he was anxious to know her answer. He wanted her, just her. He used Ravka as an excuse, Nikolai wanted Alina as his Queen.

"I accept, '' she quietly said, as if she was trying to hide her answer. But he heard, he heard clearly. Nikolai couldn't hide his smile, as if his plan was successful.

He gently took Alina's hand and made her come close to him, his gaze was hooked on her lips. And now he was really to taste them. He got his face close to her but before he could kiss her, Alina took a step back. "But no kissing before the wedding" she said firmly.

"Sure," he said as he closed his bedroom door leaving them alone. "As you wish, beautiful". He took Alina's hand and started to leave small kisses on it, "Is this ok?" he innocently asked.

She just nodded at him, thus he started to go up on her arm. "Is this ok?" he asked again, and received a small 'yes' with a laugh. With a smirk on his face, he continued going up to her neck.

He moved her hair before starting kissing it, but this time his kisses weren't quick and goofy but they were more slow and romantic. He took his time with every kiss and placed one in every inch of her neck. "Is this ok?" he asked again. She just nodded, but this time he didn't take that as an answer. "Use your words Alina, I know you can", he said confidently.

She finally said 'yes' with her face as red as Corporalki's keftas. He looked at her with a feeling of victory on his face, both of them knew this was the first time Alina was being touched like that.

He moved from her neck to the cleavage of her nightgown. He played with Alina's pleasure as he got closer to her breasts but stopped to get up to get neck. He loved to see how frustrated she got.

"You're so mean" she breathed out. She wanted his mouth near her breasts. He laughed at her comment, and continued with his game. But everytime he got to her cleavage, her breasts got more exposed to him. To the point where he could kiss one nipple and play with the other with his fingers.

Alina's breaths and moans filled his room as his mouth not only kissed but licked her nipple. With every sound she made, the more excited Nikolai got. He was so full of himself with her reaction, how powerful his mouth is on her body.

"Nikolai" she breathed out, "We shouldn't be doing this". He smiled at her comment. He left her nipple alone to see her face-to-face. "But we're not kissing, that was your only rule", his confident smile made Alina want to punch him and make love to him.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone fanfic #nikolai lantsov #alina starkov #nikolina #nikolina fanfic #alina starkov x nikolai lantsov #corporalicent fics #the grisha trilogy #the grishaverse

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daensan · 1 month

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Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions of Violence Category: Multi Fandom: Shadow and Bone (TV) Relationship: Nikolai Lantsov/Mal Oretsev/Alina Starkov Characters: Alina Starkov, Mal Oretsev, Nikolai Lantsov, General Kirigan (Shadow and Bone TV), Ivan (The Grisha Trilogy), Fedyor Kaminsky Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Polyamory, Blood and Violence, Mentions of sexual abuse, Hurt/Comfort Chapters: 1/1 Words: 6,882

Alina never thought she would be able to let someone else into her life.

Mal always had one destination; now, he had two.

Nikolai was starting to realize that the ones who saved him would also be his ruin.

Alternatively: Alina and Mal are running away from their past when they find a battered and almost lifeless Nikolai on the streets. After saving his life, they convince him to join their escape plans, their hunt for revenge and, maybe, their bed too.

Notes:

Some considerations:

This fic was inspired by the song "From Eden" by Hozier. Feel free to listen to it during your reading.

If you have any kind of sympathy for Kirigan/Darkling, this fic probably isn't for you. Be warned.

Although there isn't graphic depictions of sexual abuse, it comes very close and it's widly mentioned through the fic. Read at your own discretion.

This is supposed to happen in a modern day version of Leigh Bardugo's universe, but it's not explored at lenght, so just have in mind it's in a modern setting.

This is only my second work in English, since it's not my first language, so please be kind.

#grishaverse #grishaverse fanfic #malkolina #malkolina fanfic #mal x alina x nikolai fanfic #alina starkov fanfic #mal oretsev fanfic #nikolai lantsov fanfic #malina #malina fanfic #nikolina #nikolina fanfic #malkolai #malkolai fanfic #shadow and bone fanfic #shadow and bone #my fanfiction

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deanlikeshisangel · 1 year

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he knew the greatness wouldn't last, after all it is the destiny of the stars to collapse

nikolai lantsov's prayer

warnings : none

for more : masterlist

a/n : I haven't gotten the chance to read the books yet so this is based on my interpretation of what could happen in the show's storyline. the line ' it's the destiny of the stars to collapse' isn't mine, I read it somewhere long ago and i can't remember where

a silent prayer falls from his lips as he kneels in front of the golden altar of the saints, moonlight seeps in through the rose coloured glass on the windows, casting a haunting glow across his face.

he laughs to himself, he knew the greatness wouldn't last, after all it is the destiny of the stars to collapse. he wonders if his whole life he was just making up for who he was going to be, if all his good deeds were to make up for all the misery he is going to cause. he wonders if his name is still worth remembering.

he used to have stardust in his soul but now he can feel the monster sinking its jaws into his rotting flesh, charring his bones, grinding them to dust. he can feel his soul fading, it's being replaced by dark edged desire. his heart thumps against his ribcage, it's trying to leave too. his brain is turning to sap and his blood burns with unforgiving rage and hatred.

this isn't him, he knows that.

he prays to the saints to just give him just one more day to live, to let him serve his nation, be the king ravka deserves before the sun sets forever. but as always, his whispered prayers are met with deaf ears

so he screams, have I not given everything?

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ricardian-werewolf · 2 months

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Fanfic Masterlist:

(Cover is of Gassed, by John Singer Sargent. Held in the custody of IWM London). (cover made using Canva). Abstract: Set in an alternate timeline of the Grishaverse where the country of Ravka very closely resembles the Western Front of the Great War, this is a fic that sets out to explore an idea: What if First Army developed their own order of Saints, and how this affects the war effort. Part reflection on Religion, War, femininity, and social propaganda movements, part war-story Straight from the early 20th century a la the writings of Will R Bird. All angst. Characters: Nikolai Lantsov, Dominik Vertov, Olga Kylov (oc), Will R Bird, Alina Starkov, and others! Pairings: Nikolai x OC. Rating: Mature CW/TWs: War, mentions of extreme violence, universe typical prejudices, heavy discussions of religion. Later chapters go into period typical sexism of the late Victorian period, and share cases similar to that of the Red Army's female soldiers of ww2. Masterlist: (updated with new chapters) 1. Over There

Rating: Mature Cw/Tws: heavy discussions of mental health, prices of religious trauma and sainthood. Lots of mentions of attempted assassinations by Vasily. Sexual assault mentions, smut in later chapters, graphic depictions of violence, but canon. merzost being used anti-canonically.

