The Stone King's Lover (石王的愛)

Chapter 30

Xie Yi-jun

1303 years after The Long Night

Hêi'àn City

<King's Chamber>

"And what's this one? It's shaped kinda funny-"

Xie Yi-jun was too tired to laugh but if he could he would have laughed long and hard, until his cheeks hurt and he could barely see through the tears in his eyes. Instead, having expended far too much energy that evening after several rounds in bed, the King glanced down at where his lover was gently touching him, fingers skimming over another of Yi-jun's scars...

Jin Songcai's silvery hair was all loose and pretty now, framing his face as he leaned over the King's chest and stared. Xie Yi-jun gazed longingly at the man's striking but delicate features once more, as always thanking his lucky stars that Jin-cai stuck around with him long enough that they could fall in love, and experience a moment like this.

Sighing peacefully, he wrapped his arm around Songcai's back, stroking the soft ridge of his spine contently.

"I don't remember." He answered, "Must have been a training accident... what do you think it's shaped like?"

Songcai abruptly grinned, still distractedly tracing over Yi-jun's bare chest.

"Sort of like an arrow, see?! It's pointing up to your heart..."

"Mmm," Yi-jun had closed his eyes again and was reacting to Jin-cai's fingers running across his body, the healer's warmth and purity and goodness leaving what felt like paths of sunshine on his skin.

Making me his with every touch...

Lost in a world of bliss for several minutes, Yi-jun was finally roused by the sensation of Songcai's sneaky fingers dipping lower. Stomach contracting, the Kinglet out a shy laugh as he was highly ticklish where Jincai had touched, but Songcai had no ulterior motives, still going about mapping Yi-jun's scars as if he wanted to know all their stories.

He was staring now at the pale white line just above Yi-jun's right hip. It was old, over ten years old, but the King remembered the day he got it as vividly as if it had happened that morning...

"This one?" Songcai murmured.

Yi-jun only nodded, "I was thirteen. Someone stabbed me with a hunting knife..."

Jincai's eyes grew wide; "Someone? You don't know who?!"

Smiling at his lover's expression, the King settled down into bed further and hugged Songcai close as he sighed; "Shall I tell you?"

Jin-cai blinked, "Will it make me cry?"

Reaching up his other hand to playfully pinch the man's soft cheek, Yi-jun grinned when his lover blushed.

"No... perhaps it will make you very frustrated. I know I sure was angry the day it happened."

"Angry at who hurt you?"

Yi-jun frowned, "No, angry at my mother."

Songcai didn't say anything else, though his eyes told the King he wanted to know more. Xie Yi-jun rarely talked about his past, his parents in particular, but his Jin-cai could sense even without words that the topic was difficult. Now, it was as if Yi-jun was only filling in the details of the story to his lover, as the man already had a sense of the basics...

"It was the beginning of Spring," Yi-jun began effortlessly. "When trading starts and everyone lines the streets to sell and exchange what they made during the Winter. Anyway, back then I didn't get to spend very much time in the lower city and never by myself... I watched everything happening from my balcony and wondered what it would be like, so much that I eventually got up the courage to beg my mother to let me out. Of course, at first she refused, she always did. But I didn't let it go for weeks, and finally she relented.

"Well, there I was minding my own business in the thick of it all down in Gen Jín, when I landed in the busiest part of the market. I truly have no idea what happened next but after colliding rather painfully with several strangers, I realised that one of them had cut my side and I was bleeding all over the road...

"I could hear the people behind me that had done it, laughing and spitting in my direction, and I could tell that they were waiting for me to do something stupid like turn and fight them. Maybe they hoped they could just beat me up on the side of the road, and all their problems with me and my lineage would be done-

"But I buried my anger and fear for the moment, pulled my arm in so tight against the wound I saw stars, and made it back to the palace, thankfully before I passed out. My mother was waiting for me and didn't act surprised or worried when she saw what had happened, only instructing several healers to strip me down right there in the throne room and heal me, completely awake. And you know, back then we didn't have any such healers like yourself, Jin-cai... it took much longer and was much more painful than it would have been if you were there-

"Anyway, after that I tried to tell her what happened through the tears I was still biting back. She paid no attention for a long while, when finally I heard her shout; that there's nothing she can do to apprehend them, and I was foolish for putting myself in harms way in the first place... such things as this. Well of course I was used to her saying these things, because there really wasn't anything she could do. Taking the time to search for and hunt down those who'd hurt me would at best only give them more power, at worst, highlight The Crown Prince's inability to defend himself.

"Still, I was so mad at her. The way she acted as if she expected it, and didn't care one way or another. I know she only ever worked to make sure I would be successful, but at the time I really felt as if she just hated me, and wanted to punish me by keeping me silent. I still don't know who it was, the ones who did it, but it's too obvious to say that they're now a part of Meng Bai's army; all the people who wanted him instead of me. Ah sorry, am I sounding too narcissistic and bleak? The memory is still a bitter one. Perhaps it wasn't the right choice to relive it, now that I'm older and you're here with me-"

Xie Yi-jun's musings were interrupted by Songcai suddenly kissing him. All lingering feelings of resentment and bitterness faded, replaced by a swirling warmth, a shining white light that lit even the darkest parts of the King's heart and made him hope for more. So much more...

Reaching up to hold his lover's face, the King ran his thumbs over Songcai's jaw, feeling his softness and even more when the man released him gently and sighed...

Eyes still closed, Songcai's lips only a breath away from his, Yi-jun felt the fluttery beat of Jin-cai's heart, as if it was saying; I am here with you, I am always with you. And you need never feel that way again-

"Want me to try and ease the pain?" Songcai whispered, "You might still have nerves that haven't healed right, or I could-"

Yi-jun grinned, which made the man stop.

When they both opened their eyes together, warm dark brown ones reflected in the icy pools of the other, Yi-jun and Songcai's breath caught in the same moment, an understanding unlike anything else flickering to life between them.

Like they could read each other's minds, Jin-cai nodded. Yi-jun hugged him tight, both arms around Songcai's body as his lover tucked his head into the curve of the King's shoulder. Hearts beating as one, they drifted off with unsaid words lingering in the air, the words they had spoken in the silence between moments...

You heal me just by living-

I live to see you heal.