"I... I didn't mean to!" Qi Rong shrieks the words, his voice suddenly frantic and unsteady, his royal arrogance completely gone. The whip falls from his hand the clatter against the cobblestones "I... Cousin Crown Prince! You know I wasn't trying to! You saw! Everyone saw! I wasn't trying to!"
Xie Lian stares back at him, standing like that, tall and commanding, blood on his shoulder and his eyes blazing, he is the most beautiful sight Hua Cheng has ever seen.
"Leave." There is warmth one in Xie Lian's voice, no understanding, no forgiveness. "All of you, except you." Xie Lian points at the man who initially held the whip.
"But I..." Qi Rong tries but Xie Lian's hand cuts through the air in a decisive gesture, silencing him.
"Go! Now! Before I forget myself!" Only then does Hua Cheng see the tension in the prince's shoulders and the fist clenched at his side and realize just how close Xie Lian is to knocking Qi Rong onto the cobblestones where he belongs.
This isn't the kind, passionate, slightly , man whose eyes light up when he talks about swords and who becomes flustered every time Hua Cheng teases him, this is the crown prince of the mighty kingdom of Xianle, and he is glorious.
Qi Rong stumbles away from his cousin as though he really has been struck and Hua Cheng sees the shock and yes hurt in his eyes, but he doubts that Xie Lian does, because, with a swish of his robes, the crown prince turns away from Qi Rong and races to Hua Cheng's side.
"San Lang! are you all right!?" Xie Lian drops to his knees beside the concubine with no care for the dirt on his white robes, his expression melting from powerful prince back into the soft concern of the man who Hua Cheng has come to know, the man who has claimed Hua Cheng's heart.
"San Lang?" Xie Lian's hands flutter anxiously, checking the injuries of his back even as his eyes flick over the concubine's body, searching him for other wounds, and Hua Cheng realizes that he's just kneeling there, staring at the crown prince. His back is on fire but he barely notices it, the whole world fading away to leave nothing but Hua Cheng's pounding heart, the blood rushing in his ears, and the man who has changed everything.
'I would die for you.' It's an abstract thought, flickering through the concubine's mind as though it's always been there, and Hua Cheng knows it as truth.
He swallows hastily, trying to get his mind to focus on words rather than on how badly he suddenly wants to kiss Xie Lian.
"Why did you stop him?" Hua Cheng's voice is hoarse with emotion and also with the pain that some part of him at least remembers exists.
"What?" Xie Lian blinks at him, utterly baffled, as though the idea of not endangering his entire political future to protect a mere slave never even crossed his mind and gods Hua Cheng would do anything for this man.
"Come on, I'll help you back to my room. You need a doctor." Then Xie Lian's arm is around his waist and he's pulling Hua Cheng to his feet. The movement pulls at the fresh injuries on the concubine's back and he winces with pain but shakes his head, trying to pull away.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. You should get your shoulder looked at."
"You're hurt worse, come on, lean on me." Rather than letting go the Prince only tightens his arm around Hua Cheng and somehow the concubine doesn't have it in himself to pull away again, not with that warm touch against his bare skin.
"He's right, your highness, your shoulder!" Suddenly Feng Xin is beside them, shaking with fury, his eyes filled with a venom that, for once, has nothing to do with Hua Cheng.
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The Gift of Kings (HuaLian TGCF)
फैनफिक्शनRoyal AU! Prince!XieLian Concubine!HuaCheng Spy!Hua Cheng Hua Cheng is given to the crown prince of Xianle as a concubine with the job of seducing him in order to spy on him for the neighboring kingdom of Yong'an who are planning war, but when real...
