[Fic] The Cage - 1/2
Title: The Cage
Author: Coley Merrin
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi
Rating: R
Genre: AU, hurt/comfort, romance, fantasy
Warnings: Violence, injury, reference to past sexual coercion.
Summary: The son of a king, Kyuhyun is gifted a slave of extraordinary origin.
A/N: For my hurt/comfort bingo card.
***
***
For Kyuhyun's coming of age, he received a gleaming new sword, and his choice of the new year's crop of colts. The other thing he expected, his father to press him on marriage, was the one thing he did not receive. It made him wonder what his father had in store, when after the feast in his honor, he stood with a man unfamiliar to Kyuhyun.
"The last gift I have for you is something you must see on your own," his father the king said. "It is in your chambers."
He couldn't help the wary look at the other man. Well dressed enough, but not a guest of theirs.
"Father?"
And it was a plea for more information.
"This is Cai. He deals in slaves. You will see. I hope it will…make you ready to move forward in your life."
Slaves. The gift, then, was not something. But someone. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, because he knew his father. A new maid, or a concubine, or someone to tempt Kyuhyun into becoming pliant, getting married. Making him ready to "move forward in his life." Or move forward according to his father. The only reason he wasn't married already was because the girl he had been betrothed to almost since birth, had ran off with another man. His reaction had been, mainly, relief.
Cai, a slaver. Not of the most trustable of men, and not someone he'd have imagine he'd be following into his chambers. But there was no maid waiting quietly in a corner. What he did see was unlike anything he'd seen before. It was a box, taller than he was, but made of what looked like glass. Golden in a few places as though with age, and hazy, but glass nonetheless. It took up over half of his room, wider again by half than he was tall. What it looked like was an elaborate cage, and even as that realization occurred to him, a thought appeared. It was not an animal, he was sure of that. It seemed more a cage of magic.
It looked like a fairy cage.
He had seen one only in drawings in books. The peasants all believed the stories to be true, but he had never been sure. The slaver was watching his expression with interest.
"I see you've realized what this is. It is a fairy box. Your father has made a wise purchase in giving this gift to you. A fairy will serve you well for many years. He will do anything you ask." And the slaver turned from Kyuhyun, clearly speaking to the fairy. "Come near us and kneel."
He. Not a woman. For the first time, Kyuhyun's interest peaked above his dread.
Kyuhyun's mouth was dry, as the glass cleared, revealing a man in a fine silk robe, tall and slender with his head held in deference above a long neck. As the man knelt, Kyuhyun saw flashes of jewels at his ears, but little of his face from the bowed head.
"You see, it is very simple. Some who have fairies find them pleasant to be seen. Many have musical ability. He can play any instrument provided, and also sing. Their voices are prized. Some people find them…amusing in other ways." The slaver again spoke in command. "Begin removing your robe. Go slow."
The fairy's shoulders shifted as nimble fingers loosened the knot at his waist. It made the silk at his shoulders shift and slide, revealing wide collarbones and rounded shoulders. It also made the gap in the bottom of the robe widen, revealing a length of thigh that had Kyuhyun's stomach tightening.
"Stop," the slaver said, apparently satisfied with his demonstration. "So you see, he will do anything you require. He cannot touch you, but is perfectly willing to perform to your whim, perhaps if you have a lady to impress."
Kyuhyun wondered about the willing part.
"What does he do when he is not in service?"
The slaver shrugged. "Does it matter? If he does something that offends you, you may order him to cease. He will sleep when you do, and wake as well. You may speak to him all you wish, but you must never allow him to speak back. Fairies are dangerous. It is why they are enclosed. His words, his skin, would poison humans. Confuse and enslave them. He will try, I guarantee you that. Order his silence. It will wear off after a time. But be immune to any pleas. They are only trickery. Come, I will give you control over him."
It was simple enough. The fairy followed them to the end of the glass enclosure, to the small opening meant for fruit and vegetables to be tossed in and consumed.
"You must never put your hand through this gap, at danger of your life," the slaver warned. And ordered the fairy to lift his arm to the opening. One slender forearm, with the blue silk slipping down it, and ring of black chain links ringing his wrist.
Kyuhyun was careful, under the slaver's instruction, to touch the metal of the chain, and not the fairy's skin. The chain was warm, and grew warmer under his fingertips, until it glowed a peculiar yellow before fading to black.
"Try it," the slaver urged.
Kyuhyun wondered what his first order would be. He was used to commanding servants, soldiers. But this was a different situation. A slave who was wholly his, who would respond without question.
"Look at me and tell me your name," Kyuhyun commanded.
And at last, he saw clearly the fairy's face. Soft eyes, if a bit sad, strong mouth and chin. Each feature arresting on their own, adding up to the sum of a face that was quite nearly regal.
"My name is Zhou Mi."
The voice was light and even, and before Kyuhyun could speak his name back, the slaver went hysterical on him, lecturing him until Kyuhyun's nails dug into his hands on the dangers of inviting the fairy to speak.
He nearly had to promise with blood that he would not do so again, gritting his teeth against the patronizing tone. And assuming at the very least, that the slaver did it for his safety.
Unless there were other reasons.
Kyuhyun ceased to listen after the first few minutes, noting that without instruction, Zhou Mi's head had dropped again, and before the slaver stopped lecturing, actually rose and moved away from where Kyuhyun sat.
He pondered as he stared at the small opening. The fairy hadn't looked so much different from himself.
***
The slaver had made an impression on Kyuhyun, but not the one he had wanted. Kyuhyun was unlikely to be cowed by long lectures and harsh words. It made him curious. All he knew of fairies was that they could be tricky. But with a fairy bound, he wasn't sure why words could be so dangerous. There was no magic that could be done. All there could be was pleading to be set free, or trick someone into trying to free him. His father wouldn't have bought something dangerous for him. Whether it was a horse, or a fairy.
He'd had manservants before. But never had he owned someone, controlled them to the point where they could not object. Even his father preferred to have servants, rather than deal in the trade of people. Some would argue that a fairy wasn't human. He was still waiting for a conclusion on if that mattered.
Kyuhyun woke the next day, skirted the glass enclosure and saw Zhou Mi reclined on pillows. Just watching him pass. He certainly looked human, relaxed and curious eyed. Somehow he imagined fairies would be small, dainty. The man he saw was neither of those descriptions. The length of his legs alone, from where Kyuhyun traced them from hip to relaxed ankle, spoke of height. As did the arm draped down Zhou Mi's torso. He looked like a man waiting to be taken, and it stirred him. It also made him move, before imagining opening that shimmer of silk shot him from interest to full arousal.
Kyuhyun had his breakfast brought to his room, dressed and back in control.
And he sent the servants away, seated close to the glass, able to see only part of Zhou Mi's frame.
"Zhou Mi, will you play a tune? Any instrument."
For a moment he wondered if he had to order outright, if a question was not enough, but he saw Zhou Mi rise and come closer. Selecting from instruments that decorated part of the glass wall. A bamboo flute, decorated in red and gold. Beautiful. But Kyuhyun could not look away, as the thin silk slipped down Zhou Mi's arms as the instrument was lifted. Forearms and wrists exposed, fingers meticulously in place.
The melody was pure, high and sweet, even without other instruments to accompany it. He had heard many accomplished musicians in his years, and it was not so much that Zhou Mi played the best, but it was the emotion that was produced. Soft, slow, almost melancholy at first, building to something almost jaunty as Zhou Mi played almost without breath. Eyes closed, focused on the instrument as though it were an extension of his body. Eating his breakfast went far slower that day than any other. Watching Zhou Mi's fingers play, drawing out the almost impossible sounds and wavers. He wondered if the song had an end, or if it was Zhou Mi's own. If Zhou Mi, perhaps, would play until his fingers gave out, if Kyuhyun did not stop him.
"You may stop," Kyuhyun said, and the music tailed away. Almost a sorrowful sound, like the dying end of a wolf howl. Zhou Mi stayed kneeling, the flute still in his hands, waiting for Kyuhyun's next command. As much as he wanted to stay there, hear another instrument, ask Zhou Mi how he had come to learn, he could not. He had his own tasks to see to, in helping his father make sure their lands and people were tended and cared for.
"Thank you," Kyuhyun said finally. "You play well. I am leaving now, so you may return to whatever you do to pass the time."
