his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

once and for all

Whispers and clanging of pots rang in Kaida's ears. She had the need to twist her back and crack it as the floor was solid even though it was carpeted. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open but closed it immediately since the rays of sunshine peaked through the windows. 

"Oh, Saints. She's waking up!" said an excited young voice. Kaida wasn't familiar to it and couldn't pin point who it was. 

There was some movement as a voice Kaida definitely knew said, "I can't believe it..." 

Beside her, she could feel the person's light touch pulling back her sweaty hair from her forehead. With a lot of effort, Kaida lifted her hand to grab the person's hand. They gasped in shock. 

"Genya," croaked Kaida. 

"I'm here, Kaida." She mumbled as she squeezed her hand. 

"Water." 

Genya stood up immediately and excused Misha to move out of the way for her to get the water. 

Soon Kaida was gulping down water like her life depended on it - which it did. She had been traveling for a couple of days without food or water. 

As soon as she was fully hydrated, she opened her eyes trying to avoid the bright light and put all her focus on the beautiful woman and the young boy in front of her. 

Before Kaida could do or say anything, Genya squeezed her into a hug. Kaida's neck swung back with the speed and the crack it made freaked everybody in the room out. 

"Sorry! I just can't believe you're alive," Genya apologised still hugging the girl. 

"I can't believe it either," Kaida replied taking in Genya's scent. Once they stopped hugging, Genya's hands rested on Kaida's shoulders as they stared at each other. "How did I get here?" 

Her face fell to a grim look contrast to the wide smile she had earlier. "Nikolai brought you to us." 

Realisation dawned on Kaida. The flapping of wings and claws were Nikolai all this time. Even in the form of a monster, he saved her. She wanted to weep, she wanted to cheer. He was still Nikolai Lantsov, the boy she fell in love with, but then he wasn't. He was a prince stuck in a beast's body that the Darkling enforced on him. A beast that fed on anything and everything. 

"We have to find a way to bring him back," Kaida said panicking about what had happened to him. 

"We will. I promise you. But right now, we have to prepare to fight the Darkling. He has all the grisha students hostage and we're going to fight him in the Fold tomorrow." Genya explained. 

They were going to finally fight the Darkling. The man who destroyed and killed so many lives. The man who caused the war. No matter his excuse for wanting to create a better world for the grisha, it was no exception. He made them look even more dangerous and hated, he took innocent people's lives without feeling any remorse, he ruined people's lives who considered him a mentor. The man deserved to die. 

Kaida nodded, "Tell me everything." 

~

The rest of the group welcomed Kaida back with open arms though Adrik was only able to give her a one arm hug. Zoya surprisingly gave her a hug that lasted the longest compared to everyone else even though she didn't say anything heartwarming. Tamar had ran and jumped in the girl's arms which had caught her by surprise that she nearly dropped her best friend. 

Genya had caught her up with their plan to defeat the Darkling while she worked with David. Kaida had a nice cup of tea in her hand while she listened but her hands wouldn't stop trembling and her mind wouldn't stop going back to her prince and death.