#a string of words

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

4!

WIP Ask Game

4. share your favorite line of dialogue from a wip

Always hard because I prefer back and forths to single lines of dialogue, but here is some Nikolina angst 💖

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

#1 plzzz

WIP Ask Game

1. share a snippet of your choice from a wip

Here’s a very rough draft of a Zoya POV interlude I’m working on for Unmaking!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

⌛️⌛️!

Six sentences from Unmaking!

“What use is it when I cannot wield that power to protect those closest to me?” Nikolai says, an uncharacteristic bitterness steeping his words. “Zoya has always had a habit of ignoring orders she didn’t like. She crossed the border, and it put her in Fjerdan hands and needlessly killed half her soldiers. This wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t think I was weak, if she only trusted my judgment. And I suppose I haven’t given her much reason to. An ineffective Tsar might as well be a sucking wound in the country’s chest.”

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🌥️🌥️

Okay six sentences for Éminence Grise!

The Darkling kisses her, and it’s the most tenderness she’s seen from him in so long. Still, she glances at Nikolai when they break for breath, suddenly remembering him. Their eyes lock for a moment. His face is completely unreadable.

“Don’t worry,” the Darkling says. “He knows to look the other way. Or do you intend to watch, sobachka?”

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Just wanted to say I really love the way you portray the Darkling in your fanfics!! I feel like the others I read portray him as like the show version (which I dont like at all) or like make him too soft or corny😭 like the way you write him I can just imagine him saying the exact same sentences in the books yknow!! Same w Nikolai I feel like people really struggle with these characters but anyway I really hope you keep writing them bcz I read almost all of your Darklina or Nikolina fics within days and I'm really starved lmao

Thank you that’s so sweet!!! Posting fic can really feel like flinging effort into the void so I appreciate hearing things like this 💖💖💖

Anyway, I try to be very careful about matching character voices so I’m very glad that comes through! As for new fic, I have an Unmaking chapter nearly finished (it’s been nearly finished for months but. life has been busy) and a Nikolina exchange one shot that’s currently in pre reveal limbo. I also have some Eminence Grise in pieces but I haven’t touched it in awhile so idk what the timeliness of that will be

Here’s a very unedited excerpt from the next Unmaking chapter… whenever I get to it lol

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Tidbit Tuesday

I was tagged by @boundwithpurple! Thank you!

Snippet from Unmaking (time loop fic):

He steps closer to sit beside her, the bed dipping at his weight. For the briefest moment she tenses, a wave of familiarity washing over her again, and in the undertow, fear at the sight of him by her bedside. Then it is gone, and there is only the hazy pleasantness again. The languid ache in her limbs. She’s all in a tangle. Her rumpled skirts twisted up with the sheets, and she can feel the pins in her hair digging into her scalp. But she doesn’t mind even that. She gazes at his cold lovely face. Somehow still so distant.  “Can I touch you?” she asks finally, hesitantly. He seems to find amusement in the question. Perhaps that she would ask it now, but he nods.  She reaches up to run her fingertips through his hair, over his cheek, the severe set of his mouth, it parts under her touch, softening a fraction. His eyes drift shut.  “Aleksander,” she whispers.  His hand closes around her unwounded wrist. She starts, suddenly remembering herself, that he’d told her not to call him that, that she already had so recently. “I’m sorry.” “No, say it again.” She does, watching his expression curiously, the flicker of what looks almost like pain. She asks him, “Do you remember the last time? The last life?” “Yes.” “What happened to me?” He kisses her knuckles, turns her hand over to find the palm, and then down to her wrist. It’s a sweet distraction, so she allows it. She wouldn’t know how not to– even with her desire sated for the moment, his touch unspools her. He smiles at the hitch of her breath, her soft wavering sigh, and she can feel the precise curve of his lips against her skin.  “I’ve drawn a bath for you,” he tells her. He draws her up, and she’s reluctant to leave the comfort of the bed but his touch is more tempting. She leans into him, still feeling boneless and heavy with the night.  He makes a soft, pleased sound, and kisses her hair. Her temple.  He helps her shed her clothes entirely– she isn’t exactly sure where her beautiful kefta lies discarded, likely somewhere on the floor– but she stands obediently as he strips away the chemise she still wears, then her stockings, and sets them aside. The air is cold on her skin, despite the fire, and her arms prickle with goose flesh. She is too aware of the ugly wound on her wrist. And there is a belated frisson of uncertainty, vulnerability, at being naked when he is not. But she supposes the time for modesty has long passed.  His thumb passes gently over the dark ridges of the wound on her wrist, once, then again. It throbs in answer.  “Does this pain you?” he asks.  “No.” He holds her gaze, waiting.  “A little,” she admits.  He nods. “It will not heal.” “I think I had another like it once.” He brushes her hair back, and leans in to kiss her shoulder.  “Yes.” She shivers.  “Do you remember how you got that other wound?” And she is never certain what to make of the mix of wariness and anticipation in his face when he asks her questions like this.  “No,” she says, knowing this will disappoint him, but it seems like a safer reply.  “It was given to you at my command.”   She could ask “Why?” or “Do you intend to hurt me again?” but watching his face, she keeps carefully silent.  

Tagging: @jammerific @hannahofathousanddays @argyleheir @necesitotequila if you'd like to!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

WIP Word Search

I was tagged by @jammerific! Thank you! My words were wonder, tense, long, and anticipate

Wonder

“It occurs to me we didn’t have a honeymoon,” Nikolai says suddenly. “In a far-off future where the world isn’t falling apart, I’d like to take you sailing.”

“Will you navigate by the stars?”

“Of course. I’ll show you the wonders of the world.”

“That seems like it would make for a very long honeymoon.”

“Well, one wonder at a time. We can pace ourselves in between diplomatic visits and court events.”

“I can live with that.”

(From Unmaking)

Tense

He doesn’t answer immediately, his pale eyes assessing her. “I came to check on you,” he says finally.

Alina turns her head away, disliking the scrutiny. “I’m fine,” she mutters.

He lets out a soft, humorless laugh. “As we’ve established.”

She doesn’t respond, staring stubbornly at the wall, but she can feel his eyes on her, and it makes her stomach twist. She hates this feeling. The helplessness. The frustration. The way his presence has this uncanny ability to strip away all her defenses.

The bed dips slightly as the Darkling sits beside her. She tenses, but doesn’t move away.

(From Éminence Grise)

Long

Alina lets go of Mal’s hand, arranges it carefully at his side again. And of course it stays just how she left it. The stillness shouldn’t surprise her. Mechanically, she closes the lid of the coffin. 

Tamar lets out a long breath, clearly in relief, and offers her a hand. Alina stares for a moment, uncomprehending— her thoughts feel so sluggish— but finally she takes it. 

(From Unmaking)

Anticipate

There’s no time to think now. She aims the Cut this time, trying to scatter them. But there are too many, and they’re far more coordinated than she’d anticipated, swarming in on her, at the expense of all else. One of them lunges at her. 

She barely manages to dodge the blow, but another slams into her side, the blunt side of a rifle cracking against her ribs. He drops, clutching his chest, courtesy of Ivan likely. 

(From Éminence Grise)

Tagging @allthestoriescantbelies @carloabay @hannahofathousanddays @forthegothicheroine @argyleheir @necesitotequila

Your words are:

Red, idea, float, glance, and derivatives thereof!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]