WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 23 Thief

There was a movement on the bed, and out of the corner of his eye, Wei Ying saw that Lan Zhan had woken up, and turned around so he could see them.

And hear everything.

Very well then, Wei Ying was going to bare his heart.

"A thief? Father Zhan?" Li XiWang asked, her burgundy eyes bright and curious.

Wei Ying bit his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"Yes he is! He stole my heart without asking!" Wei Ying replied, his silver eyes sparkling with enough mischief for ten people.

"How did he do that?" Her big eyes were round with a little bit of disbelief.

"Mn. How did he do that?" Lan Zhan asked drily from the bed.

Wei Ying beamed at him, waving gleefully.

Lan Zhan’s face went all soft at that, his amber eyes all gentle with love.

"Why, from the moment I saw him, of course. Li XiWang...I had never seen anyone so beautiful in my life....he was so serious and handsome and so...so proper. That I just had to mess that up if I could. I wore him down." He snickered.

Lan Zhan rose from their bed like royalty and came over. He leaned down to kiss the top of their heads first, Li XiWang and then Wei Ying, before sitting beside them.

"Wei Ying is... not telling the whole truth." He said, as the door of the children's bedroom on the side opened, and a sleepy Rumi came out.

He was sucking his thumb and dragging his blanket with him. When he saw Lan Zhan’s lap was free, he climbed into it and fell asleep once more.

Both Wei Ying and Li XiWang were watching him with fond expressions.

"Then pray, tell us what the truth is!" Wei Ying rested his hand on his palm, watching the gorgeous man he was lucky enough to have married. There was a cheeky smile on his face.

Lan Zhan loved that smile so much.

It was just for him.

And...he had unwittingly fallen into Wei Ying's trap.

Their daughter was also looking expectantly at him...and now he had to replace his thoughts to child-friendly ones.

Wei Ying snickered as if he knew exactly what Lan Zhan had been thinking.

"I thought Wei Ying was beautiful. More than that...and then on the rooftops...once I crossed swords with him...that was it. The truth is, Wei Ying had already stolen mine. I was late." Lan Zhan poured hot tea for everyone. "And now, it's time for breakfast."

Li XiWang's face was so disappointed, it made Wei Ying laugh out loud. He winked at Lan Zhan, whose ears immediately lit up redder than his pale face.

Wei Ying grinned because they both knew that this wasn't over.

Perhaps they could resume this discussion once the children were asleep again.

Rumi also woke up once he smelled the food, and they all tucked into their breakfast.

Wei Ying’s gaze had drifted to the corner of the room where yesterday's endeavours had left them with a few hundred items to look through.

Today would be another day of sifting through those things and trying to find a connection between Xiannu and something here...but what could it be?

"I wonder what Xiannu wants?" He mused aloud.

"What does she look like?" Li XiWang asked, collecting their empty bowls.

"She's tiny...but I get the feeling she's more powerful than she looks." Wei Ying described her to Li XiWang.

"So she's tied to the shaman?"

"Hmm...there's a part of the flower connecting to her spine. Through the centre of the flower." Wei Ying replied, thinking hard.

"Well, if I was her, I'd-" Li XiWang started saying.

"Want to be free." Wei Ying said with her.

"Mn." Lan Zhan agreed. "If we can work out what she needs, it will be easier to find what she wants.

"Right? And the more I think about her situation, the more I think Little Rabbit is right. Who wants to be tied to a smelly old man like that? She has wings...so there must have been a time when she could actually fly. And now I feel sorry for her." Wei Ying admitted.

"Father, shall we drop these back to the kitchens?" Li XiWang asked, holding her hand out for Rumi.

The little boy stood up immediately and took it.

"Of course you can. And when you get back, we can start sorting through...that." Wei Ying smiled at the children as they collected the trays containing the dirty dishes, and left.

The moment they were gone, Wei Ying climbed into Lan Zhan’s lap, smiling down at him.

"Hello...my sweet husband."

Lan Zhan huffed out a laugh, steadying him by holding onto his hips.

"Hello my beautiful husband," he replied, looking longingly at Wei Ying’s lips.

Ever so slowly, Wei Ying leaned down and pressed their lips together.

This sweetest of kisses was both soothing and electric, the silky slide of lips warmed by the other. It was a need that both wanted, stoking an immortal fire that constantly burned in both of them.

But Wei Ying had an agenda.

"So my love...what was it you really wanted to say...before?" He couldn’t wait to find out and night time seemed so far away, this early in the morning.

Lan Zhan stared deeply into the silver eyes of his beloved, the other half of his soul. Those stunning silvery depths were bright, as bright as the first evening star glamorous in the dark of night spreading her wings to cover the skies.

"I became yours without knowing it." Lan Zhan murmured softly.

The sincerity of his words washed over Wei Ying like a gentle summer breeze.

"As I was yours from the moment we met." Wei Ying declared, completely charmed by him. "It may have taken me a while to understand what it was, what it really was...and then I had no way of knowing whether or not you felt the same...but I will forever be grateful that we're together. Now."

Their lips met once more in a kiss they wished would last forever.