There were many things Tao found himself grateful for on a daily basis.

First and foremost, he was grateful that his mother had insisted upon a pilgrimage to Mama’s great life tree during her pregnancy with him, even amidst the protests of his father who was not a believer. There was no proof, at least nothing conclusive, that exposing unborn children to Mama directly was responsible for a greater chance of them being born with abilities, but most people believed it to be the truth.

Tao himself had urged his older sister to visit Mama regularly during her pregnancy, and he had high hopes that his niece would develop something astonishing during puberty.

Life was easier with abilities. Sometimes, Tao witnessed, it made you a target, but other times it saved your life.

Of course all that led directly to what he was grateful for secondly. If he hadn’t been gifted by Mama, and if he hadn’t begun to manifest his abilities just before the start of the war, he could have been trapped with his family on one of the boarder towns that had been hit first.

The war they were waging now, the war with K, was more of a war of attrition than anything else. There were big battles, and they did spend months engaging the enemy at a time, trying to reunite K and M for the betterment of Exo, but the war was nothing now like it had been. Tao chalked it up to everyone being exhausted, their population being dangerously low, their natural resources dwindling, and both sides with abilities being more or less matched.

Some days, not that Tao would ever let Kris know, he thought it might be better just to let K go. If they wanted their independence so badly, if they wanted to be free to struggle and fail as a nation on their own, then what did M need with people like that? If K was independent, and M was free of the burden that they were, Tao was certain Kris would be a happier person. He wouldn’t be so weighted down with purpose and expectation.

But truly, when Tao thought about his own situation, he was very aware he had escaped death only because his abilitiy had manifested early. His elder sister had shown no signs of any ability, so it had come as a shock to Tao one day when he found that being able to manipulate the flow of time came as easy to him as breathing. His mother had reported him directly to the king and they’d been swept away from their boarder town, his family compensated and Tao taken into the king’s ranks to be trained.

Tao had gone back. Once. He’d needed to see the rubble of the town that had been destroyed mere months after his family had been escorted to M’s capital. He’d never felt so much like he had cheated death. No even in years to come when he’d faced some of his fiercest opponents on the battlefield.

Lastly, when he thought of everything in his life that there was to be grateful for, his highness Prince Kris was at the very top of the list.

Tao hadn’t had many friends in the palace during his training period. He’d been previously living in a boarder town, his accent was different from those who’d been born in the capital and surrounding areas. He was taller than almost everyone else, and his power scared them. They accused him of manipulating them, and they hated him for the preference some of the older guardsmen showed for him.

But not Kris.

Kris had stopped him one day while he was enjoying a small bit of personal time, strolled right up to him and asked, “Who are you? I haven’t seen you around here before. You’re with the junior guard?”

His uniform had given him away, the red sash and metallic shine to his uniform indicating that he wasn’t yet one of the king’s elite.

Tao hadn’t known what to say. None of the royal family had ever given him so much of a glance, aside from Luhan, of course, who was too nice and too aware of the people around him. It was sort of a wonder Luhan wasn’t an empathic, with the way he could read people and their emotions so easily.

It wasn’t his place to speak to the prince, it wasn’t even his place to look at him, but no matter what he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to shake the prince. For months the prince had sought him out, asking him questions about his life before coming to the palace, insisting on spending time together.

Maybe it was because they were both misfits; Tao with the kind of ability that was rarer than most of the others, and Kris with the isolation due to his position, and his decidedly lacking social skills.

Then had come the day when Tao had surpassed expectations, earned his right to be considered an elite, and was days away from being posted to the king’s personal guard.

“You’re going to be one of mine,” Kris had stated emphatically, tugging on the red sash across Tao’s chest like he usually did. “When this is gone, you’re going to be mine. Not my father’s.”

“Do you … have that authority?”

The best went to the king, especially as the war carried on. There’d been an assassination attempt on the king’s last tour of the battlefield. Tao expected to be at the king’s side before the week was out.

Kris’ eyes narrowed. “I want you with me, and I always get what I want.”

The pompous, elitist attitude was not endearing on the prince, no matter what the fluttering in Tao’s chest had said at the time. But it also hadn’t lasted. Not when the prince had gotten his first real taste of the death that accompanied war a year later, and then spent the entire night crying out his fears in Tao’s arms.

