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🌸 A N E E L A 🌸
Kheru let herself drop onto one of the couches in Aneela's room with a loud sigh. "As much fun as this was today, courting season is slowly but surely exhausting me."
"It is draining, yes." Aneela sighed equally loud and sat down across from the shu. "I think he's going to call it quits within two weeks."
"Let's hope so." Kheru rested her head against the wall behind her. "I can't wait until I don't have to see the others again."
"They were even more obnoxious today." Aneela agreed. "Especially the kerch."
"Well, you stole the prince away from Josefine," Kheru shrugged with a grin "Everybody sees that there's something serious developing between you two."
Aneela's eyes grew big in protest. "It's not-"
"You like him." Kheru interrupted her. "You have started to develop feelings for him. And don't even try to convince me otherwise, I have eyes and ears."
"I ... I don't know if I have," Aneela shrugged unsure, fumbling with her gloves.
"You have." The shu Princess said knowingly. "The two of you are growing closer by the day and the blind can see how you look at each other. I know that I'm repeating myself, but I'm want you to see you happy, Aneela. And Nikolai makes you happy, doesn't he?"
The zemini smiled at the mentioning of his name. "He does."
Although they were still getting to know each other, Aneela couldn't deny that she was enjoying herself in his presence. Growing a liking to him hadn't been her plan and especially not slowly developing feelings for him. But she couldn't deny her heart didn't beat faster when he turned his gaze towards her and smiled brightly.
Their conversations were always honest and both of them were eager to learn more about the other person. Sometimes, it felt like it was them against the others.
He even asked her to save her from the bachelorettes. First, she had thought it was a joke, but she had seen how he kept looking over to her during his conversations with her competitors, she figured he meant it. She would never forget how glad he had seemed when she interrupted his talk with Josefine.
And we flirted again. And he said he was starting to like me.
"He really does."
Kheru ushered over to her and sat down next to her friend, grabbing her hands. "Aneela, I really mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say this: I am praying that you will not become my sister-in-law."
Aneela frowned. "What?"
"That would mean that you and Nikolai didn't get to where I was seeing you two. And I really don't want to see you stuck with my brother. He won't make you happy. But Nikolai will." Kheru set a lock of Aneela's hair back into place. "And besides, I really want to attend your wedding and I don't want to see my brother waiting for you at the end of the aisle – it has to be Nikolai."
The zemini laughed. "Are you now pressuring me into perusing this marriage?"
The princess grinned. "I would rather drag you to your happiness than lead you towards your damnation. I'm sure Nikolai is going to move mountains for you in order to be happy on his side – Ximen would never do that."
"Neither of us know that."
"I know you came here with a crossed heart, but you can't deny that things are different now. He is different. And you are too, you've opened up your heart to him. Why not go further and actually take a chance on it?"
"What if I do and it shatters me?" Aneela's shoulders dropped. "I can't let my feelings for him grow even more, only to let them be crushed in a few weeks."
"Nikolai adores you! And what if you don't let it happen and you end up regretting it for the rest of your life? Only the brave ones succeed."
Aneela wrapped her arms around Kheru and held her tight. "I'm so glad that I met you, Kheru. I really needed another pep talk, you are right about all of this. As always. What would I do without you, my very wise shu friend?"
Kheru hugged her back and chuckled. "Well, you would be making choices with your brain and not your heart."
The zemini could feel some tears coming into her eyes. "I'm so glad to have you."
"Me, too." Kheru gently pushed her back. "And that I can witness your love story with the prince."
"Let's change the topic, or else I will ball my eyes out." Aneela blinked a few times and smiled at her friend. "How did you and Tolya get along today?"
The princess immediately started to shine when Aneela mentioned him. "We had so much fun! We talked a lot about our favourite poets, our upbringing and our favourite shu dishes." She blushed a bit. "And he is so unintentionally funny, I laughed a lot which he seemed to like."
"Aw, that's so great to hear!" Aneela clapped her hands excited. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you. Ah, it really is like a dream." She exhaled joyfully. "Both of us are on the right track with love, how wonderful. Oh, and did you know he asked me if I would potentially see myself living here in Ravka?"
Aneela's eyes grew big. "Really?"
"Yes, we talked quite a bit about it. He told me that he would think of something if I wanted to stay here."
"That's good news, right?"
"Yes, wouldn't that be wonderful?" Kheru's eyes lit up by the thought of it. "I could stay with him here, in the Grande Palace and travel around when Nikolai is on duty to go to banquettes and such." She clasped her hands together. "And we could spend so much time together when you're Princess of Ravka."
"Woah, we were just talking about you here." Aneela laughed. "Nobody said anything about me becoming a princess."
"Oh, come on, now that you and Nikolai-"
"Don't you think this thing with Tolya is going a bit fast, Kheru?" Her friend interrupted her before she could go on about her and the prince again. "I mean, it hasn't been that long."
The shu crooked an eyebrow. "Says the one who is currently falling in love with Nikolai and it's only the eighth day."
Aneela leaned back against her cushion. "I'm not falling in love with him."
"Yes, yes, you are."
"Don't project onto me."
"I don't! I said I like Tolya but you just agreed that you have developed feelings for Nikolai – which means that you're falling in love with him."
"But I don't want to."
"Why not? Isn't everything going great?"
"Yes, and that is exactly what is frightening me."
Kheru gave her a sad look. "You're still afraid that something might happen and you'll end up hurt?"
That is not it ... There is still a big part of me that he doesn't know about. And I don't know how he'll react when he finds out. "Yes, but ... I'll guess we'll see."
"It's going to be fine," the shu princess reassured her friend. "Don't worry so much, Aneela. We'll both get our happy endings."
