XF → Harry Hook [2]✔

Family Reunion

XJ's father hadn't changed much since the last time Harry had seen him. Eight months ago, XJ had re-aimed her spear to hit the ground's plaster instead of Shan Yu's face. Harry didn't know why – he just knew that he was glad that she hadn't killed him, for she would have probably ended up in Auradon's federal prison for spilling blood on Auradonian grounds.

Shan Yu's eyes glinted as he looked at his wife. "It's been quite a while, Jing."

With a predatory gleam in her glare and a hunter's expression donning her face, Huli Jing's features seemed more animalistic than Harry had thought them to be mere seconds ago. And yet, her voice remained just as smooth, slithering in and out of reality like wind blowing through a thin veil. "I'd love to say that it hasn't been long enough, but we both know that I'd be lying."

He chuckled, sounding oddly mournful. Shan Yu turned to XJ. "And you? Do you regret leaving me alive?"

XJ stared at him, yet she ignored his words. She spoke to Harry instead, all while keeping her eyes on her father. "Go home, Harry. I'll see you there."

Despite the tidal wave of cold terror that crashed into him, Harry still found it within himself to laugh incredulously. "Home? Which one – the Isle, our cottage, or you?"

That got XJ's attention. Her head snapped towards him as fast as the color that rose in Harry's cheeks. He ignored the traitorous blush, continuing to hold eye contact with her. Strange and unspoken words hung between them. Floods of emotions that begged to overflow and spill over.

For the first time, Harry could see that XJ wasn't calm. She wasn't in control. He could see it in the way she breathed, in the way she blinked. XJ was normally so guarded that even on his best day, when he was most awake, Harry couldn't glean anything from her if she didn't want him to. She was marble, cold, untouchable.

But now she was cracking, and Harry was scared to death. The worst part was that he had a feeling that she felt the same way.

"Young love," Shan Yu's leer widened, moonlight glinting off his teeth. "Do you remember when we were like that, Jing?"

"Not particularly, no," Huli Jing mused, although Harry noticed that she didn't meet his eyes. Perhaps she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to contain herself from ripping him open on sight. "We were fiercer. Louder. We clawed at each other until we bled. We snapped and barked and fought like animals."

XJ sniffed. "I'm not surprised that it didn't last very long then."

"I wouldn't be gloating – after all, your love," Huli Jing sneered. "is born of yet another one of the lies you've used to get what you want."

XJ looked like she'd been struck in the face. Even so, she snarled through gritted teeth and clenched fists. "It wasn't a lie."

"A lie?" Harry spoke up. The others looked at him, and Harry felt as if he was facing three giants, each as dangerous as the other. "What do you mean?"

"Rather tasteless of you to let the cat out of the bag so soon," Shan Yu said breezily to his wife, who only ignored him as if he were a fly.

"Shall I show him instead?" she stared at XJ, a smirk playing on the corners of her mouth. "Shall I show him why you changed your mind so quickly?"

XJ's features twisted into that of a scorned goddess, and now she certainly looked the part. The moon made her cheekbones as bright as lightning in a storm. The breeze blowing through her hair made her locks snake around her face. Her sharp eyes shone with fury, promising unspeakable destruction.

"I did what you wanted." Her voice was low, the undercurrent of danger electrifying the very air. "I spent a dozen sleepless nights making sure my plan was foolproof. I risked returning to the prison I'd spent my entire life in."