Zhou Mi's head bobbed down in acceptance, and he stood to tuck away the flute. He did not back away from Kyuhyun, as some of his father's serving girls did. So Kyuhyun had the image of broad shoulders clad in pale silk, the drape of it cinched by a belt, and then falling almost to Zhou Mi's ankles. A mesmerizing walk. A peculiar man. He pondered the images of the set of Zhou Mi's lips against the bamboo, the shift of his fingers.
And he had so many questions.
***
"Does your new toy please you?" Kyuhyun's father asked, face suspiciously neutral as Kyuhyun rode beside him.
"He does, Father," Kyuhyun answered truthfully. "He plays instruments at each meal at my command. He is talented."
"If only his cage wasn't so damnably large, I would move him out for events. Show off our prize. Your entry was nearly too small as well. Surely he could live in smaller quarters."
"I guess he can lay down and touch each side by stretching. That does not seem overly large for a man to spend all his day in."
His father waved a hand. "He's a fairy. Fairies are used to being contained. They must like it, or they wouldn't keep getting caught."
Kyuhyun knew there was no reason to open his mouth, no use saying that just because someone had no choice, didn't mean they liked it or were used to it. And that fairies were a rarity, something highly prized, was proof that there was no such myth. There were no lines of fairies begging to be captured. That they were slaves, bound to a command, meant that they were not there by choice. If they wished to be bound up, to be commanded about, there would be no need for the chains that kept them. Just as his father would not understand the fairies, Kyuhyun knew he would not understand his own son's need for those who weren't women.
Those were things he thought about in the dead of night, when moonlight slipped through and shone off the glass enclosure. Sometimes he thought he saw movement, other times he knew he imagined it. The sway of a branch casting a shadow. And every moment he wondered, every insensitive remark his father made, thrust him further into wondering.
Every evening he relaxed after dinner, after eating with his father or guests, and listened to Zhou Mi play for him. A different instrument each time. The erhu, the drum, strings and wind. It soothed him.
But he had not yet heard Zhou Mi sing.
The slaver had been specific in telling him that Zhou Mi also sang. And Kyuhyun wondered how it was that singing with words was so very different than speaking. Perhaps that Zhou Mi could only sing certain songs?
Kyuhyun moved close to the glass, and watched as Zhou Mi moved closer, kneeling and waiting for instruction. Kyuhyun swallowed hard.
"Do you know "The Ballad of the Two Flowers?"" Kyuhyun asked.
A nod, as Zhou Mi answered him.
"Sing it for me, please."
It seemed even the wind outside seemed to hush, before Zhou Mi's voice lifted. The fist time he had heard a sound from the fairy since the day he had arrived and spoke his name. Much as the purity of the sound of the flute had stunned him, so did the sound of Zhou Mi's voice. The ballad Kyuhyun had asked for was not a long song, but it was old. It spoke of birth, and love, and death, and he had seen more than one person weep to hear it. It moved him, but not to tears. The way Zhou Mi's tongue molded the words, the way Zhou Mi's head and shoulders worked as he sang. As though he truly felt what he sang. As though the clench of his fingers told the sorrow of it, beyond all others.
And what Kyuhyun had been holding back, from every snide remark from his father or others, and every note from the instruments, broke in him.
The last word was wrenched from Zhou Mi's throat, the sound of it sorrow itself. It hurt. And he could have requested a happy song, something to lift his mood. But it wasn't his mood that required lifting. Maybe he'd always been a little perverse. Maybe he'd always done things against his father's wishes, things that had gotten him in trouble. His damnable drive and curiosity shoving him beyond what was safe or expected.
Kyuhyun's hand rose, and for the first time he touched the glass. It felt smooth and fine beneath his hand, the fine occasional ripple to be seen in it. Cool to the touch, as his palm pressed to it. But his eyes weren't for the glass, they were for Zhou Mi.
"Did someone teach you to play all those instruments? Teach you the songs?"
Zhou Mi's head bobbed, answering the affirmative.
Not enough, his mind ground out. Not enough.
"Do you enjoy playing? You may answer out loud."
Zhou Mi's head lifted, nearly meeting Kyuhyun's eyes in his surprise before looking away. Focusing not on Kyuhyun's face - Kyuhyun half wished he'd ordered Zhou Mi to look him in the eye - but on Kyuhyun's hand against the glass.
The movement was tentative, a twitch of the fingers. It had Kyuhyun's breath catching, as in the next moment, Zhou Mi's hand rose. Kyuhyun's eyes plotted the trajectory of it, frozen in wonder, as wholly unbidden, Zhou Mi's hand pressed against the glass opposite to Kyuhyun. Only the barest pane separating their skin, palm to palm, and finger to finger. And Zhou Mi's hand was larger, by some. Blunt fingertips extending beyond his. He wished for several things simultaneously. That the glass was not there, so he could feel. That his hand was not in the way, so that he could admire the form of Zhou Mi's hand.
It was the slight movement of Zhou Mi's thumb, that had him looking to Zhou Mi's face. And Kyuhyun barely remembered the question he had asked, of Zhou Mi's enjoyment in the instruments, when Zhou Mi answered.
"Yes," Zhou Mi said. And for the first time, he met Kyuhyun's eyes.
And Kyuhyun knew then, that the slaver had been wrong. It was not only the fairy's words that would bewitch him.
***
Maybe it had been unwise even to begin. But Kyuhyun was not without caution. He did not give Zhou Mi leave to speak for another two days, gripped with uncertainty. Surely no single word answers could be dangerous. Yes or no, they were simple and without subtext. Once he had wrestled that away, rationalized his decision, he ordered that Zhou Mi verbally respond to him if the answer was simply yes or no.
Fairies were not sirens. He could not be seduced with the sound of the voice, or the singing would be not allowed. And Kyuhyun began to ask for the songs, as much as he asked for the instruments. There was something sweet, and also something seductive, in Zhou Mi's voice. The way his body moved with the music, the joy that burst from the happy tunes. He found he could not eat and listen to Zhou Mi sing at the same time. The instruments were fine, but to listen to Zhou Mi sing, his attention was on Zhou Mi alone. Not just because Zhou Mi was fine of face and form. Not just that.
"Have you been in captivity a long time?" Kyuhyun asked, several weeks after Zhou Mi arrived.
"Yes."
"Have humans treated you well?"
Zhou Mi hesitated. "Yes. No?"
Somewhere in between no doubt. Some had, and some hadn't, if he had changed hands. And then there was the question that Kyuhyun ought not to ask, let his curiosity fade away and not care. But he wanted to know.
"Are you happy here? Have I treated you well?"
Zhou Mi sighed, a smile touching his face. "Yes."
Every day, Kyuhyun himself passed bowls of fruit into Zhou Mi's enclosure. At first he did as the slaver instructed, tossing whole fruit in like to an animal in a cage. But then he realized, Zhou Mi could take the bowl from him. There was no danger of them touching, because Zhou Mi very carefully took hold of the side Kyuhyun slid in. And then they exchanged, a full bowl for an empty one the next day. It was another moment to be shared. Zhou Mi smiling his thanks at Kyuhyun.
Perhaps asking his questions betrayed some weakness on his part, but he found he wasn't apt to care. It helped pass his own time, and he knew that Zhou Mi had stories that would shock and amaze him.
"The slaver said letting you speak was dangerous," Kyuhyun said, standing close to the glass so he could see Zhou Mi's reaction. "Answer me true. Is there danger to me, from you?"
Zhou Mi's head shook immediately. "No."
"Then why does he demand your silence? You may answer this question."
Zhou Mi also took another step closer to the glass, and Kyuhyun nearly gave into the urge to touch the cool pane, in case Zhou Mi would as well.
"Because toys do not speak, and toys do not feel." Zhou Mi gestured around him. "Toys are content to be locked away and forgotten. If I cannot speak, then I cannot say when I am displeased by a command. And it is easier not to know."
It was not so hard to read into that. Zhou Mi indicated he enjoyed singing and playing. The slaver's other hint was that Zhou Mi could entertain him in other ways. Ways that had Zhou Mi's collarbones being bared, in an obvious hint.
"He made you display your body for more men than me," Kyuhyun ventured.
Zhou Mi would not look at him. "Yes."
