55 The Nine-tailed Fox breaks a nose

Wu Yun knows he's dreaming as soon as he sees the weeping willow. The Heavens' starry night sky is painted with all the stars of the milky way. A vibrant green nebula is streaked against the velvety black like spilled ink.

Ling Yan is walking barefoot towards the weeping willow, Wu Yun can feel the cold grass under the soles of his feet.

The weeping willow's branches dance in the wind, and through the teardrop shaped leaves he can see a wooden swing suspend by red silk threads to the tree's thickest branch.

Ling Yan reaches the swing and inspects it with a small smile, making it swing with the tip of a finger.

He sits down on the bench and kicks the ground setting the swing in motion.

He swings gently back and forth until a pair of large, warm, hands settle on his shoulders and push him gently forward.

"I take it you like it?"

Ling Yan leans his neck back, and looks up into Shu Luan's golden eyes. "You made this?"

"I remembered our first conversation, when you mentioned having one like this, under a lonely weeping willow."

So that should place this conversation early in the beginning of their acquaintance. Wu Yun has to admit that Shu Luan's gesture is exceedingly kind. Judging from the heat raising on Ling Yan's face, he agrees.

"I suppose you're expecting some kind of reward?" Ling Yan asks, affecting nonchalance.

Shu Luan chuckles. "I only want to be allowed to push you on the swing a little longer. May I?"

Ling Yan pretends to think this over. Wu Yun wonders if he's also this contrarian. 

"You may."

Shu Luan continues pushing Ling Yan in a companionable silence as the starry night sky dissolves around them like soap bubbles on a stream.

---

Wu Yun feels a strong burst of pain against the back of his head. He tries to open his mouth to speak but moving hurts.

He opens his eyes with great effort, and looks up into Lan Tian's worried amber eyes. He feels something wet drip onto his face, and realizes its blood from an open wound on Lan Tian's forehead.

"You arrived just on time," Lan Tian says, and Wu Yun realizes he's carrying him in his arms.

"Well, you two were taking forever, and Wan Mi was growing anxious."

Wu Yun hears the sound of wood smashing against wood, and then a shout.

"With good reason!" Wan Mi says, launching herself at someone outside of Wu Yun's line of sight. "We won't be able to hold them back much longer, be ready to leave."

Wu Yun can't say anything to her because soon after he loses consciousness again.

---

He's dreaming again, although this time he's in an ample room, surrounded by tall shelves.

Ling Yan is peeking through a gap among a stack of scrolls, watching Shu Luan search for him in the library. He's sneaking around each shelf, trying to be inconspicuous, while Ling Yan watches him amused.

He comes out of his hiding spot, and walks silently on bare feet towards Shu Luan. When he reaches him, Ling Yan shoves his hands through the gap at the back of his robes, making him let out a startled shout.

"Got you," he says with a self-satisfied smirk.

"I was beginning to think you forgot our appointment." Shu Luan rubs the back of his neck, stretching, when he notices Ling Yan looking.

Ling Yan huffs and circles him with his hands behind his back. "Is that what you're calling it?"

"What else would it be?" Shu Luan asks, starting to circle Ling Yan as well.

They remain locked in this pretend chase, watching each other, drawing nearer and then stepping away with twin challenging smiles.

Wu Yun is struck once again by all the differences between this Shu Luan, and the one currently in Kunlun, who looks at everything around him in dumbstruck awe.

"You've been making a point of showing me how unlike Xue Jin you are. There must be something you want." Ling Yan says, finally coming to a stop with his back against a shelf.

Shu Luan approaches him carefully from the side, as if he is a tiger that he can't be sure will let him pet it.

"Is it such an unusual thing for people to want to be close to you?" Shu Luan asks, raising an eyebrow.

Ling Yan shrugs. "The last time it happened I ended up here..."

"Ah, I see. You know it's funny, you insist on calling him Xue Jin, I suspect he hates it."

Ling Yan smirks. "He has told me his name, but I have made it a habit to forget it right after."

He lets out an amused chuckle, and slides closer to Ling Yan. "It's amazing that Shu Ai likes you so much, with the lengths you go to just to annoy him."

Ling Yan turns to face Shu Luan. His left arm hanging on to the upper shelf, all of his left side pressed against the scrolls.

"The two of you must really be brothers, then, because that's something you have in common with him."

"I don't think you're trying to annoy me, I think you like seeing me run after you."

Shu Luan steps closer to Ling Yan, their chests almost touching.

Wu Yun can feel the way Ling Yan's heart rate picks up at Shu Luan's proximity, but his face gives away nothing.

Shu Luan continues speaking, his sweet breath ghosting over Ling Yan's face. "I think it makes you feel like a tiger playing with its prey."

