GU MANG'S ENTRANCE was so hot and wet, Mo Xi didn't need to open him like in the past. He only pushed two fingers inside, bending and working them, and that slick warmth sucked them in.
Mo Xi inhaled sharply. So the Liao Kingdom's tempering had extended even to this. As he thought of that brocade pouch with its unknown giver, and the black-clad man in the Mirror who'd pushed Gu Mang to defect, he suddenly felt unsure. Was Gu Mang's current state merely a side effect of the demon blood in him, or had someone molded him to this purpose? He'd thought the Liao Kingdom only needed a commander and not a plaything, but Gu Mang's newfound sensitivity set his imagination running wild.
He stared down at the face obscured by his black ribbon and withdrew his sticky fingers. Gu Mang had been panting through parted lips all along, but when Mo Xi's fingers slipped out, his brow furrowed deeply, and he began to shake. Mo Xi knew the poison had nearly broken him; he would collapse if he didn't find release soon. He smeared that wetness over his own straining erection and lined himself up, ghosting against Gu Mang's slick and eager hole.
Gu Mang's fingers were clutching at the straw, his bestial instinct growing stronger and stronger as his human rationality dwindled to nothing. His scalp prickled at the sensation of a blazinghot cock pressed to his rim. His legs unwittingly spread wider, welcoming and begging that man to thrust in.
"Come in… Fuck me… M-Mo Xi…"
The syllables of his name broke like a sob as they escaped Gu Mang's lips, finally setting Mo Xi's desire ablaze. His eyes darkened as he took hold of Gu Mang's hips and slowly pressed his thick shaft inside. Gu Mang's tempered body clenched, tightening thirstily around his length, the warm slickness responding audibly to the intrusion.
"Ah…" Gu Mang knitted his brows, arching his neck as he gasped. "Come in, all the way…"
Gu Mang's body now could be fucked as easily as any demon beast. Mo Xi was terrifyingly large; in the past, Gu Mang would be shaking from pain by the time he was halfway inside. Yet tonight, Gu Mang had taken it so quickly that he still craved the feeling of being stretched.
Mo Xi couldn't say what he felt: impatience, worry, heartbreak… Regardless of all else, the physical pleasure was undeniable. Gu Mang had been gone for eight years, and he had been abstinent for eight years until today, when pretense allowed them to entwine once more.
"Faster… F-fuck me harder… Ah!"
As Mo Xi viciously thrust in, Gu Mang's moans rose in pitch. The hut filled with the sound of their rough panting. Gu Mang's legs, already shaking and weak, were locked around Mo Xi's slender waist. Unable to see, he only felt that something impossibly hot, thick, and hard had buried itself to the hilt inside him, as if it wanted to pierce his belly through.
"Ah…ah…"
To be taken so forcefully and invaded so thoroughly by pleasure was like drowning. Gu Mang, irreparably broken, mumbled dazedly, "Come in… All the way in… Ah!"
Mo Xi leaned forward to grab Gu Mang's hand and forced him to press down on his own abdomen. "Can you feel it? In all these years, who else has fucked you this full? If anyone has…could he satisfy you? Could he fuck you this deep?"
His voice had always been low and sensual; now it was even more alluringly husky. His head was lowered, his lips almost brushing Gu Mang's ear. When the fevered heat of Mo Xi's breath fanned his face, Gu Mang's eyes went glassy and unfocused beneath the blindfold.
Before Gu Mang could return to his senses, Mo Xi began to move, driving hard and fast into his soaked and clenching body.
