Blood In The Water ~ Shadow & Bone

3

It had been nearly two years since Marina had joined Nikolai on the Volkvolny, and she hadn't regretted her decision once. She loved life on the water, as she always had, and it only helped that she had been reunited with Nikolai as well. The Volkvolny had become her home and her crew, her family. Her dark hair had grown out as she no longer felt the need to hide herself, and it was normal to find Nikolai behind her, weaving delicate plaits into the chocolate strands.

It was also normal for the two to be caught in the act of their calm moments of silence in Nikolai's chambers, hiding away in the presence of their shared past, by Tamar and Tolya, Nikolai's two friends that had been a part of the Volkvolny's journey since it was conceived. Tamar, being among the only women on the ship that wasn't afraid of Marina for coming on by request of the Prince, was the Tidemaker's first new friend. After that, followed a young Ravkan Healer that went by the name of Aurelie, though it was uncertain whether or not it was her given name. It was the name she had chosen, and everyone on board respected that.

Despite becoming a part of the family aboard the Volkvolny, it was clear to everyone that Nikolai Lantsov and Marina Astyalenzi would never be as close to anyone as they were to each other, and even if they were, it would be in a much different way. Everyone knew there was something between the Captain and his first mate.

Everyone except the two of them, that is.

It was one of these days, as he gently braided her hair so as not to hurt her (he couldn't imagine ever hurting her), that she ventured to ask the question that changed everything.

"Why do you think you found me?" she had asked him. He continued his movements as he glanced in the mirror at her, furrowing his brows.

"What do you mean?" She sighed and looked at him in the mirror, noting how his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as his hands skillfully twisted her hair together.

"I mean I left the country, crossed the Sea, and even after four years, you still found me." She shrugged a bit, and one of his hands shot to her shoulder to keep her from moving too much and disturbing his work. "So what do you think, Privateer? Luck? Or something more?" He tied off her hair with a ribbon and rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently as he met her eye in the mirror.

"Something more?" he asked. "What, you mean like fate?" She nodded a bit, and he sighed. "I don't know about fate. But I think it was more than luck." He smiled a bit. "We were inseparable in Os Alta, remember? I think that maybe-" He grinned and leaned down so his mouth was only centimeters from her ear, never breaking eye contact with her. "-Maybe we've always been drawn to each other." Marina felt a swelling in her chest and forced it down, smiling a bit as she shook her head.

"That's fate, Nik," she reminded him. He laughed and nodded, stepping away from her.

"Alright, that then." He shrugged. "But I don't think it was for some big plan." She stood from her seat, and as soon as she faced him, Nikolai stepped towards her once more. "I just think... we're always meant to find each other." He smirked in his normal, flirtatious, Nikolai way and leaned closer to her. "I think we were made for each other." Marina felt her ears warm and smiled to brush it off, shaking her head as she turned away from him.

"You don't have to do that, you know," she said. He stared at her when she couldn't see and forced down the disappointment that flared in his head. He forced a cocky smile and shook his head.

"Do what?" he asked, looking down and absentmindedly fiddling with a knife on his desk.

"Be this- this Sturmhond character." Marina had discovered soon after joining the Volkvolny's crew that he had invented this alternate version of himself to avoid discovery. Not too many of the crew even knew he was in fact the prince of Ravka, and it became quickly clear that Sturmhond was the majority of the parts of Nikolai that had no focus on Ravka and the hierarchy, instead filling those empty spaces with flirting, drinking, and adventure.

"What makes you think I'm being Sturmhond right now?" he asked her, making her look back at him. "Sturmhond is still me, and I am him. Who says I'm not always me around you?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I mean you don't have to put on this persona of a seafaring womanizer when it's just us in the room," she elaborated. "You don't have to pretend to flirt when you're only around someone you've known since you were eight." Nikolai's face continued to hold a smile, but the air around them somehow changed, and there was no doubt that he was entirely serious with his next words.

"I'm not pretending," he said firmly. "And I'm not lying." He took another step towards her, less than a foot of space between them now. "I will never lie to you, Marina Astyalenzi, because you will always know when I do." He took note of her gaze, frozen on him as her cheeks began to turn pink. He stopped walking as he towered over her, but she never felt intimidated or trapped despite the close contact and difference in size.

"Every word of what I say to you is true," he told her, and there was no hesitation behind him. No uncertainty, no lie. He meant what he said, and he was determined to make her see that.

And it terrified her.

It terrified her that he meant his words, and it terrified her that she was now faced with finding a response to his confession.

It terrified her that she already knew her answer.

"You're a bloody flirt," were the only words she was able to get out. Nikolai smirked down at her and nodded, clasping his hands behind her back.

"I am," he confirmed. "But like I said, whatever I say to you is true. So I am a flirt. But I'm your flirt. That's all I've ever wanted to be, and that's the honest truth." She could find no words in her throat to respond to what he confessed to her. She could find no words even in her mind. Nikolai Lantsov had rendered her speechless, and he was reveling in it.

"Nothing to say, Rin?" he asked with a teasing grin. She stammered for a moment before shaking her head.

"Damn you," she muttered, though they both knew she didn't mean it. He smirked.

"Wish you'd kiss me instead." Marina stared up at him with soft eyes, and he smiled softly, leaning closer to her. "Can I?" She licked her lips and gulped, nodding shakily, and he gently cupped her face with one hand.

When his lips met hers, only years too late, a warmth bloomed in both of them that filled every missing part that had ever been and ever would be. His hand that wasn't placed gently on her cheek rested on her hip, and he squeezed it gently as her hands slid up his chest to wrap around the back of his neck. Before the kiss could grow too rough, however, he pulled away, gazing down at her with soft eyes.

"Stay," he murmured softly, scanning every inch of her face for any doubtful expression. She noticed the worry hidden behind his bright eyes and smiled softly, pressing another light kiss to the corner of his mouth before resting her head against his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere, dirre."

translation:

dirre ~ sweetheart (Kaelish)

so in conclusion, I love them and I will protect them with what little willpower I have left

- C