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[reznikolai]

Of course I care about her.

That's why it's for the best that she return to Ravka.

[solmate]

It's not your affection for her that I'm calling into question.

It's that you'd rather she'd be there than here.

[reznikolai]

What do you expect me to say?

[solmate]

The truth. Instead of just the right thing or what you think I want to hear.

Maybe it is good that Ravka has her queen back.

[reznikolai]

Don't tell me you're jealous.

[solmate]

So you know.

[reznikolai]

If our dear old pal the Darkling is to be believed.

Which, considering the last several hundred years, is a big if.

[solmate]

An odd choice for a lie, even for him.

[reznikolai]

If I'm being honest, I don't know what the hell to think.

But it must be a political alliance. Nothing more. That much I'm sure of.

[Because for all his belief in the impossible, he can hardly imagine a world where Zoya feels anything like love toward him. And he should leave it there. He shouldn't let out the hard words that sit heavy in his heart. But—]

Let that be of comfort to you as you frolic through some meadow with Mal.

[solmate]

I cannot imagine Ravka becomes so fractured that a marriage to Zoya Nazyalensky is apparently the remedy.

[ Really a political alliance to WHOM. ]

Believe it or not I don't wish for you to have a loveless marriage.

[reznikolai]

Apparently things get so dire that I step down from the throne. And apparently I find a way to legitimize Zoya as my successor. (Still marveling at how I manage that.) And apparently she refuses to leave Ravka's fate in another man's hands.

What do you wish for, then?

[A dangerous jewel of a question.]

[solmate]

Do you really think a beautiful and brilliant military strategist, as willful and stubborn and powerful as an ocean storm is a hard sale?

[ But a Grisha queen? That's the part that's unknown. The people were always quicker to call her Sankta rather than the truth of it. ]

Perhaps the people were tired of legacy.

[ Perhaps he was tired of legacy. ]

That's a dangerous question.

[reznikolai]

You ought to know better than anyone how volatile are the public's views on Grisha.

[A Saint or a witch, and nothing in between.]

I guess what either of us wants has never mattered much in the grand scheme of things.

[solmate]

I haven't forgotten.

Golden fetters are still just that, aren't they?

What do you wish for?

[reznikolai]

[It always circles back to this, doesn't it? After a long pause in which he types and deletes and types again, finally:]

I wish I could have been what you needed back then.

[solmate]

Then you wouldn't be who you are now.

[reznikolai]

And maybe that would be alright.

[solmate]

[ She types something and then deletes it: But who w you are now is who I love.

She deletes it not because it isn't true, but it doesn't bring any resolution. ]

We can't undo our choices.
But I wouldn't rob Ravka of a good king.

I think you'll find happiness in that life.

And if not, and I'm unhappy with my retirement on the countryside come get me and we can run off and be pirates.

[reznikolai]

I suppose there are worse fates than playing house with a trusted friend.

[As they had once done, in those early days. He may not have love, but he could have companionship. And, someday, children.]

As they say in Kerch, the deal is the deal?

[solmate]

Try not to be so down about it. You must have done something amazing to tame the storm witch.

The deal is the deal.

[reznikolai]

As if she could ever be tamed.

[Another long pause, as he wonders if the question is too precarious to pose.]

Will we be alright?

[solmate]

Stranger things have happened.

[ Who ever heard of a Saint getting a happy ending? ]

I think so.
I hope so.

[reznikolai]

[Small words, trembling with possibility like the freshening spring air. He'll take it.]

I do too.