✵ SWEETER THAN HONEY ― nikolai lantsov ✵

Nikolai

"And I like," I continue, looking at her, "you."

I lean in and kiss her for the hell of it.

She goes very still for a few long moments before cupping my face with her hands and leaning into my touch. I wrap my arms around her waist and memorize the feeling of her for the millionth time because I can hardly believe that I'm here. She smiles against my lips and pulls away, eyes full of stars, and Saints, those dimples.

"I like you too," she tells me, pressing her forehead against mine and giving me another kiss on the lips.

I stare at her again, unable to believe that I'm alive, I'm alive, and she's here with me right now, right in front of me, and the Darkling, that poor chap, is dead, and everything has fallen right into place. I let out a quiet, delirious laugh and steal another kiss.

Her cheeks go rosy and her expression turns sheepish. "I guess right now isn't the best time to tell you that I turned the Lantsov emerald into a dagger to kill the Darkling with."

"Excuse me?"

She laughs gently and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a gleaming blade, just the size of my hand. The hilt is deep, glimmering emerald, the blade a shining gold speckled with bits of dried blood and diamonds twinkling like the sun.

"That's the Darkling's blood, isn't it?" I ask, taking the dagger from her.

Yi shrugs. "I found an interest in slaughtering power-hungry men while you were gone."

I grin. "Sounds fun."

She flexes her hands and the dagger shifts, the jewels glimmering as it returns to its natural form, the Lantsov emerald, flawless and albeit a bit more shiny than before. In Yi's wake, the cut of the setting has changed into a princess cut as opposed to the emerald cut.

She's left her mark behind.

The world is already broken, and yet nothing feels more right.

---

ALINA AND HER group of Grisha bring me back to Tomikyana, an apple farm that smells of cider and stale bread. We're holed up in the presses and Yi updates me on how Alina wishes to fake her death, having lost her ability in pursuit of the third amplifier which just happens to be the tracker she spent the entirety of the war pining away for. Yi makes me tea while Genya cuts my hair. As I sit and the Tailor chides me to stay still, I look down at my hands, flexing them and watching the dark, unnaturally black veins shift with the movement.

Yi places her hand over mine and passes me a cup of warm milk tea. "Thank you," I whisper, my lips quirking into a smile.

She gives me a kiss on the cheek. "You're very welcome, King of Ravka."

Yi leans against my shoulder and I wrap my arm around hers, the citrus-like scent of her not lost to me beneath the smell of apples. Something in my chest stirs, something not entirely human, and a type of hunger seizes me with its talons, making my shoulders bunch up. I take a deep breath and when I exhale, it recedes like water pulling back, but I know that waves always return stronger, and this will be no different.

But for now, I let Genya and Yi usher me into a lying position and deal with my two fractured ribs.

---

AFTER DEALING WITH the military encampment in Krisbirsk, things have been running smoothly. The regulars within the confines of the drydocks during Morozova's miracle have all been blessed with the ability of summoning the light, and little by little they've begun to dissolve the Fold, dark sands left behind as the shadows desecrate. Alina has lost every last ounce of the ability, but she doesn't seem particularly unhappy about it.

But despite all of it, I still feel that strange demon inside my chest, lurking in the dark corners as though waiting for something. And with every passing moment, I expect it to die out, but instead it only seems to grow with every second with Yi, that unwelcome surge of animal hunger always, always returning.

I have plans to get David to study the behavior later, but I also know that Yi will be leaving for Shu Han after Ravka gets back into order, and I need to be savoring every moment with her.

As I sit by the fire with her and stare at the marks on my hands, she grimaces, shifting in her seat.

I look over at her. "Is everything okay?"

She rubs her back and lets out a quiet hiss, but gives me a smile. "I'm fine." Then she places her book on the table between us. "I should be asking you, really. How have you been recovering?"

That familiar stir in my chest. "I. . ." I close my eyes and tilt my head back. "He's still there, Yi. I can feel it. I keep expecting it to fade away, to die with him, but it doesn't." I look over at her. "This isn't what Ravka needs."

"To hell with what Ravka needs," she murmurs. "You need time to heal, Nikolai."

"Everyone is watching. It won't be long until the Fjerdans try to move against me, if the Shu don't do it first," I state. "We'll be able to hold them off, but for how long?"

Yi presses her lips together and stares at the hearth before us for a few long seconds. "Nikolai. . . there's something I need to tell you." She turns her head away, bronze skin glowing in the firelight, the curve of her jaw shadowed into perfect definition. "When I said I was going back to Shu Han. . . it isn't what you think."

"You don't owe me an explanation, Yi―"

"I do," she interrupts firmly. "You need to marry someone for political gain, it's your duty as the King of Ravka. And with the threat of the other nations leering over you. . . it would be best to form an alliance with a country with resources."

I go still. "Yi. . ."

She smiles softly. "The Taban queen never marries. Only the princesses. And what, do tell, am I, if not a princess?" Yi gets to her feet and brushes her silks off. "It's inevitable. I'll have to return home at some point, but I want it to be my choice. And when I gain status among the people of my country. . ." she trails off.

I get up, ignoring the twinge of pain in my side where my wounds are still healing, and close the distance between us, taking her hands in mine. The flames of the hearth crackle and spark. Yi's honey eyes meet mine and her lips quirk upwards every so slightly.

"We'll meet again, Nikolai. And maybe, if you deserve it, in that time, I'll fall in love with you."

"Saints," I whisper. "You're. . . a genius."

She'll gain the adoration of her people, and when the time comes for me to find a bride, an alliance with Shu Han wouldn't hurt, their resources and military, and Yi would be the perfect candidate in time.

But it means that she has to leave.

And it means it may take years, maybe a lifetime for our happy ending.

She looks up at me, her eyelashes dipping. "I love you, Nikolai Lantsov."

I lean in and murmur the words against her lips.

"I love you too, Yizhi Kir-Taban."

(last chapter after this one and its gonna be in third person i cant believe this is over

-yvonne<3)