And quite possibly more than that. If a "toy" could not feel shame, then there was no limit to what someone could order Zhou Mi to do for their own sick amusement.
"I will not order that from you," Kyuhyun said. "There are many things he told me that were lies. That your skin is poison to me. Was that a lie as well?"
"Yes," Zhou Mi said. And his mouth trembled open as though he wished to say more, pausing, until Kyuhyun allowed it. "I was once bound only by chains, with no glass cage. They would…hurt me. I would heal. But the cage became a kindness."
"So the cage is protection to you? Please, speak."
“It is also deceit. If my master or mistress desires more of me, the slaver might remember a day or a spell that allows me to be free. For a price."
Clever and devious.
"How long has it been since you have left this cage?"
"A year. The longest has been five. Some humans are too afraid to risk loosing me, even though I am bound and unable to escape."
Kyuhyun thought on all those things. They were like boring worms he could not escape. He could imagine it of the slaver, tricking people too stupid to know otherwise. Too selfish by half, people who saw Zhou Mi as a body and not a person. A toy, Zhou Mi had said. For their own amusement, and nothing more.
He woke one morning, nearly trembling with excitement. His questions all but leaping from him as he approached the cage and waited impatiently for Zhou Mi to approach - approach without orders.
"You said the slaver concocted a spell or a day, that allowed you to go free. Are either of those required? Or can you leave this cage?"
"I can," Zhou Mi said, his voice wavering. "But the slaver would not show you how to open the door."
"And you don't know?"
"Some. He would not let me see. But I could hear."
The door, it seemed, was below the cutout where Kyuhyun gave Zhou Mi his food. Clever, and below eye level, in an area not designed for viewing. The seam of the glass was very fine, expertly fitted, and nearly invisible had Kyuhyun not known where he was looking.
As were the glass slides that looked like decoration, and were instead a clever lock. Zhou Mi remembered hearing the glass move against itself, and so it was. The door did not swing out, it moved to the side when the stoppers were removed and the slides cleared. And he stared at Zhou Mi through the small hole they'd cleared. Large enough for Zhou Mi to crawl through, seeing each other fully without glass in the way.
For a moment, he wavered. He could close it back, think on it. Let himself not be driven by whims.
But that seemed like a betrayal.
"You can come out," Kyuhyun said, standing and giving Zhou Mi room.
It was tentative movement, Zhou Mi ducking down so that his head and shoulders could clear, and crawling far enough so that he could stand, had he tried to.
"Do you swear all you have told me is the truth?" Kyuhyun asked.
Zhou Mi, still on his knees and still as a frightened bird, answered. "Yes."
So Kyuhyun reached down and offered his own hand, to help. No poison, no coercion. Just the touch of skin to skin as Zhou Mi unwound and stood, prickles climbing his arm to feel Zhou Mi's warmth. It was proof of his reality. Proof that the words were true, that Kyuhyun had not been led astray or drawn in by a trickster. Zhou Mi was a living person, even if he wasn't human.
So full of wonder as he stood tall. Kyuhyun had known that. But he could not focus on that, on the way Zhou Mi breathed. If Zhou Mi had been confined a year or more, Kyuhyun knew the first place he would want to go.
So he tugged Zhou Mi along, bidding him follow without words, until he could slide open the door that led to his private garden. It was meticulously maintained. The stream, the grass, flowers and trees. Zhou Mi stumbled for the first time, as Kyuhyun tried to lead him down the steps. Bathed in sunlight, and hesitating, as the next step was onto green grass.
And then the contact between them was broken, a cry of delight from Zhou Mi's throat, as he did not just step down, but nearly threw himself to the earth. Hands fisting in the grass like it was his lover's hair, rubbing his nose and face against it as his body writhed and rolled. Kyuhyun felt like a voyeur, watching some reunion that was not his to see. When Zhou Mi's laughter calmed, there was a peculiar tightness to his breathing. One Kyuhyun would not have understood had he not seen Zhou Mi brushing a tear from the bridge of his nose.
One bush was heavily laden with flowers, and Kyuhyun plucked several. Sinking onto the ground beside Zhou Mi and placing them near his face and hands.
"You said it had been a year since you had left your cage. How long has it been since you have felt the sun and grass?" Kyuhyun asked.
Zhou Mi's fingertip traced the delicate edge of the flower.
"It has been longer than you have lived. Maybe twice over."
More than cruel. More than just a cage, or forced commands. It was denial of life. Something Zhou Mi had been long without, his skin utterly pale in the sun, and against the dark blue silk he wore that day.
"You cannot stay here long. If a servant sees you, if word gets back to my father, the slaver will hear of it, and though they will do nothing to me…?"
Zhou Mi sat up, leaving the grass most unwillingly. "Yes. Yes, of course. This has been a most precious gift. Even this. This can sustain me."
Kyuhyun did not trust himself to touch Zhou Mi again. Merely watching as Zhou Mi gathered the flowers, and when Kyuhyun did not object, took them with him back into the cage. Kyuhyun carefully slid the glass into place, and they considered each other through it again. He did not bother reaching to lay his hand against the glass.
He knew touching Zhou Mi with the glass between them would no longer be enough.
***
There were the little changes. Ordering his servants not to enter without his permission. Making certain of the security of the gardens. Zhou Mi still played a song for him while he ate in the morning, but Zhou Mi offered before Kyuhyun could ask. It was often that Kyuhyun had duties, or was required to sit with his father to deal with their people. But there were mornings, and afternoons, when he could let Zhou Mi out. Zhou Mi was more dignified than he had been the first time. Descending in his white silk, or the red, and stepping tenderly onto the grass. Kyuhyun often read, or pretended to, as Zhou Mi crept around. Not because he could not go faster, but because he seemed fascinated and amazed at every little thing he saw. Oh, the way the needles grew on the bush, and the sparkle of the water. One time, Zhou Mi had done little but dangle his fingers in the stream, watching it flow around them, and delighting in the feel of it. If a servant knocked, Zhou Mi knew to hide, until Kyuhyun could send them away.
Though Zhou Mi watching the birds who came to land, to peck around and sing, that was most amusing. Zhou Mi's eyes followed them like a hungry cat, moving as close as he dared. Sometimes they flew away. One time, nearly startling Zhou Mi off his feet. Kyuhyun had nearly broken ribs laughing at Zhou Mi's surprise, and the sheepish grin that followed.
That image followed him around. Mostly he tried to forget that they did not touch. Maybe the brush of a hand as Kyuhyun let Zhou Mi free, but the majority of Zhou Mi's time went to the grass, and the flowers. It seemed a little stupid to be jealous of a plant, but he would rather wallow in his discontent than be tempted to make orders he would regret. He could order Zhou Mi to sit near him, to lean against him, to rub his sore back. From there, oh. From there he could revile himself at a thought.
But the real change began due to an improperly closed stall. Kyuhyun was leaving his horse, when he was suddenly set upon by a flurry of puppies around his feet. The stable lad that had been looking after them, gasped, and hurried to help. The stablemaster's bitch had whelped weeks earlier, and the pups were pretty. Four of them, romping as the boy tried to gather them in.
"Sorry. So sorry, sir."
"It's okay," Kyuhyun said, crouching down and scratching the back of the white puppy who was trying to climb his leg. He'd given them little thought as he passed each day. "Are they ready to leave their mother?"
"Yes, sir," the boy said. "The hunting master took the boldest two just yesterday."
Ah, his father's hunting master. Yes, it made sense with as healthy and strong as the pups seemed.
"Perhaps it's time for me to have a hunting dog of my own. Which do you suggest?"
"Th-this one is cowardly, sir," the boy said, clutching the pudgy white puppy that had wandered back to him. And Kyuhyun did not know so much that the dog was cowardly, so much as the boy had chosen that one as his own.
"Then you'll have to keep him and teach him how to be a dog," Kyuhyun said. "Will you do that for me?"
"Yes, sir!" the boy said, brightening considerably. "But this one here, he's pretty. And his nature is sweet. He'd make a fine dog for you, sir."
The dog the boy motioned at was fawn colored, and mid-yawn, blinking and plopping on his plump little behind. At Kyuhyun's laugh, and the patting of his fingers on the ground, the puppy padded over, sniffing and licking at Kyuhyun's hand, eager for a stroke and cuddle. The puppy's ears were pricked and curious, eyes bright and clear. And his tail was wagging from where it curled over his back.
