WangXian: The Arrangement ✔️ [Untamed Fanfic]

12-Cupid's Arrow

By late afternoon, Wei Wuxian found his eyes closing, no matter how much he wanted to keep reading. He had learned a lot about the Lan clan's history with magic. They had been the primary source of mages in the Great Northern War over 500 years ago. There were lots of spells, but he skimmed them until he came to the one for core-binding.  

He read avidly through these pages, breathing a sigh of relief when it became clear it couldn't happen by accident. If they just got too close, for example. Even if the two parties were core-matched, they still had to express their willingness to be joined.  If they weren't soulmates or one was being coerced, it could still be accomplished, but it required some rather involved incantations.  

Just as he was about to close the book, another page caught his eye: How to Dissolve a Core-Binding. He didn't read it closely but felt better knowing it existed. Not that he'd mind being bound to Lan Zhan. But the pure, exemplary Lan Zhan might well get tired of him - no matter how romantic he thought it was at the outset.

Feeling relieved, he put aside the books and decided to see what everyone else was doing.

His search led him to the archery range where some of the senior disciples were instructing the juniors in proper form. He was an excellent archer, but he was content to watch. It wasn't a competition, after all. 

He saw Lan Zhan and his brother enter the field from the other side. They were deep in conversation, sparing only a slight glance at the juniors on the line. Wei Ying wasn't sure he should interrupt, but he began walking in their direction. 

He greeted Sizhui as he passed, and watched him nock an arrow. However, he really only had eyes for Lan Zhan. His pure-white core made him stand out. It pulled Wei Ying to his side the way a lantern drew moths at night. 

Raised voices came from some of the juniors on the line. He turned - just in time to see one of the juniors push another, who stumbled into Jinling just as he was about to release his arrow. His whole body was pushed to one side, and the arrow flew wide -- right toward Lan Zhan! 

Before the arrow had even left the bow, Wei Ying sprang forward, intercepting its flight with his left shoulder. He grunted, more with the impact of hitting the ground than from being shot. 

"Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan cried, kneeling beside him. A look of panic distorted his usually stoic features. "What did you do?" 

Wei Ying smiled at him. "Don't worry, Lan Zhan. It's just an arrow."

"If it's just an arrow, why did you jump in front of it?"

Wei Ying couldn't fathom why Lan Zhan was angry. "Why are you yelling? It would have hit you," he said, thinking that explained everything. 

He wrapped his hand around the shaft of the arrow and gritted his teeth. One hard yank and it was free of his flesh, but his vision wavered. "That's the part that hurts," he muttered, closing his eyes for a moment.

He felt Lan Zhan lift his arm and tie something high and tight around it to reduce the bleeding. Then he was being lifted and carried off the field. He opened his eyes and rested his injured arm on Lan Zhan's shoulder. 

Jinling ran after them. "Lan Wangji, I'm--"

"It's not me you'll be apologizing to," Lan Zhan barked, not breaking stride. 

Jinling's eyes got wide, and Wei Ying took a moment to enjoy it. "It wasn't his fault," he said when Lan Zhan had put some distance between them and the others.

Lan Zhan seemed not to hear.

Wei Ying didn't mind being carried by his handsome fiance. But when Lan Zhan kicked open the door to his room and laid him on the bed, he realized he should come clean.

He tried to sit up, but Lan Zhan put his hand in the middle of his chest. "Don't," he ordered.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Ying said, "it's okay, really. Look here." It was only now he realized that Lan Zhan had made the tourniquet from his forehead ribbon. He untied it carefully and handed it back to him. 

"I'm fine," he said. He loosened his robe and slipped it off his shoulder and did the same with his tunic. Finally, taking the cloth Lan Zhan had moistened for him, he wiped the blood from his skin - his perfect, unmarred skin.

For a long time, Lan Zhan didn't say anything. 

Wei Ying didn't like silence, so he started to explain. "I could have stopped the arrow with a spell," he said, "but I didn't know how you'd feel about me doing that in front of everyone. I did promise not to embarrass you. I'm trying to honor that. So this was my second choice. It was painful, but there's no lasting harm because I'm wearing protective wards. They will heal minor damage like this pretty quickly."

Lan Zhan still wasn't saying anything, but he cocked his head to the side and moved closer, reaching out to draw Wei Ying's clothes further away from his body. 

"What--" Too late, Wei Ying remembered. He jerked the tunic back into place, but the damage was done. Lan Zhan had seen the ink drawing Wen Ling had left on him. 

"Lan Zhan," he said. "I can explain. It was from before. I... At the brothel... I may have had too much to drink. It's just a prank like we used to play on each other. It was just there when I woke up. It doesn't mean anything." Lan Zhan's eyes had gotten darker with every word.

"That man," Lan Zhan ground out, "wrote his name on you, and you can sit there and tell me it doesn't mean anything?"

Wei Ying winced. "You're yelling again, Lan Zhan."

"You're wearing his name!" Every word seemed to make him angrier. He stooped and picked Wei Ying up again, this time flipping him over his shoulder. 

"Lan Zhan!"

Wei Ying found himself being carried like a sack of refuse through the middle of Cloud Recesses and then down some path he hadn't yet seen. Trees began to whoosh by on either side, upside down from his current point of view.

Lan Zhan put him down on the edge of a large pool. "Here," he said, shoving a bar of soap at him. "Don't come back until it's gone."

Wei Ying watched Lan Zhan's erect spine carry him back through the trees. He looked down at the soap in his hand. "Does he think it's that easy? That I haven't tried to get it off?"

Sighing, he stripped and entered the icy water. Teeth chattering, he began rubbing at the black characters that stained his whole left side. "Damn Wen Ling," he said. "Even if you weren't evil, I'd have to pay you back for this."

***

Lan Wangji stopped walking and rested his hand against the cool bark of a large pine. His breath was coming in furious pants, out of his control. Which wasn't like him. 

Wei Ying had thought he was angry. He was, but he also felt...wounded. Deeply wounded.

He'd felt raw ever since Wei Ying entered his life, he realized. Intrigued, outraged, impressed, aroused, worried, afraid, and now hurt. Was this what life with Wei Ying was going to be?