Savage Wolf, Lotus Heart [Never Let You Go, Again: Book 4]

44: Most Beloved Son

Countless splinters of wood.........

Seven silvery strings...........

Splattered with blood...

Wei Wuxian's jaw dropped in horror.

"A-Ying?"

"A... A-Zhan... that's... that... it... he... t– turn and look..."

Seeing Wei Wuxian shaking, trembling in dread, despair and fear, eyes pouring like broken dams... Lan Wangji twisted his neck sharply to see what made him cry so much.

Just as he did, a loud roar shook the skies above.

Loud enough to shake the ground and the forest around them.

Loud enough to shock the Qiong Qi into silence.

Loud enough to tell them all exactly what happened.

Not the Qiong Qi's monstrous roar...

But the Sawtooth Blood Wolf's desperate and tragic howl.

Lan Wangji felt as though a sword stabbed through his heart at Jin Ling's cry of grief. Not just him, but everyone else. Nie Huaisang, Lan Xichen, Xiao Xiang, even the emotionless Wen Ning... Chen Xuanji's hand dropped to her side as she gasped softly, a single tear escaping her dark eyes. She still held Aria Verduria with her left hand around her neck, but even Aria was too shocked and pained to move.

"Rulan?" Lan Wangji called, his voice a bare whisper against the howling wolf.

Jin Ling transformed. Picking up the black cloak from nearby, he wrapped himself in it loosely and stumbled back to where he had stood. 

Where they had stood.

"Sizhui..."

And then Lan Wangji saw.

The Qiong Qi had attacked. But when it had attacked, Jin Ling had been distracted by the suddenly lifeless Jiang Cheng. And so to protect him...

"Sizhui blocked it with his guqin..." Chen Xuanji gulped.

Clearly the claws of the beast had reached through the wood of the guqin and torn Lan Sizhui's flesh.

Lan Wangji was... beyond horrified. There lay his most beloved son, the little baby boy he had taken care of since he was four, brought him up safe and sound, never let him go too far into danger... only when he thought Sizhui needed to learn did he let go.

Did he let go too early?

Why else would Lan Yuan be lying on the ground right now, amidst a pile of wood and strings, head on Jin Ling's lap, body limp, awful crimson smeared all over his ripped robes?

"... Sizhui..." Lan Zhan gasped for air.

"A-Zhan..." Wei Wuxian hugged him tight. "Come on, A-Zhan, finish the damned thing off, please. We'll take A-Yuan to Yuanhua. Quick!"

"Mn," Lan Wangji had had enough. Grabbing Bichen, he gently let go of his husband and laid him against the tree, and rose to his feet.

The Qiong Qi saw the real fight was coming, and knew it wasn't up to another battle.

Nothing to do but flee.

Grabbing the chance while it lasted, making use of the dazed state everyone was in, it ditched its stubborn plan of not-stepping-back-from-the-battle... ... ... ...

and vanished. 

"Where the hell did it go?" Xiao Xiang gasped as her shawl fell at her side.

"Disappeared?" Nie Huaisang wondered, voice weak with the stress surrounding him.