Kyuhyun knew he was a moment away from being pounced upon.
So he scooped up the pup instead, and stood.
"I'll take this one with me, now. Thank you for your help," Kyuhyun said, and before he walked away, he placed his hand on the boy's shoulders. "If the stablemaster or anyone else questions you keeping that dog, you send them to me."
"Yes sir. Thank you, sir!"
The boy's excitement put a smile on his face as he walked out, the puppy growling into the crook of his arm, and trying to lick his skin off in glee. Just as the hunting master had been able to take the pick of the litter, it was Kyuhyun's right to as well. The stablemaster would be grateful, as he didn't need them all, and the put-upon mother would be grateful as well. The rest of the pups would find homes soon enough.
It meant that Kyuhyun had another hungry mouth to feed.
And a secret to reveal.
***
Kyuhyun, armed with the puppy's food that his servants had fetched, kept food and puppy both under a blanket as he walked past Zhou Mi's cage. The food he placed in the garden, but the puppy he kept in his arms, as he slid open the door that kept Zhou Mi captive. Zhou Mi was curious, believably so, as Kyuhyun was later than usual, with an odd thing in his arms. But even if the sky grew dark, Kyuhyun led them out into the garden.
The puppy made an excited yelp, and Zhou Mi stared hard at the blanket. The cat was out of the bag, as it were. The light from Kyuhyun's room illuminating what the moon could not.
Kyuhyun crouched, letting the puppy work free of his confines. Coming out like a little fawn fluffball, shaking himself and staring around at his new surroundings.
The sound Zhou Mi made was not unlike the one the puppy had. Going from upright like a graceful wand, to kneeling to get a better look at the curious puppy. And Zhou Mi got what he wanted, the puppy romping closer to inspect this new person, sniffing Zhou Mi's face and licking him. So much licking. The pup jumped, and Zhou Mi fell back. Landing in the grass as the puppy marched all over him, exploring and getting petted and praised. Exactly what Kyuhyun had expected from the bliss on Zhou Mi's face.
"Where did he come from?" Zhou Mi asked, tweaking of the silky ears.
"The stables. The litter was born a while back."
"You'll keep him as your own?"
"That's the thought," Kyuhyun said, and set the bowl closer so the puppy could have his own meal, scrambling from Zhou Mi's chest. "I've been needing a hunting dog. And… I thought you would enjoy him."
As Zhou Mi stood, the puppy did not stir from the bowl of soft meat and gruel, both paws firmly planted it. And Kyuhyun was strangely frozen too, as Zhou Mi knelt beside him.
"You did not have to," Zhou Mi said.
"Like I said, I needed a dog, so-"
His words stopped as Zhou Mi took his hand.
"There are a lot of things you don't have to do for me. You spend your time, you look after my safety. You ask me to sing, and play, but no more than that. You call no woman to your bed."
"The men I would bring to it are few. None near I dare try. My father would not- I fear his anger if he knew. What he would do to someone if he found out."
"So you worry for others that way, too. Over your own needs."
Embarrassment prickled him. "No. But there aren't any I would choose either. It isn't purely out of the goodness of my heart."
Though if Zhou Mi meant for him to speak in coherent sentences, he would not have been stroking fingers along the inside of Kyuhyun's wrist. It made his chest tight, and made him shift to try and keep his mind on what they were speaking of. The dog. Kyuhyun's lack of partners.
"Do you desire me?" Zhou Mi asked.
And Kyuhyun's breath rushed out of him. "What? I-" His eyes went from Zhou Mi's hands to his face, stopping at his throat on the way. "You are… It is easy to see why men were tempted by you. Yes."
"And you to me," Zhou Mi said. "If it is what you desire, if it is what I want, too, then it cannot be wrong."
"But I can't tell you to touch me," Kyuhyun declared. "I won't be those men who-"
"Kyuhyun."
The softly spoken name stopped his rant. He tried to think if Zhou Mi had ever said his name, and could not think of one time.
"Kyuhyun," Zhou Mi said, and drew him to his feet. The puppy snoozed in the grass as he followed Zhou Mi inside. Feet softly moving over the smooth floor, toward his bed. Kyuhyun sat, as though he was the slave, and Zhou Mi the master, until they were face to face above his blanket. "I am bound to obey you, but that does not mean I am without wants. You are lovely to behold, and your nature is more so. At your command, here and only here, I am not bound to your words. Here, I can do what I desire. And you can tell me what you wish from me, without worry."
And Zhou Mi paused, raising up and cupping Kyuhyun's cheek with his palm. "I cannot harm you, no matter what you command. You must not worry for your safety or life."
He sat up, and Zhou Mi held. The breathless moment as their noses brushed. Zhou Mi's lips moist and ripe against his. Like a kiss that had been waiting to be given. He suppressed the shudder, and believed what was in Zhou Mi's eyes. So it was in his power to speak firm.
"In this bed, I release you from my command. Here, there is only what you desire. What arouses you. I want nothing from you that is because of duty, because you believe I am owed it."
"In this bed, there is no duty," Zhou Mi promised, and straightened his shoulders as the belt around his waist was undone.
The silk fled down Zhou Mi's body, and stole Kyuhyun's breath. It was all there was left to steal.
As Zhou Mi had already taken his heart.
***
Kyuhyun woke in the middle of the night, hand reaching into empty space. It dropped onto the soft sheet, unfulfilled. He had closed up Zhou Mi again, after they had finished. Not much more than kissing and touching, but it had released much of what he had been wanting for far too long. He looked to the glass enclosure and wondered if Zhou Mi felt as alone inside it, as Kyuhyun did outside.
And as soon as the the thought passed him, the anger followed. That he should be forced to lock Zhou Mi away, that Zhou Mi had been forced to obey commands for far too long without truly living. Zhou Mi had smiled at him in joy, and sighed for him in pleasure, from that very pillow. And Kyuhyun did not know, short of taking Zhou Mi, leaving his family and home, how to make that stop. How he could help Zhou Mi. How he could to that without hurting himself. If Zhou Mi were freed, he would have no tie to stay. Fairies that were release from bondage left. And for good reason, considering how Zhou Mi had been treated. Some took humans with them, a kind of reverse bondage. A toll for what they had been put through.
He wondered though, if Zhou Mi knew a way to remove the chains, if he would have asked someone to do that for him already.
***
Kyuhyun's horse shied at a falling branch, before Kyuhyun gathered him again. He rode with his father to inspect their crops, and he wished that he could have brought Zhou Mi. The movement of summer into fall, the feel of the air as they rode. It seemed like something that Zhou Mi would find enjoyment in. There seemed to be many of those things.
"Someone heard laughter from your garden," his father remarked, and the words had Kyuhyun stiffening his saddle. Mind racing as he tried to think of what to say.
"Oh, perhaps it was when I train the pup. He tumbles end after end during training, and I can't help but laugh."
"I heard it did not sound like you."
Kyuhyun tried to school his face, keep his teeth from gritting. "Perhaps a servant while I was gone? They look after him as well. Does laughter bother you, Father?"
"Of course not. But I would have no strangers lurking around that fairy. Dangerous and expensive. It gives you no trouble?"
"No trouble, Father."
But the conversation caused him concern. It nagged at him the whole time they rode, knowing his father worried. Kyuhyun wondered if he suspected.
And that worry followed him all the way to his bed. Rolling off of Zhou Mi's body with a satisfied grunt, and a nagging in the back of his mind.
"We ought be cautious for a while," Kyuhyun said, placing a hand on Zhou Mi's arm. "My father is concerned about your security. He heard a report someone laughing in the garden. Could be you, or me, or a servant. But for at least a little while…"
"Yes, I understand," Zhou Mi said. "I know he fears me. It is better that you are safe."
"That you are," Kyuhyun argued back. "Do you know of a way to break your bondage?"
"No. I know of no way. These chains will not fall from my wrists until my time is spent."
It was disappointment that tinged Kyuhyun's reaction to that. He wanted there to be some way. Some way to fight back. But before Zhou Mi left his bed to shrug back into the discarded silk, Kyuhyun pulled him close, long minutes spent in the joy of kissing Zhou Mi.
Zhou Mi left him with a smile, and Kyuhyun slid the glass door closed with regret.
