𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 | Xiao x Reader

5

"Forgetting something?" You turned to the Adeptus beside you, raising an eyebrow as he held up the geo vision you'd once again discarded on a table inside. He moved to give it back to you but you didn't flinch.

"I'm good," you replied, pushing his hand away, "I don't need a vision."

"Leaving it lying around is irresponsible," He replied, crossing his arms, "But if you insist on being so idiotic with your own possessions, then fine. I will hold onto it."

"Be my guest," you sighed, taking a step closer to the edge of the chamber to get an idea of how high up it was and whether jumping down would cause you to break all your bones or not. It would, you concluded.

"How did you even end up getting caught by the Qixing?" He asked, his tone irritated most likely from the inconvenience of having to help you.

"Wrong place, wrong time." You replied simply, "It's not my fault Morax was killed at the Rite of Descension." Now that you said that though, you wondered how this Adeptus was even so sure you hadn't killed him. He wasn't at the rite as far as you saw, and although he'd witnessed your refusal to accept the role of Archon, he had also seen firsthand just how much you hated your former father, so how did he know you hadn't done it out of spite?

"With how much history you apparently have with him, I don't blame them for suspecting you." The boy practically growled, "You enter a new nation and within the first three days you manage to not only insult and dishonor its god, but also witness his death. Had I been in their positions, I would have-"

"What are you getting at?" You finally snapped, crossing your arms as you turned to face him now, "You just cleared me as innocent and now you're telling me you suspect me too?"

His expression darkened at your interruption, and you would have taken a step back if you hadn't spent so many years around the twelve most intimidating people in Snezhnaya.

"I didn't say I suspected you, just that I believe their suspicion is well founded," He replied with a glare so low that you could see the purple diamond on his forehead scrunch slightly, "I am aware that you're not the culprit."

You waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't, simply stopping there and adding to your confusion. How could he be so sure it wasn't you if he wasn't even there?

Actually, that brought up another good question for you; how had he even known to look for you at the Jade Chamber? You didn't doubt that news of the Archon's passing had spread through Liyue quickly, but no one should have known who you were, much less to alert the Adepti that you were in need of assistance.

That was when you remembered the pair of eyes you'd felt on you at the ceremony, along with the swirls of anemo behind the bushes. Though you hadn't been able to tell what the person watching you had looked like, you had seen that the boy in front of you now possessed an anemo vision.

Could he have been watching you the whole time? As much as you wanted to ask, you had even bigger questions to bring up first.

"Alright, if you're so sure I'm not the culprit then do you know who is?" You tried to make your tone seem uninterested, but you were sure he caught the genuine curiosity that came through when you spoke. It was slightly embarrassing, but then again, could one blame you for being interested in who had killed the very god you were supposed to replace?

"I do not know," The Adeptus replied, "I wasn't able to see, and it seems none of the other Adepti have any idea either." He paused, frowning in frustration before turning away from you.

"And even so, they're more focused on what to do going forward. They view the issue of finding the culprit as secondary." He explained, and you could hear a little bitterness in his voice. He must have cared a lot about the Geo Archon if his death was bothering him this much, but then again, all the Adepti seemed to.