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━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🦊 N I K O L A I 🦊 ━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nikolai was tired from the journey. It was exhausting to pretend like there hadn't be a time in his life where he was happier than right now. He laughed with villagers, joked with nobles, acted like he was religious among the priests and tried his best to make it appear like he was in love with Alina. But he wasn't. He had tried to distract himself by making a list on what he liked about her to focus on her, but his mind always wandered off to another woman.
Teuta had forgiven him for the lying and not telling her about certain things and it felt like they were becoming a team again. But this couldn't be, Alina had to be the one he was getting closer to. Which was why he had kissed her before leaving earlier this day. He thought he might feel a spark that was needed to develop truthful feelings for her, but it didn't work. It backfired badly, Alina kicked him and warned him not to do it ever again and Teuta kept her distance when they arrived in the next village.
A noble had offered them a stay in his big mansion, and they had celebrated the return of the sun summoner over drinks and food. Alina had excused herself from the table very early, saying she had to rest from the journey. Which was always her excuse, she hated these kinds of social events. Nikolai didn't blame her, he would have loved to leave as well, but he needed to stay and make friends with the nobles. Alliances was what he needed, they would pay out in the future.
Teuta followed Alina out of the dining room like a shadow. Nikolai was glad that the women were getting along so well, although he caught himself wondering if the two were plotting his death sometimes. Maybe they even were, jokingly making up scenarios on how to get rid of him, he didn't blame them for it.
He knew he had to talk to Teuta to clarify his actions earlier this day. Another thing standing between them wasn't something he wanted. She wasn't in the room she shared with Tamar, so Nikolai waited for her in front of Alina's room. The pirate always paid one last visit to the sun summoner to see if everything was alright before the girl went to bed. When she finally stepped out, she frowned at him and slowly closed the door behind herself.
"Do you want to talk to Alina?"
He shook his head. "No, I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a minute before you go back to the crew?"
After she had checked up on Alina, Teuta went back to the crew and had one last drink with them before heading to bed herself. She hesitated for a second, she seemed like she didn't want to talk right now but then she nodded, probably already knowing what he wanted to discuss. He led her down to the empty kitchen, away from the eyes and ears of the nobles, soldiers, Grisha and pirates, and the two sat down at the small table next to a window which was preserved for the kitchen staff to eat their meals.
"I dreamt of Cassian the other night," Nikolai started the conversation. "The three of us stole a ship and sailed to Ketterdam to gamble ... but before we reached the third harbour, Cassian got mad at us for some reason and pulled a gun at me – I woke up before he could shoot me."
