#nikoloya

Good morning, I just wanna introduce y'all to the new parents Kaz Brekker deserves.

* From a political standpoint they were both aware that they needed a heir to the throne but they were never in a rush to have kids

* Zoya insisted for many years after they were married to put off having children. Why tamper with a body like her’s?

* Really though it was just never the time. She was a soldier first and a leader second. Being a wife and mother fell somewhere after that.

* Nikolai was also busy of course. The country was broke and drowning in tense foreign relations, not to mention they were both still recovering from the civil war.

* Even though he would never say it, Nikolai knew that if he had kids he was going to raise them right. The country came before the person, and until they weren’t so absorbed in their work he wouldn’t bring a child into the world

* He knew what an dead beat Dad was like

* Zoya was even more unfamiliar with the concept of a functioning family. Ravkan Grisha didn’t really believe in raising their children. After they were sent to the second army they didn’t have much contact with their parents.

* As years went by, though, the people began to wonder about who would take on the throne. If a blood heir wasn’t conceived the country would fall into the hands of some rich duke, and the country was in no place to handle that kind of a transition.

* It was almost laughable. The only “blood” their child would have was that of a bastard prince and a grisha, but they would rule all the same.

* Nikolai was the one to bring it up. Zoya was his wife but he would have been insane to stop being terrified of her. There was a delicacy to not being blown out of his chair at dinner, and the concept of her being out of commission for nine months was on very thin ice.

* When she stayed silent for a few moments he worried he might have signed his death wish.

* Zoya hated being helpless, and if she was pregnant they wouldn’t be able to risk her going out into battle.

* She agreed though without any argument. He nearly choked on his drink in surprise

* They made an agreement. She would bare his heir, but that would be their only child.

* After a few months of trying Zoya got the tell-take sign of a mother to be: morning sickness

* Nikolai notices a drastic change in attitude toward pregnancy after she spends a few morning vomiting

* She creates a few creative strings of curses he hadn’t even heard before, and he was literally a pirate (privateer) for years

* He takes her anger like a man though and holds back her hair while he reviews over the mornings paper work

* She won’t admit it but she knows she’s lucky. He took care of her (even though she deserved it and would stand for no less)

* She worked through her first trimester without a hitch

* When she hit her second trimester it was announced to the country that the queen was expecting

* By the third trimester the problem was that she was just,, large

* Unfortunately, she couldn’t be allowed to practice and keep in shape and if she went out into the city she was bound to be asked to feel her stomach

* It was generally frowned upon to threaten to cut off your subjects hand

* She could tell Nikolai was happy, though

* He worked as hard as ever. Maybe because she’d threatened to go back out into the field if he allowed his work to pile up along with hers. Maybe he just knew he couldn’t afford to relax even if a baby was on the way

* She never said anything but sometimes she wondered what kind of life their child would have. She didn’t consider herself sentimental, but they were always so busy. What was a childhood worth if no one was there?

* But then late in the night Nikolai would come to bed and ask why she was still awake. He knew the answer. He had the same nightmares of the war.

* She’d rest her head on his shoulder and they’d sit in the dark

* “If you tell anyone about this I’ll blast you out the window” she’d threaten

* “I’d be disappointed with anything less”

* They were a strange sort of family. Not at all traditional, but if it worked for them then surely it would work for their child

* The day she went into labor there was a rumored threat from the Shu. These weren’t uncommon but they had to be taken seriously. If there was a chance of an attack they couldn’t overlook it.

* Nikolai had been investigating the threat in his office when her water broke. For a genius king, she found it quite ironic how he panicked.

* As he rambled on about how it was going to be fine, they needed a doctor, was she ok, did she need help, etc. She figured out what needed to be done

* She’d already chosen a team of healers to deliver the child. She called for a carriage to the little palace.

* When Nikolai tried to follow she stopped him. Her contractions were begging, which made it frustratingly difficult to get her point across, but she was still scary even going into labor.

* “I don’t need your nervous energy stressing me out. Stay here and continue the investigation.”

* She knew he wanted to be there. In truth she wanted him there too, but they both understood. Ravka came first. Always. She was strong enough to do this on her own.

* Labor went relatively smooth. It wasn’t pleasant for either of them and seemed to go on for days, but it was ultimately worth it.

* Almost immediately after their baby was born Nikolai came sprinting in. For a moment he was just relieved to see she was ok, but then he saw her.

* Their little girl had little tuffs of black hair, but took after Nikolai in every other way. She was gorgeous.

