Chapters: 4/10
Fandom: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Hanne Brum/ Leoni Hilli / Adrik Zhabin, Leoni Hilli / Hanne Brum, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Leoni Hilli/Adrik Zhabin, Hanne Brum/Nina Zenik
Characters: Hanne Brum, Jarl Brum, Leoni Hilli, Jesper Fahey (Mentioned), Aditi Hilli (mentioned), Adrik Zhabin, Nadia Zhabin, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar
Additional Tags: Western AU, Alternate Universe - 1930s, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Pining, Cowboys & Cowgirls, Southern Gothic, Horses, Angst, A lot of trauma, Possibly Unrequited Love, Intimacy, Texas, Frontier, Cottagecore, The Wild West, Rodeos, Soft Pining, OT3, warning for some derogatory language (mostly from Jarl Brum), and raciallly insensitive language (mostly from Jarl Brum), This one has less plot than Devil Turns the Porchlight on and is heavy on the romance just fyi
Series: Part 2 of The Dread South
Summary:
Hanne has lost a lot. She's lost her connection to her culture thanks to her father - a ruthless and pious man. She's lost her mother. The Great Depression has ravaged her communities and life, and she finds solace in the arms of her half brother's wife - Nina Zenik.
Leoni Hilli is a self-sufficient daughter of ranchers in Texas. Through luck of the draw she is doing well enough, but the threat of the white ranchers around her are always on the horizon. But she soldiers on, wiping the dust from her eyes and digging her heels into the dirt.
Their lives became entangled with each other when they all end up at the Hilli ranch. As their lives become upended by personal battles and the world at large, they are able to find comfort with each other.
Warnings for a lot of heavy identity-related themes around queerness, indigenous identity, and blackness in frontierism / the wild west.
Chapter Four is up! A wild Adrik appears. TW for racial slurs, parental abuse, and homophobia in this chapter.