Tao was grateful for the glimpse at the boy under the hard shell, the one who still mourned the death of his mother every day, who was desperate not to be perceived as weak, and who above all else, was simply lonely.

Tao was grateful for Kris, even if he had stolen his first kiss. The kind of first kiss that would have been given freely.

“…let our soldiers fight each other, and the ones with abilities that we usually hold back, they’ll fight too. But me and you, that’ll be the real show. Me and you. Unless you return Luhan to me. You now have less than a day.”

Kris’ words were harsh and uncompromising, proof of the desperation that he couldn’t show on his face.

The call ended seconds after the ultimatum had been given, and then Kris was on his feet. Tao could see the redness to his eyes, not evidence of tears, but instead of his lack of sleep and the stress attached to finding his cousin stolen away in the middle of the night.

“Your highness,” Tao said softly, moving to his side, ignoring the look of indignation that Kris gave him. “You should take a minute to rest. Eat something. You’re pale.”

“I’m fine,” Kris ground out. “If you’ll remember, I was busy resting while Luhan was being snatched away by that degenerate K solider.”

Tao let his hands rest down on the of his sword, the long weapon attached at his hip and more for show than anything else. Tao knew his ability was his first line of defense. The sword was to deter any would be attackers who didn’t know better.

“I remember, your highness.”

With a sharp sigh Kris strode immediately from the room, Tao falling into step behind him. By the path taken, Tao could determine they were going back to Luhan’s rooms, probably to properly investigate his friends and the guards who’d been only quickly questioned before.

The halls of the palace weren’t exactly empty, but a vast majority of the people who both lived and worked there knew to keep their distance from the prince when he was in a foul mood, and the servants themselves stuck to the unseen passages. No one would dare cross paths with Kris at the moment, and everyone knew he could be indiscriminately mean when he was stressed.

“I hope you aren’t going to yell at them,” Tao remarked, pushing open a huge set of double doors that blocked off the residential area of the palace from the more work oriented areas.

Kris scoffed. “Yell at the people who were supposed to be protecting Luhan? Like Chen? Or what about Xiumin? He was supposed to be part of my guard, but I knew how close he and Luhan were, so when he asked to be assigned to Luhan, I indulged him. I let him go to Luhan with the belief that he’d actually be able to help in a time of crisis. He did go through the same training program you did, didn’t he?”

Tao gave a quick nod. Xiumin was several years older than him, and had graduated from a junior to an elite soldier just as Tao had been entering his own training. It was only through Luhan that they had met and become friends. And while Tao had never seen Xiumin in battle, he knew what the ice wielder was capable of.

“Xiumin was up against a teleporter. There wasn’t much he could have done, your highness. And yelling at him, when he already feels the failure in his heart, isn’t going to help the situation. Xiumin would have done something if he could have. He would have saved Luhan if it was possible.”

“You’re sure?” Kris questioned, curiosity in his tone. His walking slowed until he was at a standstill. “You’d wager your life against those words?”

“I would,” Tao said without hesitation. “Xiumin loves Luhan very much.”

Kris’ shoulders slumped, and in a small voice, he asked Tao, “How could this have happened? In the palace? This is supposed to be the safest place in all of M.”

There was another thing that Tao would never tell Kris, even on pain of death. Kris was hopelessly devoted to his cousin, fond of him in ways that made it a weakness, and overly protective. But Tao was glad it was Luhan who’d been taken. It was a severe loss, both to Kris and M, but it was better Luhan than Kris.

It could have been Kris, and that terrified Tao.

It was a closely hidden secret that the king was on his deathbed, not long away from death, but even if he hadn’t been, Kris still would have been the bigger target. The king was the current, undisputed monarch, but his illness aside, he didn’t have many years left in his reign. Kris was young and full of potential, and poised to take the throne very shortly. Kris had no siblings, and aside from Luhan, there were only distant relatives left with enough royal blood to have a legitimate claim to the crown.

If Kris had been taken or killed, the entire stability of M would have been pure chaos. They’d have to reveal the king’s health to the people, and Luhan would have moved up the succession line.

Tao desperately cared about Luhan, who’d snuck him sugary sweets on his bad days as a training junior, but Luhan was not Kris. Luhan had not been primed for the crown since birth. Neither did Tao think he had the fortitude to rule.

So Tao was glad, even if he could see the way Kris’ heart was breaking over the abduction, that Luhan was the missing party.

