WangXian: The Arrangement ✔️ [Untamed Fanfic]

15-The Demon Flute

Wei Ying's strength seemed to return just as Lan Zhan's was fading. He watched his eyelids flutter and then fall closed.

"Must be nine o'clock," he muttered.

Finding himself wide awake and hungry, he climbed over the sleeping Lan Zhan and got himself dressed. Picking up the brush and ink, he quickly painted on the last five symbols necessary to complete the set. Lan Zhan didn't stir, and Wei Ying put the brush away and went in search of some food. 

The kitchen at Cloud Recesses wasn't a secret paradise like the one at Lotus Pier, but he was able to find a piece of bread and some cheese to stave off his hunger pains. All that scrubbing and... well, the stuff that came after. He'd worked up an appetite.

Thinking about it made him smile. He bit off another piece of bread. This marriage wasn't going to be anything like he'd imagined, but... it was looking up.

On his way back, he decided to swing by the Library and pick up a book. No one else in Cloud Recesses could read the ones he was interested in, so there seemed to be no reason not to keep a few in his room.

He was surprised to run into Lan Xichen and bowed in greeting. "You must not keep as regular hours as your brother," he commented.

"My brother can be very... mechanical in his habits," Lan Xichen said with a smile. "Perhaps you will be a good influence on him in that regard."

Wei Ying threw up a salute. "I shall do my very best!"

Lan Xichen's smile faded. "I do have one request to make."

Uh oh.  He gave a half-hearted nod.

"Our mother died when Lan Wangji was just seven," he said. "Before that, he had been much the same as other boys his age, but after, he fell silent. He didn't speak a single word for three years." Lan Xichen's eyes focused on some point in the distance. "The way he is now... isn't what I would wish for him, but it is an improvement from that time."

"What do you want me to do?" Wei Ying asked, confused.

Lan Xichen looked at him for a long moment. "Just be careful with my brother's heart," he said. "That's all I ask."

Wei Ying felt small inside. "I... " He didn't continue. Whatever he had to say on this topic should be said to Lan Wangji, not his brother. He nodded and stepped around Lan Xichen, bidding him goodnight as he passed.

***

Inside the library, for once he was glad of solitude. Lan Xichen's words had unsettled him. He knew what people must think - aside from the oddity of this marriage between two men. No one would think he was good enough for Lan Wangji.

Just be careful with my brother's heart.

He entered the Forbidden Room and closed the door behind him, sinking down against it. Being careful wasn't one of his talents. Quite the opposite.

Fuck. Lan Wangji would just have to be careful for the both of them. Except... 

If he reflected on the events of the last few days... Lan Wangji didn't seem to want to be careful when it came to him. From the proposal itself to the drinking to the amazing sex, he'd jumped in with both feet.

Why?

He rested his head on his hands. What were they getting into? 

The book on core magic lured him from his crouch. An hour later, he felt reassured on one point: that core-binding couldn't happen spontaneously. 

That gave him some comfort. When he had seen how his core matched and responded to Lan Wangji's, he'd been terrified that they might accidentally wind up tying their lifespans together.

But were they fated to be soulmates? All the book said about soulmates was that, at a high enough level of cultivation, if your cores matched and you couldn't stay away from each other, you might be fated.

Was that what was happening with him and Lan Wangji? 

He chucked the book across the room and watched it skid across the stone floor and disappear under a shelf.

"Damn," he said, getting to his feet. He had to go after it. Because the shelf had such a narrow clearance over the floor, he found himself laying flat on his stomach to find it. The title on the spine of the book glowed slightly, but a glint from something even farther back caught his eye.

He pulled the book out first and then reached back in to retrieve... a black flute.

It was metal and shimmered in the lamplight. After he blew the dust off, he could see it was adorned with intricate carvings. What he needed were instructions, he thought. 

As he examined the carving nearest the mouthpiece, it seemed to levitate off the gleaming surface and expand in front of him into... music notes?

He positioned the flute and played the first few. It felt warm and heavy in his hands, and the air around it shimmered as he began to play. 

As the air moved, Wei Ying felt the purpose in the notes. A man's form coalesced in front of him, translucent and ethereal in robes that identified him as belonging to Lan clan, though from a much older era.

He bowed to Wei Ying. "I am glad to see magic has returned to Cloud Recesses," he said. Then he seemed to notice Wei Ying's clothes. "You are not--"

"I'm about to be," Wei Ying said. "By marriage."

The man's frown eased. "Then, I, Lan Xingchen, bequeath Chenqing to you, but you must not wield it carelessly. The demon flute can save you in times of crisis, but its use is... costly. Your core and your integrity must be resolute."

With that, he disappeared, and Wei Ying found himself in possession of yet another treasure to be treated with care.

He wasn't sure he was up to this task either, but he tied the flute inside the outer fold of his robe. It was hidden from view, but its red tassel brushed against his leg when he walked, so he knew it was there.