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Probably not as much as he should.
Okay. Not much at all.
The vampire at his side was currently sucking up all the concern he was capable of.
Of course, it was very hard to care about a people who saw him as something to use or manipulate.
Xiao Dan rose to his feet, jerking Rei out of his swirling thoughts. Rei’s eyes widened as the vampire held his arms in a circle in front of him and bowed deeply. The others of the clan quickly joined him, sending a streak of panic through Rei.
“Thank you for saving and protecting Wu Yichen. Our clan is in your debt. You will always be welcome in the Zhang clan,” the clan leader announced. Each word became a heavy stone that landed on his chest, threatening to crush him.
“No, please!” Rei jumped to his feet, waving his hands at them all. “No. It’s not that simple. There’s a price. I didn’t—” He broke off as panic threatened to suffocate him and turned pleading eyes on Yichen. He needed to make them understand they couldn’t thank him. Not when they were going to hate him in the next breath. “Yiyi!”
Yichen snagged his elbow and pulled him to the seat. Despite sitting on Rei’s left, he reached across and captured his right hand, his fingers gently caressing the long-healed wound where his mother had cut off his pinky finger. Without a word, his Yiyi reminded him they’d both made sacrifices and come out scarred.
“You had to drink his blood.”
The voice was soft and somber, but the words ripped everyone’s eyes to the blood witch still standing beside Chen Bo Cheng. Moon narrowed his eyes on Yichen and rubbed the tip of his chin. Rei’s heart threatened to stop. He didn’t dare move as the witch stared at them, reading gods only knew what in the magic rippling up from Yichen.
“You were tortured during your stay with the fae,” Moon continued, lowering his hand to wrap his arm around Chen’s waist as if he suspected his mate would need his support. “We’ve seen what the fae have done to the humans they’ve encountered. No one here would believe it if you weren’t harmed. Naturally, you would have needed blood to heal, or you would have died. Even if the fae kept a stockpile of humans for you to feed off of, I imagine you would have eventually needed a member of the fae to be a donor.” Moon’s all-too-perceptive gaze slid over to Rei and it was a struggle not to flinch. “The crown prince offered his blood to save you.”
For several seconds, no one spoke. No one even breathed. A heavy weight like a storm cloud had settled over the room as people shifted their scrutiny from Moon to him and Yichen.
“I don’t understand,” Junjie murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper. “What’s the big deal?”
“It’s an old wives’ tale that I suspect has a kernel of truth to it. Never accept the hospitality of the fae. Never take a sip of wine or a bite of food that they offer. Otherwise, you belong to them forever,” Moon replied. Rei lowered his head and locked his eyes on Yichen’s hand tightly gripping his own, but he could feel Moon’s stare.
“That’s not true! That can’t be true!”
Someone was shouting. Rei couldn’t bring himself to look up and see who it was. Maybe Li Xiang or Chen Bo Cheng.
“It’s true,” he forced out past the lump that was now a boulder in his throat. “Yiyi has tried to drink from several humans over the past few weeks, but their blood is like poison to him now. The only blood that doesn’t make him sick is mine.”
“What about a vampire’s blood? Have you tried that?” Xiao Dan demanded.
“Not yet,” Yichen admitted.
“Come here. We’ll try it now.” Xiao Dan struggled with the button on his cuff for a moment before jerking his sleeve up his arm. “We’re from the same line. Possess the same maker. This might pull you free.”
Yichen paused, turning worried eyes on Rei, who could only offer him a weak smile. This wouldn’t work. He could feel it in the depths of his soul, but he also knew that none of them could rest until they at least tried this route.
“Just start with a sip,” Rei admonished, hoping that it would cause him the least amount of pain. Not that the physical pain worried him. No, it was the frustration and heartbreak Yichen suffered with each failure that tormented Rei the most.
The vampire squeezed his hand. “I will.”
His eyes followed Yichen as the vampire crossed the room to stand beside Xiao Dan, but his gaze caught on Moon, who was watching him with a sad expression in his amber eyes. The blood witch also knew this would not work, but he said nothing.
Rei’s breath stuttered and caught in his chest as he watched Yichen lift Xiao Dan’s wrist to his mouth and daintily bite. As he’d instructed, Yichen took no more than a single mouthful and licked across the wound, closing it again. Releasing Xiao Dan, Yichen took a step away from him.
Hope rose in Rei’s chest, but only a couple of seconds ticked by before beads of sweat appeared on Yichen’s forehead, glistening in the dim lamplight. His throat worked, fighting to keep the blood down, while Rei’s hope withered and sank into the pit of his stomach. As he tried to swallow that bitter disappointment, Yichen whipped away from the rest of the gathered clan and vomited up the blood on the bamboo floor.
“Didi!” Several of the vampires shouted, lunging for their coughing and gagging brother. But not all of them.
Xiang lunged for Rei, wrapping powerful hands around Rei’s throat, lifting him to his feet. Everything in him wanted to shove the vampire off and to go to Yichen’s side, to soothe him through the dry heaves as his body settled, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything against Yichen’s family. Not when it was his blood that had brought Yichen this suffering in the first place.
“What did you do to him?” Xiang roared in his face, blocking out his view of Yichen. “You’ve poisoned him! He’s not free! He’s still your prisoner!” Xiang lifted a fist, preparing to hit him in the face, but Yichen’s ragged voice froze everyone in the room.
“Stop! Don’t fucking touch him!”
