they are stored away securely. safe and sound. you looked very distraught when i joked that they would make good kindling for the fire.
you were listing all the gifts you would shower me with for our wedding. but then i said i wouldn't have anything fit to give a king in exchange. you said it didn't matter.
[ her paraphrasing steals all of the charm, makes it something that didn't make her breath catch or her heart beat at her chest. laying stretched out in his lavish bed as she puts him to sleep, she felt like they had put prince and saint away for the night. it was just nikolai telling her her company was gift enough.
and while part of her wishes it was, it didn't feel like a carefully dropped sentiment, part of his suave plan to court sankta alina. she knew it was just him, and somehow that was scarier. it made her almost feel like she was worthy of being loved for being just alina, rather than changed for the role she might play. ]
[ a slow breath escapes him, a gentle smile pulling weakly at the corner of his mouth. perhaps that was too forward, too much to say at once with everything that's going on and everything they've been through, but — it was honest. he's relieved he hadn't fed her some outlandish lie borne of stress and brandy. ]
it doesn't matter. not to me. drunk or sober. but if you really want to give me something, i'm fond of extravagant love letters penned on parchment, scented with perfume, and sealed with a kiss. something i can fondly gaze upon while standing at a window where the light catches my good side just so. people love a prince that doubles as a hopeless romantic.
[ ah. well that's sort of an answer. something that fits into the illusion, as much for everyone watching as it is for them. more even. ]
well i'm hardly a poet, so i don't know if i'll be able to produce something romantic or eloquent enough to keep you enraptured in front of the window long enough for anyone to spot you.
it would just be something like... dear nikolai, having received few love letters in my life, i am not sure what to include in this one. not that i think you need reminding of them, but i suppose i can list all of your good qualities. you are brave and tenacious. you take impossible as a personal challenge. you always seem a step ahead of everyone else. and i don't know how you manage to be so horribly charming. i am glad to have you on my side. p.s. also i sprayed some of your cologne on this so it will always remind you of the person you love most.
or perhaps i can try and remember the raunchy limerick about a man from fjerda.
don't sell yourself short, starkov. i would very much like to receive a letter like that. especially one that smells so good.
to be perfectly honest i'm really not one for poetry, either. it tends to give me indigestion. but for the sake of equal measures, mine would go something like this:
dearest alina, having received many love letters in my life doesn't make this one any easier to write. if you would gaze upon me even once, my whole world would be filled with the light of your eyes, warm as the summer sun, and yet as intemperate as a maritime storm. i would be happy to drown in the tempest of your heat. p.s. please don't take this literally. i am too handsome to die.
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no subject
i hope you put my very important sketches in a safe place.
[ while that very much does sound like him, he's skeptical that that's all he might've said, with alina being too kind to give him the truth. ]
are you attempting to spare my feelings?
i'd rather be told an ugly truth than a pretty lie.
no subject
you looked very distraught when i joked that they would make good kindling for the fire.
you were listing all the gifts you would shower me with for our wedding.
but then i said i wouldn't have anything fit to give a king in exchange.
you said it didn't matter.
[ her paraphrasing steals all of the charm, makes it something that didn't make her breath catch or her heart beat at her chest. laying stretched out in his lavish bed as she puts him to sleep, she felt like they had put prince and saint away for the night. it was just nikolai telling her her company was gift enough.
and while part of her wishes it was, it didn't feel like a carefully dropped sentiment, part of his suave plan to court sankta alina. she knew it was just him, and somehow that was scarier. it made her almost feel like she was worthy of being loved for being just alina, rather than changed for the role she might play. ]
no subject
it doesn't matter.
not to me. drunk or sober.
but if you really want to give me something, i'm fond of extravagant love letters penned on parchment, scented with perfume, and sealed with a kiss.
something i can fondly gaze upon while standing at a window where the light catches my good side just so.
people love a prince that doubles as a hopeless romantic.
no subject
well i'm hardly a poet, so i don't know if i'll be able to produce something romantic or eloquent enough to keep you enraptured in front of the window long enough for anyone to spot you.
it would just be something like...
dear nikolai,
having received few love letters in my life, i am not sure what to include in this one.
not that i think you need reminding of them, but i suppose i can list all of your good qualities.
you are brave and tenacious.
you take impossible as a personal challenge.
you always seem a step ahead of everyone else.
and i don't know how you manage to be so horribly charming.
i am glad to have you on my side.
p.s. also i sprayed some of your cologne on this so it will always remind you of the person you love most.
or perhaps i can try and remember the raunchy limerick about a man from fjerda.
no subject
i would very much like to receive a letter like that.
especially one that smells so good.
to be perfectly honest i'm really not one for poetry, either.
it tends to give me indigestion.
but for the sake of equal measures, mine would go something like this:
dearest alina,
having received many love letters in my life doesn't make this one any easier to write.
if you would gaze upon me even once, my whole world would be filled with the light of your eyes, warm as the summer sun, and yet as intemperate as a maritime storm.
i would be happy to drown in the tempest of your heat.
p.s. please don't take this literally. i am too handsome to die.
let's not. fjerdans are the opposite of romantic.