like juniper

the wife was not the worst one of the bunch but she had to have a few screws loose in the head for willingly marrying the czar. the lack of trust she had in the woman's judgment and mental state had made her reconsidering knocking. she had hesitated once more when sitting down. giselle rarely felt STUPID but it was positively foolish to be expecting cooperation from the russians. at least after the meeting she could say she had truly tried. " i want to visit my daughter. the summer holiday has begun. " [ &&. @vnncli ]

fucking christ. why did it have to be anneli who became the link between the french and the russians. as much as she sympathized with giselle d’orléans ( which was surprisingly much ), anneli wanted nothing but to be spared from these meetings. her polite smile was slow to appear on her face, the muscles were forced to form the expression. “ that is... true. the school year has ended. ” anneli nodded a few times. did this fall under her jurisdiction ? she had no problem telling the frenchwoman to take the child to france for july but anneli had a feeling a handful of people would be infuriated with her if she gave the permission. “ come inside, i just made some coffee. we can talk it over. ” it was odd to have the upper hand. anneli had never imagined being a position where a french royal would be asking something from her. “ your daughter’s under vorontsova’s care. the correct route would be to talk to her about this and not make me the middleman. ” and put her at odds with vitaliya. she placed two cups on the table and a carton of milk. “ i don’t have sugar. ”

ONE CHICK HAD FOUND THE HEN. now there were only three more to go ! vitaliya despised not knowing where the rest of the russian delegation was. at least having the czarina within her field of vision was comforting — not because she would have been worried for anneli talvitie romanova’s well-being but because at least now she knew if the czarina would be used. “ sit. ” vitaliya pointed at the cold spot on the floor next to her. “ do you know where his majesty is ? ” [ @vnncli​ ]

anneli did not have the energy to fight vorontsova — uncharacteristically meekly she sat down as she had been told to. she was frustrated with herself for not remembering what time the sunset was in italy. she couldn’t tell if they had been held captive for ten hours or twelve. whether the information was valuable or not was not important, anneli just yearned for the feeling of control. “ he wasn’t where i was. ” and he wasn’t in the room with them. “ i thought he’d be here. it was the only reason for my transfer i could think of. ” when ordering didn’t help, blackmailing usually did. 

“ WHAT IF i took one for the team and asked to use the bathroom ? ” sitting in silence only made him delve deep in thought. “ i can get some sense of the layout – and i don’t know … do something. ”

“ you can do that if you think it will make you feel at ease. ” the back of her left hand was dotted with red crescents, it felt like digging her nails into her skin was the only way she felt at ease. “ but i think if they are willing to let you use the toilet, they know it doesn’t matter what you see. ” reginald zulu. anneli wasn’t sure what he was doing in the same room with her, giselle d’orléans, the chinese emperor and a braganca. “ staying calm and sensible is best for us. ” no one was crying hysterically, which anneli was grateful for. ( @jinjianguo​, @aromancva​, @barbiebraganca​, @giselledorleans​, @diannayi​, @anamariaabolivar​, @svmucl​ )

“…her? oh god- i can’t believe that she managed to convince the guards to let her in.” dahye drew a dramatic little sigh. “you wouldn’t believe of how loudly some people like to talk in public powder rooms.” ( @hshqstarters​ )

“ what does someone have to do for you to think they would be unwanted here ? ” being annoying couldn’t be grounds for an absent invitation — it’d rule out too many people ! “ talk loudly ? ”