***
Part Two
Author: Coley Merrin
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi
Rating: R
Genre: AU, hurt/comfort, romance, fantasy
Warnings: Violence, injury, reference to past sexual coercion.
Summary: The son of a king, Kyuhyun is gifted a slave of extraordinary origin.
A/N: For my hurt/comfort bingo card.
***
***
For Kyuhyun's coming of age, he received a gleaming new sword, and his choice of the new year's crop of colts. The other thing he expected, his father to press him on marriage, was the one thing he did not receive. It made him wonder what his father had in store, when after the feast in his honor, he stood with a man unfamiliar to Kyuhyun.
"The last gift I have for you is something you must see on your own," his father the king said. "It is in your chambers."
He couldn't help the wary look at the other man. Well dressed enough, but not a guest of theirs.
"Father?"
And it was a plea for more information.
"This is Cai. He deals in slaves. You will see. I hope it will…make you ready to move forward in your life."
Slaves. The gift, then, was not something. But someone. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, because he knew his father. A new maid, or a concubine, or someone to tempt Kyuhyun into becoming pliant, getting married. Making him ready to "move forward in his life." Or move forward according to his father. The only reason he wasn't married already was because the girl he had been betrothed to almost since birth, had ran off with another man. His reaction had been, mainly, relief.
Cai, a slaver. Not of the most trustable of men, and not someone he'd have imagine he'd be following into his chambers. But there was no maid waiting quietly in a corner. What he did see was unlike anything he'd seen before. It was a box, taller than he was, but made of what looked like glass. Golden in a few places as though with age, and hazy, but glass nonetheless. It took up over half of his room, wider again by half than he was tall. What it looked like was an elaborate cage, and even as that realization occurred to him, a thought appeared. It was not an animal, he was sure of that. It seemed more a cage of magic.
It looked like a fairy cage.
He had seen one only in drawings in books. The peasants all believed the stories to be true, but he had never been sure. The slaver was watching his expression with interest.
"I see you've realized what this is. It is a fairy box. Your father has made a wise purchase in giving this gift to you. A fairy will serve you well for many years. He will do anything you ask." And the slaver turned from Kyuhyun, clearly speaking to the fairy. "Come near us and kneel."
He. Not a woman. For the first time, Kyuhyun's interest peaked above his dread.
Kyuhyun's mouth was dry, as the glass cleared, revealing a man in a fine silk robe, tall and slender with his head held in deference above a long neck. As the man knelt, Kyuhyun saw flashes of jewels at his ears, but little of his face from the bowed head.
"You see, it is very simple. Some who have fairies find them pleasant to be seen. Many have musical ability. He can play any instrument provided, and also sing. Their voices are prized. Some people find them…amusing in other ways." The slaver again spoke in command. "Begin removing your robe. Go slow."
The fairy's shoulders shifted as nimble fingers loosened the knot at his waist. It made the silk at his shoulders shift and slide, revealing wide collarbones and rounded shoulders. It also made the gap in the bottom of the robe widen, revealing a length of thigh that had Kyuhyun's stomach tightening.
"Stop," the slaver said, apparently satisfied with his demonstration. "So you see, he will do anything you require. He cannot touch you, but is perfectly willing to perform to your whim, perhaps if you have a lady to impress."
Kyuhyun wondered about the willing part.
"What does he do when he is not in service?"
The slaver shrugged. "Does it matter? If he does something that offends you, you may order him to cease. He will sleep when you do, and wake as well. You may speak to him all you wish, but you must never allow him to speak back. Fairies are dangerous. It is why they are enclosed. His words, his skin, would poison humans. Confuse and enslave them. He will try, I guarantee you that. Order his silence. It will wear off after a time. But be immune to any pleas. They are only trickery. Come, I will give you control over him."
It was simple enough. The fairy followed them to the end of the glass enclosure, to the small opening meant for fruit and vegetables to be tossed in and consumed.
"You must never put your hand through this gap, at danger of your life," the slaver warned. And ordered the fairy to lift his arm to the opening. One slender forearm, with the blue silk slipping down it, and ring of black chain links ringing his wrist.
Kyuhyun was careful, under the slaver's instruction, to touch the metal of the chain, and not the fairy's skin. The chain was warm, and grew warmer under his fingertips, until it glowed a peculiar yellow before fading to black.
"Try it," the slaver urged.
Kyuhyun wondered what his first order would be. He was used to commanding servants, soldiers. But this was a different situation. A slave who was wholly his, who would respond without question.
"Look at me and tell me your name," Kyuhyun commanded.
And at last, he saw clearly the fairy's face. Soft eyes, if a bit sad, strong mouth and chin. Each feature arresting on their own, adding up to the sum of a face that was quite nearly regal.
"My name is Zhou Mi."
The voice was light and even, and before Kyuhyun could speak his name back, the slaver went hysterical on him, lecturing him until Kyuhyun's nails dug into his hands on the dangers of inviting the fairy to speak.
He nearly had to promise with blood that he would not do so again, gritting his teeth against the patronizing tone. And assuming at the very least, that the slaver did it for his safety.
Unless there were other reasons.
Kyuhyun ceased to listen after the first few minutes, noting that without instruction, Zhou Mi's head had dropped again, and before the slaver stopped lecturing, actually rose and moved away from where Kyuhyun sat.
He pondered as he stared at the small opening. The fairy hadn't looked so much different from himself.
***
The slaver had made an impression on Kyuhyun, but not the one he had wanted. Kyuhyun was unlikely to be cowed by long lectures and harsh words. It made him curious. All he knew of fairies was that they could be tricky. But with a fairy bound, he wasn't sure why words could be so dangerous. There was no magic that could be done. All there could be was pleading to be set free, or trick someone into trying to free him. His father wouldn't have bought something dangerous for him. Whether it was a horse, or a fairy.
He'd had manservants before. But never had he owned someone, controlled them to the point where they could not object. Even his father preferred to have servants, rather than deal in the trade of people. Some would argue that a fairy wasn't human. He was still waiting for a conclusion on if that mattered.
Kyuhyun woke the next day, skirted the glass enclosure and saw Zhou Mi reclined on pillows. Just watching him pass. He certainly looked human, relaxed and curious eyed. Somehow he imagined fairies would be small, dainty. The man he saw was neither of those descriptions. The length of his legs alone, from where Kyuhyun traced them from hip to relaxed ankle, spoke of height. As did the arm draped down Zhou Mi's torso. He looked like a man waiting to be taken, and it stirred him. It also made him move, before imagining opening that shimmer of silk shot him from interest to full arousal.
Kyuhyun had his breakfast brought to his room, dressed and back in control.
And he sent the servants away, seated close to the glass, able to see only part of Zhou Mi's frame.
"Zhou Mi, will you play a tune? Any instrument."
For a moment he wondered if he had to order outright, if a question was not enough, but he saw Zhou Mi rise and come closer. Selecting from instruments that decorated part of the glass wall. A bamboo flute, decorated in red and gold. Beautiful. But Kyuhyun could not look away, as the thin silk slipped down Zhou Mi's arms as the instrument was lifted. Forearms and wrists exposed, fingers meticulously in place.
The melody was pure, high and sweet, even without other instruments to accompany it. He had heard many accomplished musicians in his years, and it was not so much that Zhou Mi played the best, but it was the emotion that was produced. Soft, slow, almost melancholy at first, building to something almost jaunty as Zhou Mi played almost without breath. Eyes closed, focused on the instrument as though it were an extension of his body. Eating his breakfast went far slower that day than any other. Watching Zhou Mi's fingers play, drawing out the almost impossible sounds and wavers. He wondered if the song had an end, or if it was Zhou Mi's own. If Zhou Mi, perhaps, would play until his fingers gave out, if Kyuhyun did not stop him.
"You may stop," Kyuhyun said, and the music tailed away. Almost a sorrowful sound, like the dying end of a wolf howl. Zhou Mi stayed kneeling, the flute still in his hands, waiting for Kyuhyun's next command. As much as he wanted to stay there, hear another instrument, ask Zhou Mi how he had come to learn, he could not. He had his own tasks to see to, in helping his father make sure their lands and people were tended and cared for.
"Thank you," Kyuhyun said finally. "You play well. I am leaving now, so you may return to whatever you do to pass the time."