“I promised his mother.”

“Who’s mother?” Tao questioned Kris.

Kris clarified, “Luhan’s mother. When I was six and his parents were going to stay with relatives in the south. Before the war. They weren’t taking Luhan with them and I was just starting to understand that we were going to get married one day and what it meant to care for someone. So I promised her that I’d keep him safe and that I wouldn’t let anything happen to him.”

“But you were six,” Tao said.

“I still meant it,” Kris shrugged. “And Luhan was scared to be left behind. He wanted to go.”

They were completely alone in the hallway, and with some bravery, Tao let his fingers brush against the underside of Kris’ elbow. “I don’t actually know how his parents died.” Everyone’s parents died. That was nothing special. The adults went to war and the children were left behind. Tao’s own parents had been gone for years.

Kris turned more directly to Tao, invading his personal space. “There were prewar skirmishes happening everywhere. It wasn’t safe to travel, that’s why they didn’t take Luhan with them, but his mother’s sister was sick and she wanted to see her before she died. They ended up caught between two sides, neither which cared about casualties, at least not until M and K realized who they’d killed. In a lot of ways, their deaths helped spark the start of the war, because M blamed K and K blamed M. My father and Luhan’s father were cousins, and they were very close. I remember my father being very sad, and then very angry.”

Carefully, Tao put his hand on Kris’ shoulder, then tugged the older boy closer. “I know how much you care about Luhan. You love him very much.”

In fact, Tao had never seem someone so devoted to someone else. At least someone who wasn’t deeply in love with the other. Despite the upcoming wedding, there was nothing romantic between Kris and Luhan, only deep affection. But in a lot of ways Tao thought it was something more for Kris than affection. Luhan represented something to him. Something important that he couldn’t bear to lose.”

Kris left his forehead press against the hard shell of Tao’s armor at his shoulder. He wondered, “How will I tell Luhan’s mother I let this happen to her only child when I meet her in the afterlife?”

“Hey,” Tao chided gently, “you just said two things that are very wrong.”

“What?” Kris asked with a slightly muffled voice.

Tao took Kris by the hand and led him into a nearby, empty room. Once the door was safely shut behind them, he pressed Kris up against the wall and kissed him firmly. He let his cold fingers frame Kris’ face and he said, “You won’t be going to the afterlife for a very long time, so it’s pointless to even think about that.”

“The second?” Kris asked.

Tao graced him with a real smile. “Luhan is incredibly strong. You and I both know the true depth of his abilities. Most people think of him as this weak, pampered person who is valued for his connection to Mama. People think he’s important because of his visions. But you and I know the truth. We know what his true power is. He’s stronger than you and I, Kris, even if that’s treason to say. He could take us both out with a thought.”

Finally, thankfully, the smallest of grins spread on Kris’ face. “You’re right. Luhan’s abilities are … in a class all their own.”

“So really,” Tao said, “I feel sorry for the poor bastard who thought it was a good idea to take Luhan. You and I both know he’s not dead, but his captor might be at this point.”

Had Luhan killed before? Tao didn’t think so. Luhan wasn’t a soldier, he’d never seen any real combat, and he wasn’t one of the gifted who liked to use his abilities for sadistic pleasure. Luhan barely understood the war itself, or what happen on the battlefield. He was impressively strong, but considerably naïve.

Kris frowned. “Wait. What are you saying?”

“I’m saying what you do next shouldn’t be a revenge mission. It should be a search and rescue.”

“Luhan could be alone in K territory,” Kris said, understanding Tao’s words. “He might be insanely powerful, but he’d be so incredibly outnumbered.”

Pursing his lips, Tao asked, “Would K know who Luhan is?” For the most part, Luhan didn’t leave the palace. He went on vacation occasionally and traveled between secure safe houses, but he was too precious to Kris to risk, and too often in ill health to go very far. When Kris addressed the nation of M, it was always without Luhan by his side, but when official photos were taken, they traditionally stood next to each other for the flashes. In fact most of M was very much aware of what he looked like, especially considering how much they favored him. But K was another story. There had to be people out there who knew exactly who he was and what his importance was.

“The general populous of K probably wouldn’t,” Kris said, a little relief in his voice, “but the military would.”

“Then we have to find him first,” Tao pressed.

