AN: Sorry about the lack of cover and delay in posting! My laptop died on me while I was away, so I had to write it all on my phone. ((And then I moved back in with my mom to avoid COVID-19 because there was **no** protocol demanding people to use masks and... no.))
The next chapter is ready -- it will be released in a few days.
o~O~o~O~o
Yang Cuo quietly walks into his study, still silently gloating over the sight of Mo Yuan's enraged face. He needs to get that woman away from A-lin. It may be cruel, but a feigned affair is the quickest way to do so.
Once A-li returns to his care, their power will be reaffirmed.
"Your Highness..." Yang Cuo looks up when he hears the maid his father placed at his side speak, "Hao De Dijun requests your presence in his palace."
"I understand. Tell him that I will be over shortly."
Little more than a few seconds of silence pass in between them before the small, innocuous maid kneels on the floor.
"Your Highness, it's urgent."
Looking over at her once more, Yang Cuo hesitates. She won't look him in the eyes, choosing to cast her eyes down upon the wooden floor rather than glance at him. His father must be angry again. The staff always tries to avoid him when he gets into such a mood.
"I understand. I will be right there."
o~O~o~O~o
"-Yaozu," A hand roughly beats against the metal door to the Demon Sealing Pagoda, "Open up!"
Pulling the door open, Yaozu and Yan Zhi watch in confusion as Bai Qian struggles to help a haggard figure out of the pagoda.
"Who-" Yan Zhi starts, only to find herself unable to finish her sentence.
"A-Cheng." Bai Qian grunts out as Yaozu secures the door before quickly grabbing an arm and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Oh, Heavens..." Yan Zhi utters quietly, watching as Bai Qian scans their surroundings, "We need to get him out of here."
"I don't think he can survive a long journey right now." Bai Qian looks back to her sixth brother, "We need to get Didi back to my fox den until he's well enough to handle that large of a cloud jump."
Yaozu nods curtly before looking back at Yan Zhi, "Thank you for telling us about this, but we shouldn't involve you any further."
Yan Zhi nods reluctantly, "I'm going to go to Mount Junji to visit with the Fox Empress before I return to the Grand Ziming Palace, should I tell her that he's been located?"
"Carefully."
o~O~o
Yang Cuo stops at the entryway to his father's palace. Spotting his second brother as he turns a corner to leave, he fights back his cautiousness and follows the maid his father sent down several winding halls until they reach the entrance to his office. The maid he placed there last fall as a replacement and an ear into his father's life nowhere to be seen.
He has no way of knowing what will happen, and no way to predict Hao De Dijun's mood.
Walking through the door, he stops several footpaces away from the table where his father usually works. A small maid in the corner of the room quickly collects the bucket and supplies she was using to clean with before leaving. The doors are shut behind her, and his father is still nowhere in sight.
YOU ARE READING
In Darkness
FanfictionA blind seven tailed fox being looked after by her niece. A royal family (and their kingdom) wrongfully accused and exposed to the worst torments the Nine Heavens could conjure. A grieving brother mourning the loss of his twin. Bai Qian had always g...