"Ah…ngh ahh…" Scalding heat surged into Gu Mang, each stroke threatening to run his soul through. The love he was denied and the lust he was lost within became a roaring spring that engulfed him totally. There were no sounds in the hut except the clap of flesh against flesh, the soft, slick noises that accompanied each thrust, Gu Mang's half-lucid moans and Mo Xi's ragged breathing. "Ah… Deeper…Mo Xi… Mo Xi…go deeper… Aaaah…"
Scorching hardness and clenching walls melted together, loath to part, love and desire becoming water that flowed between them. Gu Mang's every moan earned him a vicious thrust, filling him to the brim each time. Caught in the pleasure of being fucked so hard, past the point of endurance, Gu Mang desperately clung to the man atop him. Their skin beaded with sweat that mingled, seeming to draw them ever closer.
In the throes of this fervid entanglement, Gu Mang all too quickly came apart. He was so close; he lifted his hips to welcome Mo Xi's thrusts. Mo Xi knew precisely where he was most sensitive and made sure to hit it with every stroke, making Gu Mang's skin tingle with pleasure. But his bestial instinct and the aphrodisiac demanded more. He wanted Mo Xi to fuck him deeper, to hammer that spot harder, so he canted his hips to meet Mo Xi's again and again. "R-right there…fuck me…ah," he gasped. "Mo Xi…ah…"
Just as Gu Mang was on the cusp of release, Mo Xi suddenly pulled out. A shudder racked Gu Mang, as if his soul would leave his body along with that heavy shaft. Slick dripped out after it, the sensation so unpleasant Gu Mang's toes twitched.
"M-Mo Xi?" Gu Mang said in confusion and torment.
Gu Mang heard a soft sigh right by his ear. "Didn't you say you don't want it to be me?" He found himself hauled upright and flipped over. "On your hands and knees."
Mo Xi's grip tightened on Gu Mang's hips as he lined himself up, took a breath, and thrust all the way in.
"Aaahhhh…!" The sensation of being fucked from behind was much more intense. Mo Xi grabbed at the hair ribbon, forcing Gu Mang to arch his back. Gu Mang panted, whimpering brokenly as Mo Xi drove against his prostate at a punishing pace. The two of them were in the most primal position, rutting like beasts, Gu Mang subjugated beneath Mo Xi. He was being fucked to the point of tears, until he was so hard it hurt; he felt as if his stomach would split. "Ah…Mo Xi…"
"Good?" Mo Xi rasped.
"Yes…please, please, faster… I'm going to…" Face down in the straw, Gu Mang started to cry. Mo Xi was fucking him with such force that his voice broke with each thrust. He was being driven insane by the pleasure and pain of a human body enduring the enormity of bestial lust. "I'm going to come…ah…"
Mo Xi reached over and took hold of Gu Mang's weeping cock. Gu Mang's eyes immediately widened as he cried out in shock. The blindfold, loosened in the onslaught, slipped down, exposing teary blue eyes. They were utterly blank, twin pools of desire.
It didn't take long for him to come in Mo Xi's hand, shuddering as thick liquid spilled into the straw. Mo Xi didn't let up for a moment, fucking him through his climax with short, sharp thrusts. Gu Mang came so hard he nearly lost his wits, his harsh breaths turning into sobs that transformed into shouts. "I…I can't anymore…You're going to fuck me to death… Mo Xi…Mo Xi… Ah… Stop… Stop… Ahhh…" His cries subsided into disjointed mumbling. "Please, please… Please… Ah! Ah!"
With one last spurt, Gu Mang went slack in Mo Xi's arms. But Mo Xi wasn't done with him, and the aphrodisiac wasn't either. Beneath the flood of pleasure that came with his release, a frisson of desire surged through him anew—this body would drive him insane. He realized that the bat demons hadn't exaggerated their urgency. Demonic instinct was much stronger than any human lust. He lay boneless beneath Mo Xi, dripping with sweat, come, and slick as he let himself be fucked. The man who was once called the Beast of the Altar was mating exactly like a beast, begging to be filled, owned, and viciously stuffed full. He was flushed and feverish, unable to catch his breath. He jolted with every thrust, helpless tears filling his eyes and slipping down his cheeks.
