Rule as Equals (Meant to Be My Balance #2)

Chapter 1

Lately, I had been spending more and more time lost in the library.

I called it neglecting my duties as Queen of Ravka. Aleksander called it taking some much-needed rest.

I couldn't even deny him that victory. After a long, grueling year of rule, combined with our occupation of Fjerda, attacks on Shu Han, slowly paying back Kerch's debt, and trying to take care of our own domestic affairs, I was exhausted. My husband worried every time I went to sleep just as the night was fading away and woke up the moment the sun rose.

I didn't know how he had lasted for five centuries. If anything, his stamina made me want to punch him.

Sometimes.

So when Aleksander demanded I take a break and we had gone back and forth for long enough, I obliged my king. One month wasn't a lot, especially compared to the year that Aleksander had demanded in his first proposition.

Besides, as Aleksander had said, "I've ruled Ravka alone before, in the middle of a war on three fronts. I'm sure I can do it again. Especially if I have something to look forward to every night after work." His eyes lightened to a flirtatious silver, his hand finding itself on my hip.

He'd taken full advantage of my restfulness. Before the break, every night we came to bed, I fell asleep instantly, exhausted. Now... well, now, I wasn't tired in the least. And despite the fact that Aleksander had been working all day with the problems of a country on his shoulders, he could've just woken up from twelve hours of rest if his energy in bed was anything to judge by.

So now, I sat in a cozy nook of the library. Most of the time, I read up on Ravkan history and books of politics and philosophy—a far cry from the soldier girl who took comfort in the Istorii Sankt'ya—and Aleksander seemed to approve of my interest. With a warning of course.

"Don't put unnecessary pressure on yourself. You have decades to learn, Alina. And I'll take care of everything while you do." He had punctuated his point by tipping my chin up and kissing me like I was a fragile thing... and maybe, vulnerable in his arms, I was.

But I didn't want to spend decades learning. Nikolai had been ready for the throne as a teenager, and he hadn't had immortality or sun summoning on his side.

When I wasn't reading, I was watching the people who came in and out of the palace. Groups of Grisha, schoolchildren, diplomats and council members who needed documents to make the very arguments they would present to Aleksander. Each of them had a need, a story, and I intended to find out every one.

He didn't like the idea of me all alone in the library for so long so he had assigned me an otkazat'sya guard. She wasn't for my protection, obviously, but rather to "tell Aleksander if something happened because I would be too stubborn to tell him myself."

In short, he had hired someone to spy on me.

I could have picked a fight with the Darkling, but I decided to irritate him instead. Invisibility was very useful when getting away from an otkazat'sya.

"Moya soverenyi!"

And there she was, little more than a girl with big brown eyes and matching hair. I pitied her, I did, but she was more than eager to help the Darkling and it made it easier to annoy her.

"I'd like to be alone, Priya."

"Of course, moya soverenyi, it's simply that the King has—"

"And I'm the Queen," I said, cutting her off sharply. Far too many people reduced my role, speaking like my husband had more power over me than me. It was in the nature of tsars to be rulers, for tsaritsas to be pretty side-pieces, so I couldn't hold it against Priya to favor the orders of one over the other.