( isn't your brother a duke? she types, then deletes in a whirlwind of self-doubt. paul would be irritated with her pushing the point, like a scab she can't stop picking at, but — it's only fully occurred to her what that well-bred lineage entails. vows exchanged for an alliance, bloodlines secured — not so different from nikolai's need for a queen to bear ravka an heir, a baby to bandage together their country's gaping wounds. self-punishing, she has to tighten her fingers together to resist from striking send, to resist from asking alia what suitors have come knocking at her door.
stupidly happy to live in cowardly ignorance, she pauses, lets the blip of bubbles that pop onto the screen disappear. she could admit to nikolai's proposal, still gnawing at the back of her skull. could confess to the cautious thought it might truly usher in a new era of unification for ravka.
she opts for something lesser, instead. )
Most people in Ravka marry for practical reasons. Farmers and royals alike. I'm probably more suited to frogs. At least you can throw them back into a pond if they're a terrible husband.
( she falls silent again, fumbling with her attempt at offering comfort from a distance. she knows how paranoid it would sound to warn alia away from strangers, so, a pivot: )
Your fourteen novels would have come in handy. Have you read anything else while we've been trapped inside?
no subject
stupidly happy to live in cowardly ignorance, she pauses, lets the blip of bubbles that pop onto the screen disappear. she could admit to nikolai's proposal, still gnawing at the back of her skull. could confess to the cautious thought it might truly usher in a new era of unification for ravka.
she opts for something lesser, instead. )
Most people in Ravka marry for practical reasons. Farmers and royals alike.
I'm probably more suited to frogs. At least you can throw them back into a pond if they're a terrible husband.
( she falls silent again, fumbling with her attempt at offering comfort from a distance. she knows how paranoid it would sound to warn alia away from strangers, so, a pivot: )
Your fourteen novels would have come in handy.
Have you read anything else while we've been trapped inside?