He couldn't beg Mo Xi to love him anymore. But at least in this moment, under pretense of submitting to carnal desire, he could earnestly beg Mo Xi to take him, to fuck him. "Mo Xi…"
The man behind him was just as unflagging as he was eight years ago. Only after Gu Mang came a second and then a third time did Mo Xi's breathing finally begin to hitch. By the time Mo Xi was ready to come, Gu Mang was on the brink of madness. After a few more wild thrusts, Mo Xi slowed his pace. Some rational piece of his mind yet survived; he gasped for breath and said hoarsely, "I'll pull out…"
But Gu Mang was delirious. He clutched Mo Xi's hand and turned his head to look back at him. Beneath sweat-soaked locks, blue eyes gazed tearfully, helplessly, at Mo Xi as his glossy lips parted. "C-come inside… Don't pull out."
Mo Xi's eyes darkened.
"I can't take it anymore…" Gu Mang whimpered, "My body… isn't the same as before…" He lay in the straw, his voice soft with tears. "Mo Xi, come inside… I want you…"
What he wished to say was, I want to love you, I want to take everything you have to give, I want to return to the past with you—but these were the only words that escaped his mouth. He bit down on his lip, burying his face in the crook of his arm. Only his soft, inky hair and a sliver of reddened ear remained visible.
Their final entanglement was no less frenzied than that of wild beasts. Gu Mang couldn't even stay up on his knees, while Mo Xi's thrusts were quick and feverish, the smack of skin against skin filling their ears as their breathing turned to harsh gasps.
"Ah…ah…"
"Did you mean it?"
"Come for me…" Gu Mang sobbed, lifting his hips in invitation. "Come inside, come for me…"
Mo Xi wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed them flush together, sinking deep into the straw. This angle pushed Mo Xi farther inside him, driving Gu Mang to cry out, but Mo Xi covered his mouth and snapped his hips a dozen more times before burying himself as deep as he could go.
Gu Mang sobbed into Mo Xi's palm, once again brought to orgasm, his spend nearly clear after so many climaxes. His body clenched rhythmically around Mo Xi's cock; he could vividly feel each and every spurt of liquid heat as Mo Xi released everything, hitting him where he was most sensitive. Gu Mang's toes curled; he shivered. Mo Xi had come inside him…
Even after, Mo Xi remained sheathed inside his sloppy hole, slowly moving inside him, plugging him so none of that fluid dripped out.
Gu Mang was barely conscious. The two collapsed panting into the straw. Only then did the realization steal over them: they'd gone to bed together again. Despite everything, they had really done it. Neither spoke, but Mo Xi slowly and hesitantly took hold of Gu Mang's limp hand, claiming the afterglow as excuse to interlace their shaking fingers.
His mouth was so close to Gu Mang's temple. He could kiss his cheek if he just dipped his head. Everything seemed so much like how it had been eight years ago, before this debt of hatred festered between them. The only thing missing was a kiss—but that kiss could never fall.
Gu Mang's breathing gradually slowed, and his lashes fluttered weakly. "Don't pull out…"
Mo Xi blinked and stilled.
"In a while, the demon blood will absorb it… Once it's absorbed…then…" He paused and hoarsely said, "Then I'll be fine."
But Gu Mang knew—this entanglement had merely satisfied his bodily desires. That hollow ache in his heart would forever eat at his bones, at his marrow…a lifetime without a cure.
At daybreak, they prepared to leave the hut.
Gu Mang didn't say a word after it was over. When he rose to get dressed, his hands were still shaking. Mo Xi glanced at him and saw, by the weak morning light, that a faint flush lingered on his earlobe beneath his loose black hair. Gu Mang kept his head down as he straightened his lapels, his inky lashes lowered but unable to hide the redness of his eyes.
The two of them took great care with their clothes, perhaps out of embarrassment, or perhaps because they worried the others would notice something amiss. Fortunately they had not kissed, so there were no love bites to hide.
