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“Uh-huh.”
Rei tugged his hair before resuming the soothing path of the brush. “I can be, but when it comes to getting revenge for those I care for, I am understandably less benevolent.”
“That’s assuming you care for anyone other than yourself.”
Rei rolled his eyes. “You say this as I allow you to draw me from my comfortable bed and safe sleep to brush your hair.”
“You find playing with my hair as relaxing as I do.”
At least he admitted that this little act was relaxing. Rei was content to let go of Yichen’s silliness. “The point is, your clan wishes to protect you from pain and harm. For now, all elves and fae are bad in their minds. I’ve done nothing to distinguish myself as different from King Ash, who has harmed a member of your clan.”
The vampire sat in silence for several minutes as Rei finished brushing his hair. Setting aside the brush, he picked up the hairpin and used the long, smooth stick of jade to separate a chunk of hair for a braid. Rei’s nimble fingers wove the strands of hair together with a practiced ease. He was setting that aside and starting another braid when the truth tumbled, fractured and jagged, from Yichen’s lips.
“They’ve changed.”
Rei bit his bottom lip to hold in his initial reaction of a chuckle.
“I know what you’re going to say—a century has passed and everything changes. Even vampires. But I’ve been with my clan for over two thousand years. They barely changed in all that time.”
“However, the second you disappear for a teeny tiny century, everything changes,” Rei finished for him.
The vampire threw up his hands. “Yes! It’s not just that Chen is smiling and in love. We never permitted that damn huli jing so close. We spent so much time chasing him off when he would try to get near Shixiong, and now he’s hanging around as if he were a member of the clan. Meimei has changed her hair and style of dress. The only thing that feels the same is that Xiang-ge is still picking fights with everyone and Shixiong is holding us all together.”
“And what about Ming Yu? Has her cooking changed? You talked about her food almost as much as your clan.”
Yichen reached both hands above his head, swiping them through the air to hit Rei. “Don’t you even breathe those words! Shijie is an angel, and her cooking will always be perfect. The one thing that’s changed is that her and Meimei seem to bicker more.”
Rei chuckled and batted his hands away. “Enough. Did you consider that you might have changed during the past century? You’re not the innocent boy you were when they stole you away.”
“Fuck you!” The vampire pressed his hands into the bed behind him and tried to shove to his feet. Rei threw a leg over Yichen’s shoulder and pressed his calf against his chest, pinning him in place.
“Don’t move. I’m not done braiding your hair.”
Yichen grabbed his ankle, his cool touch somehow scalding his flesh, causing muscles to stiffen, but the vampire clearly didn’t notice that Rei was melting. “You’re an asshole. I was not some innocent boy who was ruined when I stepped into the fae realm.”
Rei grinned and leaned close so that his lips were next to Yichen’s ear. “Say it a little louder, Yiyi. I don’t think all of your clan heard that. Let them wonder about all the ways you were ruined in my hands.”
“You’re such a pain,” Yichen growled, but he dropped to the floor and released his hold on Rei’s leg, much to Rei’s chagrin. Whatever, he still had Yichen’s hair to play with and the gentle scent of him filling the room where he would sleep. He took what small victories he could claim before they were separated forever.
Pressing his cheek to the top of Yichen’s head, Rei sighed. “And you’ve always been fun to tease. My grumpy prince.”
“Spoiled, arrogant prince,” Yichen sniped. Yet there was no heat in his voice. They were the same barbs they’d traded for years.
With his fingers working through Yichen’s hair, he picked up the thread of their conversation. “I understand. You’ve built up this moment of returning home to your clan for a century. You thought it would be like sliding into your old life, but that old life doesn’t exist anymore. Your clan experienced a century without you, along with all the changes the human world went through. You’ve returned tied to a damn elf. It’s going to take time to fall into a familiar rhythm with them. But in a matter of weeks, maybe just days, you’re going to find that the clan you cherish is there under all the layers. Your place among them is still waiting for you. It’s been one evening. Give it more time.”
“I hate that you’re always so logical.”
“One of us has to be logical from time to time. It was my turn. I’ll allow you to be the logical one tomorrow, and I’ll have the meltdown.”
Yichen breathed out a laugh, his shoulders shaking. It wasn’t entirely the truth, but close enough. There had been only a few times Rei had stormed into Yichen’s prison, waving a dagger and cursing his parents or the royal court for some bit of nonsense that had threatened to push him over the edge. During those times, Yichen had been the one to talk him through his ravings and keep him from getting killed.
“It feels…weird,” the vampire commented, his voice barely above a whisper.
Rei held in a teasing comment about how he’d never thought getting his hair braided in the past was weird. Yichen had calmed from his panic. It wouldn’t be much longer before he was ready to slide into his bed and sleep. “What feels weird?”
“Having people supporting me again. When I arrived in your realm, I was alone. After a few years, I had you there helping in what little ways you could. It became us against the world. Plotting and scheming, lying to carve out a safe niche so we could breathe. So many years like that…” He paused and rubbed his forehead with one hand. “I forgot what it was like to sit in a haven. To be surrounded by people who cared for me.”
A wintery chill sank into Rei’s bones, leaving behind an ache so deep his fingers stilled in the middle of a braid. That had been his existence almost since birth. From the moment he’d drawn back the string on his first bow, his father, King Ash, began plotting his death. Every child born from his wife was a threat to his place on the Dawn throne.
