The King's Dancer

Chapter 24

After having fled the throne room, Xie Lian didn't quite know what to do with himself, so after wandering around the palace aimlessly for a while, he went back to Hua Cheng's chambers.

However, after having strolled around in the late afternoon sun, Xie Lian had finally managed to wrap his head around the situation. He officially had a mate now. The best mate anyone could ever have. And he would get his Xian Le back, in one way or another. He didn't doubt for a second that Hua Cheng would be successful in his endeavor to integrate Xian Le into WuYong. Really, Xie Lian was so happy, he felt like he was just about to burst!

Which was why he had to get out of the throne room when he did. He absolutely didn't have the head for that sort of conversation, but he felt rather bad about having left his alpha to his own devices in a critical situation like that. He hoped Hua Cheng would find it in himself to forgive him.

Thinking about it now, didn't having a mate come with responsibilities, too? Also, was it alright for Xie Lian to call Hua Cheng his mate already? After all, they hadn't... well, mated... yet.

It was probably alright, he figured, since Hua Cheng seemed rather enthusiastic about it as well. And while Xie Lian knew that he wasn't ready to have real sex with the alpha yet, he thought that, maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be too bad to start exploring sooner rather than later. It wasn't out of a sense of duty towards his alpha or anything, but after Xie Lian had done such a terrible job to help Hua Cheng through his rut, he thought it was better to avoid the chances of a second disaster like this happening again.

After all, a rut happened every three months. And not to mention, his next major heat should be happening around the same time. It would be in both of their best interest if Xie Lian was ready to be mated to Hua Cheng properly by then. He didn't like the thought of it happening accidentally during his heat, or his alpha's rut. There was also the slight possibility of an accidental bonding, which was a bit anxiety inducing. Xie Lian still wasn't quite sure how he felt about bonding nowadays. But really, it was much too early to think about that. He should just focus on getting ready to mate for now.

After having arrived in Hua Cheng's bedroom, Xie Lian realised that his alpha was already there, sitting on the divan, and not looking amused at all.

"Gege... you left me there to die", he accused as soon as Xie Lian had closed the door behind him.

"San Lang... if you lied to Banyue about what a harem is, then why should I be the one to rectify that?", he asked, and couldn't help but feel amused.

Hua Cheng kept grumbling while Xie Lian busied himself with tidying up the king's chamber a bit. His alpha really had a lot of interesting books thrown all over the room, he noticed while picking them up. He made sure to keep to the other end of the room in the process, in order to tease his alpha a little.

It wasn't long before Hua Cheng cracked.

"Gege... you're too far away", he pouted when Xie Lian was almost done putting the books back into the shelf.

Xie Lian huffed in amusement, and walked over to his alpha, before he kneeled in between his legs again.

"Are you done pouting?", he asked with a smile, still beyond ecstatic that they were in a proper, romantic relationship now.

Hua Cheng looked like he wanted to put on an act for a while longer, but eventually he just sighed, and stroked Xie Lian's cheek with his thumb.

"I'm done pouting. Do you want to go play some go? It's still early."

Under previous circumstances, Xie Lian would be happy to agree without a second thought, however now, things had changed, and so he swallowed nervously before he replied.