The coffin crack widened with a slow, wet grind, like stone was turning into skin. The gold-black eye stayed open, watching them like it was enjoying their panic. Then the darkness behind it moved again, and Lin Xue saw the shape clearly this time.
Shoulders.
Not a hand. Not a finger.
A body was trying to come through.
Lin Xue's Frozen Heart Curse jumped inside her chest, thrilled and terrified at the same time. The cold from the crack pulled at her like a deep ocean. Her wrist mark burned, and the thin law-thread around it tightened like it wanted to drag her bond straight into the monster's mouth.
Wei Chen stepped in front of her without thinking, fan half-open, heat rising around him like a shield. "Behind me," he growled.
Lin Xue grabbed his sleeve hard. "Don't hide me," she snapped, even as her knees trembled.
Wei Chen glanced back at her, eyes fierce. "Then stay on me," he said. "Anchor me."
Lin Xue's cheeks warmed, angry at herself for feeling that word like a touch. Still, she nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "I choose."
Wei Chen pulled her close, chest to chest, and his heat wrapped around her cold like a blanket. Lin Xue pressed her palm to his chest, right over the black sun brand, sealing the crack there like she was holding a door shut with her hand.
Wei Chen leaned down, mouth close to hers. "Rules," he breathed. "Stop means stop. Do you want me to burn the coffin crack?"
Lin Xue swallowed hard. "Yes," she whispered. "But don't burn yourself."
Wei Chen's roguish grin flickered, shaky but alive. "Then keep cooling me, Ice Queen," he murmured.
Lin Xue pinched his side. "Idiot."
Wei Chen caught her wrist and pressed a warm kiss right on her wrist mark, slow and sealing. Lin Xue shuddered. Her breath hitched. The pain eased for one tiny moment, like his heat told her curse to sit down and behave.
Wei Chen lifted his head and asked, clear, "Do you want me to stop?"
Lin Xue's face burned. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Keep it warm."
A soft laugh drifted down the tunnel.
The copy of Lin Xue stood farther back, smiling sweetly like a teacher watching a test. "So tender," it purred. "So brave. It will taste better when it breaks."
Su Mei's black-eyed body moved again, smooth and calm. Her hand lifted toward Wei Chen's chest, aiming for the black sun brand, like she wanted to pry it open and make him a real door.
Wei Chen snapped, "Stop!"
Su Mei didn't stop.
Lin Xue's heart slammed. "She's not hearing us," she whispered.
Wei Chen's face went hard. He flicked his fan, striking Su Mei's wrist aside. "Then I'll make her hear," he snarled.
The coffin crack split wider.
A shoulder pushed through the stone like it was soft clay. Cold poured out so strong that Lin Xue's teeth chattered. Her curse surged, trying to answer the Frost-Eater like a loyal servant.
Lin Xue hissed and pressed her forehead to Wei Chen's, forcing herself to breathe his heat instead of the coffin cold. "Chen Wei," she whispered, "say my name. Stay real."
Wei Chen's throat tightened under the monster's pressure, but he forced it out. "Lin Xue."
"Again," Lin Xue demanded.
"Lin Xue," Wei Chen said louder.
The bond rope flared warm for a heartbeat, then flickered again as the law-thread around Lin Xue's wrist mark tightened and chewed. Pain snapped through her arm. She gasped and almost lost her palm seal on Wei Chen's chest.
Wei Chen caught her instantly, one arm around her waist, holding her tight. His voice dropped low and rough by her ear. "Do you want me to stop holding you?"
Lin Xue shook her head fast. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Hold me. Hard."
Wei Chen's breath hitched, and his grin flashed for half a second—naughty even in terror. "Yes, ma'am," he murmured.
Lin Xue's cheeks burned. "Focus."
Wei Chen kissed her—deep and steady—because touch made reality hold. Lin Xue clutched his collar and kissed him back, trembling, not forced—chosen. When he pulled away, he asked again, clean and clear, "Do you want me to stop?"
Lin Xue's voice shook. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Make the curse listen to you, not it."
Wei Chen nodded once and turned his eyes to the law-thread biting Lin Xue's wrist mark. "That thread is the hook," he growled. "If it stays, it will pull you into the cold."
Lin Xue swallowed. She stared at her wrist mark, the thin black thread wrapped around it like a cruel bracelet. The bond rope inside her mind was already thin. Cutting the thread might save her… but it might also bleed the bond.
Wei Chen saw her hesitation. His voice softened for one breath. "Lin Xue," he said, "you choose. I won't force you."
Lin Xue's chest tightened at the respect in that. She looked into his eyes. "I choose to live," she whispered. "And I choose you."
Wei Chen's jaw clenched. "Then we cut it," he said.
Lin Xue raised her free hand and shaped frost into a thin blade, sharp as a needle. Her fingers trembled, but her eyes stayed fierce. "If I cut this," she whispered, "the bond might bleed."
Wei Chen leaned close, heat steady against her cold cheek. "Then I'll hold the rope," he murmured. "I won't let you fall."
Lin Xue nodded once. "Say my name," she whispered. "Stay real."
"Lin Xue," Wei Chen said.
Lin Xue took a breath and sliced the frost blade across the law-thread.
The thread snapped with a sound like glass breaking inside a dream.
Lin Xue cried out. Pain flared up her arm, and for a terrifying heartbeat the bond rope in her mind went slack, like someone had cut a bridge.
Wei Chen grabbed her hard, pulling her into his lap, holding her like a living anchor. "Look at me!" he snapped. "Say my name. Stay real!"
Lin Xue's breath broke. "Chen Wei," she gasped. "Stay with me!"
The bond rope flared back to life—thinner, but still there—glowing gold-silver like a wounded thread refusing to die.
The copy of Lin Xue hissed, annoyed for the first time. "You cut the leash," it whispered.
The Frost-Eater's eye blinked slowly.
Then it smiled.
Because the moment the leash snapped, the cold surged harder.
The shoulder in the coffin crack pushed through farther, and a second shoulder pressed behind it. A chest-shaped darkness began to enter the tunnel like a person stepping into a room.
Su Mei's black-eyed body lunged again, reaching for Wei Chen's chest-brand.
Wei Chen snarled and slammed his fan into her arm, but this time she grabbed the fan's edge like she didn't feel pain.
Lin Xue's blood went cold. "Chen Wei—"
Wei Chen's black sun brand pulsed under Lin Xue's palm, hot then cold, like it couldn't decide whose door it was.
And the Frost-Eater whispered from the crack, soft as ice on skin, "Now that the leash is cut… I don't need your bond."
It lifted its shadow face into the opening.
"And I only need your mouth."
Wei Chen's throat tightened.
His eyes flickered gold-black.
And a "yes" rose again—right at the edge of his lips.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
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