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CHAPTER SIXTEEN ▪▫▪▫▪
NIKOLAI LANTSOV, FUTURE KING OF RAVKA. A position in the world where the crown weigh more than just one country, where his enemies were more than his friends, and where he had the pressure of the entire Ravkan population to make the Lantsov name mean something good again.
What was done to me can never be undone, Genya had told him as he tried to apologize, for his father, his mother, his name. What I want to know is whether or not you truly mean to fix all that is broken about Ravka, or if you are just destined to repeat the failures of our previous kings.
Nikolai wouldn't—couldn't—be like his family, like Vasily, like his father. Men who took advantage of a country like it was their own courtyard to prance about without a care for the welfare of the population, the state of their foreign affairs, and the fact that their country was being ripped apart at the seams.
But he wasn't the king. Not yet. Right now he was just trying to keep everyone under his care safe at the fort at Zvedya, so they could chart a plan once and for all to destroy the Fold. Kill the Darkling.
Then he could deal with Fjerda and Shu Han. Then he could deal with all the enemies that didn't control the shadows. Then he could deal with breaking off his engagement to the Sun Summoner. Because if he was going to do all that, to accept the weight of the crown, he needed her.
He needed Morana by his side because as long as she was there the weight would be tolerable, the pressure would lessen and he wouldn't be... alone. Still, he had to end the engagement and convince her to stay with him, and Nikolai feared that last part would be harder than destroying the Fold.
"Nikolai!"
Nikolai halted in his steps, frowning as he saw Mal show up out of literally nowhere. "Oh, Saints! I was beginning to worry I might have to tell Alina you're dead. Where did my scout find you?"
"I found him, coming out of a well that lead down here," said Mal as he strained his neck over him, trying to glance around the world.
"Was it because of your link with Mora?"
"Partly," the tracker answered absentmindedly. "Where's Alina?"
Nikolai patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, she's safe."
"Mal? You're back!" Morana's voice sounded through the walls of the caves like a melody in Nikolai's ears and he turned towards his siren but the smile on his lips fell as she lunged at Mal, wrapping her arms around him. "What the hell happened to you?"