Zhou Mi's head bobbed down in acceptance, and he stood to tuck away the flute. He did not back away from Kyuhyun, as some of his father's serving girls did. So Kyuhyun had the image of broad shoulders clad in pale silk, the drape of it cinched by a belt, and then falling almost to Zhou Mi's ankles. A mesmerizing walk. A peculiar man. He pondered the images of the set of Zhou Mi's lips against the bamboo, the shift of his fingers.
And he had so many questions.
***
"Does your new toy please you?" Kyuhyun's father asked, face suspiciously neutral as Kyuhyun rode beside him.
"He does, Father," Kyuhyun answered truthfully. "He plays instruments at each meal at my command. He is talented."
"If only his cage wasn't so damnably large, I would move him out for events. Show off our prize. Your entry was nearly too small as well. Surely he could live in smaller quarters."
"I guess he can lay down and touch each side by stretching. That does not seem overly large for a man to spend all his day in."
His father waved a hand. "He's a fairy. Fairies are used to being contained. They must like it, or they wouldn't keep getting caught."
Kyuhyun knew there was no reason to open his mouth, no use saying that just because someone had no choice, didn't mean they liked it or were used to it. And that fairies were a rarity, something highly prized, was proof that there was no such myth. There were no lines of fairies begging to be captured. That they were slaves, bound to a command, meant that they were not there by choice. If they wished to be bound up, to be commanded about, there would be no need for the chains that kept them. Just as his father would not understand the fairies, Kyuhyun knew he would not understand his own son's need for those who weren't women.
Those were things he thought about in the dead of night, when moonlight slipped through and shone off the glass enclosure. Sometimes he thought he saw movement, other times he knew he imagined it. The sway of a branch casting a shadow. And every moment he wondered, every insensitive remark his father made, thrust him further into wondering.
Every evening he relaxed after dinner, after eating with his father or guests, and listened to Zhou Mi play for him. A different instrument each time. The erhu, the drum, strings and wind. It soothed him.
But he had not yet heard Zhou Mi sing.
The slaver had been specific in telling him that Zhou Mi also sang. And Kyuhyun wondered how it was that singing with words was so very different than speaking. Perhaps that Zhou Mi could only sing certain songs?
Kyuhyun moved close to the glass, and watched as Zhou Mi moved closer, kneeling and waiting for instruction. Kyuhyun swallowed hard.
"Do you know "The Ballad of the Two Flowers?"" Kyuhyun asked.
A nod, as Zhou Mi answered him.
"Sing it for me, please."
It seemed even the wind outside seemed to hush, before Zhou Mi's voice lifted. The fist time he had heard a sound from the fairy since the day he had arrived and spoke his name. Much as the purity of the sound of the flute had stunned him, so did the sound of Zhou Mi's voice. The ballad Kyuhyun had asked for was not a long song, but it was old. It spoke of birth, and love, and death, and he had seen more than one person weep to hear it. It moved him, but not to tears. The way Zhou Mi's tongue molded the words, the way Zhou Mi's head and shoulders worked as he sang. As though he truly felt what he sang. As though the clench of his fingers told the sorrow of it, beyond all others.
And what Kyuhyun had been holding back, from every snide remark from his father or others, and every note from the instruments, broke in him.
The last word was wrenched from Zhou Mi's throat, the sound of it sorrow itself. It hurt. And he could have requested a happy song, something to lift his mood. But it wasn't his mood that required lifting. Maybe he'd always been a little perverse. Maybe he'd always done things against his father's wishes, things that had gotten him in trouble. His damnable drive and curiosity shoving him beyond what was safe or expected.
Kyuhyun's hand rose, and for the first time he touched the glass. It felt smooth and fine beneath his hand, the fine occasional ripple to be seen in it. Cool to the touch, as his palm pressed to it. But his eyes weren't for the glass, they were for Zhou Mi.
"Did someone teach you to play all those instruments? Teach you the songs?"
Zhou Mi's head bobbed, answering the affirmative.
Not enough, his mind ground out. Not enough.
"Do you enjoy playing? You may answer out loud."
Zhou Mi's head lifted, nearly meeting Kyuhyun's eyes in his surprise before looking away. Focusing not on Kyuhyun's face - Kyuhyun half wished he'd ordered Zhou Mi to look him in the eye - but on Kyuhyun's hand against the glass.
The movement was tentative, a twitch of the fingers. It had Kyuhyun's breath catching, as in the next moment, Zhou Mi's hand rose. Kyuhyun's eyes plotted the trajectory of it, frozen in wonder, as wholly unbidden, Zhou Mi's hand pressed against the glass opposite to Kyuhyun. Only the barest pane separating their skin, palm to palm, and finger to finger. And Zhou Mi's hand was larger, by some. Blunt fingertips extending beyond his. He wished for several things simultaneously. That the glass was not there, so he could feel. That his hand was not in the way, so that he could admire the form of Zhou Mi's hand.
It was the slight movement of Zhou Mi's thumb, that had him looking to Zhou Mi's face. And Kyuhyun barely remembered the question he had asked, of Zhou Mi's enjoyment in the instruments, when Zhou Mi answered.
"Yes," Zhou Mi said. And for the first time, he met Kyuhyun's eyes.
And Kyuhyun knew then, that the slaver had been wrong. It was not only the fairy's words that would bewitch him.
***
Maybe it had been unwise even to begin. But Kyuhyun was not without caution. He did not give Zhou Mi leave to speak for another two days, gripped with uncertainty. Surely no single word answers could be dangerous. Yes or no, they were simple and without subtext. Once he had wrestled that away, rationalized his decision, he ordered that Zhou Mi verbally respond to him if the answer was simply yes or no.
Fairies were not sirens. He could not be seduced with the sound of the voice, or the singing would be not allowed. And Kyuhyun began to ask for the songs, as much as he asked for the instruments. There was something sweet, and also something seductive, in Zhou Mi's voice. The way his body moved with the music, the joy that burst from the happy tunes. He found he could not eat and listen to Zhou Mi sing at the same time. The instruments were fine, but to listen to Zhou Mi sing, his attention was on Zhou Mi alone. Not just because Zhou Mi was fine of face and form. Not just that.
"Have you been in captivity a long time?" Kyuhyun asked, several weeks after Zhou Mi arrived.
"Yes."
"Have humans treated you well?"
Zhou Mi hesitated. "Yes. No?"
Somewhere in between no doubt. Some had, and some hadn't, if he had changed hands. And then there was the question that Kyuhyun ought not to ask, let his curiosity fade away and not care. But he wanted to know.
"Are you happy here? Have I treated you well?"
Zhou Mi sighed, a smile touching his face. "Yes."
Every day, Kyuhyun himself passed bowls of fruit into Zhou Mi's enclosure. At first he did as the slaver instructed, tossing whole fruit in like to an animal in a cage. But then he realized, Zhou Mi could take the bowl from him. There was no danger of them touching, because Zhou Mi very carefully took hold of the side Kyuhyun slid in. And then they exchanged, a full bowl for an empty one the next day. It was another moment to be shared. Zhou Mi smiling his thanks at Kyuhyun.
Perhaps asking his questions betrayed some weakness on his part, but he found he wasn't apt to care. It helped pass his own time, and he knew that Zhou Mi had stories that would shock and amaze him.
"The slaver said letting you speak was dangerous," Kyuhyun said, standing close to the glass so he could see Zhou Mi's reaction. "Answer me true. Is there danger to me, from you?"
Zhou Mi's head shook immediately. "No."
"Then why does he demand your silence? You may answer this question."
Zhou Mi also took another step closer to the glass, and Kyuhyun nearly gave into the urge to touch the cool pane, in case Zhou Mi would as well.
"Because toys do not speak, and toys do not feel." Zhou Mi gestured around him. "Toys are content to be locked away and forgotten. If I cannot speak, then I cannot say when I am displeased by a command. And it is easier not to know."
It was not so hard to read into that. Zhou Mi indicated he enjoyed singing and playing. The slaver's other hint was that Zhou Mi could entertain him in other ways. Ways that had Zhou Mi's collarbones being bared, in an obvious hint.
"He made you display your body for more men than me," Kyuhyun ventured.
Zhou Mi would not look at him. "Yes."
