The Tsar's Wife

Snow

"Olive! Tatiana! Come quick!"

Maria's loud voice ringed across the hallway into the lilac boudoir. The urgency in her voice made Tatiana and Olive snap their heads up from their sewing and glance at each other quickly in fear and confusion, before they quickly stood up and ran down the hall to where Maria's voice had sounded. Olive felt fear pulse through her, but when she saw Maria and Anastasia standing at the window smiling like bobcats, the fear filtered out of her and filtered in with relief and a bit of anger for Maria yelling down the hall. Tatiana seemed livid, her governess face and arms crossed angrily. "Maria Nikolaevna Romanov! How dare you yell like that for no reason." Tatiana scolded, her pretty face twisted into a frown.

Olive shared the same anger as Tatiana, though hers wasn't as lived and she wasn't angry enough to yell at Maria. Whenever Tatiana usually scolded Maria, she'd have a guilty and humiliated expression on her face, but her wide smile stayed as she pointed out the window."Look! Its snowing!" Maria screeched excitedly, and both Tatiana and Olive's anger faded away as they looked out the palace window. Maria was right, a heavy blanket of snow was blanketing the gardens, and Olive smiled. Russia was truly at its most beautiful when it was under a blanket of snow, and Olive was happy mother nature had time to now give them a blanket of snow, since it wasn't truly Russia if there wasn't snow, and it was now over half of December.

Tatiana looked shocked and joyous now, her sour expression and tone gone. "It is actually snowing!" Tatiana exclaimed, though not half as loudly as Maria had, and a grin spread across her face and Olive saw her small tooth gap, something all the children had and inherited from Alexandra. Olive shared their excitement, she was quite happy to see it snowing in Russia as well. "Its beautiful." Olive lamented, pressing her hand to the glass to feel the cold air trying to desperately make its way into the palace's warm interior. Olive was amazed she hadn't realized it was snowing, but the only windows were the grand ones lining the long hallways, and she hadn't even thought to had looked out them.

Heavy footsteps sounded from the other end of the hallway, and they all turned to see Alexei walking towards them. He had his eyes fixated on his St.George's medal that he had taken off his uniform to peer down at as if it were an artifact from long ago he were studying, so he didn't notice them all. It was quite dangerous for him to be wandering around without watching where he was going, if he bumped into something, he could easily be hurt. "Alexei! Come here!" Anastasia called as Maria and her enthusiastically waved him over. He looked up, startled a bit, but once he saw the smiles on all their faces, he relaxed and walked over to them.

Once he saw the white blanket covering the courtyard, he grinned with his sisters. "Its snowing! How in the world did I not notice?" He inquired, seeming a bit confused, but still joyous. Olive had wondered the same thing, and her and Maria moved apart so Alexei could have a better view outside instead of trapped behind them all. Maria turned to Tatiana, her excited expression remaining pasted onto her beautiful face. "Can we Tatya? Like we used to?" Maria asked, but didn't clarify exactly what she was asking to do. But by Tatiana's warm expression, she knew exactly what Maria was asking of her.

"Get your coats on."

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They all went outside, dressed in their coats and scarfs and mittens, into the snowy gardens. Maria and Anastasia had sprinted faster to their rooms than she had ever seen them run, and Tatiana didn't even take the chance to scold them, and even had rushed to her room as well. Alexei and Olive hadn't rushed to their rooms as fast as any of the girls, but they had hurried just a bit. Alexei had brought Joy out, and the Spaniel was delighted to have all the space, running around Alexei in crooked circles. Olive was a bit sad to see all the gardens grass and plants die, but that sadness was overcome once she saw Anastasia and Maria happily dive into a pile of snow.

Olive laughed at their enthusiasm, while Tatiana shook her head whilst smiling. Alexei was on his knees, petting Joy as she bounded around him excitedly, and eagerly licked his hand as he tried to  pet her. "She loves you." Olive said, laughing when joy practically tackled and he had to steady himself. He looked up at her, laughing. "I've had her since I was ten. She's getting old, and more tired I'm afraid." He said, giving her a sad smile. Maria and Anastasia were pelting each other with snowballs, and Tatiana had surprisingly joined them. Olive sat down on the snowy ground, wincing when the cold traveled straight through her clothing. "They're having a snow fight." Olive stated, nodding towards Anastasia,Tatiana, and Maria, who's nose was red from the cold and made her look like a small rabbit when she wrinkled it to try and keep warm.

Alexei smiled, leaning closer to Olive so she could hear him a bit better. "One time, Anastasia hid a rock inside a snowball and it knocked Tatiana out cold." He said, and Olive's eyes widened as she let out a small laugh. "That's so mean! But it sounds like something Anastasia would do." Olive admitted, looking over to Anastasia who pelted Maria with a huge snowball, hitting her in the face as she sputtered around. Alexei nodded, gesturing over to Tatiana, who was desperately trying to keep from getting pelted with snowballs her sisters were throwing. "Yes our little shyvbzik played stunts like that all the time. She used to hide under the tables in the hall or dining room and trip the passing servants." Alexei said, using Anastasia's old nickname, though Olive wasn't sure what it meant exactly.

Olive was about to ask him when a could feeling spread across her back, making her hiss in a breath at the cold. She turned to see Anastasia laughing, and she stood up and shook the cold ice off her back. Anastasia had pelted her in the back with a snowball, and soon she had hit Alexei as Olive watched him stand up with her and rub at the back of his neck tenderly. "Anastasia! I'm going to get you back!" Olive yelled over to her, and Anastasia giggled, scampering off to hide. Olive turned to Alexei for a moment, wanting to laugh at his red nose from the cold. "Your nose!" Olive exclaimed, walking a few steps towards him.

Alexei chuckled, wiping his nose with his hand in attempt to warm it up a bit. "I'm cold, my nose gets all red." He explained, and Olive poked the tip of it playfully, and Alexei wrinkled his face up. "You aren't exactly helping, love." He joked, turning his head away from her. Olive giggled at him, and when he turned around, she reached up on her tip toes and kissed the tip of his nose, making him blush. "Did that warm you up?" She asked, smiling sheepishly up at him. Alexei pretended to think, tilting his head to the side as he put his arms around her waist. "Not really, I think I'll need a real kiss." He said, and Olive laughed, leaning forward and pressing a small, gentle kiss to his lips, noting how good and warm they felt against the chilly air outside.

Olive pulled away from him, smiling. "How about now?" She asked, and Alexei pretended to be in deep thought, then raised his eyebrows. "Maybe just one more and then I'll be warm." He joked, and Olive rolled her eyes, slapping his arm lightly. "Alexei!" She scolded playfully, though she knew he was only teasing her and wasn't serious. He laughed, his eyes shining a strange pale blue in the snowy weather. "I'm only teasing. Any kiss from you would warm me up." He said, kissing her forehead. Olive smiled, and she felt a completely different sort of warm in her stomach than heat.

I know it may be a bit cheesy, but I really wanted to write this. The gif above is of Alexei and Joy, I love how you can clearly see his smile in that picture, he had a warm smile, like Nicholas. My favorite feature of him is his eyes though, they are a strange pale blue, like Nicholas's. He was a really handsome young boy. Anyways, thanks for reading!! I really appreciate it!!! 💖💖