Authors Note: Look, this is weird and out of character and doesn't really make any sense. But just let me have some fun, okay?
The day the Fold was destroyed was a strange moment for Ravka. For the first time in a very long time, it felt like peace. The Darkling was dead, his monsters were gone, maybe they could all finally move on from this terrible time in history. That peace lasted for about a day as Ravka was now in a very weakened state after so many years of fighting and it would only be a matter of time before Fjerda or Shu Han would attempt an attack. Ravka would need a new ruler.
It was decided that Prince Nikolai Lantsov, the second son of the late King Alexander III would be crowned king. Not everyone agreed with this decision. There were many rumors spreading that Nikolai was a bastard and not fit to rule, but after the death of his older brother Vasily, Nikolai had proved himself by fighting alongside the Sun Summoner and helping Alina Starkov destroy the Darkling. It was very hard for those to disagree after that. Many people assumed that Nikolai and Alina would marry, creating a powerful alliance between the Ravkan throne and Grisha, but she had tragically passed while fighting the Darkling, at least that is what Nikolai had said.
Even with a new king, Ravka was still in a very weakened state. Nikolai would need to find a bride and quickly, as now an heir was more important than ever before. There were more discussions as to who would be worthy to become the Queen of Ravka. Some argued that Ravka should try to make an alliance with either Fjerda or Shu Han, others believed that they should travel overseas to Kerch or to Novyi Zem for their new queen. And many believed that the new queen must be Ravkan to strengthen the throne. The debate went on for weeks before it was decided that the Queen Tatianna would travel to West Ravka to meet with Queen Sabine to discuss a matrimony between her son and the West Ravkan princess, uniting Ravka, once and for all.
Zoya stayed outside of the meeting room, trying to hear the conversation between her mother and the Queen of Ravka. For many years, West Ravka had been separated from the rest of the country due to the Fold. The destruction of the Fold had meant freedom for the people of West Ravka, but it also meant they were now exposed to being attacked by other countries. West Ravkan's economy was still strong but they were limited due to their location and their size. An alliance that would unite Ravka would strengthen the whole country and could protect them from attacks from Fjerda or Shu Han.
"Your daughter," Zoya could hear Queen Tatianna through the door. "She has Suli blood?"
"She is Ravkan," her mother replied quickly.
"But her skin…" Tatianna began.
"She is Ravkan," Sabine said more sternly than before.
The rumors of a marriage between Zoya and Nikolai had begun to spread. Although no one had actually asked Zoya's opinion on the matter, which she found to be very frustrating. She had never met Prince Nikolai, she barely knew anything about him, except for the rumors of his ancestry. For the longest time everyone assumed that Vasily would take the throne, no one paid much attention to the younger brother. But now everything had changed. Every time she tried to speak to her mother about the situation, her mother would tell her to keep quiet and to not interfere with the conversations with Tatianna. Zoya had spent her entire life in Os Kervo. After she had learned that she was Grisha and could control the air, her mother refused to ever let her leave the palace. When she was younger, Zoya always thought it was for her safety. Which had made sense at the time. The Fold was still incredibly dangerous and it appeared that the Darkling was growing stronger and stronger every single day. Zoya had wanted to train, to learn to fight the Darkling but her mother refused.
"You are a princess," her mother had said. "NOT a soldier."
As Zoya grew older she began to realize that her mother kept her in Os Kervo so she could have complete control over Zoya's life. What she wore, what she said, how she looked, every second was dictated by her mother. The only person who ever seemed to care about Zoya, whoever loved Zoya, was her aunt Lillyana. That was until Lillyana was killed when the Darkling expanded the fold into Novokribirsk, destroying the city and nearly everyone who lived there. Zoya was devastated and she told herself that she would never feel this weak again.
"I feel that I am sacrificing a great deal," Zoya heard her mother through the door. "I am willing to give up my title as Queen of West Ravka as long as I am able to keep my fortune and my palace for my daughter to become Queen. She is born and raised here in Ravka, she has grown up with all of the Ravkan traditions, and I feel that she would be a perfect match for your son."
"I think this is enough for today," Tatianna replied. "I feel that we shall be able to come to an agreement tomorrow."
Zoya moved quickly away from the door so her mother did not see her and watched as Tatianna walked down the hallway.
After Tatianna had left, Zoya walked into the meeting room.
"Zoya how many times must I tell you to not interfere with my meetings with the Queen," Her mother said as she rubbed her temples.
"Do you not think I should have a say in any of this, mother?" Zoya asked.
"It would be an honor to be married to the King of Ravka," her mother replied. "You would be queen."
"Would it?" Zoya asked. "I do not know anything about the future king. Do you know anything about him?"
"Zoya," her mother began.