And quite possibly more than that. If a "toy" could not feel shame, then there was no limit to what someone could order Zhou Mi to do for their own sick amusement.
"I will not order that from you," Kyuhyun said. "There are many things he told me that were lies. That your skin is poison to me. Was that a lie as well?"
"Yes," Zhou Mi said. And his mouth trembled open as though he wished to say more, pausing, until Kyuhyun allowed it. "I was once bound only by chains, with no glass cage. They would…hurt me. I would heal. But the cage became a kindness."
"So the cage is protection to you? Please, speak."
“It is also deceit. If my master or mistress desires more of me, the slaver might remember a day or a spell that allows me to be free. For a price."
Clever and devious.
"How long has it been since you have left this cage?"
"A year. The longest has been five. Some humans are too afraid to risk loosing me, even though I am bound and unable to escape."
Kyuhyun thought on all those things. They were like boring worms he could not escape. He could imagine it of the slaver, tricking people too stupid to know otherwise. Too selfish by half, people who saw Zhou Mi as a body and not a person. A toy, Zhou Mi had said. For their own amusement, and nothing more.
He woke one morning, nearly trembling with excitement. His questions all but leaping from him as he approached the cage and waited impatiently for Zhou Mi to approach - approach without orders.
"You said the slaver concocted a spell or a day, that allowed you to go free. Are either of those required? Or can you leave this cage?"
"I can," Zhou Mi said, his voice wavering. "But the slaver would not show you how to open the door."
"And you don't know?"
"Some. He would not let me see. But I could hear."
The door, it seemed, was below the cutout where Kyuhyun gave Zhou Mi his food. Clever, and below eye level, in an area not designed for viewing. The seam of the glass was very fine, expertly fitted, and nearly invisible had Kyuhyun not known where he was looking.
As were the glass slides that looked like decoration, and were instead a clever lock. Zhou Mi remembered hearing the glass move against itself, and so it was. The door did not swing out, it moved to the side when the stoppers were removed and the slides cleared. And he stared at Zhou Mi through the small hole they'd cleared. Large enough for Zhou Mi to crawl through, seeing each other fully without glass in the way.
For a moment, he wavered. He could close it back, think on it. Let himself not be driven by whims.
But that seemed like a betrayal.
"You can come out," Kyuhyun said, standing and giving Zhou Mi room.
It was tentative movement, Zhou Mi ducking down so that his head and shoulders could clear, and crawling far enough so that he could stand, had he tried to.
"Do you swear all you have told me is the truth?" Kyuhyun asked.
Zhou Mi, still on his knees and still as a frightened bird, answered. "Yes."
So Kyuhyun reached down and offered his own hand, to help. No poison, no coercion. Just the touch of skin to skin as Zhou Mi unwound and stood, prickles climbing his arm to feel Zhou Mi's warmth. It was proof of his reality. Proof that the words were true, that Kyuhyun had not been led astray or drawn in by a trickster. Zhou Mi was a living person, even if he wasn't human.
So full of wonder as he stood tall. Kyuhyun had known that. But he could not focus on that, on the way Zhou Mi breathed. If Zhou Mi had been confined a year or more, Kyuhyun knew the first place he would want to go.
So he tugged Zhou Mi along, bidding him follow without words, until he could slide open the door that led to his private garden. It was meticulously maintained. The stream, the grass, flowers and trees. Zhou Mi stumbled for the first time, as Kyuhyun tried to lead him down the steps. Bathed in sunlight, and hesitating, as the next step was onto green grass.
And then the contact between them was broken, a cry of delight from Zhou Mi's throat, as he did not just step down, but nearly threw himself to the earth. Hands fisting in the grass like it was his lover's hair, rubbing his nose and face against it as his body writhed and rolled. Kyuhyun felt like a voyeur, watching some reunion that was not his to see. When Zhou Mi's laughter calmed, there was a peculiar tightness to his breathing. One Kyuhyun would not have understood had he not seen Zhou Mi brushing a tear from the bridge of his nose.
One bush was heavily laden with flowers, and Kyuhyun plucked several. Sinking onto the ground beside Zhou Mi and placing them near his face and hands.
"You said it had been a year since you had left your cage. How long has it been since you have felt the sun and grass?" Kyuhyun asked.
Zhou Mi's fingertip traced the delicate edge of the flower.
"It has been longer than you have lived. Maybe twice over."
More than cruel. More than just a cage, or forced commands. It was denial of life. Something Zhou Mi had been long without, his skin utterly pale in the sun, and against the dark blue silk he wore that day.
"You cannot stay here long. If a servant sees you, if word gets back to my father, the slaver will hear of it, and though they will do nothing to me…?"
Zhou Mi sat up, leaving the grass most unwillingly. "Yes. Yes, of course. This has been a most precious gift. Even this. This can sustain me."
Kyuhyun did not trust himself to touch Zhou Mi again. Merely watching as Zhou Mi gathered the flowers, and when Kyuhyun did not object, took them with him back into the cage. Kyuhyun carefully slid the glass into place, and they considered each other through it again. He did not bother reaching to lay his hand against the glass.
He knew touching Zhou Mi with the glass between them would no longer be enough.
***
There were the little changes. Ordering his servants not to enter without his permission. Making certain of the security of the gardens. Zhou Mi still played a song for him while he ate in the morning, but Zhou Mi offered before Kyuhyun could ask. It was often that Kyuhyun had duties, or was required to sit with his father to deal with their people. But there were mornings, and afternoons, when he could let Zhou Mi out. Zhou Mi was more dignified than he had been the first time. Descending in his white silk, or the red, and stepping tenderly onto the grass. Kyuhyun often read, or pretended to, as Zhou Mi crept around. Not because he could not go faster, but because he seemed fascinated and amazed at every little thing he saw. Oh, the way the needles grew on the bush, and the sparkle of the water. One time, Zhou Mi had done little but dangle his fingers in the stream, watching it flow around them, and delighting in the feel of it. If a servant knocked, Zhou Mi knew to hide, until Kyuhyun could send them away.
Though Zhou Mi watching the birds who came to land, to peck around and sing, that was most amusing. Zhou Mi's eyes followed them like a hungry cat, moving as close as he dared. Sometimes they flew away. One time, nearly startling Zhou Mi off his feet. Kyuhyun had nearly broken ribs laughing at Zhou Mi's surprise, and the sheepish grin that followed.
That image followed him around. Mostly he tried to forget that they did not touch. Maybe the brush of a hand as Kyuhyun let Zhou Mi free, but the majority of Zhou Mi's time went to the grass, and the flowers. It seemed a little stupid to be jealous of a plant, but he would rather wallow in his discontent than be tempted to make orders he would regret. He could order Zhou Mi to sit near him, to lean against him, to rub his sore back. From there, oh. From there he could revile himself at a thought.
But the real change began due to an improperly closed stall. Kyuhyun was leaving his horse, when he was suddenly set upon by a flurry of puppies around his feet. The stable lad that had been looking after them, gasped, and hurried to help. The stablemaster's bitch had whelped weeks earlier, and the pups were pretty. Four of them, romping as the boy tried to gather them in.
"Sorry. So sorry, sir."
"It's okay," Kyuhyun said, crouching down and scratching the back of the white puppy who was trying to climb his leg. He'd given them little thought as he passed each day. "Are they ready to leave their mother?"
"Yes, sir," the boy said. "The hunting master took the boldest two just yesterday."
Ah, his father's hunting master. Yes, it made sense with as healthy and strong as the pups seemed.
"Perhaps it's time for me to have a hunting dog of my own. Which do you suggest?"
"Th-this one is cowardly, sir," the boy said, clutching the pudgy white puppy that had wandered back to him. And Kyuhyun did not know so much that the dog was cowardly, so much as the boy had chosen that one as his own.
"Then you'll have to keep him and teach him how to be a dog," Kyuhyun said. "Will you do that for me?"
"Yes, sir!" the boy said, brightening considerably. "But this one here, he's pretty. And his nature is sweet. He'd make a fine dog for you, sir."
The dog the boy motioned at was fawn colored, and mid-yawn, blinking and plopping on his plump little behind. At Kyuhyun's laugh, and the patting of his fingers on the ground, the puppy padded over, sniffing and licking at Kyuhyun's hand, eager for a stroke and cuddle. The puppy's ears were pricked and curious, eyes bright and clear. And his tail was wagging from where it curled over his back.
