bonus chapter (woh) ─── once upon a december

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𝕬nastasiaj Lantsov was not a loud baby. In fact, Nikolai believed that she was one of the quietest babies that he had been around though that wasn't saying much as she was the only child that he had met.

Then, his mother had placed her into their older brother's arms and Anastasiaj had begun to scream her head off. Nikolai's mind was then made up.

She was his favourite sibling.

"You're terrible at this," Nikolai teased, before taking the baby from Vasily's arms. His brother glared at him, stomping off to go and find their father, leaving Nikolai to hold his baby sister for the first time.

Her crying and wailing stopped, settling down and cooing to herself as one little hand wrapped around his finger. Nikolai grinned, beaming down at the little girl, who slowly opened her eyes.

They were piercing, staring right up at him as if she could tell everything that he was thinking and possibly more, but Nikolai found it endearing. It meant that she would take after him, and that was the best thing for everything to happen. They didn't need to have another Vasily running around the palace like the spoiled brat he was.

"Ana," Nikolai cooed, giggling to himself as she blinked sleepily. "I'm going to protect you, Ana. I'm going to be a better older sibling than Vasily."

He was pretty sure that he already had that part of his promise down, as Anastasiaj had screamed her head off in their older brother's arms. So, all that was left for the seven year old boy to do was to protect her. That wouldn't be too hard.

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"Anastasiaj Lantsov!" Nikolai turned, managing to catch his five year old sister as she ran away from their father and into the crowd.

"Ana," Nikolai shook his head, keeping a tight grip on his sister, who was known to do anything to escape from people's holds. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," She lisped, grinning innocently. Nikolai reached down, wiping some chocolate from the corner of her mouth and cocking an eyebrow.

"You know you shouldn't have chocolate after dark,"

"If they don't want me to have chocolate, why have it in arms reach?" She countered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and pouting. Nikolai grinned, before crouching down beside his sister and smoothing her emerald dress out. 

The fabric was soft and fluffy, fluttering as the little girl walked, and Nikolai pushed her hair back from her face before nodding.

"Now, how about a dance, princess? Before father finds you,"

"Yes!" Anastasiaj giggled, allowing Nikolai to grab a hold of her hands and lift her up into his arms. Nikolai pretended to stumble causing his sister to giggle once more and clutch onto the collar of his dress clothes. "The shadow man's here."

"Now, now Ana, remember the rules?"

"Don't call him that to his face,"

"Atta girl," Nikolai shifted her position so that she sat on his hips, before attempting to sneak past the so called shadow man and onto the dance floor.

"Your grace, your grace," Anastasiaj seemed to conveniently fall asleep as the Darkling turned to face the pair. "Your father's looking for you."

"I know. Ana and I were going to have one last dance before I took her up to bed. That is all," Nikolai puffed his chest out, cocking an eyebrow at the Grisha as he dared him to say otherwise. The dark haired man smiled, though there was nothing kind behind it, and bowed his head. "Thank you."

He walked away, brushing past nobles as Anastasiaj pulled her head up and stuck her tongue out at the Darkling's back, before wriggling to be let down.

"Come on, Nik," Nikolai nodded, joining the dance floor as the last song came to an end. Couples lined up around them, and Nikolai led Anastasiaj to a free spot. It was a comical sight, with the two youngest of the royal family surrounded by adults, all taller than them. "I don't know how to dance."

"That's okay Ana. Put your feet on mine," Nik held his hands out, as Anastasiaj hesitantly put her feet on top of his. He pretended to wince, causing Anastasiaj to giggle as they waited for the music to start up. "Alright, are you ready?"

"Yes!" She cheered as the music started up. It was a waltz, which Nikolai was capable of. He began to do the steps, taking three to one side, and three to the next, spinning his sister around in the process. Anastasiaj was giggling all the while, looking around at the other dancers in awe, as Nikolai picked her up to spin her with the other dancers.

Putting her back onto his feet, Nikolai continued to follow the others to the best of his ability. Each time they spun around, Anastasiaj's giggles grew louder, causing the other nobles to chuckle and laugh. 

All too soon, the dance came to an end, and Nikolai was forced to set Anastasiaj back onto the floor. They clapped at the other dancers, before Nikolai caught his mother's eye and picked his little sister back up.

"Can't we dance again, Nik?"

"Maybe at the next ball but Mother wants you to go to bed now," Nikolai pointed out, stepping up towards the dais. His mother watched them both with a small smile.

"You promise? The next ball."

"Yes. The next ball, you and I can dance until you need to go to bed. Does that sound good?" Anastasiaj nodded, beaming as Nikolai pressed a kiss to her head before handing her over to a waiting attendant. "Good night, Anastasiaj, and sweet dreams."

"I love you, Nik," She waved over the steward's shoulder, before disappearing to the royal quarters to sleep. Little did Nikolai Lantsov know that it would be the last time that he saw Anastasiaj Lantsov.

They never did dance at the next ball.

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"Your Grace," Nikolai paused in speaking to Zoya, looking at the steward. "It's time for the dancing."

