it’s important to have standards, Nazyalensky

main: @amiablesummer.

[quinceblossoms]

the last two pages of rule of wolves... absolute crazy ballsy way to end a series

[molabuddy]

i Really love when two characters are really quite similar but in such a way that they just hate eachother onsight.. dog barking at a mirror type beef

[serien-grl-22]

The voice of a brilliant, creative boy, left alone with his books and inventions, forever roaming an empty palace.

[quinceblossoms]

do u ever just think about how some people must watch shadow and bone season 2 and be like

why the fuck is there a bee on her shoulder

like

[zoyalensk]

zoyalai being my instant favorite ship after reading the kos duology they are just perfect and makes so much sense to me. the slow(est) burn, the mutual respect, the aching restraint, and the way their care and love for each other grow quietly in the middle of chaos. absolutely perfect.

"her romance with nikolai would never be bouquets of flowers and pretty declarations of love. it lived in the quiet they'd found in each other, in the hours of peace they were stringing together one by one."

theirs isnt just a romance, it's a story of survival and of learning how to let someone in after being hardened by war and everything they've been through. two people who carried the weight of duty and war, learning to carry each other too. i love them.

[mist-chrome]

name a more zoyalai moment

[dragonqueenstormwitch]

obsessed with how freaked out nikolai is for zoya at the end of rule of wolves. he’s like sturmhond letter crow club yep mhm now take your dress off 😭😭😭

[mist-chrome]

sorry for the hearts i may break because of this

[mist-chrome]

rule of wolves in a nutshell

[mist-chrome]

sometimes (very often, actually) i think about all this "who fell first" thing, applied to zoya and nikolai, and here's my theory (and my headcanon):

i don't think love works that way. there's not a moment in which one of them realises they're in love, like a gesture, a look... nothing like that. it's a journey (and for them, a very slow one). in their case, it's hard to say who fell first, and honestly? i don't think it matters.

what i think actually matters is who realises first, and it has to be nikolai. he's an expert at wearing masks, so he's also an expert at knowing what's behind them. he knows how he changes around zoya and how to conceal his thoughts and feelings on the matter. he uses his masks consciously, but zoya wields her shields as if she had nothing more, nothing beyond. for zoya, her shields are a second nature, but nikolai's are deliberate. while nikolai is fully aware that he's in love with her, she's only just starting to sense it.

does it make sense?

[serien-grl-22]

Here, a thank you to chai ♡ for writing this character analysis on goodreads about Nikolai in King of Scars.

[ihavenoconsistentinterests]

Nikolai Lantsov wya

[serien-grl-22]

Sometimes, Zoyalai is the most teenage drama rom-com anyone can imagine:

Zoya Chapter:

He won't even look at me, understandable. I have disappointed him. He'll never trust me and probably kick me out.

Meanwhile Nikolai:

She's avoiding me! And I can't blame her. I gave her an impossible mission.

Nikolai Chapter:

Zoya wants to leave me?! She's fine with it. Better not show how deeply hurt I am.

Meanwhile Zoya:

Why doesn't it bother him, that I want to leave?!

[mist-chrome]

he's greedy for the sight of her 😭​

[adansey-nation]

it's crazy to me how nobody talks about how radically different the second army looked under the darkling vs how it looks now under zoya and nikolai

nikolai was only king for 3 years which is not a lot when u think abt it, but one of the first things he did was abolish the conscription for grisha. the little palace remains a safe haven for grisha, but no grisha is forced to serve a country that's abused them for centuries, they're not immediately thrown head first into military propaganda when they're barely 10 years old! he gave them this choice even tho the second army's numbers were already dwindling

not to mention lazlayzon?? like cmon! nikolai created the nolniki bcuz he knew grisha and otkazats'ya could accomplish more when working together, which is smth even alina and zoya hadn't truly considered bcuz it seemed so impossible (pun totally intended)

the darkling used fear as a manipulation tactic to make the grisha believe they had no other choices. they HAD to become soldiers. they HAD to serve him. no otkazats'ya would EVER treat them fairly. he told them there was no other way to protect themselves when that wasn't even remotely true - he just needed them reliant on him.

if nikolai accomplished all of that in a few years, i just love to think about what zoya might've done once she was crowned queen.

[syrphinia]

[theseventhcrow55]

zoyalai is just as compelling a romance as all the ones in six of crows. i said what i said.