Blood on the Altar (HuaLian TGCF)

Chapter 6

Xie Lian stares, unable to take in what's happening, and the ghost king stares back, frozen, clearly unable to do anything else. What's going on? What could have... And then his mind, scrambled and confused by everything he's been through, finally catches up with the moment and he knows.

He knows, and it makes no sense and it twists everything he thought he understood about his current situation, and yet...

"Release." Xie Lian says it quietly, his voice shaking and ...nothing happens.

Xie Lian takes a shuddering breath, tightens his hand around the ring, and placing all the command he can manage into the word he says it again, "Release."

This time the reaction is instantaneous. The ghost king's hand falls to his side, his shoulders stiffening, his eyes fixing squarely on Xie Lian.

"I'm sorry." The words tumble out of Xie Lian's mouth, quick and hurried. Apologizing to the ghost king feels strange after how they met and everything that's happened since and yet what else can he say after what he just did, and, if he's right, then maybe he owes the ghost an apology for more than this.

"Your highness doesn't need to apologize. I gave it to you so that you could use it."

Xie Lian stares at him, eyes wide and face pale, his fingers still wrapped around the smooth curves of the ring. 'Nothing much' the ghost had said, 'just a talisman.' But it's not is it? It can't be, not to have /that/ sort of power over a supreme. Nothing should have that sort of power over a supreme, nothing except... Xie Lian doesn't know much about the 'lives' ghosts live but in 800 years of wandering the world and stumbling into every misfortune there is, he's learned a few things. He knows how to tell by sight the difference between the different ranks of ghosts and he knows how ghosts feel about sunlight, and he knows that all ghosts share a single weakness.

"These are your ashes, aren't they?" Xie Lian's voice is quite, the new rasp in it more pronounced.

The ghost king looks away but after a moment he nods slightly.

Xie Lian's heart is racing, his head spinning, trying to make sense of what should not make sense.

"Why would you..."

"I told you. I want your highness to feel safe. You seemed to feel as though I had power over you, so I thought you would rest more easily if you knew you were the one with the power over me."

"But that's..." Xie Lian's voice trails away, because suddenly he's faced with an impossible idea.

This isn't a trick.

This isn't a game.

This isn't manipulation.

This isn't a trap.

This isn't...

White No Face would have gone to all sorts of lengths to bend Xie Lian to his will, earn his trust, guide his actions, but this... This is...

This is too far.

No ghost would hand over there ashes as part of a trick or a trap, and White No Face? He certainly would never have risked Xie Lian having actual power over him. No, the demon, the ghost king, Lord Crimson Rain, he's not toying with Xie Lian, not using him, not... disparate images fill Xie Lian's mind, images of the ghost saving him from the alter, placing him on a soft bed, healing him, listening when Xie Lian asked to keep the scars, sitting by him when he woke in a panic... And now that he thinks about it, after he drifted off that first time, on top of the covers, robes half off from the healing, he'd woken fully dressed and tucked beneath the covers, who else could have done that if not the ghost king? But that would mean...