Ao3 Link: Masterlist: (Updated with new chapters).

Stars 'round his wrists.

When I am King, you will be first against the wall.

Take My hand, I'll drown you with me.

But your profile could not hide the fact you knew I was approaching your throne.

The world is lying fallow and you are apart from me.

Holy Water cannot help you now.

Still, I follow the Heartlines on your hand.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

The Cost of the Crown.

I am a world's forgotten boy.

Once More unto the Breach.

The Sun's turning Red.

Non-Grishverse FIC. **** Profunda Venae - Deep veins.

Chronicling a split off of English history during the weeks after Victoria’s coronation, this series explores the What-Ifs of the English Industrial revolution and the idea of vampires being representative of the ruling class. It also dives into the ideas of class revolution, Nuclear Winter, the usage of productive power to control the narrative, and more. It is also mainly a narrative of just how dangerous controlling the reins of who tells history can truly be.

Written during the hardest years of my life, this series was created to be a distraction from the mires and misery of Neurodivergency in a common-education experience.

Book 1 is set in a world much like our own with certain shifts. Book 2 is a world that starts out similar and quickly becomes quite different. Book 3 is a world that is far in the past and far in the future all at once.

Book 1: The Lineaments of Malefaction: [Finished]

Synopsis:

1838 - the house of Hanover and the United Kingdom are at last stable. Queen Victoria has taken to the throne with Lord M at her shoulder as her beloved Prime Minister. However, as always, those left in the shadows squabble and plot.

For what more of a travesty can there be than a sweet queen of 18, and a human one at that?

Wrongs must always be righted, regardless of who is in the way. Sometimes those means are more dastardly than anyone could imagine. As someone once said, family is not stronger than the blood that is spilt on the battlefield of power.

Chapter List, with dates of publication:

1. Pills and plans (2022-03-11)

2. Blood in the water (2022-03-12)

3. A murder of politicians (2022-03-13)

4. Ballrooms and bites (2022-03-13)

5. The Revenants of Pemberley (2022-03-17)

6. Lifting the veil (2022-03-17)

7. Burning down the castle (2022-03-28)

8. Shadows, the stars, and you. (2022-03-28)

9. Oh Noel (2022-04-02)

10. For the Queen (2022-04-02)

11. If we burn, you burn with us (2022-04-07)

12. recovery and revolution (2022-04-07)

13. Paint it black (2022-04-07)

14. A wedding and a honeymoon. (2022-04-07)

15. All that ends well (2022-04-07)

Book 2: The Evils of Darkness: [Finished]

Synopsis:

1848 - the house of Kingsbridge and England have enjoyed 8 years of relative peace and quiet. Victoria and Lord M are at last united in matrimony and state, and those who opposed their rule are defeated or interred. Yet, plans always abound to take down those some see as unpopular.

For vampires aren’t fit to rule humans. Even in a place like Great Britain, wrongs must be righted, and balance must be restored.

No matter the personal cost.

Chapter List:

1. A bad beginning (2022-04-18)

2. Hold tight London (2022-04-21)

3. The Threads of eternity. (2022-04-21)

4. The War Game (2022-05-06)

5. When the wind blows (2022-05-06)

6. The Day After (2022-05-18)

7. Protect and survive (2022-05-30)

8. Operation square leg (2022-06-06)

9. Do no harm (2022-06-25)

10. Nuclear winter (2022-07-22)

11. Babylon (2022-08-17) Book 3: Dum Pugnatur, Bellum Amittitur [ongoing]

Synopsis:

1865 - the thrones of Queen Victoria and King William are lost to the wastelands. The House of Kingsbridge is no more, and in its place, factions plot and squabble to rule the destroyed land once called England.

But that is easier said then done, for England herself is a place of ruin and starvation. For the nuclear winter that ripped the royal family apart has rolled its citizens back to the Middle Ages. But for those who have survived the hell of 1858, there is a new threat on the horizon that may blot out even 1848 - America has been at war with itself for going on 4 years, and there is whispers abounding that the Royal Family may be amongst the evacuees who fled on the steamship, the Kerberos.

All of these whispers and plans within plans make for a perfect firestorm to be set upon England's starving lower classes, for as someone once said: fealty is not stronger than the blood that is spilled on the battlefield of power.

Chapter list:

1. Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent (2023-02-02)

2. Ravens feathers and Mozart (2023-08-11)

3. Paternoster Row (2023-09-25)

4. The Evil Genius of the Republican Party. (2023-10-09)

5. A Plea To Fate (2023-11-15)

6. Marian (2024-03-07)

Fear and Delight, or how I learned to stop worrying and wear gloves to hide my trauma.

Synopsis:

* Set During Season 2 of the Gilded Age - does not follow central plot by the beats*. Title taken from Dr Strangelove. ***** The Russell's Newport mansion could be called many things. The New York Times called it “Grandiose - a paragon of modern architecture.” The Post deemed it: “The newly-built mansion is a sign of the shifting tides of New Money upon our cities elite,”. More attention was paid to the ongoing Opera War waged by Bertha Russell and her arch nemesis, Caroline Astor. Astor had the boxes at the Academy of Music and dealt them out like generals awarding medals to soldiers who’d survived a conflict: rarely given and precious to only a few. Bertha Russell had set up the enemy camp with her Metropolitan Opera house (still undergoing building and desperately needing funds), and sought to gain some of the broken backs of the Academy’s patrons. The more soldiers - patrons - Mrs Russell could win over in advance of the Met’s opening, the better. ***** Robber Barons, The Crows, a Princess who is in America to settle an old Score, all for one very mediocre production of Faust.

