[ there are other ways to get what you want. this is proof, isn't it? sweet words with a molten warm center. flattery that would threaten to swoon her, if she were anything akin to the frilly dolls that line nikolai's court, eager to be the king's furniture if it would earn them a single scrap of attention. that's more precarious, she thinks, than cold-blooded murder. at least spilled blood is gruesomely honest, unable to lie about what it is.
but this — this feels as honest as the golden masks and heavy perfumes of the court, heavy and concealing. like presenting her with a gilded version of what her life could be, until she's mistaken painted copper for true gold. alina's stomach roils, seasick from all her failing attempts to chart nikolai's intentions.
she swallows down the bad taste in her mouth. aims for something diplomatically casual. ]
then we'll try. though i imagine it's not hard to do when the bar is below ground. you may want to set your sets higher. i've never known you to lack ambition.
[ if he were aware of her overactive mind's ongoings, it would sound like the pointed thing it is. as it stands, she lets it read as she wants it to read to him: a stated fact. a possible compliment.
in the end, he's not the only one who knows how to get what they want from this. ]
puts my hand over this timestamp
but this — this feels as honest as the golden masks and heavy perfumes of the court, heavy and concealing. like presenting her with a gilded version of what her life could be, until she's mistaken painted copper for true gold. alina's stomach roils, seasick from all her failing attempts to chart nikolai's intentions.
she swallows down the bad taste in her mouth. aims for something diplomatically casual. ]
then we'll try.
though i imagine it's not hard to do when the bar is below ground. you may want to set your sets higher.
i've never known you to lack ambition.
[ if he were aware of her overactive mind's ongoings, it would sound like the pointed thing it is. as it stands, she lets it read as she wants it to read to him: a stated fact. a possible compliment.
in the end, he's not the only one who knows how to get what they want from this. ]