Mo Xi paused. "Your body…"
"It's the faewolf." Gu Mang spoke without inflection, unwilling to elaborate. "The bat demon incense was just as effective on me." He paused for a moment, then stood up.
In the past, Gu Mang was always a bit feeble after they slept together, sometimes even stumbling. Mo Xi instinctively reached to help him up, but Gu Mang flung his hand off. He sniffed, his nose still red. "There's no need. I'm fine," he said hoarsely.
His body had truly changed; these days, he could recover quickly. Holding the ribbon in his mouth, he gathered and tied up his long hair. His lips parted as he sighed. "I hope you'll excuse my behavior, Xihe-jun."
Mo Xi's chest felt tight, but he closed his eyes and replied, "I said it was only for the poison." His voice was low. "Don't think any more on it."
"Mn." Gu Mang smiled. "It's just that, considering our current relationship, it must have been a sacrifice to help me; I can't help but apologize. Also, I behaved…rather embarrassingly." Eyes the blue of deep lakes were cast down as Gu Mang fastened the hidden weapon compartment in his sleeve. "If it's at all possible, Xihe-jun should try to forget about it."
As he spoke, he pulled aside the bamboo curtain. Seeing that the bat demons were all still in their huts, he strode off toward the cave where Murong Chuyi and the others waited.
Pale sunlight filtered through the black smoke over Bat Island, filling the woods with a clear coldness. Mo Xi turned to glance back at the thatched hut they had spent the night in. What had passed here mere hours ago was like a mirage; the excuse that allowed them to entwine so desperately was gone. In the daylight, he was Chonghua's Xihe-jun, and Gu Mang was a prisoner and slave of Xihe Manor, the great traitor to the nation. Neither of them would speak again of what happened last night, and neither would assign it any more meaning than an ephemeral dream.
In the end, Mo Xi swept a final look around the room. He let the bamboo curtain fall and caught up to Gu Mang. The two of them still smelled like each other yet acted like strangers as they trekked back in perfect silence.
The life crystal in Mo Xi's possession had shown Yue Chenqing's condition to be much improved. Just as it predicted, when they returned to the cave, they found Yue Chenqing sitting against the wall, awake.
But they were surprised to find Yue Chenqing's head lowered, tears rolling down his cheeks. His usually bright and shining eyes were swollen from crying, and he wiped his tears away over and over with the back of his hand. "Fourth Uncle… I… I really wasn't messing around…" Still sobbing, he pathetically tried to explain himself to Murong Chuyi, who was standing beside him with an icy mien. "I just wanted to find a cure for you. Every year, before my birthday, you say you don't feel well, that you don't want to come… I…I…"
"You what? I think you've lost your wits!" Murong Chuyi swept his sleeves back and berated him through clenched teeth. "Do you not know your own worth?! You're so unbelievably foolish as to come alone to these damned Dream Butterfly Islands?!"
Jiang Yexue was sitting off to the side. He was weak from giving blood to Yue Chenqing, but he still coughed and said, "Now now; Chenqing meant well. Xiaojiu, he's barely woken up. You don't have to scold him so…"
Murong Chuyi shook off the hand Jiang Yexue had laid on his sleeve. "I'll scold my own nephew if I please," he snapped. "Is it your place to act like a saint?!" He turned back to rail at Yue Chenqing. "Forget about bringing me medicine before your birthday! If you were a bit less lucky, this time next year I'd be bringing flowers to your grave! What will it be—peonies or roses?! Yue Chenqing, are you trying to kill me from stress?! Don't you know this life of yours came at the price of your mother's? Yet you hold it so cheaply!"
Yue Chenqing looked up, his piteous sobs dying in his throat. He stared at Murong Chuyi, eyes wide with a smarting pain. No one present—neither Mo Xi, Gu Mang, nor even Yue Chenqing himself— had ever seen Murong Chuyi so furious that the rims of his eyes were scarlet.
