If there was one thing Nikolai hated, it was standing still, and that's what he'd been doing for the past two hours. A heavy length of yarn was stretched and wrapped around his extended wrists while his mother rolled it into a neat ball.

    As long as Nikolai could remember, this had been one of his many household tasks. When they were children, he and Volya took turns helping their mother, but after Volya began training as a guard, he no longer had the time.

    "Stop fidgeting," Maria scolded, not looking up from her work. "I swear you get worse every time we do this."

    "I'm bored," Nikolai muttered. "Not that I don't enjoy helping you, but there are other things I could be doing."

    "Like what? You aren't needed at the palace today, and I know for a fact that Mischa and Yuri are working late." Maria glanced up, catching his eye. Her gaze was a mirror image of his own, a deep, rich brown flecked by amber. "And you are forbidden from seeing the Princess."

    "You don't have to remind me."

    That fact was grating against him worse every day. He hadn't been able to see Nastasia since sneaking her out of the palace almost a week ago. She'd been kept occupied with lessons and meetings while he was busy running errands and seeing to the horses of arriving Knights from across Nyctoli. There were only a few days left before the Knights set out for Blod, where the tournament would begin.

    Nikolai straightened as the door opened and Volya crossed the threshold. He came no closer, but stood beside the door and watched them. "Are we needed for something?" Maria asked. That was the only reason Volya ever came home during the day. Otherwise, he was constantly on duty. Nikolai was surprised he even bothered to come home and sleep.

    "No. I came to collect some things."

    "What things?" Nikolai asked.

    "Clothes, weapons and tools, and my armor."

    An icy sensation clawed through Nikolai's chest as he realized what his brother was saying. He went utterly still, staring at Volya through narrowed eyes. "You entered the tournament."

    "I did."

    "Why?" He practically spat the word. "Why would you even bother? You don't care about Nastasia. You've had nothing to do with her beyond what duty dictates since you became a guard."

    "I'm a member of the Order of Knights. It's my duty to fight for the Princess, be it on the battlefield or in a tournament."

    The ice filling his veins melted in his rage. Nikolai dropped the yarn and stormed towards Volya, but Maria caught him by the wrist. "What if you win the tournament, Brother? Will you marry her for duty's sake? Do you think she'll thank you for it?"

    "Better she marry me than some Andrian bastard."

    "And what about me? Do you think I could bear to see her married to you?"

    Volya's coppery eyes sparked with irritation. "This isn't about you, Nikolai. None of it is. What you think and feel matters not."

    "And if you were anyone else, I'd remember that. I'd shut my mouth and bear it in silence, but you aren't someone else. You are you. You are my brother, and you know I love her!" Nikolai wrenched free of Maria and pointed an accusing finger at Volya. "I don't give a shit what your duty is or isn't. You have no right to..."

    "I think you'll find I do," Volya interrupted. "Because unlike you, I chose to become a guard. I chose to work towards knighthood, and here I am. Captain of the Guards, and a member in the Order of Knights. I have every right to enter the tournament and I will. You could too if you'd just listened to Father."

    Volya's lips twisted in a smirk. "Or you never would've grown close enough to the Princess to fall in love with her. Either way, we might have avoided this mess."

    Nikolai stiffened, the faded scars on his back almost throbbing at the memory of his father. He took a step towards Volya, then froze as Maria stepped between the two of them. Her tone was hard and unrelenting as she fixed her gaze on him.

    "What's done is done. There is no need to dredge up a past that none of us wish to remember." Her gaze softened slightly as she continued. "What's happening is not fair to anyone, but there is nothing we can do to stop it. We can't change the rules and we can't break the law. If Volya has already entered the tournament, he cannot back out."

    "Yes, listen to Mother, little Nikie," Volya sneered.

    Dread washed through him and his chest constricted, forcing his breath out in a sharp exhale. Nikolai shoved the surfacing echoes of a hated voice back into the dark recesses of his mind. Maria rounded on Volya.

    "And you," she snapped. "I raised you better than this. You're twenty-eight years old and yet you still insist on instigating arguments with your brother. Even worse, you use the woman he loves to do so!"

    Volya's gaze shifted away from Maria and landed on him. Nikolai matched his glare. "He has always known that his time with the Princess was limited. It's his own fault that he didn't listen to those of us who warned him."

    "I wouldn't expect you to understand," Nikolai snarled.

    "Enough!" Maria's voice rose to a shout. "Volya, go gather your things. Nikolai..."

