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Xiang turned away enough for Rei to see Yichen stagger to his feet and push aside his family. Blood smeared his lips and chin, while the rest of his face was pasty white. His dark-brown eyes sparked with rage as he glared at his brother.
“This is why…I didn’t want to come back yet. Not…not while we were trying to fix this,” Yichen panted.
Xiang released Rei like he’d burst into flames, and Rei didn’t allow himself to hesitate another second. As light as dandelion fluff, he hopped over the long table between the sofas and slipped between the other vampires to slide under Yichen’s arm, holding him up. Wrapping his hand in the hem of his T-shirt, he used it to wipe away the blood.
“It’s okay,” Rei whispered in his ear. “They’re worried about you. They love you and can’t tolerate you being in pain. We’ll get this fixed. I know it.”
“Your Highness,” Chen began, his voice sounding tight.
“Rei is fine,” he corrected.
“He didn’t do this on purpose. I was dying. My options were death or his blood,” Yichen snarled. The arm he had across Rei’s shoulders tightened, drawing him in closer while he attempted to straighten and move in front of Rei. “What would you have had me choose?”
“Life, of course,” Su Ming Yu instantly answered. “We have only ever wanted you to live and be safe.” The female vampire turned to Rei and bowed her head. “Your Highness, on behalf of my clan, I apologize for our rudeness. Our worry for Wu Yichen has made us cruel and thoughtless.”
Yichen grunted. “Yes, I depend on his blood, but I am still alive, searching for a way to break this dependency. What does the crown prince have to show for his mercy? Crippled by his parents, cast out and hunted. And if he stays behind after we close the door between the realms, he will die. He got nothing out of this arrangement when he helped me.”
Rei closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the side of Yichen’s head.
I got you.
The words danced like a song around his soul, but they never left his lips.
Even if it was for only a little while, I got to remain by your side.
“Your Highness…”
He wasn’t sure who spoke that time. With a smile, he lifted his head but didn’t open his eyes yet. “Truly, Rei is just fine. This one has never shown me an ounce of respect for my title. I’ve gotten quite used to the nickname he’s given me.”
Yichen huffed, the sound dismissive. “Because Wistari Elnaril Reymaris takes too long to say and is so fucking pretentious.”
“Rei, thank you for saving our brother’s life,” Xiao Dan said.
“Yeah, um…sorry about…earlier.” Rei opened his eyes at Xiang’s apology to see the vampire scratching the back of his head, appearing very uncomfortable. “Aside from Meimei, Yichen is the youngest. I guess we’re all accustomed to watching out for him. We can be overprotective.”
This time it was Meimei who snorted from her perch on one of the sofa arms. “I can vouch for that.”
Moon clapped his hands together in the silent room, making everyone jump. “Now that we’ve tried that option, there’s one thing left. Magic!”
“No!” Chen roared. The vampire swung about and wrapped one arm across the blood witch’s chest while slapping his other hand over his mouth. Even though it was muffled, there was no missing the witch’s wild cackles.
That was not the response he’d been expecting.
It was more than a bit frightening.
Why wasn’t the blood witch allowed to perform magic?
Chapter 5
Wu Yichen
Somewhere along the line, his clan had become…odd.
He was beginning to think, though, that a good chunk of that oddness was thanks to the giggling blood witch in Chen’s arms.
Straight-laced, boring, predictable, follow-all-the-rules Chen was acting as if he meant to drop the witch over his shoulder and bolt from the room. The Chen he knew would never do something so disgraceful.
What the hell happened while I was away?
