Prince of Bones

6. Shadow's Secret

Hongjoong awoke with his head laying on Seonghwa's chest, the man's body gently rising and falling with every breath he took.

It did not take the piratelong to regain his senses, quickly sitting up to look around while lifting his good hand to his ear to scratch away the dried blood clogging up his ears. At least nothing except for his hand acutely hurt, meaning they had not damaged his body and especially ears more than necessary.

He was laying in some dark part of what looked like a cave, some mere iron bars seperating their niche from the rest of a lightened up stone tunnel. He was also alone with Seonghwa, no trace to see of Youjin or Hanbyeol.

Hongjoong turned to Seonghwa, finding himself and also the other man covered by those black robes their attackers had worn. No friends of nudism as it seemed.

"Seonghwa. Wake up.", he hushedly murmured to the other man, carefully shaking his shoulder until he twitched, his eyes opening slowly. Hongjoong greeted him with a smile, then rising to step over to the bars of their unusual prison. There was no door, no lock for him to pick and the nearest torch illuminating the corridor was placed on the wall right opposite of them, not only districting their field of view but also leaving them no choice but to keep their shadows in their cell.

"Where are we?" Seonghwa stumbled to his feet, pulling at his clothes with a disgusted grimace. Hongjoong noticed some small differences between his actual face of loathing and his smile, the most important part being his eyes. They were less expressive when he was not liking something.

"I guess these landlubbers took us. From what I've gathered they mean trouble." Hongjoong shook the bars not too gently, disappointed when they would not budge. He missed Jongho in moments like these. Hopefully the man had managed to swim to that other island, Hongjoong once more did not regret forcing his whole crew to learn how to swim.

"Did you know them? They were a bit weird. That one man had no face."

"I'm not even sure if that one was a man.", Hongjoong grumbled, stepping back to look at the walls more closely. Seonghwa restlessly peeked out into the corridor too, not daring yet to yell for somebody to come.

"Did you though?"

"I have an idea. These clothes are usually worn by holy people but that creature -  whatever gender it had now - did not seem all that holy to me. That seemed much more like magic. Dark one, not the one Yongguk practices."

"So... basically what Liv practiced?" Seonghwa seemed hesistant to talk about her as if not knowing whether he would strike a nerve if he did not watch out for possible triggers. Hongjoong gave him a weak smile, telling him it was alright.

"Right. I sure hope we did not find her family or something here. I'm not that keen on having a whole load of those creepers up my face." Hongjoong exasperatedly kicked a wall when he did not fine any secret passages or ways to force a way out, instead returning to his and Seonghwa's corner where he sat down. The robe restricted his movements so his annoyed self ripped a long slit up the site, beckoning Seonghwa closer to do the same to him.

Maybe Seonghwa blushed a bit when that slit was just a bit too long, showing just a bit too much of his leg but Hongjoong just winked at him, gently patting that smooth skin.

"Are you in pain?"

"No... Just uncomfortable because I had no chance to clean up." He lowered his eyes, shifting his legs to a more comfortable position. Hongjoong perked up however, gently grabbing one of his ankles with his hands to open his legs more.

"Let me help then. Not like we have anything to do until they pay us a visit." Hongjoong's grin was wolfish before he dipped his head down between the other man's legs, tasting his sweet skin once again.