Chapter list:

1. Washington Square (2024-01-12)

2. Old Money (2024-01-21)

Blood of the Immortals:

Synopsis:

Atlantic City, 1921. Prohibition has come in with a bang, and the bootleggers long to profit off of people’s desire for spirits. But some of their intentions and creations come with nasty consequences. Sometimes, liquor really can kill. And for Nucky Thompson, that’s a gamble he’s willing to take. Even if federal agents are snapping at his heels, and people are dying in the streets, Atlantic City, is after all, the world’s playground.

Chapter list:

1. Blood stained sheets (2021-07-14)

2. The ivory tower (2021-07-14)

3. The tin soldier (2021-07-24)

4. A Wolf, a man, and a plan (2021-08-10)

5. Every little thing she does is madness. (2021-09-14)

6. Leave before the sun comes up (2021-09-27)

7. Burning for you (2021-10-05)

8. Death Race (2021-10-14)

9. The darkest hour is before the dawn (2021-10-18)

10. Don’t turn your back (2021-10-18)

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dazebrasrecs · 3 months

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Fic Recs: Nikolai Latsov/Alina Starkov (The Grisha Trilogy)

All fics are complete. Note - The fics are book-compliant only.

5 Time Nikolai Latsov Loved Alina Starkov and the One Time He Did Not by Anon

Length: 1k / Rating: T / Genre: Angst / Warnings: N/A Summary: Nikolai Lantsov does not love by halves.

Back to You by shirewalker

Length: 5k / Rating: E / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Summary: Nikolai has been away on a mission. When he returns, it's the council who demands his attention first. Alina isn't having any of that. She misses her husband. And he misses her.

a fair exchange by hanpersands

Length: 1k / Rating: T / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Summary: They have been married five months when the urge finally creeps up on her.

Loss and Light by blindmadness

Length: 10k / Rating: M / Genre: Romance, drama/ Warnings: character death Summary: At the end of the war, Alina is crowned queen.

Redamantia by shirewalker

Length: 10k / Rating: E / Genre: fluff/ Warnings: character bashing Summary: Post Ruin and Rising. Set around two years after. Alina and Mal are living the life. The ordinary life. But Alina isn't very excited with her old dream. Her heart yearns for a power long gone. And for a hazel eyed too-clever fox.

You Are My Greatest Adventure by shirewalker

Length: 14k / Rating: M / Genre: fluff/ Warnings: N/A Summary: After a vicious storm separated them from their friends, Alina must face her feelings for a certain hazel eyed king.

#fic rec #grishaverse #the grisha trilogy #nikolina #nikolai lantsov #alina starkov #tgt #fanfic #fic

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twifairy · 7 months

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Pas de Chat

G Rating | 1.4k Words | Kazuma Asogi & Nikolina Pavlova - Nikolina Pavlova is helped by a man whose name she does not know. - Missing scene from The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band - TGAA 1-2 Spoilers | Ao3 Link

#kazuma asogi #kazuma asougi #nikolina pavlova #tgaa #the great ace attorney #dai gyakuten saiban #dgs #my writing #fanfic #i haven't posted writing to tumblr in like a decade idk how people tag on here #maybe i should make little previews like this for all my works honestly #queue them as one does on this site [gestures vaguely]

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slyth-princess · 1 year

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Me a year ago: “You know, I think maybe I’m just growing out of fandom. I don’t seem to enjoy it the same way anymore. That’s ok though, I have my memories.”

Me almost immediately after that: Joins 2 fests and writes 85k, finishes two stories I hadn’t touched in like 2 years, joins a competition for another fandom, plots several fics and plot bunnies for more, joins yet another fest with plans to write 50k, devours over 2 million words of fanfic in less than a year (yes I kept track lol), starting planning a brand new fest with two other people, started being active in my fandom discords again…

#fandom #fanfic #drarry #lcdrarry #drarry let’s play #Bellarke #Clurphy #newtmas #nikolina #Harry Potter #The 100 #the maze runner #shadow and bone #personal #about me

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amandacanwrite · 6 months

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So I've just realized that I can write fan fic.

So the question is, do I start with Nikolina or JarethxSarah from Labyrinth.

Or some sekrit third thing?

#fanfic #nikolina #nikolai lantsov #nikolai x alina #labyrinth #fic request #taking fic requests #my writing #writing community #writers on tumblr #authors

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 2 years

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share your most clever lines right now!!

OMG well frankly I don’t have anything particularly clever at the moment, but here’s an assortment of Grishaverse WIP fic snippets that amuse me.

Time Loop Nikolina Fic

You’re familiar with this one, post R&R Alina marries Nikolai… but things are Weird. Also they’re all stuck in a time loop.

Darklina S&S AU Fic

Context: after the chapel falls the nichevo’ya drag Alina out too, so she’s stuck as the Darkling’s prisoner in the capital while she convalesces… also he wants her to marry him…

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #nikolina #darklina #I think my hellsing fic honestly has better turns of phrase?#but the fun thing about grishaverse is that the canon dialogue is so! modern!#which very frankly annoys me a little as a reader but I do really enjoy the go ahead to write as many silly quips as I want in fanfic #i ramble sometimes #a string of words #all the bendy punctuations

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aleksanderscult · 5 months

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Read start a war and ekdhhdhdjdh omg

I KNOW!! 😭😭

I'm THIS CLOSE 🤏 in making it canon in my mind.

The Darklina feels were 💥💥💥

Aleksander's jealousy, Alina's badassery moments, their intimate moments. Also Nikolai 😭🫶. His death made me tear up🥺. And his patience and respect towards Alina and his expectancy to love him 😭

#YES I MADE A SPOILER BUT I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THESE TO SOMEBODY #that fic *deep sigh*....both healed me and broke me #I'm so happy you liked it too anon!#anon asks #darklina fanfic #shadow and bone fanfiction #grishaverse fanfic #pro darklina #darklina #alarkling #pro alarkling #shadow and bone #grishaverse #the darkling #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #nikolai lantsov #nikolina

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ricardian-werewolf · 1 month

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Chapter 2: When I am King, you will be first against the wall.

