12 for zoyalai?
"Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"
Zoya's voice carried over from the adjacent room. Nikolai scowled at his reflection, pausing his efficient ministrations of toothbrushing to poke his head out and make sure he'd heard her right.
"I what?" He asked around the brush still caught between his teeth.
Zoya was massaging the back of her neck, looking like the couch hadn't been very kind to her during the night she'd spent in his quarters. He had offered to share his own bed, but Zoya had only scoffed and said she'd prefer Genya dying her hair orange to that.
He had dutifully pointed out that his company was far less humiliating, but Zoya's reaction suggested she disagreed.
"You talk in your sleep, Your Highness." She repeated, her dark eyes glaring daggers at him from across the room. He hair was frazzled and her clothes were wrinkled and mussed. Nikolai couldn't stop his traitorous mind from wondering what it would be like to be greeted with such a sight every morning. "Still, I'm glad to hear you've made some progress with Ehri- or at least with your feelings towards her."
If it wasn't for the fact that every statement issued by Zoya was naturally venomous and tinged with boredom, Nikolai might have suspected there was something more to her tone.
"Zoya, dear," he said, popping the brush out of his mouth to wave around like a conductor to the music of his words, "I'd love to pretend I understood anything you meant but even I'm not that great of an actor- and especially not before tea."
She huffed, rolling her blanket up and evading his gaze, "you needn't pretend, Your Highness, I've met the woman myself and I can sense the appeal," she looked back up at him thoughtfully, "although I do wonder about the ribbon, as I've never seen Ehri with her hair tied before."
Nikolai felt his heart drop from the security of his ribcage. How had he thought this was a good idea? Zoya, in his quarters during the time his mind chose to torture him with such thoughts? With memories, and ridiculous, improper feelings about her? Never mind the leak in her own room, this had been a bad idea from the start.
Still.
He let an easy smile grace his lips, tipping the brush her way and allowing himself a wink as he spoke. "Some things aren't for the public eye, Zoya dear."
He would have to learn to better conceal his feelings, his thoughts. Especially as the wedding grew nearer and he signed away his future as well as his heart. Nikolai let himself mourn this loss, lock it away where it could do as little damage to him as possible.
And he tried not to read too much into the way her face closed up, the way she averted her eyes and nodded solemnly. He tried not to wonder if she was thinking the same thing. If possibly, they'd both just let go of what could have been the seed that would grow to be a very different future.
But Kings and Generals didn't have that luxury.
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