    He stepped around Maria and shoved past Volya without a word, not even waiting for his mother to finish. He let the door bang shut behind him. Nikolai clenched his fists at his sides, measuring his breaths in an effort to calm down.

    He'd known. He'd known Volya would likely enter the tournament. He knew his brother cared nothing for the way he felt about Nastasia. He never had. And yet, that didn't stop Nikolai from feeling the keen bite of betrayal.

•༻᯽༺•

    Nikolai wasn't even fazed when the reek of the tannery reached his nostrils. He just stepped inside and made his way past rows of hanging hides and curing leather, until he reached an open courtyard where dozens of vats of colorful dyes and oils stood. Yuri was busy submerging a piece of leather into a crimson dye. He looked up as Nikolai approached.

    "I imagine you didn't come here to help me," Yuri huffed. He stuck a long-handled paddle into the dye and scooped up the leather. He let the dye drain off momentarily before flipping the leather over and pressing it into the mixture once again. Drops of dye splattered his arms and the apron covering his tunic. There were even specks of red on his pale head. "What's going on?"

    "Volya entered the tournament."

    Yuri hesitated, his lips curling sideways in a frown. "Of course he did."

    "He claims it's his duty."

    "Volya never has been one to understand that his duty needn't be shared with everyone." Nikolai scowled. "Not that you don't deserve to know," Yuri amended. "But I imagine there are better ways you could've found out."

    "I don't know what I'm going to do," Nikolai sighed.

    "You're going to flip that hide for me." Yuri jerked his chin to a vat of rust colored dye. Nikolai took the paddle that lay across the mouth of it and stuck it beneath the submerged hide. He clenched his jaw, struggling to lift it out of the dye. "Not as easy as it looks, is it?" Yuri chuckled. "As to your dilemma... I suppose this is one of those rare times when I don't know what to say."

    "I'll make sure Mischa knows that I was the reason Yuri Novikov found himself at a loss for words." Nikolai flipped the leathery hide and pressed it beneath the surface of the dye. "But I'm serious. It's going to be bad enough having to watch Nastasia marry someone else, but even worse if she ends up marrying my brother."

    "I think it will be just as hard for her as it will be for you."

    "I don't want to just stand by and let this happen, but what am I supposed to do? The tournament is helping prevent a war and Nastasia has already been proclaimed the ultimate prize. I can't steal her away but I don't want her to be forced into all of this."

    Yuri propped his paddle up on the lip of the vat and rested his chin atop its flat pommel. "Why don't you fight for her?"

    "Only Knights can enter the tournament. They'll be checking for title papers as well. I can't exactly forge one and sneak along. King Gavriil will have my head."

    "So don't forge a title. Take the place of a Knight who isn't entering."

    Nikolai knit his brows. "My face and voice would give me away."

    "What are we talking about?" Nikolai turned as Mischa approached. He was covered in a thick layer of soot, and his hands were blackened by grease. "I only have a twenty minute lunch break today. Knights keep dropping off weapons and armor to be repaired, and we have about a dozen horses waiting to be shod."

    "Let's talk in the alley," Yuri said, already shrugging out of his apron. "These will be fine soaking for a while."

    Nikolai followed Mischa out of the courtyard and into a narrow alley between the tannery and a leather works building. Yuri joined them seconds later. It didn't take long for Nikolai to fill Mischa in on what had transpired with Volya and what he and Yuri had been discussing.

    "And even if I somehow manage to sneak into the tournament and win it, I could never lie to Nastasia. I'd have to come clean about who I am and when that happens, I'll be arrested and lucky if I'm not executed for impersonating a Knight, not to mention disobeying the King's orders," Nikolai finished. "Sneaking into the tournament won't solve anything."

    "Maybe you still won't be able to marry the Princess yourself, but you could at least make sure she doesn't end up with some bastard," Mischa replied. Yuri nodded his agreement.

    "I don't want to leave Nasi here by herself when the rest of the court leaves though," Nikolai pointed out.

    "You're going to be sacrificing something either way, Nik," Yuri sighed. "What's worse? Leaving Nastasia in the safety of the palace with her brother while you sneak into the tournament and ensure only decent Knights make it to Nyctoli, or remaining here and watching as she is forced to marry someone who plays dirty to get whatever the hell he wants?"

    "I see your point." Nikolai raked his fingers through his curls, snagging a few tangles in the process. "It just doesn't feel right. None of this feels right."

    Yuri rolled his eyes, clapping a red palm onto Nikolai's shoulder. "That's because it isn't right."

    Mischa folded his arms across his chest. "But it could be better."

    "I'll think about it," Nikolai promised. "But I can't do anything more than that right now."