Kris leaned back more heavily on the door behind him, and when Tao questioned his change in posture, the prince said, “I’m worried about what Commander Suho said.”

“About them not being behind the kidnapping?”

“I believe him.”

It probably would be easy to pin accountability on K no matter what the truth was. And Tao didn’t think they were so morally above kidnapping a member of the royal family if the opportunity provided itself. But Tao understood what Kris was saying. Tao had been there for the entire transmission and he had seen the look on Suho’s face at the accusation. The man hadn’t been lying.

Which created an even bigger concerned. If Suho and K hadn’t been the kidnappers, then who had?

For the most part, Tao appreciated his ability. It was unique and powerful, and gave him an edge in battle that could help him escape from death in a pinch. But even the ability to manipulate time had its limitations. He absolutely couldn’t flash forward to see the future consequences of his actions, and neither could he go back in time and redo mistakes he’d made.

If only he could have gone back to the point of Luhan’s kidnapping.

“Tao,” Kris said, his fingers brushing across Tao’s cheek. “If I asked you to do something incredibly stupid for me, would you?”

“You don’t need to use my feelings for you to get me to do things,” Tao said plainly.

He regreted his words right away, feeling Kris’ fingers fall away and the distance between them grow exponentially.

“I …” Tao didn’t know how to recover.

Flatly, Kris said, “I need to go see my father right away. With any luck he’ll be awake and in a right state of mind.”

“Kris--”

“You,” Kris cut through his words, “will go to Xiumin again. Get his story one more time. Question Chen, then Lay, and anyone who was in the vicinity at the time. Then get yourself ready to leave.”

“I’m going somewhere?” Tao asked, nearly stumbling over himself to follow after Kris who was already out of the room and striding down the hallway.

Was Kris sending him away?

“Go find Chen,” Kris ordered, all hint of playfulness gone. “Don’t make me order you.”

Tao’s legs brought him to a stop and he bowed immediately, breath rushing from his lungs as Kris walked on. “I understand, your highness.”

He shouldn’t have said what he did. He shouldn’t have accused Kris of using his feelings against him. Especially with Kris so high strung over Luhan.

“I thought I heard voices,” Chen relayed to Tao no less than fifteen minutes later. They were in the antechamber to Luhan’s private rooms, several soldiers actively turning the bedroom upside down looking for a hint of where Luhan might have disappeared to. Xiumin was supervising them with a terrible look on his face that said he blamed himself completely.

“You heard voices,” Tao deadpanned, “and you didn’t alert the guard right away?”

Chen gave a frustrated sigh. “I said I thought I heard voices, Tao. “I thought … sometimes, when Luhan has a vision from Mama, he talks. I thought he could be having another vision. That’s why I didn’t call the guard.”

“Then why didn’t you call for a medical team? Luhan’s visions leave him injured sometimes.”

“Am I a suspect?” Chen threw back angrily. Tao felt electricity crackle across his skin. “Because I sure feel like you’re interrogating me here. Look, Tao, I thought he might be having a vision. But I knew Lay was in there with him. Luhan loses complete control of his body when he has his visions, and sometimes he has seizures. They’re embarrassing for him, and if that’s what was happening, I didn’t want to make him even more uncomfortable.”

“Sorry,” Tao mumbled. “I’m just trying to find out what I can. I have to find Luhan. For his highness.”

Chen crossed his arms across his chest. “You think I don’t feel guilty? I heard something, Tao. That bastard was in there with Luhan when I peeked in. I could have stopped him right there, if only I hadn’t let Luhan send me away. That was my one chance to help him. I let him down. I’m responsible.”

Tao gave him a hard pat to the arm. “There’s only one person responsible, and we’re going to find him. That’s all that matters.”

“It’s not Chen’s fault,” Xiumin called out, crossing over to them. “Tao, I want you to go to his highness and tell him it’s my fault. I had the kidnapper right in front of me and I couldn’t do anything to stop him. I take full responsibility, and I’ll accept my punishment. Whatever it is.”

Tao watched Xiumin swallow visibly, then rolled his eyes at the shorter man. “You’d already be in custody if the prince thought that you had something to do with Luhan’s disappearance, or were at fault some how.”

Xiumin’s eyes fell to the floor. “I thought I might … at least be a little suspicious.”

