021. a single pull of scarlet

Head tilting back, Yila was all scarlet grin, all carmine smile—she settled astride Quan’s lap, layers of red silk riding up her thighs, warm like the memory of the sun in the cold comfort of night. “I beg your every golden word,” she taunted, lithe arms draped over his shoulders, snaking about his neck. When […]

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020. marauder

Feng Quan’s failure didn’t go without reprimand. When they arrived home, Swordmaster Feng Ban forced the defeated Quan to his knees below the old dove tree’s sea of ghost blossoms and placed a bowl of water in his pupil’s outstretched hands.  “Meditate on this for twenty-four hours, Quan, so you remember,” the long-haired swordmaster said […]

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019. together or apart

“H-ah—” The young prince snapped awake at the jostling of his bed, dark eyes wide when they met the boy he managed to trick out of his shadows. Yuhui didn’t move, but he did settle into a quiet delight when he saw Laike was the cause of his disturbance, memory quickly falling into place from […]

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018. xia

laike— even as i sit in my room, i am consumed by the silence you’ve delivered me.even as i sit in my room, i am enveloped by your memory. if i close my eyes, the day breaks through, buti can remember with resounding clarity what it was liketo breathe in the void of youand feel […]

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016. a vase before your window

Tian Yuhui’s footsteps rolled like thunder through the hallways of his family’s palace as soon as he heard his mother’s conversation with the priestess of the mountain fade into naught. Their sentences were chopped in half by the gentle song of sliding doors underscored by his frantic trampling, his drumtone gait. Without fear of chaotic […]

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015. the teacups

“Oh, sad. I guess it’ll be good news for him that Laike’s not afraid of ghosts. I don’t think Laike’s afraid of anything.” Chongwei elbowed her pale-haired sister. “Have you ever seen Lai scared? I mean, if someone surprises him he will straight up murder them but that’s not really fear so much as it’s […]

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014. a proposition

Tian Miyan was nothing if she was not constantly prepared.  Even as the shop’s attendant sat down three heaping bowls of tsua-bing with all sorts of sweet toppings piled high on top, the princess concentrated on her task which may have seemed like some strange ritual to her mountain-raised guests.  She balanced a pair of […]

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013. be careful with your heart

Just as Xueyu was stepping away from the pair of doctors attending the wounded men to scan the alleyway for any sign of the missing prince and his prized pupil, it seemed he found what he was looking for. The swordmaster’s eyes immediately snapped to the boys suddenly materialized before him, wide and then impossibly […]

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012. into the dark

“You’ve tilted my world in the very best way, Laike.” No matter how contented either boy felt in that moment, how much they wanted to persist as they were until infinity claimed them, time always had other motives. Yuhui watched the way his arms fit around that boy’s neck, watched the shifting beauty of his […]

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011. temper

“Fei—” Xiao stepped back into Fei as Li advanced. He held Boon aloft before him glinting mercury warnings in the light. “Fei—do it back, do it fucking back—!” “Okay okay!!” Fei stammered, focusing hard on his brother.  He closed the space between himself and Quan in his mind, adorned himself in his posture, his predator […]

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