11. Li Xiang

“Hey! Wait a minute!” Kai breathlessly called out.

Xiang had to school his features to hide away his evil grin before turning to face Kai. Unfortunately, what he found was the man stumbling out of bed and nearly falling on his face to reach Xiang. That was not what he wanted. The mild panic and confusion were amusing, but the risk of some harm coming to Kai, especially after what he’d suffered, was not okay.

He rushed to Kai’s side, grabbing his arm with one hand and wrapping his other around his narrow waist to hold him upright. “Be careful now. You need to stay in bed. I’ll bring the tea to you.”

“This isn’t about tea, and you know it!”

“Come on, back to bed,” Xiang teased, trying to usher him to where it was warm and comfortable.

“No! We need to talk about what you said.”

“Kai—”

“Xiang! You said my hoard.”

“Yes.” Whether he wanted it to or not, the wide smile slid free this time as he stared into Kai’s very clear, silver eyes. He held his gaze as a full second ticked by when at last Kai gave him a shove.

“You know,” he gasped. He narrowed his eyes at Xiang. “You’ve known. How long have you known? You’ve known and not said anything.” The dragon in human form pushed Xiang again, finally breaking out of his hold only to stumble and nearly fall to the ground if not for Xiang catching him again.

“Come on,” Xiang admonished. Keeping a firm lock on Kai this time, he walked him over to the canopied bed. “You need to get in bed before you hurt yourself. Your body is still recovering from your fight with the fae.”

The man in his arms growled low. When he reached the edge of the bed, he broke free and crawled onto the mattress. But he didn’t stop there. No, the dragon actually moved to the center and pulled the blankets up over his head as he curled into a ball.

“Hey!” Xiang reached out and poked Kai in what looked to be his side. “I don’t know what you’re being so pissy about. I’m the one who was lied to. You’re the one who hid the truth from me. You have no right to be angry and grumpy with me, Mr. Dragon!”

With a huff, the blankets flew to Kai’s waist, and he twisted to glare at Xiang. His hair stood up in all directions from the blankets, giving him a wild and disheveled appearance. “How did you discover the truth?”

Swallowing the urge to laugh, Xiang climbed into bed next to him and reached out a hand to smooth his hair. “I began to suspect over a week ago, but you said a few things when you returned from dealing with the fae queen that sealed it for me.” He cocked his head at Kai and smirked. “Do you take me for some fool? That I wouldn’t figure it out?”

“No!” Kai shouted into his face. He immediately hunkered down, pulling the blankets up to his chin as he repeated at much quieter “No.” A faint redness stained his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Start talking,” Xiang prodded. His tone was firm, but not mean. He had some guesses as to why Kai had hid the truth from him, and none of them were malicious in their intent.

“I hadn’t meant to hide the truth from you. Not at first,” Kai began. The fingers peeking out from the blankets lightly traced the patterns on the fabric while he stared at the bed. “When you first saw me, you assumed I was another captive or a servant of the dragon, so I went with it. I figured you’d let me check on you in this fashion. Just to make sure that you had everything you needed.” He twisted to gaze at Xiang, his tone growing defensive. “It’s not like I was planning to have someone living within my hoard. When the queen ordered me to take you, I didn’t know what else to do with you. It wasn’t hard to guess that you wouldn’t be treated well if I dropped you in fae camp.”

“And I thank you for not considering that option,” Xiang replied with a serene smile. He had a feeling he would have been dead already if Kai had handed him directly over to the fae after being captured. While he might have been bored and unhappy with being away from his clan, the dragon had kept him very comfortable during his imprisonment. A far cry from what Yichen had gone through when he’d been trapped with the fae for a century.

“I didn’t enjoy lying to you,” Kai murmured. “I know I should have told you sooner, but I figured you would be angry that I’d lied to you. When you learned the truth, you wouldn’t let me come near you anymore.” Kai suddenly sat up, lowering the blankets to his waist. “Why aren’t you angry at me for lying?”

Xiang leaned in close enough that the tips of their noses nearly touched. “Who said I’m not?” He let Kai hang there for a few heartbeats. At least long enough for the dragon to swallow hard enough for Xiang to hear it. But he couldn’t hold on to his false, angry demeanor. He sat back and let his smirk tip up one corner of his mouth. “I was angry at first, but you were still unconscious from your fight with the fae, so it wasn’t like I could shout at you. I had two entire days to think about it, and I figured that the entire reason you were hurt in the first place was because you were protecting me. At that point, it was impossible to stay pissed at you.”

“Well, you were probably ninety percent of the reason,” Kai mumbled.