* Zoya looked exhausted but she couldn’t help a smile. In that moment she forgot all her doubts about having a child. They would raise their child to be as brave and intelligent as they were.

* Nikolai beamed at her. They were going to give her the best life.

* They named her Veda after a legendary squaller. Nikolai suggested multiple names common in his family line but none of them were too Zoya’s liking. Besides, she wasn’t just royal.

* They weren’t a traditional family, but Veda would be taken care of. Within the week she had taken a permanent spot in Nikolai’s left arm as he and zoya went through paper work

* Zoya taught her all the finer things and life (although Nikolai insisted she wasn’t able to process what gems were worth in each country as she tried to explain it) and told her somewhat questionable facts about how to kill a man.

Nikolai didn’t particularly enjoy revelry these days, but his reputation would be ruined if word got around. To ensure that it didn’t, Ravka’s new Tsar threw himself into entertaining the nobles, wooing the ambassadors, and keeping the duchesses sufficiently entertained. He rarely drank, never trusting himself to relinquish control, not sure what would come to the surface if he did. But he had a lifetime of pretending to draw on when he needed to fake intoxication.

Tonight’s performance was interrupted by an urgent summons from the Triumvirate. The Tsar professed extreme regrets to the Kerch ambassador and stumbled only a little as the assistant led him to his carriage. He returned her sharp glance with a sloppy grin, still playing the part.

When the assistant closed the door to the Triumvirate’s meeting room behind him, he smiled at Genya and David before leaning over to kiss Zoya lightly on the head in a way he knew she disliked, hiccoughing as he did.

Genya’s brow furrowed. “Have you been drinking?”

“Not at all.”

“You might want to.”

Nikolai smiled gamely before taking a seat across the table. He flicked his eyes across the faces of the three Grisha – David was reading a notebook in front of him, his wife was looking at the floor, and Genya was pretending she wasn’t watching Zoya.

“This is a bad start,” he said cheerfully.

Nikolai Lantsov + Zoya Nazyalensky

"I’ve never seen anything like it. If he gets any more charming, men and women may start lying down in the street for the privilege of being stepped on by the new Ravkan King. However did you resist him?” 

“Turns out I don’t care for emeralds,” I said. 

oh i 100% believe he fell in love with Alina over the course of the series.

before that point, i don’t think it was something that he wanted or was looking for. his Issues surrounding having bastards etc, i think he was very careful about what he did with both his heart and his dick. nikolai is calculating, and not cruel - even from a young age, i think he would have had enough baggage to consciously avoid getting himself into a situation where his heart might get caught up.

i also doubt he meant to fall for alina in any serious capacity. the beginning of their relationship is very politically oriented, for obvious reasons. but as time goes on and alina continues to - well, alina - he starts letting his guard down. they get genuinely close, and nikolai finds himself wanting more than just a marraige of political convenience.

i think the way he asks her to stay at the end of R&R despite there being no real political advantage to it anymore is indicative of this. like, nikolai’s entire life has been bent towards being king and sacrificing for his country (i seem to remember a moment in S&S where alina asks if he’d betray her to get the crown or....something along those lines, and nikolai is just like, Well Fuck, i don’t know). so even though he’s vulnerable after the whole Monstering thing, i do believe there has to be some pretty powerful emotional connection on his part for him to make that offer.

(of course, he probably knew he was going to be rejected, so that would have made it easier to make the offer. EASY TO MAKE PROMISES YOU KNOW YOU DON’T HAVE TO KEEP)

SO yeah as for how do i think he is when he’s in love, i think canon gives us a pretty good shot of that. nikolai is confident in who ihe is when it comes to skill and talent, but making himself emotionally vulnerable is more difficult. this is why he won’t kiss alina properly until she’s not thinking about mal. it’s...less of an arrogant ego thing, and more of a vulnerable ego thing. LIKE he starts out not caring if she has an affair or what have you, but as time goes along he begins to realise that oh, no it’s really important to him that he be in a committed relationship. ‘for the crown’ supposedly (and probably honestly!), but i think we’re allowed to read into the deeper meaning there of him actually craving some form of real relationship and family situation with his partner.

even if he’s in love, no matter who it’s with, there’s probably always going to be a tension between nikolai’s devotion to the crown and his partner. i’m REALLY INTERESTED to see how this plays out in his duology. especially if we get some good good nikoloya shipping situation. revka is still vaguely terrified of grisha and the darkling didn’t exactly do a good pr number for them, and zoya is not a saint so the political advantages of marrying her are not the same as with alina.