So Murong Chuyi had been holding back all this time, maintaining his outward impassivity out of concern for Yue Chenqing's health. If he was turning such rage on Yue Chenqing now, the gu worms must be entirely dealt with. But Murong Chuyi was already sick, and he had used forbidden techniques to keep Yue Chenqing alive, injuring his heart vein in the process. As fury filled him, he began to cough.
At the sight of Yue Chenqing's expression, Jiang Yexue knew Murong Chuyi had said too much. He reached out to pull on Murong Chuyi's sleeve again. Murong Chuyi's face drew taut with anger as he shoved Jiang Yexue away. "I've told you not to touch me!"
He hadn't held back at all, and Jiang Yexue had lost too much blood. He'd just been helping Yue Chenqing and wasn't sitting in his wheelchair; this shove sent him crumpling to the ground.
Everyone around the cave was stunned into silence.
Yue Chenqing stared blankly at Jiang Yexue, who'd collapsed with his wrists still bleeding. Yet Jiang Yexue seemed not to want to argue with Murong Chuyi; he'd always been humble and courteous, considerate and accepting of others' feelings. He tried to push himself up, lowering his lashes as he murmured, "If you're angry, don't take it out on Chenqing. If you're unhappy, vent it on me instead. You're the senior and we are your juniors, so it's fine if you push me or scold me…"
For some reason, Murong Chuyi grew only more incensed at this; his hands were shaking. He pointed at Jiang Yexue, his face alarmingly pale. "You—!"
Jiang Yexue dropped his gaze to the ground. "Whatever Xiaojiu likes."
Murong Chuyi was incandescent with rage. "H-how dare you…" He'd just raised his hand when a trembling voice cried out.
"Why are you always so mean!"
A deathly silence followed.
No one expected this shout to be targeted at Murong Chuyi. Even the man himself was momentarily stunned, his sharp phoenix eyes flitting about before it dawned on him. He slowly turned around.
Tears streamed down Yue Chenqing's face as he stared at his uncle with eyes full of heartbreak and grief. He lowered his voice, but it was saturated with disappointment and despair. "Do you only care for my mother? No matter how devoted we are to you—whether me, or…or him—you still only rage at us and blame us."
All color had drained from Murong Chuyi's face; it was white as paper.
Yue Chenqing's features crumpled in his sad little face. Speaking to his uncle like this hurt him more surely than a knife to the gut, but his uncle's harsh words had wounded him deeply too. Even his sobs had changed in tone. For the first time, he stood in front of Jiang Yexue. "If anyone's at fault here…it's me, isn't it? He got hurt so badly and lost so much blood, a-all to save me… How could you still strike him and yell at him…"
Jiang Yexue shook his head. "Chenqing…"
Murong Chuyi's lips were bloodless. His gaze flashed, his mouth moving as if he was struggling immensely with some unspoken grievance. In the end, his fingers curled into fists, and only a few bitten-off syllables passed his lips: "Yue Chenqing. What do you know?!" His piercing gaze fixed upon Jiang Yexue's face. Murong Chuyi's resentment was so deep the rims of his eyes were red, and he spoke through gritted teeth. "He's no more than a…bastard!"
Now it was not only Yue Chenqing's expression that changed, but Mo Xi and Gu Mang's as well. They'd known Murong Chuyi for some time, and though it was true that he was aloof, they hadn't found him a monster who didn't know right from wrong. Neither had understood why he would be named one of Chonghua's three poisons. But when this blade of a word fell from his mouth and sank to the hilt in Jiang Yexue's heart, they suddenly realized that Murong Chuyi's resentment was far too harsh and cutting.
Jiang Yexue's lashes trembled. He closed his eyes, then lowered his head and fell silent.
Yue Chenqing turned tearful eyes upon Murong Chuyi. "Fourth Uncle…" His voice shook, the syllables strained like a bowstring drawn until the arrow flew. He dissolved into sobs. "Is your heart made of stone?"