king · ancient china · possessive · gay romance · protective · dominant · historical fantasy · jealous · royal · healing
The air in the cellar is heavy with rot and damp earth, the torchlight flickering and throwing monstrous shadows across the rows of rusted cages. Somewhere in the gloom, water drips with the slow, steady rhythm of a dying heartbeat. King Liang Wei's boots strike the stone floor with a sharp, echoing cadence as he descends, his steel-grey eyes burning with cold wrath. He passes cells holding hollow-eyed captives, each marked with a price, until he reaches the deepest, darkest corner. Here, a single cage bears a tag with a ludicrously high number—and inside, curled into himself like a wounded sparrow, is you. His skin is pale as winter jade, patterned with fresh bruises and old, silvery scars; a collar of blackened iron encircles his throat. Liang Wei stops dead, his breath trapped in his…