Ao3 Link

Song rec for this chapter;

Not Yet/Love Run, by the Amazing Devil. Summary:

What happens the morning after an epic meltdown from the Sankta Sol? Healing, a chance at newfound hope, and a whole lot of information on botany and embroidery.

Word count: 5,629.

Notes: Title taken from Paranoid Android by Radiohead - specifically the line that @rovinglemon always loves. TWs: None.

Chapter below the cut:

--------------******---------

Alina’s eyes blinked open. She squinted at her surroundings, at the dark green curtains of velvet with their corded ties. The bed she was tucked into certainly wasn’t her own. Alina’s fingers instinctively twitched, to summon even a bare flicker of light. Yet, the hunger remained unfulfilled.

Exhaustion and misery filled her, and she flopped back down in the bed, turning away. She slipped under the sheets warmed by her own body’s heat and drew them over her. Cocooning herself made the most sense - for what good could she do? She was naught but a broken orphan girl.

Even her cartography skills had been torn from her hands. That last thought stilled the spiral of her thoughts, however - she was not naught but a broken orphan girl. She’d been a soldier longer than she’d been Grisha. Her allegiance was owed first and foremost to Ravka, not to Mal or to Nikolai, but to the state. She could still draw a fucking map.

Alina’s golden eyes narrowed in the dim light, and she parted the tented curtains of the four-poster bed to reveal the rest of what was certainly Nikolai’s bedchamber. He was long gone, of course, but a note rested on the love-seat of green velvet under the bed’s baseboard. Alina’s slender fingers reached for it, and she broke the sapphire blue seal.

To my dear friend, Sankta, lover….

Alina,

I’ve taken the liberty of leaving you undisturbed in my chambers for the night. Please don’t even dare to think that this is a debt to be repaid, lovely. Most certainly not. I spent a most splendid night on the couch, and while my back may hate me for the next decade, I slept easy knowing you would be safe.

Dominik the Bold, my dearest and oldest of friends, and coincidentally also a First Army Major in the 22nd, has elected made himself available to you. While he is my right-hand, I hope he shall be a confidant for you. The man with him, no doubt there now, is Isaak, my valet. He’ll be sure to provide you with my whereabouts, whenever you read this.

Please feel free to avail yourself of anything in my wardrobe if it suits you - yes, I know that robe of mine you’ve adopted will no doubt be part of your trousseau - I hope that some other clothes make it there as well. Either way, what is mine is also yours.

Your devoted princeling,

Kolya,

Nikolai L.

Alina’s smile grew as she traced her name in his slender hand, which in Ravkan reminded her of the strokes of a pen on a map, titling Os Alta or Amhrat Jen. That kind of handwriting had to have been trained into him. She had an almost innate sense that normally Nikolai’s handwriting would’ve been on-par with David’s.

Alina’s fingers reached for the green satin robe that she’d become so attached to when they were in Os Alta, and she drew it over her shoulders. Belting it in a knot, she padded over to the door, and pushed the handle down. It swung open with a low click. The nagging fear of him locking her in dissipated.

Standing by the fireplace was a man, dressed immaculately in his First Army major’s field uniform, the hussar-style frogging on his chest was dim, even in the light in the Anbaric lamp at his shoulder. His hair was so dark brown as to be black, along with his eyes.

Alina had a sneaking suspicion this was Dominik. The younger lad at Dominik’s left, clad in the First Army uniform is a lieutenant in the infantry, was Isaak. Bubbly and prone to speaking several languages - both facts Alina had found on the back of Nikolai’s letter - she straightened.

“Major, Lieutenant. Good morning. Niko-The Tsarevich had the good fortune to inform me of your names.” she smiled, watching both men with slightly widened eyes. Innocence rolled off her in waves. She needed to be steel.

Penance, Sankta.

Alina imagined drowning the Apparat in a vat of Malmsey wine, a feat she’d not been able to do last night. Maybe breakdowns in Nikolai Lantsov’s private solar was a roundabout way to being cured of this lingering madness in her mind.

“General,” Dominik bowed his head, and Alina realized with a welcome jolt, that Nikolai had given Dominik her rank as head of the Second Army. Power still lay in her hands, even if she couldn’t summon it.

Isaak saluted her cheerfully, a grin cracking his face like a fine vase. Alina smiled, straightened her back. “At ease, gentlemen. Now, Major Lantsov informed me that Isaak would be willing to show me where his commanding officer is?”

Isaak nodded, crab-walking over to Alina’s side with pure joy written clear across his face. Knowing Dominik and Isaak, they’d probably heard a lot about her from Nikolai. Part of her felt shy about it, but their open smiles and easy, relaxed presence, put her at ease. These were men she could trust, who’d not sell her out at the first opportunity.

“Yes, general. However the major did advise that you might wish to change first,” Dominik answered, his gaze averted slightly. The lack of an urge to ogle her was a welcome relief. Alina moved the collars of the bedrobe tighter, just to be safe, but she slipped her hands into the pockets as a compromise.

“Major Lantsov left out clothes for you in the bathing chamber in the room to the left of the bed. Let me know once you’re done, and we can go,” Isaak beamed, then added a hasty: “General, ma’am.”

“The two of you may call me Alina. You’re as much the Major’s friends as mine.” Alina smiled as she looked at the two-gobsmacked men, and swept off to change. Crossing the bedroom, she slipped through a white oak door to a bathing chamber that had her jaw hitting the marble floor.

This was decadent. The main centerpiece of the bathing chamber was the massive claw-foot bathtub that overlooked the Elbjen mountains in all their snow-capped glory. The window was huge, in a rose style, stained with a kaleidoscope of glass in a rainbow of colors. It belonged in a church, if anything. But, Alina suspected, the window was as much for Nikolai as it was for her. She noted the wash-basin, marble. The floors were like all the others in the Spinning Wheel, heated by those boilers below her feet. The curtains around the tub provided privacy and there was even a window seat with a nook for books. The ceiling above her head was painted to look like the night sky, complete with all the accurate constellations, and the walls around her were painted to be a sea on a calm summer morning. The teal and blue accents on the back-splash over the sink made for quite the charming addition.

