Curled Horns

37. Ripped Wings

With a cup of tea cradled in his hands, Mingi sat on Yunho's diwan. The jar with pixie dust stood on the table between the tea service, untouched today. Mingi was wrapped in his towel still after he had washed the grime of his fear and the night in the dark basement off. Leaning against his fluff-covered back stood Yunho, who carefully dressed the wound on Mingi's horn. A nurse had dropped by earlier to assess the damage and given him healing ointment, but Mingi had insisted that Yunho handled his horns.

He trusted no one else to touch them.

When Yunho finished wrapping his horn carefully, his fingers dropped from Mingi's head. Shivering at the emptiness, Mingi's tail instinctively reached out to search for Yunho's. Receiving him securely, Yunho rounded the divan to kneel next to Mingi. The table in the middle had been exchanged for a smaller, oval one, leaving a lot of space on the ground for Yunho to sit on.

Before Mingi could tell him to sit by his side instead, Yunho already reached for Mingi's hands to cradle them in his and hold them on his lap. Deep remorse swam in his eyes, as he couldn't find the words he sought right away.

"I apologise, Mingi. I should have reacted faster," the prince then breathed. Meek, Mingi shook his head.

"Neither of us could know they would come for me. You came just in time."

"Ave had found your trail already in the morning, but we figured it would be better to wait until they were fully distracted before we barged in. You must have been afraid." Yunho's lips ghosted over Mingi's hands as he kissed each knuckle individually. Softened, Mingi gazed upon the prince's bowed horns.

"You coming for me is everything I could wish for, no matter the damage. Thank you, Yunho."

Mingi didn't want to imagine a scenario in which Yunho wouldn't have come to save him. Nothing else but the security Yunho spent mattered.

Placing the last kiss on the tip of Mingi's little finger, Yunho lifted his head to look at him again.

"Nothing else happened, right? They just tried to get your horns?"

Nodding, Mingi shyly played with Yunho's fingers in his.

"He just wanted them for his collection. They would have let me leave after, too."

He didn't need to spell it out for Yunho to catch onto the thought that Mingi wouldn't have survived an injury like that. His fingers gingerly hooked around Mingi's, holding them tight.

"I'm glad you didn't get hurt any worse." With his free hand, Yunho caressed Mingi's face and scar. He stayed clear of the fresh wound.

"What will happen to them?"

Troubled, Yunho looked down at his lap.

"My father, as well as the public, will demand their blood in exchange for those they harmed. I want to talk to Hongjoong first, though. If we settle it in mutual executions, the cycle will repeat."

Eyes absent as they relived the hours of dread when he had been alone with the pixies, Mingi hummed. He hadn't perceived the situation as bad when he had been there since he had been so over the place and time had passed so fast. Now that he was back in Yunho's quickly reassembled chambers, however, it chilled him from the inside like a foul curse.

"Hongjoong said that he came for revenge. To get back at those rich demons who eat their kin."

For a few minutes, Yunho stayed silent. His eyes focused on their tangled hands without seeing anything.

"I figured, yes... Hongjoong must have... suffered."

After another moment of reverent silence, Mingi looked back at his handsome prince.