“Because of where you came from?” Tao questioned. It wasn’t a widespread knowledge that Xiumin hadn’t always been a citizen of M. Neither had he been living in a boarder town right before the start of the war. No, Xiumin had been a complete convert several years into the war via his parents. Xiumin had been K for some time, though he’d never fought against M, and there were plenty of people who would hold it against him if it was ever discovered.

Honestly, even Tao wasn’t sure why Xiumin and his parents had defected from K to join M, or why they’d been accepted, other than Xiumin’s ability and his pledge of allegiance to the king.

If Tao had known that Xiumin had been K when they’d first met, he might have treated him differently, or not trusted him.

“Huh?” Chen asked, looking between the two of them.

At the expression on Xiumin’s face, Tao told Chen, “Go find Lay for me, okay? I need to speak to him about Luhan’s health when he was abducted. I don’t think he was exactly up for gallivanting around Exo. We’re going to find him, but we need to know what kind of a state he’ll be in when we do. He may not be able to help us much if we get into a firefight of some kind.”

“Okay,” Chen said slowly, giving each of them an odd look.

“Xiumin,” Tao said right after he was gone. “You got the best look at this guy outside of Luhan. In fact you may have gotten the only look at him. Lay mentioned he was still asleep when all this was going on, and I think we can all attest that he really does sleep that heavily. You grew up in K. You’re familiar with its people. Tell me you saw something in this guy that can give us a clue where to go. We have to cut down the space somehow.”

Xiumin was almost a head under Tao, but when he straightened up at the thought of being useful, he seemed to grow before Tao’s eyes.

“I’ve never seen him before,” Xiumin said, “and I’ve studied the information we have on Commander Suho’s inner circle. This man’s face was not among them. So if he is working for Suho, he’s been deeply hidden in their command structure. And if he isn’t, then he’s just a shadow and we probably won’t find him.”

Tao’s eyes drifted to Luhan’s room, noting the overturned lounger next to the bed, the shattered antique clock that had rested on the bedside table and the evidence of Xiumin’s ice fury now melted on the carpet.

“I don’t care about finding the kidnapper. I care about finding Luhan. We can deal with anything else after that.”

A little timidly, Xiumin asked, “What will the king do if Luhan isn’t recovered?”

Alive, Tao knew, Xiumin meant if Luhan wasn’t brought back alive.

“The king?” Tao said, breaking off after a second more. “This is falling to the prince, Xiumin. He’s taken responsibility or finding Luhan, and he’ll march us up to Commander Suho’s door if necessary, right into the heart of K’s capital if necessary. This time next week we could be dead or one nation again.” There was an equal chance of either, in Tao’s opinion.

And if that happened, Tao didn’t think there’d be any going back for whichever side was the victor. In the end, it wouldn’t matter. Tao believed Luhan when he said Mama was hurting, maybe even dying. Mama’s days were the same as the king’s, being not many in number.

“I don’t think the prince will have to take us all the way to K’s capital.”

“Why not?” Tao asked.

The first look of hope sparked through Tao as Xiumin said, “I think I recognize the region of K that our kidnapper could be from. His skin color is very distinct to one region in particular, an agricultural sector, and I think I can narrow our chances of tracking him down if that’s where he is by any chance. Or maybe at the least we can find someone there that knows who our kidnapper is. There can’t be more than one teleporter in all of K.”

If this man who’d taken Luhan truly wasn’t working for or with Suho, he’d likely gone with Luhan somewhere that made him feel safe. A hometown area was a good place to start.

“Tao? There’s something else.”

“Hm?”

There was fear in Xiumin’s eyes as he admitted, “I almost killed Luhan. I made a terrible mistake, acting before I could assess the situation properly and I could have killed him.”

Tao’s voice dropped low. “What did you say?”

Short fingers ran through Xiumin’s hair as he confessed, “When I woke all I could see was Luhan, with blood on his face, and this intruder, whoever he was. I reacted without thinking, with my abilities. But Luhan got in the way. I almost killed him.”

Tao hardly thought it was possible that Xiumin could give Luhan so much a paper cut on purpose. Xiumin was one of Luhan’s most dedicated protectors and certainly his best friend. More than that, Xiumin was the kind type not at all suited for the occupation that he held. Xiumin was no vicious by nature.

“How?” Tao requested, “Tell me that part again.”