"I see," Nikolai had hated dancing at balls ever since he was thirteen, finding that it reminded him too painfully of his younger sister and her dancing on his feet. Smoothing out his tunic, he smiled gently at Zoya, who pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"It'll be alright, Nikolai," He nodded, brushing his hair back and pushing it away from his head. He didn't know why he was so nervous until he stepped out onto the dancefloor and saw the woman in the centre of it.

"I was told that you were dancing to begin with?" She smiled, though it curled at the side and threatened to turn into a smirk. 

"It's custom. The highest ranking male in the royal family has to dance first at any social occasion if the ruler doesn't want to. Zoya backed out, which left it down to me." He shook his head, sending a glare to his Grisha wife, who winked back. "So, what do you say?"

"I say yes. This time, I won't step on your toes," She chuckled. Anastasiaj Lantsov might have died a long time ago, but deep down, Nikolai still saw the sparks of his sister in the woman standing in front of him. 

It was all in the laughter.

Her dress was pure white, a far cry from the colours that Stasiaj usually wore. Lace covered her shoulders and arms, draping across the body of the dress and down to the skirt, which glittered with inlaid crystals. Diamonds sparkled in her ears and neck, fangs hidden in her blonde hair, that for once was left down instead of being pulled up into an elaborate top knot. 

"I see you still have your fangs," Nikolai held his arm out, allowing his sister to hook hers through as he led her to the centre of the ballroom and away from her husband and friends.

"Of course. What sort of snake would I be without them?"

"A harmless one," She laughed, her head tilting back as Nikolai chuckled and placed a hand on her waist and grabbed her other arm. "One final dance, Ana?"

"There will be more, Nik. Don't worry,"

"Not when you're just my sister though. This is my last time dancing with you when you are only my sister. When you're not Mrs. Brekker or Stasiaj Yahontov, when you're just Anastasiaj Lantsov," Stasiaj's face softened.

They fell silent for a moment, settling into position, before the music began to start up and Nikolai felt his heart falter. It was the same music as the last time that he had danced with her, the sound familiar to him as it used to haunt his dreams when he was younger.

 "It's a waltz." He looked down at her, smiling sadly. She chewed on the inside of her lip, nodding her head.

"I don't know how to do that dance," Stasiaj muttered, her voice cracking at the end. 

"That's okay, Ana," Nikolai felt tears form in his eyes. "You can put your feet on mine."

She grinned, though tears glimmered in her eyes like drops of diamonds, her feet coming to rest on top of his.

Just like they had all those years ago, the siblings waltzed around the ballroom, spinning and twirling together. Nikolai knew that she was lying, knew that Stasiaj knew the steps, yet every time they came back together, her feet came to rest on top of his so that he could lead them. Despite the pain that came with it, Nikolai pushed it all back so that he could spin his sister around the ballroom again like they were little once more with no problems other than escaping from their father and eating sweets in castle corridors.

The music was slowing down and coming to a stop, and Stasiaj spun out of her last twirl, right into Nikolai's arms, pulling him into a tight hug as he pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Can't we dance again, Nik?" Her voice cracked, and Nikolai felt a pang in his heart knowing that Stasiaj remembered their conversation from all those years ago. 

"Maybe at the next ball," Nikolai grinned, before leaning down to press another kiss to her forehead as other dancers joined the floor. "But you've got other people to dance with tonight."

He stepped away from her, albeit reluctantly, as the sharpshooter that had been on her crew for the Ice Court Heist took his place. Stasiaj's face lit up as Jesper and her got ready for the next dance leaving Nikolai to sigh sadly. 

Zoya reached up, pressing a hand to Nikolai's back as he watched the pair dance, before Stasiaj was handed off to Wylan Van Eck and then Malkus, before finally falling back into the arms of Kaz Brekker. 

Kaz looked at her as if she put the stars in the sky, and Stasiaj's quiet laughter and warm smile told him that Kaz had her entire heart in the palm of his hand.

"See, she's happy," Zoya reminded him. "She'll be alright with him."

"I know she will, but it feels like I'm losing her all over again because I know she will go back to Ketterdam when this is all over," Nikolai shook his head. "That's her home."

"That's her empire more like," Zoya chuckled, shaking her head. "She'll come back. Plus, I doubt that anyone will ever try to kidnap her again and if they do, she'll give them hell."

Kaz and Stasiaj danced past them, both sporting soft smiles as they watched each other with eyes full of love.

"And he'd burn the world down before anything could happen to her," Zoya noted, before pressing a kiss to Nikolai's cheek. She took his hand, leading him out onto the dancefloor so that they could join the festivities. 

Nikolai sent his sister one last smile, before turning back to his wife. He'd vowed to protect her, and failed, but he knew that she was in incredibly safe hands and if her hands failed, then Kaz Brekker would be there to support her.

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Hiya,

So, this sort of made me cry when Stasiaj and Nik started repeating the conversation they had when they were children. To clarify, over the years, Stasiaj was able to work past her trauma and unlock her earlier memories from before she was kidnapped but the only truly clear one she had was the dancing with Nik. Would like to confirm that I was listening to Stay (by Rihanna) slowed and with rain sounds the entire time I wrote this.

A lot of people requested this one.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx