Despite the confusion and pain, Anya feels relieved by this news. It hurts
to know, to realize that it wasn't all lies. That she had yelled at
Dmitry and Vlad, had spurned them, before carrying that pain with her to
this strange place. For weeks she has had to carry all of that with her. To
believe that these people who had purported to help her had actually been
working against her. At this moment she doesn't fully believe that they
always knew she was the actual Grand Duchess Anastasia, miraculously alive.
In all likelihood it was a happy accident. All three of them had stumbled
together to help and use one another.
But Gleb. Gleb has no reason to lie to her. He followed her to Paris and
she knows the price that he must have been willing to face to turn back
from orders. The ultimate price. He does not strike her as the type who
would coddle her. In fact, he had been the one to warn her away from
playing pretend, from going along with Dmitry and Vlad. Now here he is,
suddenly in Darrow, telling her that she should believe the very thing he
told her not to.
A princess, her. That means that she does have a family. Another
home exists out there even if she can never get to it. All of the things
that she had prayed for, had hoped for in the cold nights, are actually
possible. Just not here. It's uncomfortable to know the truth when she can
do nothing with it. The pain from that is just as real.
"I know you would. You saw them," a pause as she amends herself. "Us. You
saw us back in Yekaterinburg."
The fire and blood, the ash and the screams. Her nightmares have lessoned
since that night before the ballet, but she still hears them. Her family
taunting and begging her. Those dreams linger long after she awakes.
With a heavy sigh, she takes a steadying sip of her tea before retreating
back to the safety of his question. "It's an entirely different city from
any I have known. They say that the year here is 2017 and from what I have
heard we are not in any country that we could find on our maps. It seems
vaguely American though."
no subject
Despite the confusion and pain, Anya feels relieved by this news. It hurts to know, to realize that it wasn't all lies. That she had yelled at Dmitry and Vlad, had spurned them, before carrying that pain with her to this strange place. For weeks she has had to carry all of that with her. To believe that these people who had purported to help her had actually been working against her. At this moment she doesn't fully believe that they always knew she was the actual Grand Duchess Anastasia, miraculously alive. In all likelihood it was a happy accident. All three of them had stumbled together to help and use one another.
But Gleb. Gleb has no reason to lie to her. He followed her to Paris and she knows the price that he must have been willing to face to turn back from orders. The ultimate price. He does not strike her as the type who would coddle her. In fact, he had been the one to warn her away from playing pretend, from going along with Dmitry and Vlad. Now here he is, suddenly in Darrow, telling her that she should believe the very thing he told her not to.
A princess, her. That means that she does have a family. Another home exists out there even if she can never get to it. All of the things that she had prayed for, had hoped for in the cold nights, are actually possible. Just not here. It's uncomfortable to know the truth when she can do nothing with it. The pain from that is just as real.
"I know you would. You saw them," a pause as she amends herself. "Us. You saw us back in Yekaterinburg."
The fire and blood, the ash and the screams. Her nightmares have lessoned since that night before the ballet, but she still hears them. Her family taunting and begging her. Those dreams linger long after she awakes.
With a heavy sigh, she takes a steadying sip of her tea before retreating back to the safety of his question. "It's an entirely different city from any I have known. They say that the year here is 2017 and from what I have heard we are not in any country that we could find on our maps. It seems vaguely American though."