"You are not wrong about that," Aleksander said thoughtfully. "It has certainly forced me to stop and reexamine things. I've had a... fraught past and have come to realize I did not want to be what I was in Ravka. Two of my fellow Ravkans were brought here as well. We are not - I am not sure that we can be friends but at least this place gives us the space to get along."

For the moment, at least. He and Nina had kept things cordial by staying out of each other's way. He knew she had witnessed one of the terrible acts of his future self but she had been a child. Zoya, on the other hand, had known him from the time she came to the Little Palace and would have seen everything and he knew she did not believe him when he had said he was trying to change.