The Gift of Kings (HuaLian TGCF)

Chapter 15 The Truth

On every other night Hua Cheng's return through the palace is a quiet creeping affair. Not tonight, tonight his return is a blur of steps and hallways and racing feet and he's barely even aware of what's around him until he's bursting through the door of Xie Lian's bedchamber. The Prince snaps upright at the sound, shoulders tensing and sleep blurred eyes blinking for clarity.

"San Lang what..." His eyes widen as they find the dagger in the concubine's hand.

Hua Cheng doesn't waste any time. The dagger clatters as it hits the floor and then Hua Cheng is across the room beside the bed, his hand tangling in Xie Lian's hair, pulling the prince's head up and ducking his own down so that their lips crush together. He feels the startled tension in Xie Lian, feels the prince's lips attempt to form a question. He ignores all of it, kissing Xie Lian deeper, more hungrily, more desperately, until the prince utterly surrenders, his body melting beneath the concubine's touch.

Never breaking the kiss Hua Cheng drops onto the bed and he hears a soft gasp slip from between Xie Lian's lips, feels the prince body warm and pliant beneath his. It's an intoxicating feeling and Hua Cheng leans into it, sucking on Xie Lian's tongue and biting his lips even as the prince's arms wrap around the concubine's neck. Hua Cheng kisses Xie Lian deeper still, savoring the taste and feel of him until the prince is squirming beneath him for lack of air. Only then does Hua Cheng relent, rolling off of him and onto his back and for a moment they both just lie there gasping for breath.

"San Lang, what was that about?" Xie Lian asks the question as soon as he has breath to speak again. He pushes himself up on one elbow to look at Hua Cheng. His eyes are wide and his cheeks pink and his lips are swollen from kissing and by the gods what Hua Cheng wouldn't give to kiss him again ... But it's too late for that now.

Hua Cheng pushes himself into a sitting position and locks eyes with the prince, his prince, his beloved. His heart is pounding and his voice is hoarse but it's not from kissing.

"Sorry gege, I couldn't help myself. I wanted to kiss you one last time."

At those words Xie Lian bolts upright as well, his expression going blank and sudden heartbreak in his voice.

"San Lang, are you leaving me or...?" His voice trails away as his eyes move from Hua Cheng to the dagger he dropped so carelessly to the floor.

Hua Cheng's heart twists in his chest. He wants to keep Xie Lian's eyes on him, grab him, hold him close. His fingers twitch of their own accord but he doesn't let them do more than that. He can't reach for Xie Lian now. He knows he no longer has that right.

"No. But you won't want me anywhere near you once I tell you."

Xie Lian's head snaps back around so that he can stare at Hua Cheng with wide alarmed eyes. "Tell me what?"

Hua Cheng takes a shuddering breath. His heart is pounding but his voice is strangely calm.

"The truth. Yong'an didn't send me here to be a peace offering. They sent me to be a spy. They-"

"I know."

Xie Lian's voice, suddenly calm, cuts through Hua Cheng's words as effectively as though the prince had just sliced through Hua Cheng's throat. For a moment he just gapes at Xie Lian, eye wide, lips parted, mind spinning, unable to grasp the meaning behind those two words.

"You ...What!?"

"I know." Xie Lian says it again, his expression softening.

Hua Cheng can only stare at him, reeling. Of all the ways he imagined this conversation, this confession, going he had never thought that it would be like this, that Xie Lian would...