Christmas day came and went, I had felt awkward every day at the family's generosity, but my obligatory defence lessons with Evie made it worthwhile. She'd forced me to teach her how to work a revolver, and we'd started on the sword by the time Christmas rolled around. Rumour had it that Afanasy was set to marry Angel on Christmas morning, which took me by strong surprise. For all I knew it had happened by the time I was sitting around the fire with the Bences as they opened their presents. I had nothing to give any of them, and I hated myself for it.

But the day passed, and soon it was evening, and Evie and I lounged over the balcony banister, glasses of warm mulled wine in our hands, even though the unsettling Oldcliff heat still meant she could stand without a shawl. Her hair was in an ornate piece, which perfected her flawless silhouette against the orangey candlelight behind her. The stars were out; they captivated her eyes and earned a sigh of wonder every few minutes from her lips. I was more in awe of the spectacular sea, just below us. The balcony reached out right over the clifftop, we were only two stories up from the sea itself, which glistened darkly in the moonlight.

"I still can't believe that they would do that to you." Evie whispered, her elbows bearing all of her weight on the banister. When I made no response, she turned to me and edged my face with her fingertips. "I still can't believe you chose me."

I smiled back at her then, maybe it was her alone, or maybe a mixture of that and the wine and the climate, but this was the most comfortable I'd ever been, and could ever hope to be. "I still can't believe you'd still have me, even when I locked you up."

Evie smirked. "Me neither. You're a very bad man, Ganechka." She kissed me again and her lips tasted of the holiday spices. "Imagine if Starkey had never gotten ill."

"Gosh I'd rather not." I chuckled, turning to lean against the balcony, swapping the views of the vast sea for one I much preferred. Her nose crinkled in delight.

Evie's eyebrows were lowered thoughtfully as she sipped her wine. "Who do you think you would've gone for? If I hadn't come along and messed everything up?" She asked curiously, her tone was light, so I was almost sure that the question was hypothetical.

"Serena, probably." I spoke carefully, wary of a blow which may proceed my words. None fell, only an amused smirk, so I continued. "I'm really surprised my brother hasn't married her, seeing as we really can't win the war without her navy. I would've married her and then got back to the front lines within two weeks." I laughed to myself, even though I couldn't see the humour in it.

"Then I came and fucked it all up." Evie chuckled. "Lucky you."

I shook my head, putting my glass down on the tiled floor so I could take her hands. "No, lucky me indeed. I never thought I could marry for love. But I was stuck in this fantasy that there might be one girl, just one girl who was different, who could change the system, or that the system might change before Tommy bit the dust. I always knew in the back of my mind that neither of those things could ever happen."

"Then there I was." Evie smiled. "We'll check the second one off the list too." Her smile was too wide and she rocked just a little bit, so I knew I was talking more to the wine than to the girl, but it was still so good to admit.

"Then there you were." Smiling, I straightened her necklace. "And you gave me hope. You proved to me that there's more to life than just soldiering. I didn't know that before, not even with Tommy."

"Really?" She whispered, placing her hands just past my shoulders, so her forearms rested on them.

"Really." I nodded, smiling as I placed my hands on her waist. We swayed together in the nonexistent breeze for a few moments, her head on my shoulder, perfectly content.

I was jolted out of that beautiful trance when Evie straightened herself abruptly. "What do you want, G?" She snapped.

Evie's little sister stood shaking, pale, a shawl thrown hastily over her small shoulders in the hallway by the balcony.

"There's - there's men. Soldiers. They want the Prince. Papa's trying to send them away." She whispered hysterically.

"Ganechka they want you for treason." Evie murmured, walking with me back to the edge.

"I'll go with them. I'll escape again." I hissed back, desperate at all costs to avoid trespassing further on her father's kindness.

She grabbed my collar, snapping up onto the balls of her feet to do so. "You won't. They'll kill you."

"I can't let them hurt your father because of -"

"You can slightly swim right?" She snapped, tugging at my jacket to pull it off. "G go away." She commanded her sister, taking the jacket off me whilst I could do nothing but stand there like a doll. "Go and hide with Anna. Go straight back to bed."

"Evie-" I tried to get her attention, to no avail.

"You're going to get down into the water. You're going to follow the current back inland. There's a cave by a big rock." She pulled my undershirt off, exposing my bare chest to the night air. I felt the need to hide, though the only way to run was down. "You're going to wait there for me. I'll be two hours tops."

"Evie I have to -" I tried to bend down to retrieve my shirt.

"Gavrila if you die then this whole country is fucking doomed and my brother died for nothing. Kiss me hard and survive until the morning." And then she pressed her lips to mine, using her grip on my hair to push me back against the balcony. "Tell me you love me." She whispered roughly, I felt her hands in my pockets checking that they were empty.

"I-I love you." I stammered, a huge rush of emotions overwhelming me.

Evie smirked, her hands now on my chest. "Good. I love you too."

And then somehow her tiny hands pushed all of me over the edge of the balcony. I rocketed down through the air, each passing millisecond ripping hair from my scalp.

The water hit me harder than concrete.