[Oh, indeed. He can feel the shift in Alina beside him, and he can feel the same stone sinking inside.]
Princess Ehri Kir-Taban of Shu Han. She's beloved by her people and gifted in playing the 18-string khatuur. [He shrugs.] And that's about as far as my knowledge of her extends.
[He says it lightly like it might be a joke, but that doesn't cover the grim look in his eyes. Nikolai knew it would come someday, knew it was becoming more concrete as time ran out. Nevertheless, hearing that he's actually engaged to a perfect stranger hits him like a brick wall.
He also knew going into this relationship with Alina that it would be temporary. Stuck in his head is the image of those glowing flowers, wilting on the floor the morning after they first shared themselves fully with each other. We can have more than just this one night, he'd said. And they had. Each day is one more than they ever had together back home. But he doesn't forget that it will come to an end someday. Ravka needs them both, and back to her they would go. He to a time when she's already married, and she to a time when she might make a different choice, but the Nikolai of the past wouldn't be quite the same man as the one cradling her hip now.
It's difficult to think about, and not just because the tangling of time is confusing.]
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Princess Ehri Kir-Taban of Shu Han. She's beloved by her people and gifted in playing the 18-string khatuur. [He shrugs.] And that's about as far as my knowledge of her extends.
[He says it lightly like it might be a joke, but that doesn't cover the grim look in his eyes. Nikolai knew it would come someday, knew it was becoming more concrete as time ran out. Nevertheless, hearing that he's actually engaged to a perfect stranger hits him like a brick wall.
He also knew going into this relationship with Alina that it would be temporary. Stuck in his head is the image of those glowing flowers, wilting on the floor the morning after they first shared themselves fully with each other. We can have more than just this one night, he'd said. And they had. Each day is one more than they ever had together back home. But he doesn't forget that it will come to an end someday. Ravka needs them both, and back to her they would go. He to a time when she's already married, and she to a time when she might make a different choice, but the Nikolai of the past wouldn't be quite the same man as the one cradling her hip now.
It's difficult to think about, and not just because the tangling of time is confusing.]