Wolf King And His Fox Consort [BL]

Chu Hean gave him an assessing look from beneath his eyelashes, and for a moment Xiao Zai was struck by how much he looked like Chu Yun, only softer around the edges. Although, as his latest actions had shown, that softness was only an illusion. Both brothers had the same solid iron core.

That assessing look didn't disappear, but he nodded once, stepping ahead of Xiao Zai and leading him into an empty room.

Xiao Zai closed the door behind him with a loud thud.

"I think you should leave Zui as soon as possible," Xiao Zai said, tone cold.

Chu Hean didn't say anything, instead he crossed the length of the room and went to stand by the window. He propped it open with the wooden board which had been resting on the sill, uncaring of all the cold winter air rushing into the small room.

"I'm afraid that I can't leave until his Majesty hears back from my royal uncle regarding the matter of me joining your household as a concubine," he gave Xiao Zai a look from the corner of his eyes. "I wouldn't dare go against his Majesty's words, and risk making my royal uncle lose face."

Xiao Zai kept looking at his profile, trying to get a good read of him.

"I'm never going to accept you," Xiao Zai said, "the only thing you'll get out of this will be ruining your relationship with your brother."

One corner of Chu Hean's lips curled up in derision, he let out an amused chuckle. "Once again, as if this is all about him," he tilted his head towards Xiao Zai, "or you."

Xiao Zai found his smugness unbearable, especially considering his brother was unconscious in the next room over. Xiao Zai would do everything for his little sister, and even with her short years he knew she loved him deeply as well. How could that little girl whose life seemed doomed from the start, be so filled with love, while Chu Hean who was strong and healthy, be so full of resentment and bitterness?

  "Did you poison Chu Yun?" Xiao Zai asked, unable to hold back even a moment more. He balled his hands in to fists to keep them from shaking. 

Chu Hean frowned and turned away from the window. "What? Are you insane, why would I do that?"

Xiao Zai scoffed, raising one arm to point sideways in the direction of the room they had just vacated. "He got sick not long after you gave him that parcel from Xin. What else am I supposed to think."

Chu Hean's slender eyebrows met above his clear eyes, he was fully glaring at Xiao Zai. "I would never poison my dage!"

"But you would hurt him," Xiao Zai spit back, "You already have."

Something flashed in Chu Hean's eyes and he turned around, his robes swaying behind him as he resumed his position by the window, completely dismissive of Xiao Zai.

Xiao Zai didn't understand why he was doing any of it. It was obvious Chu Hean had no feelings for him. He didn't even attempt to be seductive or cajoling now that they were alone. If he wasn't pursuing and illfated infatuation what could possibly prompt him to debase himself in this way?

He was the son of a Prince, under no circumstances would he marry into a family as a concubine. Xiao Zai was sure there was no shortage of good families in Xin desperate to marry him to one of their alpha children -- as a first spouse, as his status demanded.

What was going on in Chu Hean's mind? 

Despite his unassuming stature, Chu Hean's back was completely straight. "You're just like my brother," he didn't mean it as compliment, "you can't see beyond what's right in front of you."

Xiao Zai remained silent. He had to give it to Chu Hean, he had an uncanny ability to disguise his true nature. The coquettish boy he met in Xin was nothing like the self-possessed young man calling him foolish to his face now. He was Chu Yun's junior of no more than two years, he only appeared younger than that because he was an omega.

"You say you haven't poisoned your brother, but we'll have to wait to hear what the physician says." If the doctor found even a trace of poison in Chu Yun's blood, Xiao Zai would assume without question that Chu Hean was the one responsible.

"I didn't poison my brother," he insisted, "and I would also like to find out the reason behind his illness. You blame me, but the most obvious difference is that he's in Zui, now. No harm came to him while he was in Xin, but now he falls ill." An irksome little smirk hooked the corners of his thin lips. "Maybe the one to blame is you."

Xiao Zai was ready to launch into a tirade when a knock sounded outside the door.

"Sorry to interrupt his Highness, but the physician would like a word," Hua Nanyi, said, voice muffled by the closed door.

Xiao Zai shot Chu Hean one last glare. "I mean what I said, I want you gone from Zui. Write to your uncle that I said one fox is enough for me, and I have no interest in another. You can even tell him I called you names. I don't care, as long as you leave and I'm not forced to marry you."

He left the room without looking back at Chu Hean.

---

Back in the guest quarters, Chu Yun looked no different, just as pale, his breathing just as slow. Except this time the physician seemed to have joined in on his pallor.

The old man paced around the room, wringing his hands in extreme discomfort.

"This humble servant requests that his Highness please hear him to the end before reacting to the diagnosis."

With such a request, and with the physician looking as if he had been dug out of his own grave, Xiao Zai could only become more worried.

Feeling bile rise up the back of his throat, he nodded.

The physician took in a sharp breath. "His Grace's condition seems to be the result of, uh.... pregnancy."