#ivan.002

October had ended, and with it, Rasa's case of the blues slowly fizzled, tucked away in the back of her head, waiting for the moment when they would resurface. As days passed, the Lithuanian felt more confident to leave her bedroom and to see other people. It was how she heard about the many rumors surrounding the Russian family.

She heard her sister was joining the family. She heard Maggie was being pushed off of it. She heard Maggie was being pushed off because she and Ausra had had some sort of falling out and Ausra demanded it. Rumors spread like a wildfire through the castle, and as unbelievable as they might have sounded, they all had something in common: Ausra was getting married, while Maggie was being disowned. Even though Rasa might have been out of the loop, she knew them enough to realize the gossip about her sister and Maggie having fought was ridiculous.

Rasa's talk with her Ausra about all of it would have to wait, for there were two other people she needed a word with. Maggie would be harder to locate, and as the princess thought about that, her feet idly made a way towards Ivan's study. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, she was already standing in front of his door. She banged on the wooden frame with her fist. "Ivan, I know you're in there, so open up!" she called out.

“No, I tend to skip the food at least, and definitely the small talk and get to the good stuff,” he commented, the corners of his lips twitching as he looked her dead in the eye. He hoped she remembered the time she had walked in on him and seen everything. “I don’t know what you do, talk about the weather. Makes more sense to say what you like in bed.”

.

Oh dear God. Out of all the people in this room, he had to be the one to sit with her. Bee thought to herself as heat began creeping up her cheeks as she drew a deep breath inside. "The good stuff?" she gulped, then let out a nervous little laugh. She could still remember their last encounter. Down to the very last detail of it, and she was pretty sure her cheeks were as red as the lipstick on her lips. Maybe she could blame it on the wine. She'd heard him, loud and clear, but it didn't mean she had anything to say about it. Instead, she just stared at him while opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, without any sound emerging from it.