No Light: 3 Lives, 3 Worlds , Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms AU

Part 11: His Confession

"Migu!" Ye Hua called urgently, as he entered the fox den. Seeing the tree spirit racing towards him, he indicated the unconscious goddess in his arms with a sharp inclination of his head. Following Migu's scurrying figure through the entrance of the fox den, the two were soon standing at Bai Qian's bed. Migu hurriedly pulled aside the blanket, the worry writ clear across his face.

Carefully laying down his burden, Ye Hua covered her with the soft material. Sitting down beside her, he gazed at her unconscious features, noting the slightest wrinkle at her brow. Ye Hua reached out and ran his thumb over her brow, attempting to soothe it away. His hand cupped her cheek, exhaling softly when he felt her nestling into his hold.

"Migu," he said quietly, his eyes still focused solely on her.

"Yes, Crown Prince?" the tree spirit had knelt down by the bed, his anxious eyes on his Gugu, wondering whether she was okay.

"Please bring me a bowl of warm water and towels," Ye Hua murmured softly,

"Yes, Crown Prince!" Migu stated before scurrying away.

"Also, Migu," he called out to the retreating figure, waiting for him to turn before continuing, "You did well today."

Migu nodded, his eyes wide, before bowing his head in acknowledgment of the compliment.

"Bai Qian had taken care of everything when I got there," Ye Hua explained, a small smile playing across his lips, "But I think that even your Gugu appreciated having someone there to take care of the aftermath. I don't think she's badly injured, may just need a little rest."

"Yes, Crown Prince," Migu stated and then hurried from the room, the sound of his steps fading away, leaving a pall over the room.

Ye Hua turned back to Bai Qian, his hand reaching out and grasping her fingers. Giving them a light squeeze, he forced himself to let go and think on what needed to be done next. Whilst waiting, he began to write messages, sending them off one after the other, letting the wind carry them to their intended targets.

His tasks done, Ye Hua sat back, focusing on her once more. They were now back in the safety of the fox den, and she still hadn't awakened. His gaze almost compulsively, lovingly, traced the features before him. He hadn't known that she would be so likely to race off into danger. Knowing what he did about her past, knowing that she was the mysterious immortal Si Yin, he should have expected something like this. She had fought at Mo Yuan's side in the battle against Qing Cang. Who knew what else she had done in the millennia between that battle and the present? Why had he stopped digging as soon as he had found Si Yin? Had it been the fear that any such discovery would push her further out of his reach?

Reaching out, he brushed away the hair that fallen across her face, a pang growing in his heart over the proof of how much strength lay behind that deceitful fragility. He had seen the Kunlun Jade Purity Fan today, the evidence of a battle hard fought when he'd reached the Ghost Realm.

Despite witnessing the evidence of that strength, he could only try to calm the suffocating fear inside of him that had arisen when Migu came to get him. It was only now, when he saw her lying before him, relatively unharmed, could he believe that everything was okay.

"Ehm," he heard the sound of a throat clearing, bringing him back to the now.

"Place the things on the table," he instructed Migu without turning around, impatiently waiting for him to place the items down before giving his next command. "Bring a change of clothes for Bai Qian." His eyes took in her bedraggled and bloody condition, hardening at the tears and rips in her robes from the many strikes that hadn't missed their mark. He grew angry at himself for having reached her so late; he could have prevented some of this damage.