The Stone King's Lover (石王的愛)

Chapter 51

Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

The Spirit Orchard

<Re'De Canal>

It was a particularly freezing day in Jingshén, so much so that extra firewood was sent up to all the dorm rooms and master's chambers, everyone lighting fires to melt away the frost on their fingers. There was one room however, that had no fire lit. No one inside, from midday to dusk. And that was because, on a day like today, there was sure to be no one else visiting the river...

Wen Reian smiled from where he lay on the blanket, curled up in his warmest cloak and staring sidelong at the man dozing fitfully, arms crossed, stirring every few moments to complain about the cold.

Laughing, the boy reached out and nudged the King.

"If you're really so uncomfortable, we could have stayed inside and rested."

Xie Yi-jun was the one who had suggested this in the first place, Reian not understanding why until finally the King rolled over and grabbed the boy, pulling him close and wrapping them up in his own coat.

Wen Rei grinned, the heat on his face rising as he was stuffed rather tightly against Yi-jun's warm chest, eyes just barely peeking out to wander over that handsome, familiar face.

An excuse to hug me... I can't say I'm surprised.

Ever since the New Year's Festival, Xie Yi-jun had been more than a little clingy. Always finding the right moments to grab Reian around the waist when no one was looking, play with his hair, hold his hand...

Wen Rei closed his eyes, breathing in deeply and nearly drifting off to sleep in their own little world, when something strange caught his attention.

Tugging at the corners of his mind, was a sensation not unlike one he'd felt before in dreams, where he practiced healing with Songcai.

Someone nearby is hurt-

"Reian?!" Xie Yi-jun huffed in surprise as the boy suddenly rolled away, sitting up and blinking several times at the scenery around them like a wild animal that had suddenly caught the scent of something.

The King sat up too, clearly confused, but it wasn't a moment later that both of them finally heard the noise. Yi-jun's eyes widened and Reian stood at once. It was a sound he ought to be used to, after so many children passing through the doors of Jingshén in the last twenty years of his life...

A baby is crying.

"Wen Rei!"

Yi-jun called after him, as Reian had immediately bolted towards the sound. Hearing the cry growing louder, feeling the fear of the child heightening the longer it was left out in the cold, Reian was soon running through the trees at the bank of the river like a madman, the King following close behind.

There-

Underneath two fallen trees half under the water, a cradle made of sticks and leaves was being rocked gently by the waves...

Heart racing, the boy was already bending down and taking off his cloak, shouting for Yi-jun's help at the same time as he was trying to catch the basket from drifting away or tipping.

The suddenness and horror of seeing a newborn out here like this was pushed to the back of Reian's mind, as all he could think about at that moment was how cold it was, and how the baby was only covered in several dead leaves.