She could almost see Nikolai occupying the space, stretched out in the tub with his feet tucked up over the edge, a book in his perfectly manicured hands. The little strands of his hair, damp with warm water curling into an adorable frizz…

Alina shook her head, groaned, and went over to perform her morning ablutions. Nikolai had seen to have Genya tell him what Alina liked, and she was most grateful for it. Her toilette of hair-brush, toothbrush and paste, some Grisha Fabrikator creams for her face, all of it had been meticulously arranged. On a shelf by the garde-robe, her familiar olive Second Army uniform waited.

Slipping off the robe, Alina adjusted her chemise and drawers, and hoped that Genya had left out a corset. Upon finding it to be the case, she grabbed her boots from next to the garde-robe curtain, and slipped them on, pausing to lace each boot up. The stockings she slid on before them were secured with a garter. She wrapped the corset around her body and locked the hooks and eyes into place, then tightened the corset to her desired degree, and tied the ribbons. Technically she could have worn a girdle under the corset to allow her to fasten the stockings, but she preferred ribbons or the elastic garters. From there, standing, she reached for a light cotton petticoat, then over it went two woolen petticoats. Over that went the velvet woven skirt. Her shirtwaist was tucked into the belt of the skirt, and the suspenders snapped cleanly into place. The tunic with its hussar frogging and the braid, buttoned neatly up to her neck.

Alina stepped back over to the mirror on the washbasin, combed her hair out and began to braid her hair. By creating a hole in the top of the braid, she was able to tuck it all in, and then pinned the straggling strands in place with u-shaped pins. Admiring her visage for a second, she neatly hung the satin robe on the back of the bathing chamber’s door, and headed out, closing the door behind her.

Her boots tapped on the hardwood floor and she smiled at Isaak and Dominik once again as they noted her come in. Dominik was quick to hand her a cup of tea and a few pastries. “Apologies for the lateness of the breakfast, ma’a-” he smiled. “-Alina.” he looked sheepish.

Alina grinned.

“It’s alright, Major. No ill will.” She focused her gaze on Isaak. “Now, mind leading me to see Major Lantsov, Lieutenant?”

He gave her a snappy salute, opened the door of the room for her, and led her through a series of long, tapestry decked hallways. “These were the monastery’s old foundations. The rooms that you had, up above, were the rooms Major Lantsov added in first. He started from the top above and worked his way down. At that point in the renovations, he’d gotten very obsessed with the idea of Fabikrated glass structures. We’ve even got a greenhouse.” Isaak explained as they passed a series of map-rooms filled with various 22nd soldiers, Grisha, and former smugglers. Alina caught sight of Zoya and Mal discussing things with Colonel Raevksy.

Her stomach twinged. People would be gossiping. She’d not been in her room. It’d been 3 bells or later when she’d entered Nikolai’s rooms, and it was veering towards 12 now. She counted backwards. 9 hours in his room. Enough time for quite the rumor mill to begin turning. She silenced those thoughts with a sticky pastry filled with blackberry jam and washed it down with tea.

She was just glad it wasn’t pickled herring. Now that there was something in the black-hole of her stomach, Alina’s eyes returned to roving the halls. The tapestries weren’t, she was surprised to find, histories of Ravka. They were medieval European pieces of various mythical beasts of Ravka. Of course, the Firebird mid-flight, claws out to tear someone to pieces. The Stag, antlers gleaming in the moonlight, and Rusayle glared down at her from their flanking positions near the iron-box.

“He’s in the greenhouse. Tending to quite the plant, I believe.” Isaak explained as he shut the grille and the box rose up, and up. The blackberry pastry settled in her stomach. Being sick now was going to be quite the feat.

Isaak slid the grille aside, and stopped. “He’s just through the double-glass doors.” He saluted her, slid the grille shut again, and cranked the lever. He was gone before she could even blink. Alina watched the box descend, and turned back to the double glass doors.

The wall of the greenhouse facing the iron box was made of costly paned glass. Alina’s fingers paused on the cool metal handles. A part of her twinged in fear. What did Isaak mean by “quite the plant?” She hoped it wasn’t something dangerous. It’d do her no good to see Nikolai and be tended by him, only to lose him from a wayward rose thorn.

Get in there, Alina.

She settled her shoulders, and pushed the doors inwards. The temperature was warm, clammy. It reminded her of the summer nights at Kermazin, when she couldn’t sleep as a child. She unbuttoned her tunic and draped it over her shoulders, using the collar piece to hold it in place. The floor under her feet was red-brick with white seams, and the plants around her flourished with life. Summer cherries, apples, all kinds of fruits. Blossoming trees surrounded the space in a fragrance she’d not smelt in months. Not since the Little Palace. There was a whole wing of the greenhouse she noted as she passed it, sealed off in a heavy glass door with a dial-setting. The plants in there glowed with a strange luminance. No doubt for the Healers and Fabrikators.

“Nikolai?” she called out, disliking the uneasy silence.

“Alina! Over here!” Nikolai answered. Suddenly, there was a large, animalistic growl of some creature, and a wet squelch. Then, a purr broke the cacophony. “Good girl, you had me worried for a second…” she heard Nikolai murmur. Alina’s face turned puzzled as she rounded a bend. That puzzlement turned to horror, as she spotted a massive green plant with leaves and writhing tentacles sink her teeth into Nikolai’s hand.

“Nikolai!” she shrieked.

Nikolai grinned. “It’s all fine, Alina. Don’t shout, you’ll frighten her.” He murmured, turning back to the massive plant. He opened his hand and the monster released its grip, leaving his hand unharmed. Whatever was in his hand was swallowed by the monster.

“Her?” “Audrey.” Nikolai corrected, stepping over to scratch the plant’s leafy underside. Alina could only watch in shock, and horror. Her mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish, and she shook her head. “It has a name?!”

“She has a name. And don’t worry, she’s perfectly harmless. I was worried she wasn’t eating, so I’ve been coaxing her to take smaller bites of meat for the past few hours.”

“Meat.” Alina replied, still in a state of shock. “Fine. What is she?” She cocked her head to one side. Her simple education at Keramzin hadn’t covered botany, nor had her studies as a Sun Summoner. No one really dealt with plants when one was an Etheralki. Corporalki did, albeit in a limited sense since they were healers and were responsible for the body. Materialki were the most well-associated, especially Alkemi.

