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━━━━━━━━━━━ 🏹 T E U T A 🏹 ━━━━━━━━━━━
Teuta asked herself if it had been a mistake to put some distance between Nikolai and herself. A full day had passed since their talk, and she felt awful. She had stayed at the palace for once and every time they crossed paths, he was avoiding her and headed into the opposite direction. The regret started to grow even quicker after lunch, he hadn't even looked at her throughout the whole meal. Over the afternoon, she noticed how unconcentrated she was, her mind always travelled back to him, making her realize how much she missed their interactions. She didn't want him to be mad at her ...
Had her jealous reaction been too much? What she said to him didn't come out like she intended, she wanted to explain why she was so confused about their situation but instead of telling him what she was feeling, she just picked on him and Alina. And didn't let him finish when he wanted to say something.
Teuta walked around her room restless, trying to figure out how to approach this situation when it knocked on the door. Her heart started to pound fast when Eloise rushed over to the door to open it.
But unfortunately, it wasn't Nikolai, it was Alina. "I'm sorry for bursting in – Am I interrupting you?"
She was referring to Teuta's dress, she hadn't changed after getting back from dinner. "No, not at all. Please, do come in. Thank you, Eloise, I got everything for tonight. See you tomorrow."
The maid bowed her head, wished the two women a good night and closed the door behind her. Alina pointed at Teuta's dress when they were alone in the room. "Why are you still wearing that? It looks very uncomfortable."
Teuta looked down at herself, the dress made from a red shaded fabric with beautiful golden embroidery. "You get used to it. Although I prefer the clothes I wear on a ship. And I don't know why I'm still wearing it, I guess because I can't think about going to bed right now."
"It's because of him, isn't it?" Alina asked with a small smile.
Teuta tilted her head in defeat. "Is it that obvious?"
"If he's ignoring you at the dinner table and you're studying the wallpaper with a concerned look, then yes – it's that obvious. Did you guys fight?"
"Sort of," Teuta sighed and sat down on her bed. "I got jealous because the two of you spent so much time together and then I refused to believe that he isn't still trying to court you."
Alina raised her eyebrows. "Why would he court me?"
"Because you're the sun summoner, our greatest hope and he's the man this country needs, a King that cares about his people. You're the perfect match and will rule over Ravka with greatness."
"He mentioned marriage, but he never properly asked me to marry him. And he won't do it in the future, either."