Kyuhyun knew he was a moment away from being pounced upon.
So he scooped up the pup instead, and stood.
"I'll take this one with me, now. Thank you for your help," Kyuhyun said, and before he walked away, he placed his hand on the boy's shoulders. "If the stablemaster or anyone else questions you keeping that dog, you send them to me."
"Yes sir. Thank you, sir!"
The boy's excitement put a smile on his face as he walked out, the puppy growling into the crook of his arm, and trying to lick his skin off in glee. Just as the hunting master had been able to take the pick of the litter, it was Kyuhyun's right to as well. The stablemaster would be grateful, as he didn't need them all, and the put-upon mother would be grateful as well. The rest of the pups would find homes soon enough.
It meant that Kyuhyun had another hungry mouth to feed.
And a secret to reveal.
***
Kyuhyun, armed with the puppy's food that his servants had fetched, kept food and puppy both under a blanket as he walked past Zhou Mi's cage. The food he placed in the garden, but the puppy he kept in his arms, as he slid open the door that kept Zhou Mi captive. Zhou Mi was curious, believably so, as Kyuhyun was later than usual, with an odd thing in his arms. But even if the sky grew dark, Kyuhyun led them out into the garden.
The puppy made an excited yelp, and Zhou Mi stared hard at the blanket. The cat was out of the bag, as it were. The light from Kyuhyun's room illuminating what the moon could not.
Kyuhyun crouched, letting the puppy work free of his confines. Coming out like a little fawn fluffball, shaking himself and staring around at his new surroundings.
The sound Zhou Mi made was not unlike the one the puppy had. Going from upright like a graceful wand, to kneeling to get a better look at the curious puppy. And Zhou Mi got what he wanted, the puppy romping closer to inspect this new person, sniffing Zhou Mi's face and licking him. So much licking. The pup jumped, and Zhou Mi fell back. Landing in the grass as the puppy marched all over him, exploring and getting petted and praised. Exactly what Kyuhyun had expected from the bliss on Zhou Mi's face.
"Where did he come from?" Zhou Mi asked, tweaking of the silky ears.
"The stables. The litter was born a while back."
"You'll keep him as your own?"
"That's the thought," Kyuhyun said, and set the bowl closer so the puppy could have his own meal, scrambling from Zhou Mi's chest. "I've been needing a hunting dog. And… I thought you would enjoy him."
As Zhou Mi stood, the puppy did not stir from the bowl of soft meat and gruel, both paws firmly planted it. And Kyuhyun was strangely frozen too, as Zhou Mi knelt beside him.
"You did not have to," Zhou Mi said.
"Like I said, I needed a dog, so-"
His words stopped as Zhou Mi took his hand.
"There are a lot of things you don't have to do for me. You spend your time, you look after my safety. You ask me to sing, and play, but no more than that. You call no woman to your bed."
"The men I would bring to it are few. None near I dare try. My father would not- I fear his anger if he knew. What he would do to someone if he found out."
"So you worry for others that way, too. Over your own needs."
Embarrassment prickled him. "No. But there aren't any I would choose either. It isn't purely out of the goodness of my heart."
Though if Zhou Mi meant for him to speak in coherent sentences, he would not have been stroking fingers along the inside of Kyuhyun's wrist. It made his chest tight, and made him shift to try and keep his mind on what they were speaking of. The dog. Kyuhyun's lack of partners.
"Do you desire me?" Zhou Mi asked.
And Kyuhyun's breath rushed out of him. "What? I-" His eyes went from Zhou Mi's hands to his face, stopping at his throat on the way. "You are… It is easy to see why men were tempted by you. Yes."
"And you to me," Zhou Mi said. "If it is what you desire, if it is what I want, too, then it cannot be wrong."
"But I can't tell you to touch me," Kyuhyun declared. "I won't be those men who-"
"Kyuhyun."
The softly spoken name stopped his rant. He tried to think if Zhou Mi had ever said his name, and could not think of one time.
"Kyuhyun," Zhou Mi said, and drew him to his feet. The puppy snoozed in the grass as he followed Zhou Mi inside. Feet softly moving over the smooth floor, toward his bed. Kyuhyun sat, as though he was the slave, and Zhou Mi the master, until they were face to face above his blanket. "I am bound to obey you, but that does not mean I am without wants. You are lovely to behold, and your nature is more so. At your command, here and only here, I am not bound to your words. Here, I can do what I desire. And you can tell me what you wish from me, without worry."
And Zhou Mi paused, raising up and cupping Kyuhyun's cheek with his palm. "I cannot harm you, no matter what you command. You must not worry for your safety or life."
He sat up, and Zhou Mi held. The breathless moment as their noses brushed. Zhou Mi's lips moist and ripe against his. Like a kiss that had been waiting to be given. He suppressed the shudder, and believed what was in Zhou Mi's eyes. So it was in his power to speak firm.
"In this bed, I release you from my command. Here, there is only what you desire. What arouses you. I want nothing from you that is because of duty, because you believe I am owed it."
"In this bed, there is no duty," Zhou Mi promised, and straightened his shoulders as the belt around his waist was undone.
The silk fled down Zhou Mi's body, and stole Kyuhyun's breath. It was all there was left to steal.
As Zhou Mi had already taken his heart.
***
Kyuhyun woke in the middle of the night, hand reaching into empty space. It dropped onto the soft sheet, unfulfilled. He had closed up Zhou Mi again, after they had finished. Not much more than kissing and touching, but it had released much of what he had been wanting for far too long. He looked to the glass enclosure and wondered if Zhou Mi felt as alone inside it, as Kyuhyun did outside.
And as soon as the the thought passed him, the anger followed. That he should be forced to lock Zhou Mi away, that Zhou Mi had been forced to obey commands for far too long without truly living. Zhou Mi had smiled at him in joy, and sighed for him in pleasure, from that very pillow. And Kyuhyun did not know, short of taking Zhou Mi, leaving his family and home, how to make that stop. How he could help Zhou Mi. How he could to that without hurting himself. If Zhou Mi were freed, he would have no tie to stay. Fairies that were release from bondage left. And for good reason, considering how Zhou Mi had been treated. Some took humans with them, a kind of reverse bondage. A toll for what they had been put through.
He wondered though, if Zhou Mi knew a way to remove the chains, if he would have asked someone to do that for him already.
***
Kyuhyun's horse shied at a falling branch, before Kyuhyun gathered him again. He rode with his father to inspect their crops, and he wished that he could have brought Zhou Mi. The movement of summer into fall, the feel of the air as they rode. It seemed like something that Zhou Mi would find enjoyment in. There seemed to be many of those things.
"Someone heard laughter from your garden," his father remarked, and the words had Kyuhyun stiffening his saddle. Mind racing as he tried to think of what to say.
"Oh, perhaps it was when I train the pup. He tumbles end after end during training, and I can't help but laugh."
"I heard it did not sound like you."
Kyuhyun tried to school his face, keep his teeth from gritting. "Perhaps a servant while I was gone? They look after him as well. Does laughter bother you, Father?"
"Of course not. But I would have no strangers lurking around that fairy. Dangerous and expensive. It gives you no trouble?"
"No trouble, Father."
But the conversation caused him concern. It nagged at him the whole time they rode, knowing his father worried. Kyuhyun wondered if he suspected.
And that worry followed him all the way to his bed. Rolling off of Zhou Mi's body with a satisfied grunt, and a nagging in the back of his mind.
"We ought be cautious for a while," Kyuhyun said, placing a hand on Zhou Mi's arm. "My father is concerned about your security. He heard a report someone laughing in the garden. Could be you, or me, or a servant. But for at least a little while…"
"Yes, I understand," Zhou Mi said. "I know he fears me. It is better that you are safe."
"That you are," Kyuhyun argued back. "Do you know of a way to break your bondage?"
"No. I know of no way. These chains will not fall from my wrists until my time is spent."
It was disappointment that tinged Kyuhyun's reaction to that. He wanted there to be some way. Some way to fight back. But before Zhou Mi left his bed to shrug back into the discarded silk, Kyuhyun pulled him close, long minutes spent in the joy of kissing Zhou Mi.
Zhou Mi left him with a smile, and Kyuhyun slid the glass door closed with regret.
***
Part Two