“A venus fly trap.” Nikolai replied cheerfully as Audrey let out another purr and let Nikolai examine her teeth. Alina noted the heavy blacksmiths apron he wore, and gloves. A thought overtook her suddenly. “Is this greenhouse… yours?”

He nodded without looking up. “I’ve planted everything here, tended to it. The greenhouse used to be where the hangar is now, before I figured out how to not crash my airships. Those were the days.” his eyebrows furrowed as he poked a finger into Audrey’s pot-soil.

“And how did you acquire… Audrey?” The name felt foreign on Alina’s tongue, but she pushed past it, forcing herself to look the plant in the eye. Audrey snaked out a vine, probed Alina’s booted foot, and yanked.

“Audrey…” Nikolai growled. “She’s not for eating.”

“But she’s so tasty!” the plant wailed as Alina was dangled upside down in front of the plant’s gaping mouth. “I could gobble her up!”

“Audrey, put her down, gently!”

The plant growled, then began whimpering. “I’m starvin, Nik!”

“I fed you a whole steak a mere bell-toll ago, and yet!” Nikolai shook his head in fond exasperation. “No, Audrey, you’re just a jealous little beastie, mm?” he calmly knelt at Alina’s feet and gripped the vine tight.

“Now, let go.” the princely mask slipped to become a general’s harsh command, and the vine slackened. Alina’s feet drew close to her chest and her face was full of ill-concealed fear. “W-was she really going to eat me?” Alina gasped.

“Of course not. She’s just in a bad mood because I ‘neglected’ her by not feeding her when she woke up. She’s like a house cat - one that could eat 4 fully grown men and still complain at me.” He noted Alina’s white face and rushed to add: “She doesn’t eat people… I supplement her diet with plants.”

“Cannibalism,” Audrey growled.

“And she just lives here?! W-what if she got out, somehow?”

Nikolai raised a brow. “She’d be very remiss to move from the green house. She’s a spoiled plant, and going outside even for a minute would give her frost so bad, she’d die. Which will not be happening.” He examined the belt at his waist and reached for a spray bottle.

Audrey hissed like an angered cat.

“Auds, it’s not for you, it’s for the hydrangeas.” Nikolai’s left brow rose in a mock confusion. He examined a sapphire blue blossom, and beckoned Alina over. “I got these in France as seedlings. They’re from the Normandy region.” His gaze softened as he stroked the petals with a hesitant finger.

“In the language of flowers they mean heartless, or frigid. Suppose that makes sense as for why Vasily made them his heraldic flower…” Nikolai’s fingers tensed around a petal, which tore under the pressure. “Some wealthy courtesan in Careyeva got it in his head, one summer.”

The ache of losing his older brother, even if he’d still been an ass intent on hanging onto the throne by his claws, haunted Nikolai. Alina’s fingers gingerly reached for his linen-clad arm, and she noted the lightly blue dyed shirt he wore. This one had little sea-serpent scales embroidered on the cuffs and tiny suns on the wide collar tabs that ended in a V covered by the apron’s front.

“Sea-whip scales?”

“I..” Nikolai looked down at the cuffs and blushed scarlet. “An embroidery project…” he rubbed at the back of his neck with his hand. Hives were going to erupt any second.

“Nikolai..” Alina held the wrist closest to her in her tiny hands - her thumb and first finger couldn’t even touch around the expanse of skin and linen. She realized that the cuffs also had tiny lace frippy bits at the edges.

“You embroidered them? That’s…”

Unmanly, feminine, too much, too weird. Nikolai’s mind was becoming quite the self-hating space, and he gulped as Alina opened her mouth again.

“Amazing. The details!” She held his wrist up to the light, noting the sea-whip’s scales were actually just the whole beast. The little ruby buttons were Rusalye’s eyes. The thread was probably silver with hints of gold-work. The beautiful work made the scales shimmer and dance in the Anbaric light from lanterns strung through the greenhouse over their heads.

“Don’t be daft..” his lip wobbled.

“I shall be,” she replied, noting the suns on the collar of his shirt. “Why so small? This is art, Nikolai.”

“It’s not respectable for a prince to embroider… though soldiers do have to learn how to sew if they plan to fix any of their clothes…” Nikolai’s head turned away, and Alina reached up to touch his chin as she’d done the night before, drawing his gaze back to hers.

“I can’t sew for the life of me, Nikolai, and embroidery was more my mangling the fabric than anything respectable. Your sewing, your gardening… All of this makes you more complex, more you. I wouldn’t change that for all of the gold in Ravka’s coffers.”

Nikolai blinked, chewed his lip. If he cried now, here, he’d die of shame. He’d not cried since Halmhend. Well… he had wept over the loss of the Little Palace, and again when he’d learned of Alina’s return from the Apparat’s grasp.

He just hadn’t cried today.

Alina’s hand touched his cheek again, and his composure broke. Sniffling, he pulled her to him and buried his face in her alabastar-white hair. He felt her arms snake around his stomach and run up and down his back, which all in all made him cry harder.

Alina glared daggers at Audrey, who had gone stonily silent. A vine snaked across the brick and mulched ground and yanked over a wicker chaise long, then gently nudged Alina and Nikolai to sit. All without Alina losing her grip on Nikolai’s back. If she did, she had a feeling he’d shatter.

He sat with a soft thump and instinctively sank back until he was lying down. Alina was compressed on top of him, and stretched out to accommodate. She took his tear-soaked face in her hands and gently kissed his forehead, his eyelids, and traced her lips down his cheeks.

“Let it out, love.” She murmured, blushing as his hands wrapped tight around her and his nose burrowed into the crook of his neck. Judging by the sounds of his sobs, he’d not cried properly for a long while. Probably barely even ever been soothed.

Alina wondered about that childhood nanny he’d mentioned the night before. What’d happened to her? She set her question aside for later, and returned to fisting her fingers in Nikolai’s curls as he stained her tunic collar with his tears. She should really be sitting up with his head in her lap, but she feared moving him.

Their size difference hadn’t ever really been an issue. As small and slight as she was, Alina was able to take up quite a lot of space in Nikolai’s life when the need called for it. A part of her fretted he’d be hurt by Morozova’s antlers poking out through the collar of her tunic, and she grumbled.

