The Tsar's Wife

Leaving

Olive, The Grand Duchesses,  and Alexandra had to pack only a few things before they left for St.Petersburg and went home. Nicholas and Alexei would be joining them both on the train ride home this time, and would be coming back to the palace with them. Alexei's arm was healed up for the most part, it was just scanned over and he had to keep it tightly bandaged so it wouldn't bleed again. Nicholas's wound on his leg was scabbed over and no longer open, but the nurse had told them he might need a cane to walk for a while until he thought it didn't pain him anymore. Olive hadn't seen the wound, given it wad on his upper thigh, but by Alexei and Alexandra's description, it wasn't that bad of a wound.

They were making their way to the train now, Nicholas getting along quite well with his injured leg and cane. Alexei stood beside his father on the far right of Olive while she stood with Tatiana and Maria, who seemed to be latched to her like a second skin now. Olive wished she could wall with Alexei, but she knew she would get to talk to him on the train and could wait. It was better to have Alexei standing beside Nicholas in case his cane slipped and he lost his balance. Anastasia even was close to Olive, her hand gripping hers while she gave glares at the cameras pointing at them all. Anastasia and Tatiana weren't ones for the camera, most pictures Olive had seen Anastasia and Tatiana in, they always had glares or solemn faces.

Miss Peregrine had always took pictures of Olive and the other children, much to their dislike. There were quite a few photo albums of all the children but Olive was in very few photos, and most of them contained... peculiar images as she would say. The Romanov family however had volumes and volumes of photo albums, some even contained distant family members. Olive remembered a picture on Olga and Tatiana's wall of Olga and Tatiana with Alexandra's brother, Ernst and Victoria- or' ducky' as the children called her- daughter Elisabeth. Elisabeth died at the tender age of eight when she was poisoned by candy meant for Nicholas, and Victoria and Ernst had split up after her death.

Olive didn't have any cousins that she could remember, though she hadn't seen her blood family since she was five years old. The Imperial Children had plenty of cousin, and she had met Irina of Russia before. Anastasia and Maria had called her the beauty of Russia, and once Olive met her she couldn't help but agree with them. Irina resembled Tatiana a lot, which was odd because Tatiana took after her mother's side of the family and Irina was Nicholas's sister Xenia's child. Sadly, Olive had also met Irina'a husband Felix, and none of the Romanovs liked the man one bit,  and neither did Olive. He had murdered Grigori Rasputin, the family friend and holy man of the Romanovs.

   Anastasia nudged Olive with her shoulder, nodding at the crowd swarming around them like bees, keeping their distance from Nicholas and Alexei though. "That one man is snapping pictures of you, you'll surely be in the newspaper. Rumors." Anastasia muttered, keeping a watchful eye on Tatiana who would scold them both for speaking informally in public. Olive nodded, giving a sigh as she saw the cameras flash and snap pictures of her. She was used to all the attention people gave her now that she was so close with the Romanovs. "As expected Anastasia. You Romanovs are used to all this." Olive said, flashing her a small smile.

Anastasia shook her head, turning to face Olive for a moment while Tatiana was distracted talking to Alexandra.  "You'll be a Romanov soon, so you'll have to get used to it as well, Olive. " Anastasia muttered, carefully keeping her tone quiet so her sister wouldn't hear. Olive felt herself blushing, realizing the truth behind Anastasia's words. She hadn't even thought about becoming one of the many distant Romanovs she had heard about in books, and she couldn't believe it hadn't even crossed her mind even once. She didn't mind to leave her old name behind though, it was a past that meant nothing to her at all. Olive kept silent, and boarded the train.

  She sat at the booth where all the Romanovs were sitting, Alexei making sure he was beside her when he sat down. Olive sat by the window, Alexei was on the side of her and Maria and Anastasia sat beside him, but soon got uncomfortable and went over to sit in a vacant booth across the room. Tatiana, Nicholas, and Alexandra sat across from them, Nicholas and Alexandra talking so quietly they couldn't quite hear what they were saying, and Tatiana working on some of her sewing she had dragged out of her luggage.  Olive was reading one of Alexandra's lent books since all the Grand Duchesses books were in Russian, which she didn't know any form in writing.

  Alexei had a hand in hers on top of the table as he stared quietly out the window at the December snow. He looked so serene and peaceful whenever Olive would take peeks at everyone from her book every once in a while, she had to give a small smile. After a while, when Nicholas and Alexandra and Tatiana went to go listen whenever Nicholas read aloud to them all, which was like a tradition that happened in Alexandra's boudoir in the evening. Olive waited until the rest of the family was preoccupied before she laid her head softly on Alexei' s shoulder, though due to his height difference she was laying more on his bicep than his actual shoulder.

Alexei snapped out of his daydreams, turning towards Olive with a smile. "Are you tired?" He asked, trying to snake his arm around her shoulders so he could pull her a bit closer to him. Olive hoped the rest of the family wasn't watching, their readings would surely follow suit after they would catch them. "No, I'm not tired." Olive said, though that wasn't entirely true. She had been up since five that morning and was pretty exhausted from all the walking and packing that the day had brought.  Alexei chuckled, and Olive felt his body vibrate beside her soothingly. "You just like using me as a human pillow I assume? " Alexei teased, rubbing her arm lightly. Olive felt herself blushing, and she couldn't help but wonder again how he seemed to have such an effect on her, shouldn't she be used to his sweet,charming nature by this point?

"Maybe so. I am very comfy. " Olive said looking up into his sky blur eyes, which all his family shared though she thought his were the loveliest of them all. Alexei shook his head, burying his face in her firey red hair. He always seemed to do that when he got the chance, it always made Olive giggle. "Well, then I suppose I'll just have to deal with it." Alexei said softly, and Olive smiled.

"I suppose you will."

I'm still disappointed in myself for all my poorly written chapters and my HORRIBLE endings. I'm trying to develop Alexei as really charming and sweet, as he was described when he was younger as golden hearted, though some had said he was super spoiler because his parents couldn't bear to punish the poor boy. I always look up pictures of him, and I always try to find ones from when he was older, but I can only find a few. There was one of him swimming and standing on the water I liked, but I'm saving it for a later chapter. The one at the top is of him and Tatiana in 1918 while under arrest. You can tell how tall he is in that picture and a few other ones, which is super tall. Tatiana was 5'9, and Alexei was around the same height as her, maybe a bit taller. The picture below is one I found and I just thought was funny.

I'm not sure what he is doing but Anastasia looks completely unfazed haha. Thanks for reading!!! I appreciate all the votes and comments you guys leave!!! I love you readers!!