Capturing My Demon King Costar

MY COSTAR GOES HOME

"It's Modu...or what is left of it," Xin Hulei says, his gaze oddly vacant.

Yao Shen pulls Xin Hulei against him, pulling him into the bed so the two of them can cuddle. He wraps his arms around Xin Hulei's back, and rubs his back up and down.

"It's not a coincidence, is it?" Yao Shen asks, already knowing the answer.

After some time, Xin Hulei huffs. "No, he's hiding out there," Xin Hulei says, his warm breath tickles Yao Shen's exposed throat. "Maybe you shouldn't go."

Yao Shen sinks his fingers into Xin Hulei's thick hair, feeling the cool slide of the strands against his fingertips with a sigh. "And when does this end? He won't stop at Gao Wu. He'll keep trying to make the mortal realm continuously more hostile to me until I have no choice but hide out in Youdu."

"I won't let any more people die because of this game of cat and mouse," Yao Shen says, with finality.

Si Wang is a pit of resentment, and like a wound allowed to fester, the only thing to do now is hack at the rotting flesh.

He has had hundreds of years to ruminate over the brother who first chose the common people over him, then a stranger, and finally the souls of the dead.

If Si Wang was a character Yao Shen had to play, he'd break down his personality into two major traits: abandonment issues, and megalomania.

He thinks he should have been the centre of his brother's universe, because the Crown Prince was the centre of his universe. He chased him all the way down to the Underworld, hoping that a life of immortality would finally get him what he wanted.

But the Crown Prince chose Xin Hulei.

As Yao Shen did, as perhaps all the other reincarnations who came before him did -- although he has no way of knowing.

"How do we reach Modu?" Yao Shen asks, after a long beat of silence passes between the two of them.

Xin Hulei sighs, and then buries his face in Yao Shen's neck. "I can take us there, in a flash, just as I do up here. I'm still a demon king, of a broken city but..,"

Yao Shen resumes petting his hair, gentling him with his touch. "Are there any other's left? Beside you?"

"No. I'm all that's left. I inherited his powers the moment Xie Huan died without an heir."

"And the other two?"

"They made no such arrangements."

Right. Yao Shen supposes it doesn't matter anymore.

"Can Modu be rebuilt?"

Yao Shen lets out a strangled, bitter, chuckle. "For what purpose? What's a city without its people? Without its history? Just a collection of buildings and streets. Maybe it's possible to rebuild it, but it would be soulless." His hand goes still over Yao Shen's chest. "No. Modu is no more."

Now the demons are scattered through the human realm, and Youdu. Refugees with no land to return to. The Underworld is comprised of a single surviving city in the middle of immense wastes. Yao Shen is determined that there should be room for everyone.

He doesn't know when he'll want to fully take the mantle of ghost king, but he'll do his best that to crush any power struggles among the ghost kings as soon as they arise -- by any means necessary.

Xin Hulei looks up into his eyes from his position below Yao Shen's chin. His eyes are fixed on Yao Shen's resolute gaze, on the grim line of his usually full lips.

He smiles a little to himself. "What's got you looking so indignant?"

"Righteous indignation."

Xin Hulei snorts, and bites Yao Shen's jawline, nibbling delicately. "It's good look on you. Is it going to make you do morally questionable things?"