♣ ― oksana.

❛i cannot tell if you are joking. ❜   it isn’t the statement that is funny, but the way she’d made it. if the situation were less tense she might have grinned.   ❛   we are in spain. what if we informed the crown princess… in confidence, about those fires and who was really behind it ?  does that conflict with what we promised zhenya ? ❜  had anya even given her word over anything ?   ❛lenya can handle herself, but she is still a mother of a small child, one of us should be with her.  ❜  /.  @rcmvncv​ or anyone

“We are not going to kill him.” Even if it would have solved everything easily — and, in Alexei’s opinion, it would have been somewhat justified. A classic case of an eye for en eye. “Milena will see receding as losing.” To him it was the end result of an impossible gamble. “She said she’ll come join us soon. I expect her to keep her word.” Alexei did not like the limited amount of options they had. “We will either have Milena leave in all quietness, or we will use force to keep her on a throne that the whole world will know is Yurivič’s.” They would win, it wasn’t a very difficult equation to crack, especially if Milena still had a grip on Belarus’ forces. “I just don’t think it’s in our best interest to fight over Belarus.”

“ HE WOULD DESERVE IT. ” for once the younger duchess had said something that vitaliya could respect her for. it was easy to voice kind and popular opinions, it was much more difficult to suggest the callous ideas. “ we should see if he’s bluffing before we make her highness wave the white flag. it’s perfectly possible that he is not willing to see what we’ll do once we’ve been angered. ” the princess’s plan had been so damn ridiculous ! had it been really that difficult to respect the sanctity of her wedding vows ? milena should have returned to russia immediately after her mistake. “ tell him, tell the french that we think it’s amoral for them to use a two-year-old child in their schemes. ”

“ she wants to be queen. ” her jaw is beginning to set, eyes flicking from nadya to lyosha, burning look easy to read: don’t fund this. “ but she is a mother. she’ll protect katya. ” how strong was the evidence the duke had? surely he hadn’t managed to get his hands on a paternity test. “ if he wanted this information out, it would be out already. but he also knows we can turn around and call him an attempted baby-murderer. ” there must be footage of the incident they could release, showing lenya refusing the poisoned glass and lyosha taking it. “ he must want to meet. ” / @rcmvncv​ or whoever!

“–It went well.” It wasn’t a secret, exactly, but he hadn’t expected it to be common knowledge. At least not yet! A few weeks was such a short time.–At least it was in the far eastern duchies…It seemed things were different here. And even more different from what he had expected. “I believe it went well, in any case. She holds her cards close to her chest.” A case of the pot calling the kettle black, at the moment. “But we’re so closely bordered that it’s in everyone’s best interest for things to be friendly, so I’m hopeful.”

He turned back to thank the stranger with a wave as he fell into step with Oksana. “Good. A feeling of generosity is good,” the ghost of a smile played at the corner of his mouth, “I hope it’s catching.” He had come with his hand out, after all. “Mystery visit? No,” he brushed the idea, and any implication, away. “Meetings. And I met with the programme organisers.; I expected the process of finding an apartment and having it made liveable would be more laborious than it turned out to be.” For him, at least. Someone must have worked overtime to plan his arrival. “Is everything made quite so comfortable, here? I had almost expected a war bunker.”

“No.” He frowned. If the grand duke hadn’t been here for him, then… “Did he meet with Anya?”

should she have stayed at the casino for the party? anya hadn’t noticed any of the friendliness zhenya mentioned. “ have any of us been maintaining relations with them? ” the words are pointed, for no one other than her brother – he could not forever rely on everyone else handling his messes. “ do we know why they’ve joined the program, are they asking for meetings? i doubt they have any interest in embroiling themselves in more conflict. ” fingertips drum against her jaw, lips in a thin line. “ someone in france knows something. the king’s sister speaks plenty, but little has been relevant. is there anyone else we could apply pressure on who might know more? ” freja, maybe, if alexei were capable of pushing. [ @rcmvncv​ ]

“Ksyusha can answer that,” Alexei muttered. If being friendly with the Ukrainians was a crime, Oksana would have had quite a lot to answer for. “Do we know if they have meetings? Would that information reach us?” They weren’t stupid enough to speak to the friends of Russia — and secret meetings were almost too easy to arrange at the building. “I haven’t asked the Sävelsalos to go near them. I’d rather they didn’t.” A Finnish-Ukrainian friendship sounded like a match made in hell for him. “Ukraine can’t find a connection to Equanimity.” If Equanimity began shoveling money into Ukraine, things would get out of hand. “I don’t have anyone at the French court,” Alexei replied with a shrug. ( ** @zhcnyv​ / @aromancva​ )

“ if we find the evidence we need and want to publicize that we have caught the assassin, the natural consequence will be pulling out of ukraine. ” the entire military tactic had been founded upon baseless rumors; they wouldn’t hold once the truth was revealed. “ should we be expecting retaliation for our actions? what will it take to end the conflict? ”