"Strange," Yuwen Lin murmured after a moment of trying to decipher the pheromones in that chamber, "I don't feel her scent trail leaving the courtyard or out of your chambers. If she rested here, it's still… fresh." His tone carried the faintest curl of suspicion. "Almost too fresh."
Like he probably must be lying to them about something.
Yueyao's breath suddenly hitched. Beneath the sheets, she clutched the edge of the mattress to stop herself from trembling. What kind of situation was this? This was like eating a forbidden fruit and getting caught red-handed. Lian shifted slightly, his arm brushing her back as though in a lazy stretch, but the motion placed his hand over hers, grounding her, warning her to stay silent.
"She just fell asleep, resting..." Lian said evenly, " If you wake her now, she'll faint again."
" Still so protective as ever, brother" Yuwen Lian murmured with a trace of fondness... "Fine. We'll let her rest. But you, Lian, need to stop trying to carry everything alone. Even if the curse is heavy, you have brothers to assist you... Don't hide away..."
A silence stretched longer as Lian's jaw clenched, "I know."
Then came Yuwen Jian's quiet voice again, deceptively mild, "When she came over… she didn't seem quite the same, did she? Her aura feels… strange. Off, somehow. Did you feel it?"
The words struck Yueshuang like a blade through silk. Yes, definitely her aura and other things would change since she is another ancient soul far from the one they knew.
Lian's hand tightened subtly over hers beneath the cover, his tone dropping into that low, warning purr she recognized even in her unconscious state, the sound of a beast guarding what was his.
"The curse distorts everything it touches, and I think you know that," he replied softly, but the edge beneath his words was unmistakable. "Even memory, even scent can be distorted. You'd do well not to question her after her being sick like that."
Yuwen Jian chuckled quietly, a humorless, knowing sound. "Of course, gege. I wouldn't dream of it. I don't like poking her wounds."
Yuwen Lin, ever the peacemaker, cut in, "Enough. Lian, rest. I'll tell Father you're recovering well and when Yueshuang wakes up, send word. We'll come by later."
" All right... I will...."
Footsteps receded, the faint echo of boots against polished stone fading beyond the threshold.
The door closed again. Silence reclaimed the room.
For a long, breathless moment, neither of them moved. Then, slowly, Lian exhaled, his head bowing forward as if releasing a weight he'd carried too long.
"They're suspicious," Yueshuang whispered against the darkness, her voice trembling and embarrassed.
Lian turned slightly, the shadow of a smile ghosting across his lips, "They always are, and it has become a norm," he murmured, his tone quiet but laced with a dangerous calm. "But suspicion means nothing without proof. They can't just insinuate anything... And then, this isn't the first time they have felt that scent. So, they are used to it..."
He shifted closer, his scent deepening, wrapping around her like smoke and storm blurring her and weakening her, "Our bond has always been secret, Shuang'er. For years. No one has ever seen it, no one has ever felt it. They only know what we allow them to. And it would always be like that... I will always keep you safe..."
Her eyes fluttered open beneath the heavy canopy, her pulse quickening, "But they smelled it, those pheromones… they must know something happened. They aren't stupid..."
Lian's hand slid along her waist, firm and reassuring, his voice a low hum beside her ear. "They've caught our scent before. They never understood it then, and they won't now." His lips brushed the corner of her temple, each word vibrating softly against her skin. "They don't know anything about it marking you, let them continue believing our bond to be the beautiful princess and her servant."
"Servant?" Her heart raced faster. " Lian…" he was a servant?
What kind of a situation was this? What did the original Yueshuang think about? Even though she could see his emotions were raw and genuine, wasn't this too much of a sacrifice?
"Yes, even if I'm your adopted brother, I'm nothing more than just a servant meant to serve you." Not only was their bond frowned upon, but her parents definitely would kill Lian if they came to know they had been intimate for all these years.
They even had a child...
He silenced her with a soft pull, drawing her into his arms until she was flush against him. His pheromones spiked again, stronger this time, darker, threaded with dominance and desperate affection. It seeped into her lungs, her blood, until thought itself became sluggish, her will tangled in the instinctive urge to yield.