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It got so annoying that Chu Yun had to threaten to rescind his offer of a treat to get him to back off.

"You are secretly pleased, don\'t lie," Hua Nanyi said, after witnessing the latest of these exchanges.

Chu Yun sat back down on his sofa and kicked his legs up over the armrest. "Of course, but I can\'t let him get too comfortable."

The truth was that the last few days had put a lot of things into perspective for Chu Yun. He was ready to admit that maybe, on some level, he was attracted to Xiao Zai because he was Xiao Zai, and not just any attractive person.

At the moment that was the extent he allowed his realisation to go, but there was only so much a person could change their worldview at once. 

Chu Yun hadn\'t called Hua Nanyi into his office to be insulted to his face, as much as she enjoyed the activity. She had just returned from the royal palace, after being sent there as Xiao Zai\'s and Chu Yun\'s representative.

He could only imagine the King\'s face when she informed him that Chu Yun wouldn\'t be able to appear in front of the court on account of his injuries, and that Xiao Zai wouldn\'t either, on account of Chu Yun\'s injuries too. 

"There was a lot of screaming," she said, siting down at the low table in front of the sofa and pouring herself a cup of tea. "But the gist of it is that they can\'t really pin Chu Hean\'s mysterious disappearance on you, and that the judges agreed that since Xiao Zai brought back one of his belongings it actually counted as a win, seeing as Chu Hean wasn\'t really supposed to leave on horseback either."

Chu Yun snorted. "I bet the King just loved that."

"He looked really red in the face about the whole thing," Hua Nanyi said, sipping her tea. "Anyway, Xiao Zai has been cleared of all charges, and you aren\'t implicated in anything. There\'s still the ongoing investigation into the Princess Consort\'s death, but...Fan Jiang testified that Xiao Zai never left his side, and Xiao Yuan too attested that he never saw, or scented, his brother nearby."

"Another demoralising loss for the King," Chu Yun said, wiggling his fingers towards Hua Nanyi so that she\'d pour him a cup of tea as well.

She passed him a teacup and took a sip of her own. "I don\'t understand what was the King\'s goal with all this? It seems to me like he went to a lot of trouble only to end up with nothing to show for it."

"Actually, his original plan was really clean and efficient." Chu Yun smirked into his teacup. "It\'s just too bad that no matter how much a man plans, it\'s up to the heavens to make those plans come to fruition."

Hua Nanyi frowned. "Well, right now he has a Crown Prince with a dead Princess Consort, and a concubine who just miscarried. No matter how you look at it, Xiao Zai came out of the whole thing on top."

"Yes, but he easily couldn\'t have. Don\'t forget I was supposed to be the \'prey\', and I\'m sure he planned on getting rid of me, and perhaps seriously injuring Xiao Zai. I don\'t think he cared either way whether Xiao Yuan or Xiao Zai won, as long as Xiao Zai came out of the whole thing humiliated." He tapped one fingertip against the smooth edge of the fired clay pot. "I\'ll tell you something else, I\'m sure he\'s responsible for the concubine\'s miscarriage, but I don\'t think he was involved in the Consort\'s death."

Her frown deepened, and she gave him a puzzled look. "The person who spirited Chu Hean away, then?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not...there\'s a lot happening right now, but either way, I don\'t consider this a victory for us. We got lucky, but that might not happen the next time."

She remained quiet, Chu Yun got the impression that he had given her plenty to think about.

"Speaking of which, did you find anything else in Chu Hean\'s rooms at the inn?"

"Nothing, he vanished without a trace," she chuckled bitterly, "now there\'s someone whose motives I can\'t make sense of."

Chu Yun looked down at his wrist where a red bracelet peeked over the edge of the loose white sleeve. "Yes, me neither."

That troubled him more than any dark ploys the King of Zui could throw at him.

---

Xiao Zai could feel the pull of the full moon more keenly than he ever had before. He didn\'t know if that was due to Chu Yun\'s provocative promise, or because he could still feel the adrenaline of taking down the white tiger thrumming through his veins.

In a few days Chu Yun\'s new cloak would be ready, and Xiao Zai couldn\'t stop imagining how he\'d look in it -- in nothing but it, preferably.

There was something about knowing he\'d bested another creature in combat and laid down the spoils at the feet of his mate that satisfied an incredibly primal part of his brain. It must be the ancient wolf brain scholars would sometimes refer to when talking about the primitive past of the animal clans. Back when they all lived in packs, skulks, and herds, instead of villages and cities.

Technically, since he hadn\'t marked him, Chu Yun wasn\'t his mate yet.

Xiao Zai had a feeling he had done enough to change that. They were back to sleeping in separate quarters because of Chu Yun\'s injuries, but on the night of the full moon, just as Xiao Zai was growing restless with repressed desire, the door to his room creaked open under the cover of darkness.

The scent of Chu Yun\'s arousal rendered Xiao Zai speechless, but his words stole the breath from his lungs.

"On your knees," Chu Yun rasped, closing the door with a soft thud.. "I spent an entire night on my knees for you, now it\'s your turn to return the favour."