The air was cooling as the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in vibrant bruised purples and deep oranges. Evening time was always the most beautiful moment in Shuangyue, the beautiful colours in the sky always left a beautiful glow on the kingdom.
Xiaochuan's legs felt like lead from the hours of rhythmic jumping, bending and twisting. Yes, he found a group that accepted him, after a lot of struggle. Though, he didn't get the main spot as he hoped, he was a back up dancer, and worse, he had to wear a hood. A veil of some sort, it was the uniform for the back up dancers.
Though the lead dancer, Yuanli, a female omega, had some kind of problem with him, and his hair. But the group coordinator didn't seem to mind.
Xiaochuan pushed his body to its limit. He was behind the others, having missed weeks of preparation for the Moon Festival, so he needed to keep up.
Yuanli was practicing with a separate group of seven omegas, all with blonde or blue hair. They were dancing to the same haunting melody, but while Xiaochuan's group steps were a bit aggressive and sharp, Yuanli's group was practicing movements that were fluid, low to the ground, and very erotic.
———
When Feiying finally called an end to the session, the other omegas began bidding each other pretty goodbyes. Xiaochuan was gathering his things when his heart dropped. It was now that he just remembered his mother sent him fruits from the market. She had specifically asked for the seasonal dates and pears for the festival offering.
"Oh no." He whispered to himself in mortification. Zhiqing would bite his head of if he goes back home without the fruits.
He didn't wait to say goodbye. He broke into a sprint, his feet flying over the cobblestones. The sun was already a sliver on the horizon, and the marketplace was beginning to dim.
Iff he didn't make it through the forest before the last light faded, the Night-Stalkers, king Zhou Yiran's elite guards who patrolled the woods, would be out. And he was just a poor omega with a sweet scent and low tolerance for the teasing and hungry eyes of those Alpha guards.
He skidded into the marketplace just as some vendors were beginning to pack their stalls.
"Wait! Please!" he panted, leaning against a wooden pillar. "Two pears and a handful of dried dates, please."
The old vendor grumbled but took Xiaochuan's meager coins, handing over the fruit wrapped in a scrap of burlap. Xiaochuan tucked the bundle against his chest and began the trek toward the outskirts of the city, but halted in his tracks when the voice of the old vendor called out of him.
"You might want to take the other route, young Omega." She said as she continued to pack her goods into a wheel cart.
Xiaochuan's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why?" He asked, wondering what could've gone wrong with the route he usually takes home.
The old woman paused and gave Xiaochuan a boring look. "You don't know about the parade?"
"What parade?" Xiaochuan asked cluelessly.
The woman sighed, as if she was starting to get fed up with the conversation. "King Zhou Yiran and Emperor Xiao Chengyuan are doing a friendly parade through the city. That side of the market you're headed to is crowded and you might not easily find your way back." She finally explained and immediately pushed her cart along, walking away from him.
Xiaochuan stood in silence, staring at the space the woman stood few seconds ago.
The Emperor?
Maybe this was his chance. He thought as he headed in the direction the old woman just told him not to go to.
——————
Xiaochuan's heart hammered a frantic rhythm against his ribs as he sprinted towards the loud cheers and music that began to grow louder the closer he got.
Xiaochuan should have listened to he old woman's warning, but instead, the warning acted like a spark to dry kindling.
Right now, as he ran. In his head, the Emperor was the man who held the key to their crumbling roof, and their empty stomachs.
And if he could just see him, just a glimpse to know what kind of man he was, maybe the fear of the upcoming festival would settle. At least he would know, even if it was a little bit, about the man he was planning to give his body to. That is if the Emperor even bother to look at him at the festival.
Ignoring the common sense that screamed at him to back off, he headed toward the roar of the drums and the shimmering light of a thousand golden lanterns.
As he reached the main thoroughfare, the air grew thick with the suffocating scent of expensive incense and the pheromones of thousands of excited citizens.
"Move! Please, let me through!" Xiaochuan gasped, using his small frame to wiggle between broad-shouldered Alphas and omegas draped in woolen attires.
He was drowning in the sea of people. He couldn't see the road, only the flickering tops of the ceremonial spears held by the royal guards and the music of the parade.
He stopped for a moment when the screaming grew impossibly louder. He leaned on the tip of his toes and caught a slight glimpse of someone getting down from his horse.
The thrumming drums that shook the very ground, the sound, mixed with the loud cheers and screams was deafening now. He was so close, he just needed to see.
He stood on his tiptoes, his pink hair disheveled, clutching the burlap sack of fruit to his chest as if it were a shield. Just when he was seeing a glimpse of the King and a slightly taller and broader man standing beside him, he stepped on someone's foot while trying to see better.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, brat!" a burly man snarled as Xiaochuan accidentally stepped on his heavy boot.
Xiaochuan flinched, stepping back in the crowded space to apologize. "I'm sorry, I just-"
Xiaochuan didn't even get to finish. The man, already irritable from the heat and the crush of the crowd, planted a heavy hand on Xiaochuan's shoulder and gave a violent shove with a sneer of disgust.
"Get to the front if you're so eager to die!" the man barked.
Xiaochuan let out a strangled cry as he was launched forward. The crowd parted like a broken dam, and he stumbled blindly out of the safety of the shadows and into the bright, torch lit expanse of the royal procession route.
His feet tangled and the burlap sack slipped from his grip, pears and dates scattering across the polished stone like lost marbles. He braced for the hard impact of the ground and shut his eyes tightly, but the impact never came.
Instead of a hard impact with the hard polished floor, Xiaochuan slammed into something that felt like a wall of warm, silken surface. Strong, steady arms wrapped around his waist, hauling him upward before his knees could hit the dirt.
A sudden, silence fell over the crowd and the drums stopped.
Xiaochuan gasped, his lungs pulling in the air of the person holding him. It wasn't the smell of the crowded market or their cheap incense. It was a scent that made his soul go still, sandalwood, expensive silk and a musky, cold bite of a winter storm.
Trembling in the arms of the man he was yet to recognize, Xiaochuan opened his eyes, slowly.
He was looking directly at a chest embroidered with a five clawed golden dragon. His gaze traveled upward, past a jawline carved from marble, to find a pair of dark, obsidian eyes looking down at him with a mixture of shock and intensity.
The fear and a hint of adrenaline thrumming through his veins failed to acknowledge the sparks that ignited where the strong arms wrapped around his waist, holding him against a solid chest.
A soft gasp left his lips when he finally recognized who was holding him. He realized almost instantly, that he wasn't in the arms of a guard like he'd thought. He was being held against the heart of Emperor Xiao Chengyuan.