“And the other ten percent?”

“Pure rebellion.” Kai narrowed his eyes at Xiang. “I’m older than all the fae combined. No one should be able to control me! I’ve fought armies and monsters. I’ve brought rains that saved the crops of entire villages, keeping them from starving to death. Emperors bowed to me, and a god gave me a sword.”

Xiang’s heart gave a giddy flip in his chest. Yes, he’d guessed a few days ago that the man who’d been spending time with him was the same dragon who’d kidnapped him, but it was different actually hearing it from his own lips. Here was a living creature from his childhood stories who’d seen more of the world than he’d thought possible. He’d earned the gratitude of a god, even.

And now he bickered with Xiang over a weiqi board and allowed Xiang to rest his head on his chest while playing on his phone. It didn’t seem real. How could be lucky enough to be here with such an ancient creature? His first instinct was to protect Kai at all costs. He was both precious and incredibly rare. Not some errand boy or battering ram for the fae. He was a priceless treasure.

It was easy enough to guess what Kai’s thoughts would be if Xiang were stupid enough to tell him he needed to be protected, though. The grumpy dragon would roar, snap, and pout.

“It won’t be for much longer,” Xiang reassured him.

Kai paused in the middle of trying to get the covers untwisted and smoothed out around him. “Why do you say that?”

“Because now that I know the truth, you can take me to my clan when you’re all healed up.”

“No.”

That was it. A single word in a flat tone stomping on his hopes. No explanation. Nothing. Just a grumpy dragon and his unmovable will.

Xiang clenched his teeth and drew in a couple of calming breaths through his nose before asking, “Why? Did the queen use her magic and the sword to order you to keep me here in the hoard?”

“No.”

“Then we can go to my clan and figure out a plan to steal back your sword, so you don’t have to worry about the fae issuing commands anymore.”

“No.”

“You can’t just keep saying no!” Xiang shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. “If we go to my clan, we’ll have more help.”

“It’s not safe.”

That was at least more than a single word, but it wasn’t exactly helpful.

“Of course it’s safe. My clan will protect us both. We?—”

“It’s not safe! The only place that is safe is my hoard. I can protect my hoard. I can’t promise to protect an entire clan outside of my hoard.” Kai’s voice trembled slightly at those last words. He stopped and clenched his fists in the blankets. When he spoke, he didn’t lift his eyes to meet Xiang’s. “The only safe place for you is here. We are not leaving my hoard.”

Part of Xiang wanted to keep pressing Kai, to convince him he didn’t need the dragon to keep protecting him. They could rely on his clan to keep them safe.

But he bit his tongue and truly looked at the man lying in bed next to him. This human was a dragon, who was supposed to be near invincible. Yet right now, he was sickly pale, with dark circles under his eyes. He wore out quickly and was clearly still in pain. Kai had almost died fighting the fae to keep Xiang safe. It made sense that if a dragon couldn’t defeat the fae and nearly died before escaping, what could a small group of vampires do?

If anything, Kai was hurting, and he was scared. Pushing him now wouldn’t help either of them. He would get back to his clan, but convincing Kai that they could be safe outside the hoard would come in a moment he wasn’t feeling weak and in pain.

“Okay.”

Kai flinched like Xiang had lifted his fist to hit him. “What?”

“Okay,” Xiang repeated. “We’ll stay in the hoard. It’s safe here.” Xiang snagged the edge of the thick blankets and pulled them higher, so they covered Kai’s chest as Xiang slipped out of the bed. “You rest, and I’ll go make that tea for you.”

“I don’t trust you.”

A broad grin spread across Xiang’s lips, and he chuckled. “You’ve never trusted me.”

“I did. A little. When I let you hunt.”

“And I broke that trust to call my clan.” Kai’s shoulders slumped and his eyes drifted away from Xiang, but he wasn’t deterred. He reached across the bed and grabbed one of Kai’s hands. “You’re going to trust me again. I know it. We haven’t had enough time to get to know each other without the secrets.” He squeezed his hand and released it.

Kai’s soft voice stopped him on his way to the kitchen to heat some water for tea. “I understand how important your clan is to you. No one would want to stay trapped in a dragon’s hoard. As soon as I’m well, I’ll figure out a way to get rid of the fae. Then I’ll be able to return you to your family.”

Xiang smiled to himself. “Don’t worry about that now. Get some rest.” He continued to the kitchen and started preparing the tea. Kai was so damn stubborn, but he’d learn. Xiang wasn’t going anywhere without Kai. The man needed a clan, a family.

And Xiang would make sure he got it with the Zhang clan.