WangXian Forever Book 10

Chapter 65: Mermaids

Wei Ying ushered the children out of the Emperor's quarters, and once they were outside, he said to them, "We have a few hours left before dinnertime. What would you like to do?"

"Can we go and play with the bunnies?" Prince Wu asked meekly.

Both Li XiWang and Rumi jumped up and down with joy, so they agreed to go to the back hills of Cloud Recesses.

Lan Zhan tugs on Wei Ying's hand, holding him slightly back from the three kids walking in front of them.

"Hmm? What is it, my love?" Wei Ying takes the chance to wrap his arm around Lan Zhan's waist, smiling because his husband is taller and more built than himself; he can feel the smooth expanse of pure muscle rippling under his touch, and it makes him shiver with anticipation. All of these layers do absolutely nothing to erase the memory of his bare, hot skin under Wei Ying's palms at night, and he thanks his lucky stars that Lan Zhan is so fit.

"Did Wei Ying mean it?"

"Mean what?" Wei Ying is mostly listening, but now that his thoughts have taken a Southern drift, it's hard to think of anything else. What else can they get up to, tonight?

"Back there, after the Emperor tried to poach you." Lan Zhan's feelings about that shine through his disgruntled tone.

"Ah, do you mean me telling him to get lost but nicely?" When Lan Zhan nods shyly, Wei Ying stops them in the middle of the path, taking Lan Zhan's face in his hands. "Is it so hard for you to believe that I'm happy here, Sweetheart? Tell me why?"

"When we were younger, on the rare occasion that we could expose our inner thoughts, I often heard Wei Ying confess the desire to travel, to not be tied to one place exclusively. I think I will always worry about what makes you happy," he admits.

"Maybe when I was younger, the romanticism about not being tethered down to one place was a dream of mine." Wei Ying kisses his nose and smiles brightly, letting his eyes form crescent moons. He takes Lan Zhan's hand and swings it between them as they resume following the children who are up just a little way ahead. "Mostly it was because my parents had been free, and as rogue cultivators, they basically lived how they wanted to. My own life was interwoven with Lotus Pier and whatever Jiang Cheng wanted and needed."

Lan Zhan makes a face about that. He has always hated the debt mentality that Madam Yu held over Wei Ying's head through his formative years, going so far as to poison Jiang Cheng with the same misguided drivel.

"So then, it became a pipe dream of mine to think about how wonderful it would be to not have to answer to anyone, to do as I wished instead of what others wished for me to do. But reality is harsh and much harder to reconcile with a dream, Lan Zhan. It's a lonely life, travelling from town to village, working all the time. Inns start looking the same, and definitely, the food takes on an underlying taste, and homesickness is a torture I would not bestow upon my worst enemy. This, what we're doing now?" Wei Ying spreads his free arm out in a wave to capture all that they're seeing. "It's like heaven. We get the best of both worlds. We can travel wherever we want to, whenever we want to, and we can come back home whenever we miss it too much. Please believe me when I say I love my life now, because it's the truth." He reaches up and presses his lips against Lan Zhan's smooth cheek.

"Wei Ying."

Wei Ying turns just in time for Lan Zhan to push him bodily against the first sturdy tree trunk in their path and his hot, eager lips take Wei Ying's mouth hostage. A kiss that bruises and arouses, their mouths open and wet as their tongues collide. A writhing mess of needs and wants, their limbs scrambling for purchase, holding each other with a desperation that is saturated with their love.