Blood and Water - The Darkling

Chapter 17: More Forgiving

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𝖂𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗 looked different to me here. Alina and I never had much time to enjoy the simple pleasures snow can bring. We spent sunny afternoons skating on the lake or sledding on the palace grounds with the other Summoners. Snowy evenings were spent in the domed hall, gathered around the tile ovens, drinking kvas and gorging ourselves on sweets. My twin still doesn't like Ivan, so during the late hours, I would leave her side to sit with him and Fedyor.

We celebrated the feast of Sankt Nikolai with huge bowls of dumpling soup and kutya made with honey and poppy seeds. Some of the other Grisha left the palace to go on sleigh rides and dog sledding excursions in the snow-blanketed countryside surrounding Os Alta, but for security reasons, Alina and I were still confined to the palace grounds.

I didn't mind. Yes, I love all of the Grisha but I also enjoy spending that time sitting with my twin and Genya. We drank tea and gossiped by the fire. I loved to hear all the court gossip, and even better were the tales of the opulent parties at the Grand Palace.

At the end of the season, the King and the Queen would host a final winter fete that all the Grisha would attend. Genya claimed it would be the most lavish party of all. Every noble family and high court officer would be there, along with military heroes, foreign dignitaries, and the tsarevitch, the King's eldest son and heir to the throne. I'd once seen the Crown Prince riding around the palace grounds on a white gelding that was roughly the size of a horse. I remember thinking that he looked extremely tired or supremely bored.

"Probably drunk," Genya had said, stirring her tea. "He devotes all his time to hunting, horses, and imbibing. Drives the Queen mad."

"Well, Ravka is at war. He should be more concerned with matters of state," I had replied.

"Oh, she doesn't care about that. She just wants him to find a bride instead of gallivanting around the world spending mounds of gold buying up ponies."

"What about the other one?" Alina asked.

"Sobachka?"

"You can't call a royal prince 'puppy.'" my twin huffed while I laughed.

"That's what everyone calls him." She lowered her voice. "And there are rumors that he isn't strictly royal."

Alina and I both choked on our tea, exclaiming, "No!"

"Only the Queen knows for sure. He's a bit of a black sheep anyway. He insisted on doing his military service in the infantry, then he apprenticed to a gunsmith."

"I already like him better than the other one," I replied with a grin.

"And he's never at court?" Alina had asked.

"Not in years. I think he's off studying shipbuilding or something equally dull. He'd probably get along with David," she added sourly.

"What do you two talk about, anyway?" Alina asked curiously.

Genya had sighed. "The usual. Life. Love. The melting point of iron ore." She had then wound a curl of bright red hair around her finger, and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. "He's actually quite funny when he lets himself be."

"Really?" I asked.

Genya shrugged. "I think so."

Alina patted her hand reassuringly. "He'll come around. He's just shy."

"Maybe I should lie down on a table in the workroom and wait to see if he welds something to me."

"I think that's the way most great love stories begin," joked my twin.