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🌸 A N E E L A 🌸
Aneela slept like a baby the first night in their new chambers. It had been completed while her and Nikolai had been away for their honeymoon, and it turned out beautifully. Unfortunately, they didn't get to appreciate it much after getting up, because Genya threw them into their workday as soon as they had gotten dressed and quickly ate some breakfast.
The days were rushing past and the Princess of Ravka only knew what day it was because of the letters she was writing and the documents she was approving. The tailor had promised that everything would slow down in the middle of winter and Aneela couldn't wait for less work and more time to spend with her husband and the others but right now, the paperwork wouldn't end.
Luckily, there were a few breaks here and there that were kinda work related but were much more interesting – like having a portrait painted where Nikolai and she would sit for a few hours each session and just talk while modelling for the painter.
The dogs rushed down the corridor ahead of the zemini as if they knew exactly where she was heading for the first session. For some reason, they stopped in the middle of a crossing point and looked to the right in synchronisation as if they spotted somebody and wiggled their tail in excitement. As she followed them and wanted to peak around the corner, she nearly bumped into Nikolai who came running down the corridor that crossed Aneela's path.
He gasped in shock when she suddenly stood before him and grabbed onto her arms to not directly run into her. "Oh, I'm sorry."
Aneela grinned as she held him away as well. "Are we running late?"
"Just a little." He said breathless and swallowed. "I forgot how late it was in the workshop and had to literally ran over here. But we're still on time, yes?"
"Yes." She nodded with a smile and brushed a few curls that had gotten lose during his run back into place. "We still have two minutes."
"Good." He took another breath and calmed himself. "Are you going to join me in the workshop after the painting session?"
"I'm not sure, Genya says there are still some things that we need to go over ..." Aneela pouted.
Nikolai's shoulders dropped. "She can push some of the paperwork onto another day, you haven't had any time to come to the Little Palace since we got back from our honeymoon. The Grisha are already asking why you're not there. I'm afraid they will ask if the two of us are having problems soon."
She cupped his face and placed a slow kiss on his lips. "I'll try to talk to her again, but I can't promise you anything."
"If she doesn't allow it, I'm going to tell on her – Zoya knows how urgently our ship projects need to evolve and nothing can be done without our best engineer."
