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« solntse » TEXT ✧ AUDIO ✧ VIDEO ✧ ACTION ALINA STARKOV ✦ GRISHAVERSE
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this is so late i'm so sorry

[greenbriar]

[ It gives him pause, reading that message.

In many ways, it's a very familiar thing to do -- half truths, lies by omission. Is this not what he and Jude have done to each other so often?

But love built on deceit is a fragile, uncertain thing. ]

He knew you had not died, then?

[ That's a blunt thing to ask someone, but he's trying to figure out how much judgment to levy Nikolai's way. ]

I could put a curse on him, you know. Something devastating, like perpetually wrinkled trousers.

shhh don't worry about it

[solmate]

Yes. Although I got married to someone else, so maybe it was all the same to him.

[ It's a??? Joke??? But it was his pride and the sting of rejection that led to many months of misunderstanding. ]

Yes and maybe a small stain that he never notices until after he's left the house. I think that might be against some international treaties though.

[ Now that's an actual joke. ]

[greenbriar]

How lucky that I am unbound by mortal treaties.

[ Look, Nikolai may be his closest competition where impeccable dress sense is concerned. It’s only natural to want to sabotage him. Just a little. ]

Are condolences or congratulations in order?

[ Re: her marriage, of course. ]

[solmate]

Congratulations. I think.

Saints, that sounds so bad.
There was a time when it was all I would have wanted.
And it's not that I don't want it now. I still want it.

[ She loves Mal in the way she always has, now with a better word for it. One she's still afraid to say, still not sure she deserves in return. But... ]

Things are different now. Here. They're different here.

[greenbriar]

[ Hm.

This sounds a little familiar. ]

Because you're not a saint here?

Or because he doesn't have to be a king?

[ ...he has to phrase that last one carefully, because he imagines they both know that Nikolai is a king wherever and whenever he is. ]

[solmate]

Both? Neither?

It shouldn't matter.

And it doesn't. The fact that he is not a king did not stop him from wearing a mask or playing games because of a wounded ego.

[greenbriar]

Would there have been a better reason to lie?

[ He's curious about this, given how much of his relationship is built on deception. ]

[solmate]

What? No, of course not.

[ Pot, kettle. Alina is hardly one to talk with the many secrets she keeps hidden in the dark. But that is different! ]

Not about that.
He should know better.
I've been tricked before by men telling me half a story.
Maybe I only have myself to blame.

[greenbriar]

I've never known a love without a measure of deceit.

Though I confess I do not know what it is like for mortals. Many of you are much worse at lying than I expected you to be. [ Looking at you, Matt and Konoha... ]

[solmate]

So you purposefully deceive your wife?

[greenbriar]

And she me.

Have I not told you? Royals make terrible spouses.