"Do you not find it strange?" Zoya interrupted. "We know so little about the second son. In fact for the longest time all we ever heard was that King Alexander was not his real father."
"Those are rumors," Queen Sabine said.
"But still," Zoya replied. "Why would the Lantsov's travel all the way to West Ravka. Why wouldn't they want to make an alliance with somewhere closer."
"Because now all of Ravka can be reunited and will be stronger than ever before."
"But would they not want…"
"Zoya, enough!" her mother shouted. "We are so close to this deal and I will not have you ruin this for our family. There are much worst fates than marrying the King of Ravka."
"My apologies, mother." Zoya turned and quickly walked out of the room. She could feel the rage building inside of her. When she finally arrived at her room the rage was overflowing as she balled her fists and a strong gust of wind knocked all of the papers off of her desk. There were still so many questions that were left unanswered, but there was one thing that she knew was true. Everyone was keeping secrets from her and she was determined to discover the truth.
The marriage contract was signed the next day. Ravka would now be reunited at last with the betrothal of the Future King Nikolai Lantsov and Princess Zoya Nazyalensky. Even though Zoya knew the day was coming, she still barely had time to react before all of her things were being packed as she was to move to Os Alta. It would be a much shorter journey to the capital now that the Fold had been destroyed, which meant that Zoya had even less time to prepare for her new life. She had never left Os Kervo before, and now here she was, moving to a completely new place to be a wife to someone she had never met before and that she barely knew anything about.
She sat in the carriage with her mother, refusing to look at her. What used to be the Fold was now considered a barren wasteland. Zoya wondered if anything would ever grow back. Or if the damage was permanent and this part of Ravka would forever be a desert.
"Zoya, stop scowling," her mother said. "You'll get wrinkles."
"I am not scowling," Zoya said. "I am merely looking out the carriage."
"Honestly, I feel that you have become far too head strong as you have grown. I should have had you married off when you were younger. I do not know how my sister convinced me otherwise."
"Because I was only a child." Zoya answered.
Zoya remembered her mother had planned to marry her off to a wealthy man named Valentin Grankin. Zoya was only 9 years old at the time. When Lillyana had heard of the marriage contract, she was furious and demanded that Sabine call off the engagement at once. Zoya does not know how Lillyana was able to convince Sabine to end the agreement, but she has been grateful for her aunt ever since that day.
"Well think of it this way," her mother said. "The future king is your age. And I hear he is quite handsome."
"Is he?" Zoya asked. "Have you seen him before? Do you know anything about him? His likes, his dislikes?"
"I know that he is going to be King of Ravka and frankly that is all I need to know."
Zoya remained silent for the rest of the journey.
When Zoya arrived at the Grand Palace, she barely had any time to look at the large building before she was whisked away to meet Queen Tatianna. Zoya had met her briefly when she first came to West Ravka. The older woman had merely looked at her before Zoya was told that she must return to her room. Now as Zoya stood in front of the queen and the royal advisors, she felt like a breeding mare about to be sold.
"I feel that she will do quite well." Tatianna said as she walked around Zoya. "If all goes well, we shall have an heir by next year. Now we must get you fitted for your wedding dress."
"I have my own wedding dress." Zoya said.
"Well, that is…nice," the queen replied. "But you see, it is tradition for the new queen to wear a certain dress on her wedding day."
"When will I be meeting the new king?" Zoya asked.
"He is busy now, but you will see him on the big day. Now, there is no time to waste, we have a wedding to prepare for."
Before Zoya could say anything, she was whisked away again to a dressing room where she saw a dress that was quite extravagant but also quite tight. As the maids are helping her into the dress, Zoya asked, "What is the new king like?"
"He is the king," the maid responded.
"Yes, but what is he like?" Zoya asked again. "Is he amiable? Is he rude? Is he funny?"
"He is the king," she replied and Zoya nearly stormed out of the room.
She spent the next few days trying to learn as much about the new king as she could. But no one would give her any answers. She was always told that he was busy whenever she asked his whereabouts. And no one would tell her anything about the man. She was so frustrated that she nearly broke one of the windows with her powers. For Saint's sake, she was marrying the man in the morning and she did not even know what he looked like.
The comments from the royal advisory were no help. There were comments about her skin, about the hair on her arms, about her heritage. She felt even more alone than she did in Os Kervo.
The wedding day arrived and Zoya decided that she could not stay here for another second. After the maids had finished putting her in the ridiculous dress, she quietly moved through the castle until she had arrived at the gardens. The royal gardens were quite spectacular, Zoya spent the few precious moments alone wandering around exploring the area, although she was not actually alone. A guard was always behind her watching her every move. But no one was watching her now. She moved through the garden looking for a way to escape. It did not matter where she was going as long as it was far away from this place. She found herself in an area with a tree right next to the wall, she felt that if she were able to climb the tree then she might be able to escape.