“I was aiming for the intruder,” Xiumin said emphatically and with no room for doubt. “I know I should have tried to capture him, but he was a threat to Luhan and my intent was to kill. Luhan stepped in the way. I would have hit him if the intruder hadn’t teleported him away at the last second. He … he probably saved Luhan’s life from me.”

“Do not,” Tao said with narrowed eyes, “give any credit to that deviant.” After a second more, Tao wondered, “Why did Luhan get in the way? Are you sure you weren’t aiming at him by mistake?”

Xiumin shook his head fiercely. “I might have been half asleep still, but I still had complete control over my ability. I was aiming at the intruder, and Luhan jumped in front of him.”

“He probably had half a mind to bring him in alive,” Tao said, hands going to his hips in thought. “A teleporter from K, even a rogue one at that, would be better off alive than dead to us. Luhan would have known that value of the intruder. That’s probably what happened.”

“Maybe,” Xiumin mumbled, but he didn’t seem convinced even if he didn’t say otherwise.

“It’s okay,” Tao said finally, clasping Xiumin on the shoulder. “You did the best you could under the circumstances, and like I was telling his highness earlier, Luhan is incredibly strong. He’d be more than a match to anyone stupid enough to kidnap him.”

Absently, Xiumin told Tao, “Maybe if he was one hundred percent back to normal, but Tao, he wasn’t recovered from his earlier fit. He was still weak. And I’m worried about him being so far away from Lay now, if he has another one. He depends on Lay to see him through them these days.”

Tao straightened up. “I’m going to propose a rescue mission to his highness. We have to try and find Luhan no matter what.”

As it turned out, Tao didn’t have to propose anything to Kris. It was Kris who found Tao later that day, as the sun was beginning to set, and said, “I’ve spoken to my father about Luhan.”

Tao kept his head bowed as he asked, “How is his majesty?”

Tight lipped, Kris only said, “He was able to hold the conversation.” That probably meant Lay had been with him, straining himself to keep the king aware enough of the situation to actually speak to his son. It might have been better to just let him go to the afterlife before Luhan had been kidnapped, but now there wasn’t any option but for him to hang on. At least for Kris’ sake. Tao didn’t think Kris could handle the loss of his father and Luhan at the same time.

“What did he say?” Tao asked a bit brazenly.

They were moving to a secluded in a small, out of the way stretch of hall before Kris would risk saying, “He’s in agreement that Luhan has to be found and recovered, even if it means a full invasion of K.”

Tao didn’t doubt for one second that the king was fond of Luhan and wanted his safe return. But neither did he think that plans for invasion were based purely on the want for his return. Maybe Kris’ were, but that was what ultimately made Kris someone more governed by his emotions than his father.

As of late, the past few years in particular, public opinion had begun to shift away from the war. Sometimes late at night Tao would watch Kris fidget in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The prince would tell him about the public’s dissatisfaction over the war with K. Many of them, with the number growing daily, wanted to let go of K. They were tired or war, or maybe just dissatisfied that K hadn’t folded in ten years and didn’t look to be doing so any time soon.

Kris was far more likely to give into he people’s wishes than his father. And the king was far more likely to use whatever tools at his disposal to push his addenda of war.

And using Luhan … Luhan who was beloved by the people, was a brilliant strategy. Whether Suho had really been behind Luhan’s abduction, or not, the king could tell the people he had, and they’d rally behind the idea of recovering him. They’d embrace the final push towards invasion. The king would both recover Luhan, and win his war.

Tao just didn’t think Kris would ever realize this, not with his mind so preoccupied with finding Luhan.

“But,” Kris continued, “a full military brigade won’t bring Luhan home safely to us. If anything, they’ll get him killed. What we need is a much smaller force, one that’s able to slip into K unbeknownst to her commander and not draw any attention.”

“Me,” Tao said immediately. “I could get in fairly easily, I’ve been to K several times before, and my ability makes it easy for me to avoid detection. I should go.”

“Tao,” Kris said gently, unlike how he usually spoke. “I can’t ask you to do this. I won’t ask you to do this.”

“Why not?” Tao asked, unsure. “You love Luhan. I’d be bringing you back someone you love, if I succeeded.”

“Because, idiot,” Kris said, clearly uncomfortable from his stance. “If you were caught, they’d kill you right away. They wouldn’t take you hostage.”

Tao shrugged. He knew that.

