fₒᵣ ᵢ ₐₘ bₑcₒₘₑ dₑₐₜₕ, dₑₛₜᵣₒyₑᵣ ₒf wₒᵣₗdₛ
Anastasia Morozova is a kinslayer. Anya Varamyr is a murderer. Anastasia is a decorated soldier. Anya is a backstreet cutthroat. Anastasia would die for her country. Anya would die for her friends.
Anastasi...
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Anya cradled her glass of brandy between long, clawed fingers, grimacing as the rust coloured dust on her hand crumbled away against the cool surface. The darkening sky was doing little to make her half turned form seem any less terrifying than it had been earlier that day, if anything the shadows were making it worse.
"So are the wings a permanent addition?"
She smiled, looking up at the sea captain who seemed to in a permanent state of amusement in her presence. "I'd rather not; I'm guessing they're a little bit of a giveaway, aren't they?"
Nikolai shrugged, hair an unnatural shade of red. In a sense, Anya preferred it; loving Sturmhond had been easy enough, even when she hadn't quite understood the extent of her feelings herself. Loving Nikolai had almost been more trouble than it had been worth - almost.
"I like them well enough," he grinned, nudging at her knee with his boot and reclining back in his seat. "The claws too; I must say I'm rather curious to see how they might feel-"
A loud cough echoed out from across the deck and Anya blushed at the sigh of Genya's disapproving raised brow. "My apologies, Genya," the captain said with a sly smile. "That was rather crass of me."
Anya let out a hoarse laugh, claws brushing gently against the front of her throat. "I've missed this."
"And I've missed you," Nikolai said in a softer tone, though the glint in his eye remained. "A lot."
Anya snorted into her brandy. "I gathered. You put a bounty on my head for my safe return. Not your finest moment."
Nikolai shrugged. "Desperate times, desperate measures."
"Don't you have advisors to stop you from using your cock to make decisions," she asked with a smirk. "Or is it just that they're all men?"
"Genya's a hopeless romantic, David's probably not aware that you left in the first place, and I tend to go against anything Zoya advises me not to do out of pure spite," Nikolai grinned, winking as Genya's frown deepened. "Keeping me in line was your job."
Sensing the direction of the conversation, Anya tossed her hair over her shoulder, watching as it bounced against her wings. "I would have been a shit Queen, Nikolai; we both know that."
Nikolai sighed, glancing down at his own drink. "If only Vasily had had a brain between those massive ears of his, I could have gone back to terrorizing the seven seas with you by my side."