Nikolai whimpered, and she gently kissed his temple to soothe him.

“No, love, not you.” she breathed, tears pooling in her own eyes. Salty and hot, they flowed down her face. What were these blasted things worth if she couldn’t summon the sun? Her morning felt like it’d come full circle. Once more, her value rested on her ability to conjure what humanity had been doing for milenia.

You’re a soldier. Get off your high horse and put what Nikolai needs before you. He needs you, so act up to the challenge.

“You’re crying..” He sniffled. “W-was it me?” His voice cracked.

“No,” Alina breathed. “I was worried you’d get poked by the antlers.” A hesitant smile cracked her stoic expression.

“Oh,” Nikolai sniffed. He fought to keep a grin off his face. He looked so like the little boy she’d glimpsed the night before, that she couldn’t help but say the same words he’d said to her when she’d shut down.

“D-don’t shut me out, Kolya. Please,” she breathed.

He hummed something, and ducked his head. “I wouldn’t dream of it… Sunshine.” his voice wobbled. He scrubbed his eyes and settled back. Alina’s eyes locked with his, and she traced a finger down his cheek, tilting his chin.

“I mean it.” She looked at him with something harder than steel in her gaze, but it tempered itself. “You said it so yourself - ‘love makes no sense to those swimming in its tide. Yet, it’s a tide that brings you home when you need it the most, a tide that keeps you buoyant when storms rock your craft. It would never turn against you.’ I would never leave you to drown.”

Nikolai hiccuped, tried to hide his vulnerability behind one of his masks, but he relented. If he was going to be honest with her, he had to show her the prince behind the act. The boy who ran off at 16 with Dominik. The boy who did correspondence with Zemeni gunsmiths and Fjerdan shipbuilders to make himself into who he was as Sturmhond. The princeling who pulled the puppeteer’s strings to save Ravka from his own family. He sighed.

“And I you.” He whispered. “There’s… more.”

She tilted her head.

“More embroidery.”

Alina nodded, and settled back so that she wouldn’t crush his ribs and puncture a vital organ. It wasn’t much like she could, weighing merely 100 pounds soaking wet. But it was better to be safe than convicted of regicide.

“The tapestries outside my room, near the elevators. I said to Mal once how my inventions were all around the Volkvolny. I built her. But not just the ship. The curtains. The embroidery on my clothes, the tapestries hanging in the old infirmary, all of it.”

His gaze hardened.

“Was made with my hands. It… soothed me when my moods got the worst of me. When I couldn’t sit still in class even with Dominik there to keep me in line, I learned to embroider. Mainly when I was in my mother’s salon, she would often be embroidering.”

He leaned closer to her as Alina’s fingers traced over a jagged scar on his pristine nose. “Her embroidery looks like a soldier took to needlepoint. It’s tragic. Fjerdan women are kept much like pretty birds, and that embroidery is a sign of marital status.”

He cocked his head to one side, and a slow, secretive smile danced across his face. “Did you know that a Fjerdan woman’s marriageability is wholly dependent on her needlework skills?”

“Is it now?” Alina hummed, stroking his chin with her fingers. She wanted to kiss him again, to make him feel as safe as she had when she’d crawled into his lap. “Is that the only thing that a husband wants?”

“Well, it’s a determinant on how well they can keep house and if they’ve been schooled in it. Often the woman gives her partner a sort of sampler with certain flowers determining what she will bring to the marriage. There’s a system of meanings depending on the sampler’s weave, the linen’s strength, and so on. Richer girls use silk thread. In the Ice court, the sampler - I’ve seen one - was all gold and silver thread studded with sapphires in the style of the white ash tree in the Ice Court.”

“Who receives the samplers, if they’re for the man?”

Nikolai’s expression softened. “Normally, they’re placed over the household hearth. Before that, the courting season is notoriously complex.” He paused. “Are you certain you want me to continue?”

She nodded. “I don’t mind you talking about this.” She kissed his knuckles, and smiled at the grin that shot across his face, shattering the fragile calm he emulated.

“A man intending to court must ask for a chaperoned walk with his intended, dine thrice with the woman’s family before they’re allowed to be alone with one another - I believe to determine the man’s… intentions.” Nikolai’s brows furrowed. “Though it does call into question what would happen if something happened after they were alone.”

He shook his head, and continued; “Men bring their intended gifts of winter roses and a silver comb for their hair.”

Alina blinked. “That sounds… almost… too simplistic. I mean, traditional. Who makes the offer of courtship?”

“The man. They have to ask the woman’s parents before anything can go forward. Not like us…” His cheeks flooded crimson and he rushed to amend himself, but Alina put a finger to his lips. “Well, I have no parents to ask, and we’re basically essentially engaged in the eyes of everyone else.”

Nikolai rolled his eyes. “The rumors grow long tongues.” his gaze turned impish. “Not that I suspect you’d mind, sunshine?”

Alina snorted, blinked. “I’d mind much if the man I was engaged to left me bereft of gifts.” she said without thinking through what she meant. A blush colored her cheeks suddenly.

Nikolai stared at her. “Do you mean that?”

“Engaged?” she stared back.

He nodded, slowly. “I… I intended this to be a political match. No feelings…”

Her heart squeezed tight against her ribs. No, no, this wasn’t a political match. It’d never been, for her. She’d certainly been torn between Mal and Nikolai, but Mal was a brother. He’d make a poor lover, and his demeaning commentary always put her on edge.

“I-” she breathed. “No, wait. I worded that wrong. I never wanted it to be a political match.” she whispered.

“Never?” He breathed.

“Never.”

Nikolai’s eyes blew wide, the hazel swallowed by his pupils. His fingers reached once more for the hand on his cheek and he brought it to his lips, kissing each of her fingers in turn. “Oh, Sunshine..” He whimpered. “Why did you never say so? I’d have given you the world so much sooner.”

She laughed.

“Perhaps I wanted to wait. Besides… I was too corroded by my feelings about Mal, raising the Second Army, and then the White Cathedral made me realize how foolish I’d been. You… you’ve been the only one to actually get me, under the Sankta imagery. I’m just a poor girl from an orphanage, and you saw that… and you embraced it.”

