Solstice Souls

Forbidden Love

Wei Ying POV

Wei Ying stood just outside the door leading into Swords Hall. His heart hammered in his chest. Sweat was already cascading down his back. His feet shifted back and forth as he shook his arms out.

"What is wrong with you tonight, Wei Wuxian?" Yan Bai asked. His annoyance at the jittery man was evident in the angry looks he was giving Wei Ying.

"N-Nothing. I'm just......nervous, I guess."

Mao Shing snorted. "You're never nervous. What's up?"

"Nothing!" Wei Ying snapped. "Just.......light the damn candles."

Yan Bai lit all the candles and all three walked out silently.

Wei Ying immediately saw the man he thought he'd never lay eyes on again. Golden orbs sparked to life sending shivers across his heated skin. Wei Ying winked confidently at Lan Wangji, knowing what it would do to the white jade and smiled shyly when the perfect man's lips parted the tiniest bit.

The three dancers performed in the lowly lit room like ghosts searching for their loved ones. The candles cast shadows on their masked faces accentuating the effects of their pliant bodies and subtle gestures. Tonight, Wei Ying danced to impress, not to shock. Tonight, he danced not for applause, but for a chance. A chance to see the lonely jade smile one more time for him.

When the dance was over, Wei Ying stared at Lan Wangji, his eyes filling with tears he could not cry. Extinguishing the candles, he and the other two men left as silently as they had come. He did not stop when his parents came up to congratulate him and usher him back to their room but walked past them, eyes closed. When his feet touched earth instead of wood, he ran.

He sped blindly, unthinking, into the sparse trees to the west of Lotus Cove. His heart would not let him stop. His soul could not escape the pain nibbling away at it.

How could he want to be with someone he was born to hate? How could he desire someone who wanted to kill him just for being a Wei? How could he love.......

SHIT!

"No!!!!!!!!" Wei Ying howled. "I c-can't lo-love him! Impossible! Wr-wrong! Never!"

He tumbled to the ground, his long fingers curling into the soft dirt, and screamed. He screamed away all the confusion and tension that had been plaguing him the past few days. The muscles in his neck strained as his voice reached its end and broke, now only whimpers and whispers finding their way out of his shaking body.

He sat on his haunches and breathed deeply, repetitively, trying to regain control. If he didn't reign in his emotions, his dark energy would slither its way out. And now was definitely not the time to lose himself. Danger was just a few miles away. Sitting so close to his loved ones.

The Lan Clan leaders were in Lotus Cove. His parents and friends were in Lotus Cove. His second family was in Lotus Cove.

Huanguang-jun was in Lotus Cove.

Wei Ying picked himself up and headed back. He still wore his mask, afraid to take it off. Just in case. But upon returning, he saw no sign of any of the Lan family.

"They must still be eating." Wei Wuxian mumbled to himself as he walked tiredly to the room he shared with his parents.

When he opened the door, he was met with his mother's stinging palm across his face.

"How dare you run off like that again?" Cangse Sanren scolded her son coldly. "I swear, A-Xian, one of these days you're going to run away and, when you return, there will be no one here to do this."