Wolf King And His Fox Consort [BL]

When Chu Yun got back to their bedroom, Xiao Zai looked exactly the same as when he'd left him.

Part of Chu Yun had hoped he would have made a miraculous recovery in the meantime, and so saved Chu Yun from having to go forward with his decision.

But he was still trapped in a deceptively tranquil-looking sleep.

Chu Yun sat down next to his head and adjusted the silk sheets around his shoulders.

"You are very troublesome, did you know?" he said, unable to hold back the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips. "You're always causing trouble for me."

He wanted to lean down and kiss the laughter off of Xiao Zai's lips, as he would have done if he were awake.

Xiao Zai always made him feel like he was the funniest person on earth. One of the many delights of being married to him.

Chu Yun missed to sound of his laughter. So hard to come by when they first met, and then so abundant and free the more they got to know each other.

"I miss the sound of your voice," Chu Yun said, trailing a fingertip down Xiao Zai's bloodless lips. "I miss seeing your eyes." He sighed and shook his head. "What have you done to me?"

He smiled down at Xiao Zai. "If you die on me, just know I'll go the Underworld and hunt you down, I'll bring you back even if I have to drag you by the earlobes."

He was talking nonsense in a bid to calm his own nerves.

Actually, he couldn't even contemplate the idea of Xiao Zai dying. Let alone know what he would do if it happened.

His hand drifted from Xiao Zai's lips to his cheek, he ran one thumb over a sharp cheekbone, wishing Xiao Zai would open his eyes and give him one of his knowing looks.

A knock sounded on the other side of the closed door.

"Enter," Chu Yun answered, his stomach twisting up into painful knots.

This was it.

The moment of truth.

The physician who had identified the corpse powder walked in carrying a steaming bowl of a foul smelling decotion.

Before coming to their room, Chu Yun had found him and asked him to go ahead and prepared the antidote. The man had sheepishly admitted that he had already gotten started.

"The antidote, your Royal Highness," he said, lowering the tray with the steaming table onto the bedside table next to Chu Yun.

Chu Yun looked up at him with an incisive look. "I've had my people run a background check on you, and nothing turned up," he said mildly, "but..." he stopped and tapped the edge of the bowl, making the thick liquid inside tremble.

"Don't think that if something happens to his Majesty I'll write it off as you being wrong about the corpse powder without any consequences," his gaze narrowed, even as the physician met it unwaveringly. "If the worst happens, I'll move heaven and earth to find if you acted with any malicious intent."

"I swear on my ancestor's graves that I have done nothing of the sort, and it is my sincerest wish that his Majesty recovers."

"Good, and it is great that you mention your ancestors," Chu Yun smirked without humour, injecting his gaze with cruelty. "Because I will strip your family of any lineage, titles or achievements going back ten generations, I will have the names wiped off their graves, I will erase their existence from all public records. It will be as if they never existed."

The physician nodded in understanding, even though his face had gone several shades paler, making him look like a ghost. Perhaps in solidarity with the ten generations of his family Chu Yun had just threatened.

"And don't let me get started on what I will do to your descendants...."

The man knelt on the floor and bowed deeply. "This servant understands, this servants swears to his Royal Highness that it is his most sincerest wish that his Majesty recovers. Should his Majesty pass away, this servant will kill himself."

Chu Yun scoffed. "As if I'd give you the satisfaction." The physician didn't move from his deep prostration. "In the opposite scenario, if his Majesty recovers you will be handsomely rewarded and promoted to the ranks of royal physician. You may go now."

The man got up to his feet, bowing to Chu Yun. "This servant's biggest reward will be seeing his Majesty's return to health."

He left after that, leaving Chu Yun alone with Xiao Zai and his decision.

In the end, he knew that if their positions were reversed this was what Xiao Zai would have done.

More importantly, it was what Chu Yun would have wanted him to do.

If there was even a single chance, no matter how flimsy, Chu Yun would have wanted Xiao Zai to take it so they could be reunited. And he wouldn't want Xiao Zai to spend his days next to a living corpse, waiting for the day he would open his eyes again -- a day that might never come.

With trembling hands, he spooned some medicine onto the wooden spoon, and brought it to Xiao Zai's lips, supporting his neck. The antidote had the consistence of congee, and Xiao Zai reacted to it the same way he did to food, swallowing it down easily.

For each spoon he swallowed, Chu Yun felt the pressure around his chest releasing.

When all the medicine was gone, Chu Yun set the bowl back onto the tray and slipped in bed with Xiao Zai after discarding his outer robe.

"You have to wake up," he whispered into Xiao Zai's skin, kissing a smooth patch his neck. "Please...I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you so much."

He held onto Xiao Zai's shoulder, pressing their bodies close. The low beating of Xiao Zai's heart anchored him to reality.

And then a hand slid over his waist, at the same time a voice raspy with disuse whispered, "Say that again."