The Stone King's Lover (石王的愛)

Chapter 47

Wen Reian

2004 years after The Long Night

Jingshén

<The Spirit Orchard>

Reian sighed... his fingers clutching weakly at the King's shoulders. Wrapped up in the moment, the two of them kissed slowly, deeply. Discovering each other's taste and lingering in the sweetness of it.

Reian could feel Xie Yi-jun holding his chin, tilting his head up...

Above them birds flew from branch to branch, calling out to their own loved-ones, and as every second passed Reian grew more and more at ease. A sense of warmth and comfort enveloping him until he felt just like a house cat napping in the sun. Everything was good, and everything was beautiful-

"Crunch!"

Reian felt his eyelids flutter...

"Hmm-"

Slipping away from the dream, he tried desperately to cling to it, but the feeling dissolved in an instant and then Wen Reian was left blinking up at the blue sky and the green trees, wondering why he'd been woken from the best sleep he'd had in ages!

Soon, he remembered...

Beside him, Yi-jun sat. They'd come to the orchard today to "study" but Wen Rei realised with a tired sigh that the King had probably invited him out here so that Reian could get a break from everything going on in Jingshén.

With the first of his three tests completed, he was getting closer and closer to being recognised as a true cultivator of the magic arts. An adult, at last...

Glancing sidelong at the King who was sitting with his knees up and reading a book, Reian noticed absentmindedly the apple in his hand, deciding that was probably what woke him up.

The boy stretched, closing his eyes momentarily and making a soft sighing noise. Xie Yi-jun spoke to him without even looking over.

"Sleep well?"

Nodding, Wen Rei glanced over the King's shoulder to see what he was reading. It was in a language he didn't understand and the pages looked old and faded...

"What's that?"

Yi-jun just smiled softly. It was a smile that was really a grimace, and Reian could see so in his eyes.

"Just a book of fairy-tales. I grew up reading them, but over the years they've changed a lot."

"Yeah?" Reian blinked, "What sort of fairy-tales?"

A light shone in Yi-jun's eyes as he answered; "Adventures of the bravest knight, magic spells gone awry... dragons, witches, selfish Kings-"

Reian smiled, "I'm surprised you enjoy that sort of thing."

The King looked at him curiously. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you know." Reian blushed, muttering under his breath as his eyes lowered shyly...

"You're sort of like a fairy-tale. Isn't it like reading about your own life?"

When he looked back up at Xie Yi-jun, the man was watching him intently, eyes wide as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Before Reian could stammer an apology or something of the sort, the King suddenly smiled, his grin lighting up his whole face...

He didn't respond to Reian's comment, only saying;

"I read it every year on my birthday, a sort of tradition."