Solstice Souls

Cloak And Dagger

Lan Zhan POV

It bothered Lan Zhan that they were being followed.

Two guards.

Watching them, walking behind them, step for step. Everywhere.

He knew the Elders did not trust Wei Ying, that much was easy to understand. But he had vouched for Wei Ying himself, and for all their spouting support, at the end of the day, they still viewed Lan Zhan as a child, and therefore, did not take him seriously.

He had a lot on his mind and perhaps Wei Ying could sense that, because at every opportunity, he tried to make Lan Zhan feel better, even going so far as to introduce himself to their guards. That had been funny...

But the most worrying thing was what he had overheard last night. He definitely knew who they were; Lan Feng and Lan Lao...yet the nature of what they were planning was unclear even if the outcome was not. And it was related to the night hunt, that much was obvious, and whatever it was, it was intended to hurt Wei Ying.

His Wei Ying.

He looked up to watch as Wei Ying perused the shelves in the library. Sometimes he would pull out a book and flick through the pages, smiling at whatever caught his interest, other times his face was a mask of disbelief, probably because he was finding the austere way of life for the Lan Clan a severe shock, and whatever was between those pages only added to his view.

Yet Wei Ying had taken everything remarkably well so far, even the engraved rock of rules. Lan Zhan could admit only to himself, he had held his breath then, wondering what Wei Ying would think. Most of the rules were commonsensical, things done without a second thought and by the time a Lan hit double figures in age, it became second nature. One hardly thought about what they were doing, it was so ingrained. He was confident the rules would pose no problem for his husband-to-be.

Right now, he could not take his eyes off Wei Ying. The young man was standing in a beam of sunlight filtering in through the huge round windows, his face internally lit up with excitement at whatever he was reading, and externally by a soft golden light. His lean body a silhouette of grace, just a shadow of sinewy muscles lending him an elegance that was breathtaking. The black robes he wore only added to this illusion, with just a splash of scarlet at his throat. His long ebony locks were captured within his signature ponytail tied back with the red ribbon, yet like the man himself, a few strands escaped, framing his gorgeous face. Wild, beautiful, his.

Wei Ying was infinitely beautiful.

As if he knew Lan Zhan had been staring at him for a good half hour, he turned the spotlight of his silver eyes onto him, grinning with mischief.

"Lan Zhan!" He bounced back to where Lan Zhan was sitting at his desk. "You seem troubled. What is it?" He took Lan Zhan's hand and brought it to his lips.

Lan Zhan could only stare at him, feeling his heartbeat stutter and stop, before galloping away like a fierce, unbridled stallion, exhilaratingly free.

"Come with me." Lan Zhan knew without a doubt, he had to do something about what he had overheard last night.

But because he lacked the speaking skills cultivated to such expert lengths by his brother, he knew he would find it difficult to explain what he saw and heard. And since it was a delicate yet serious matter, because he was about to accuse Elders of misconduct, the most severe of these punishable by death, it was no light thing.

His brother would know what to do.

And this late in the afternoon, Xiongzhang would be in the Hanshi, and this would look like a social visit, not what it was. So Lan Zhan forced himself to be calm, and tried to smile for Wei Ying. His efforts were not as great as he wished, because Wei Ying threw his arms around his neck, pressing himself into Lan Zhan's body.