“And you are the only to understand the wounded boy I am.” He murmured, tracing a calloused thumb over her gentle knuckles. His smile was fragile, like the first sunlight of spring. A change, a welcome one.

“Then let’s be our true selves with one another. No masks, no Saints or princes.” She gripped his hand in hers, and smiled properly for the first time in that long morning.

He grinned and kissed her softly. Off to the side, they heard the sounds of weeping, and both cast their glances to Audrey, who was wiping the spots where her eyes would be with her large, waxen fronds.

“So poetic!” She bawled.

Alina wanted to laugh, but instead she smiled again. “She’s a bit dramatic.”

Nikolai winked. “The best are.” He patted down his waistcoat pockets and then looked at her suddenly. “There’s something I’d like to give you.”

Alina’s breath fluttered as Nikolai retrieved a simple velvet box. Tears pooled in their ducts and she blinked furiously as she slipped off him and knelt by his head. He sat up, swung his legs over the side of the chaise and got to his knees beside her. “Oh..” Alina breathed. “Isn’t this unusual.”

Nikolai winked, and flipped the box open. There, glittering in the bright winter sunlight, was an emerald the size of a quail’s egg, surrounded by tiny stars of diamonds. The ring was gold, made most likely by skilled Shu-han jewelers, and costing what she amounted to as several Ravkan duchies.

“The Lantsov Emerald?”

“A queen’s jewel, Alina.” Nikolai murmured. “Every Lantsov queen has worn the emerald since my ancestor, Yaromir, took the throne and reunited the warring provinces. Three centuries.” He examined it.

He’s terrified that you’ll reject his suit Her mind hissed. Alina paid it every heed in this moment, and she gently reached up to touch his hand.

Nikolai shook himself out of a trance, and he smiled sheepishly. “Will you stay at my side, my queen? Be my general, my first mate, my Sol Koroleva?” he whispered. “Will you, Alina Starkov, be my wife?”

Alina had read a lot of romance novels as a child. Stories of golden-haired princes rescuing hapless princesses. When she’d gotten older, she’d devoured Ravkan myths, Greek tragedies, men burdened by their hubris and struck down by the Gods or Saints. All of these poor, poor people. But what was love if not to be submerged in a tide too strong to tread alone?

She’d thought love was too far out of reach for a poor girl like her. Never truly considered it. She’d dreamt of it, as any girl did. Hopelessly in love with fair-haired princes in her storybooks, boys who were good and kind and virtuous. Boys who did not set fire and chaos mayhem, boys who didn’t make friends with their whipping-boy. Boys who did not become men who ran away from court at 16 to serve in the First Army with their former whipping boy.

And yet, Alina had fallen for a golden-haired prince. A tsarevich who built boats of wood and screws, who knew the sea as well as any battlefield. He was her story-book prince, but those tales had never warned her of the scars that marred her prince’s soul. Scars that couldn’t be healed even with the summoning powers of a Sankta.

She cut her gaze back to her golden-haired, too-clever-fox, and smiled.

“Yes.” she said, even as tears poured down her cheeks. Nikolai blinked those glorious hazel eyes at her, and then, he murmured;

“Give me your hand.”

With little to no second thought, Alina Starkov held out her left hand, and let Nikolai place the Lantsov emerald upon her ring finger. The glitter of it caught the light, reflected it back. She felt the weight of it, yet unlike the halo of Sankta the Apparat had placed upon her, this did not crush.

It healed.

What Alina next remembered was the feeling of being picked up in a bridal carry once again, and Nikolai’s fingers woven through hers. The Lantsov Emerald upon her finger was protected by the pad of his finger wearing the University of Ketterdam signet he’d always worn since their first meeting.

But, as they stepped from the elevator, all the happiness evaporated as Dominik appeared within their line of sight.

“We have a development, Nikolai.” Dominik whispered, his eyes wide.

“Tell me.”

Alina stirred, sat up in Nikolai’s embrace. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and stared at Dominik, gauging his pale face, the fear in his eyes. Suddenly, the spinning wheel felt almost too stifling, too much all at once.

“The Darkling’s struck a deal with West Ravka…” Dominik trailed off, wrung his hands again. “They’re baying for blood.”

His gaze turned to Alina.

“And we’ve been betrayed.”

Nikolai’s breath came out as a hard hiss.

“Sergei.”

Suddenly, a loud boom filled the air. Then, another, and another. Through the massive windows of the central atrium of the Spinning Wheel, the three of them could see shadows surging like waves, cutting off the sunlight.

Snuffing out hope.

They were trapped - the Darkling had come to pay his due, with interest.

End of Chapter 2.

#my writing #Nikolina #fic: I will follow you into the dark #nikolai lantsov fanfiction #alina starkov #alina starkov fanfic #crossposted on ao3 #long fic #grishaverse au

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susatoslittlebook · 1 year

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DGS Rarepairs, Pt 4

Mikotoba x either of the VZ brothers (but especially Klint for some reason)

Rei x Dr. Gorey (they can be cute & goth together, your honor! & let's say Rei chooses to study in England -- like Susato -- & she has to intern/study with Dr. Gorey, which is how they meet & fall in love & they solve crimes together.

Gina x Rei ( same exchange concept as above. Somehow Rei melts Gina's tsundere heart & they solve crimes & cause problems happily ever after!)

Albert x Susato (he says if he'd met a refined lady like Susato, maybe he wouldn't have gotten accused of murder/built his machine? Ok but -- what if he & Susato got married & none of this happened AU? And what if they work on an even cooler machine together? I may have to fix their age gap here, though)

Nikolina x Kazuma (I feel like this one isn't as uncommon as I think, but they'd be cute together in a way, especially given that he's a big fan of hers)

#spoilers #dgs #my musings #susatoslittlequeue #susatoslittlebook #maria gorey #kazuma asogi #nikolina pavlova #gina lestrade #klint van zieks #rei membami #albert harebrayne #fanfic #rarepairs

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crookshankscrew · 1 year

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these moments alone made me wonder if I should go back to my roots and read nikolina fanfics again