She walked up to the tree and attempted to lift herself, but her wedding dress was so constricting that she could barely lift her arms above her head. She reached again for one of the branches when she heard a voice behind her.
"Are you in need of some assistance?" She turned and saw a young man standing near her.
"I am quite fine, thank you," Zoya replied and turned back towards the tree. "You may go back inside with the rest of the gawkers."
"I will," the young man said. "But I must ask, what are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"You're doing something."
"I am not."
"You clearly are."
"If you must ask," Zoya sighed as she lowered her arms. "I am trying ascertain the best way to climb over the garden wall."
"Whatever for?" the man asked.
"I think he may be a beast," Zoya said mostly to herself still looking at the garden wall.
"A beast?"
"Or maybe a demon."
"I am sorry but who are we talking about?"
"The king," Zoya took a deep breath. "No one will speak of him. No one. So he clearly must be a beast or a demon."
"Does what he looks like matter?" the man asked.
"I do not care what he looks like. What I do not like is not knowing," Zoya said and looked at the tree. "If you lift me up, I should be able to grab that branch and I should be able to climb over the garden wall."
"You want to me to help you escape?"
"Yes, you ask far too many questions," Zoya turned again to look again at the stranger. He was around her age and was a few inches taller than her. He had golden hair and hazel eyes.
"Won't people notice that you are missing?"
"I will worry about that later. Now, hurry." Zoya said and headed back towards the tree.
"I have no intention of helping you climb over the wall," the stranger said.
"I am a lady in distress," Zoya gave him a cold look as she walked over towards him. "You refuse to help a lady in distress?"
"I refuse when that lady in distress is trying to climb over a wall so that she does not have to marry me."
Zoya took a step back. This man was Prince Nikolai, The Future King of Ravka. The man that everyone refused to speak of. And Zoya just compared him to a beast.
"Hello, Zoya," he said. "I am Nikolai."
"Your majesty," she began as she bowed. "I am so sorry…"
"Nikolai," he said as he gently takes her hand. "Just Nikolai."
"Please accept my apology. If I had known you were you…"
"What?" He replied as he let go of her hand. "You would have not told me you were trying to escape?"
"Well, yes I mean…I do apologize."
"I understand that there has been concern about our situation." He began. "If it makes you feel better any better, I was given very little choice about choosing a bride. I was hoping that we would be able to come to an agreement, although this was before you tried to climb over the garden wall and compared me to a beast."
"I did not say that" Zoya said very quickly.
"But you did."
"I did not."
"You very clearly did." He laughed. "Although I must say that most will compare me to a beast standing next to you. No one told me you would be this beautiful."
Zoya tried to think of a response but she was still in shock that she had finally met her future husband. And he appeared to be quite normal. Handsome even.
"Why does everyone know so little about you?" she finally asked. "I feel like I have asked everyone here and no one will tell me a single thing about you."
"In their defense, it has been a very long time since I have lived in the Grand Palace." Nikolai explained. "I joined the army when I was younger. So I spent most of my time travelling with the First Army."
"You were a solider?" Zoya asked.
"I was." Nikolai answered. "Many of the servants here only knew me as a young boy, and unfortunately…" He stopped for a moment. "Many did not survive when the Darkling attacked the Palace."
Zoya could see the pain in his face when he spoke about the Darkling. There was a part of her that wanted to reach out to him, but she kept her hands to herself.
"Where did you travel," she asked, trying to change the conversation.
"All over," Nikolai responded. "I also learned about science and engineering during my travels. And I also discovered my love of sailing."
"I have never been sailing before," Zoya said.
"I will have to take you sometime," he smiled. "I feel that if I were not a king then I would be a privateer."
"A privateer?" Zoya asked. "Isn't that the same thing as a pirate."
"Oh no, it is very different from a pirate." He laughed. "Now I would hate to end this conversation, but there are a lot of people waiting for me back at the palace."
"Of course," Zoya said and she turned back and looked at the garden wall.
"I will not force you to marry me but I do hope that you will rethink your decision about leaving. I must head back to the palace. I hope that I will see you there." He places a kiss on the back of her hand before turning around and walking back towards the palace, leaving Zoya more confused than ever before.
He was kind, he was charming, he was a handsome man. Why did no one ever speak of him? Even if he spent years away from the palace, everyone was acting like he was a ghost. But there did not appear to be anything wrong with him.
Zoya looked back at the tree one last time before taking a deep breath and walked towards the palace. She had made her decision. She would marry Nikolai and become the Queen of Ravka.