The King's Mate - Part 1: Banyue

Chapter 4

Since the tournament was going to be held for a total of two days, starting the day after tomorrow already, and since they'd wasted four days of preparations because of their first shared heat, or rut, in Hua Cheng's case, Xie Lian now felt like he was a bit pressed for time to get some practice in. He sighed, inwardly cursing the timing of the tournament, even though he did understand the reasoning behind it. After all, Hua Cheng had already set the date for the blitz on Yong An before the idea of the tournament had even come up, and he was dead set on not having it delayed. And of course Xie Lian was also in favour of reclaiming his Xian Le as soon as possible as well.

However, none of that changed the fact that Xie Lian's whole body was still aching from their activities, which had only ended yesterday. It wasn't like he couldn't ignore the discomfort in his muscles and joints, but the tournament was supposed to be fun , and at this point he was seriously considering not participating. He doubted he would be having a lot of fun fighting in his current condition. He sighed, and felt rather gloomy.

Or maybe he was just feeling a bit down because, even though it was well past sundown, his alpha was still nowhere to be found in their home.

However, just as he'd thought it, the door opened and Hua Cheng walked in, and immediately went to sit down on the edge of their bed, before he let himself plop down on Xie Lian, with as much grace as a sack of rice. Xie Lian couldn't help but huff out a laugh.

"San Lang?", he asked in amusement, his spirits immediately lifted by his alpha's antics.

"Gege, hug me", was the mumbled reply he got.

So of course he listened, and hugged his silly alpha as tightly as he could, earning himself a blissful sigh.

"I was about to go on a homicidal rampage, but then I thought gege would be disappointed in me if I did that."

Xie Lian's smile froze on his face upon hearing that.

"What happened?", he asked, and started stroking over his alpha's hair, not sure if that would help in calming him down. He hadn't looked, nor smelled agitated in the least when he'd walked in after all. Xie Lian was sure he would've noticed, and Hua Cheng wasn't bothering to hide his scent in the first place either. He caressed him anyway, because even if it did nothing to help his alpha, it certainly helped Xie Lian himself, who was suddenly feeling a bit nervous, and maybe even concerned about the safety of whoever incurred the king's rage.

"Pei Ming found a spy from Yong An. And made him spill the beans. Turns out there were almost 30 of them that had infiltrated our troops. It's not like they got any vital information, since our plan to attack is still highly confidential", Hua Cheng grumbled, and buried deeper into Xie Lian's hug.

"And you're sure you found all of them?", Xie Lian couldn't help but ask, feeling worried for completely different reasons now.

"Oh I'm very sure. Turns out, people from Yong An don't have much of a backbone. Pei Ming said he didn't even have to torture him, the guy got scared senseless the moment he got exposed. Maybe he was hoping to escape punishment if he cooperated. Dimwit."

"What is the punishment for spies in WuYong?", Xie Lian asked, curiosity getting the better of him.