#another segment from the ruin and rising au that's coming to an AO3 near you

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

“You have to promise to cut in if I get stuck partnering the countess,” Nikolai says solemnly, his mouth caught somewhere between a smile and a grimace. “The last time I danced with her, I couldn’t sit comfortably for a week; that woman pinches hard.”

“The perils of being so damnably handsome,” Alina agrees straight-faced. She’s been dreading tonight, but Nikolai has lifted her spirits yet again; it’s really quite irritating, that ability of his. Then she smirks. “And just think: last time you were only a prince.”

—I’ll tell you how the sun rose (a ribbon at a time)