his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

The Cursed Prince

SMASH 

"You fool Taio," He yelled. 

Kaida could make out a red palm-print on his tanned face, though she couldn't quite focus on anything. Earlier He stabbed her with something that caused her to go into a fuzzy state. People were swirling, objects were upside down. She attempted to raise her hand up to help Taio get rid of the pain but it wouldn't move. 

"I-I'll get it cleaned up right away, sir," Taio sputtered running away. 

Kaida blinked away the white lights trying to focus on the moving figure in front of her. He was wearing a white lab coat and rubber gloves that had red splattered all over it. His hair was pitch black and his golden eyes pierced through her soul. 

"Hand me the scalpel, Mei." 

The woman standing next to Him handed over the shiny blade. It glistened in the light causing Kaida to shut her eyes already giving her a headache. 

Anticipating what was to come next she bit down on her lips, not noticing the red liquid spilling out. 

And the sharp blade exposed her once again. 

~

She jumped out of her bed short of breath like she had ran a marathon, clothes stuck onto her like a second skin. It was barely dawn with people still snoring, the door was ajar allowing a breeze that froze her pink cheeks to enter. 

She's had these nightmares for as long as she can remember, but it's been getting worse ever since she's been on the whaler. The tip of the blade felt real and she could hear His voice everywhere even though she was awake. It was happening every single time she had the luxury to sleep. The dark circles growing bigger under her eyes.  

Brushing her abdomen, she got up and equipped herself with her weapons. One knife and a cutlass on her hips, two pistols around her chest, her bow and arrows on her back and extra knives in her worn out boots and her thighs. She wore her brown coat to cover up everything except for the bow and arrows so that when she does get in a fight, they won't expect her to be prepared. 

After she rinsed the sleep off of her face, she snuck outside. The air felt different from usual. It's probably because everyone's asleep. She walked past the kitchen to grab some bread and drinking water then went on ahead to find her partner, Sturmhond, hoping he wasn't asleep. 

The two hadn't discussed about the small argument they had about confessing their real names to each other, but they were able to put that aside and continued working together. Sturmhond was his usual pleasant self while Kaida's quiet demeanor stayed. The first thing he said to her the next day was whether or not she noticed him using the same "shark bait" threat. Said he was disappointed that it didn't work on her so he tested it out on Ivan and was extremely proud that it did.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. You look... wonderful," Sturmhond greeted as he looked up from a map on his desk. A charming smile plastered on his face like always. Why is he up at this time?

"Morning..." Kaida replied completely muffled by the bread she was chewing on. 

"Why don't you go back to sleep? You look exhausted." Sturmhond offered. 

Kaida shook her head, "Don't feel like going back to sleep."

"Alright. Take it slow though, it'd be a pity to break people's limbs alone." 

Someone rushed into the room and sputtered out that Mal thought that they were close to the sea whip. Sturmhond and Kaida exchanged glances then followed the man to find Mal. 

As they were walking Sturmhond warned, "Next time knock, what if Kalista and I were having a moment." 

"Oh! Sorry about that Captain," he apologised, his eyes wide. 

Kaida rolled her eyes, "You need to stop that."

"Stop what?" Sturmhond asked, a lopsided grin on his face. 

"Everything."

He laughed a hearty laugh which let Kaida make the decision to shove past him and move towards the crowd. Stupid Sturmhond and his stupid smiles.

Once Kaida got closer to the crowd, she could hear the Darkling was making sure that Mal was certain he found the sea whip, slightly baffled that he could track such an ancient creature on a ship looking out the open stretch of the sea. 

"I think we're close," Mal said turning to the Darkling. 

"You think?" All Mal did was give a single nod. The Darkling seemed to consider his response, then nodded at Sturmhond. 

"Trim the sails," Sturmhond commanded to the crew which they hastily obliged. 

Ivan tapped the Darkling's shoulder and gestured to the southern horizon, "A ship, moi soverenyi." Kaida and Sturmhond glanced at each other subtly. 

"Are they flying colours?" the Darkling asked Sturmhond. 

"Probably fishermen," he answered, "But we'll keep an eye on her just in case." He signaled Kaida, giving her his long glass, so she went scurrying up the main royal to look at what it was. 

While she was looking through the long glass, she heard the longboats being prepared and, in minutes, they were being lowered over the starboard side, loaded with Sturmhond's men and bristling with harpoons. The Darkling's grisha crowded by the rail to view the boats' progress. The mist seemed to magnify the steady slap of the oars against the waves. Of course the Darkling and his crew don't have to do any of the work. Lazy shits. 

Everyone's attention was focused on the crew in the water, anticipation building. If they caught this, it was an extraordinary story to tell. 

A cry rang out: "Two points off the starboard bow!" 

Something was moving in the mist, a shimmering, undulating white shape. At that moment, the creature's back breached the waves. its body cutting through the water in a sinuous arch, rainbows sparking off the iridescent scales on its back. 

The Rusalye.