Ling Yan raises his chin to meet Shu Luan's amber eyes. "If the prey wants to be toyed with, who am I to stop it?"

"What if I told you, that I'm a tiger too?"

Wu Yun feels warmth blooming in Ling Yan's middle, but instead of backing down he says, "This tiger is crouching, waiting to catch you unaware."

Despite how nervous he feels, Ling Yan takes Shu Luan's face in his hands and presses their lips together.

Shu Luan is startled for a second, but he quickly finds his footing. He wraps one arm around Ling Yan's waist, and with the other tilts his neck back, so he can deepen the kiss.

Ling Yan finally lets his guard down, and melts against Shu Luan's chest, holding on to his neck with both arms, and allowing their bodies to come into sharp contact.

He gasps when Shu Luan nips his bottom lip, and then returns the bite with double the strength.

They get lost in each other's arms. Wu Yun wonders if kissing Lan Tian would feel like this, if he hadn't pulled away in the tunnels.

Surprisingly, it's Shu Luan who pulls away first, dropping one last lingering kiss on Ling Yan's lips. "You won."

Ling Yan rolls his eyes. "Then why are you smiling like that?"

Shu Luan runs his thumb over his bottom lip. "Because I won too."

---

Wu Yun is violently taken out of the dream, and is aware of still being carried in Lan Tian's arms while frantic voices talk around him.

He thinks it's Cang Chuxi who says, "Take him to the hot spring in your room, his temperature is dropping very quickly, he needs to be warmed up.

After a flash he hears Lan Tian kicking open the door to their room in the cliff. 

Shu Luan is sitting on the bed, and holding a gold hand-held mirror. He startles with the sound and Wu Yun catches a glimpse of a different face in the mirror. It's gone in a blink, replaced by Shu Luan's own reflection.

"Get out," Lan Tian shouts, and Shu Luan scrambles to leave the room. Through the haze of pain Wu Yun doesn't miss that he takes the mirror with him.

---

Wu Yun remembers this room. It's the red nuptial chamber. Very little time must have passed between that dream and now, because Ling Yan and Shu Luan are still naked in each other's embrace.

Shu Luan is playing with a strand of Ling Yan's hair, who is doing his best to blow it away from his fingers, when the sound of heavy footfalls comes from outside the door.

They both sit up on the bed, looking at each other with apprehension.

Seconds later the door is kicked open and Shu Ai and a retinue of men in white robes with obsidian black vambraces comes storming in.

Shu Luan pulls Ling Yan to him, while Ling Yan tries to cover them both with the silk mattress.

"Shu Ai, what's the meaning of this?" Shu Luan asks, his voice rumbling with barely suppressed anger.

"Father has died," Shu Ai says, looking dispassionately at his brother, although his jaw clenches when his gaze lands on Ling Yan.

Shu Luan can't hide his shock. "What? How?"

Shu Ai's smirk sends shivers down Ling Yan's spine. Wu Yun can almost feel the acrid taste of his fear, settling on the pit of his stomach like lead.

"You should know. You're the one who killed him."

Shu Ai raises an arm, and the gods in white advance towards Shu Luan, pulling him out of the bed.

"Don't worry, A-Yan, this is just a misunderstanding. I'll meet you by our tree." Shu Luan says, throwing Ling Yan a wan smile over the shoulder.

Shu Ai's men close around him like a wall, marching him out of room.

Ling Yan wraps the sheets around himself and tries to run after him, but Shu Ai stops him with a hand on his chest, throwing him back on the bed.

"Xue Jin, let him go, you know he hasn't killed anyone!" he snarls at Shu Ai, baring his teeth as if he wants nothing more than to rip his throat out.

Shu Ai's backhanded slap makes Ling Yan's ears ring, and he's momentarily disorientated by the violence of the impact. 

"That's not my name."

He climbs up onto the bed crowding Ling Yan in against the canopy. "I would have made you my consort, but you would rather be a traitor's whore."

Ling Yan clutches his cheek, and glares at Shu Ai, while silver blood runs down his split lip.

Shu Ai's eyes survey Ling Yan's body, and his cold features rearrange themselves in a mockery of concern. "It's not too late to regret your past actions."

He reaches forward to run a proprietary hand over Ling Yan's bare calf.

Ling Yan recoils in disgust, and he kicks up his leg towards Shu Ai's nose.

The sickening crunch as it breaks under Ling Yan's heel is a small comfort. 

"I'd rather be his whore for a lifetime than suffer your touch even once." 

Shu Ai staggers, clutching his broken nose, and when his eyes next land on Ling Yan they're filled with hatred.

Ling Yan smiles, sharp and feral. His teeth are covered in blood.