“And,” Kris said with a squirm. “I love Luhan, but I’m in love with you. Idiot.”

Tao’s feet felt like they had weights in them. If someone tossed him in the ocean at that very moment, Tao was certain he’d sink right down. He knew the prince was fond of him, and they stole enough kisses to call it infatuation at times, but … love.

“Don’t just stand there like that,” Kris snapped. “And don’t ask me to say it again.”

“You love me,” Tao echoed. “You’re in love with me.” That sort of thing was something Tao had never expected. For Kris to be in love with him … for him to return the feelings that Tao had for him …

Kris mustered up a show of strength. “I won’t ask you to put yourself on the line like that and risk not coming back to me. That’s something that--”

Tao cut him off with a fierce kiss, pouring himself into it desperately, clenching at Kris’ clothing.

“I’ll go,” Tao said finally, when he was breathless and Kris looked dazed. “And try to have a little more confidence in me. I’ve never let you down before, have I?”

“No,” Kris admitted. “But this is different.”

“It’s not,” Tao scoffed. Then he said, “I’ve been talking to Xiumin. He thinks he got a clear enough look at the kidnapper to identify the region of K he’s from. There’s a chance he may have gone back there in a panic. Luhan may be there, and Xiumin is familiar with the area. I want to take him with me, if he agrees.”

“You could take Chen instead.”

“Chen?” Tao’s head tilted. “For some extra firepower?”

“You don’t know?” Kris gave a little laugh, his pinky catching Tao’s. “Chen wasn’t born in the north, and he certainly wasn’t here when K broke away from M. He’s like Xiumin.”

Chen? Tao could barely believe it. Chen had unwavering loyalty to M and he was beyond dedicated to helping protect Kris as the rightful heir to the throne. There was no way he was … from K. A post secession K.

“Are you sure?” Tao asked, feeling a little dumb.

“Of course I am. And my father vetted him personally before allowing him into our ranks, so don’t doubt him. Plenty of people have their reasons for wanting to change sides. All that matters is where his loyalty lies, and I don’t doubt that it’s here. You shouldn’t either.”

“But Chen,” Tao eased out. “I never would have believed it. His accent is flawless.”

There was a distinct difference between the dialects of M and K, and anyone trying to speak the one they weren’t originally familiar with, carried a heavy and distinguishable accent. Originally it had been a southern dialect and a northern one, but now the difference held a much deeper meaning.

Kris pointed out, “It’s another reason you might be better taking him instead of Xiumin. Chen can pass for K in every way. That could be invaluable to you. I don’t know how well you can mime the K drawl.”

“No,” Tao decided, “Xiumin’s the only one who’s actually seen the kidnapper’s face. If he agrees to go, that’ll double our chances.”

“Okay,” Kris said quietly, the tips of his fingers brushing Tao’s. “You can use the invasion of M into K as decent cover to sneak across the K boarder. They’ll all be distracted and as long a you aren’t in uniform, I don’t think they’ll pay you any mind.”

Tao bumped his forehead against Kris’ playfully. “Stop worrying so much. I’ll find Luhan and bring him back to you. We already decided he’s giving his kidnapper hell, right?”

Slowly Kris’ arms came up around Tao and he was hugging the younger man tightly. Tao reveled in the feeling as Kris said, “I believe in you. But I can’t help being worried. Worried about the things happening here, too.”

“What kinds of things?” Tao asked suspiciously. “Your father’s health?”

“No,” Kris mumbled against the skin at Tao’s neck. “I told Suho that I ordered the attack on the neutral area because I had to look confident. I had to seem powerful. But I didn’t, Tao. My father’s advisory council did. They didn’t consult me first. They took immediate control of our army and issued the order themselves.”

“Can they do that?” Tao asked, pulling Kris back.

“Yes,” came the shaky reply. “My father is still king, so I have no power, but with him incapacitated most of the time, they make the decisions. I’m just … here for appearance’s sake until I’m king. Tao, they think they can use me as nothing but a figurehead. I know it. I see it in their eyes every time we talk, and I’m afraid they’re going to try and use Luhan to control me. That’s why you have to get to him first and bring him back before my father dies. They can’t be allowed to usurp power from me.”

There was real fear in Kris’ eyes, and for all his brash behavior and attitude, Tao knew he cared about his people deeply.

“I’ll find Luhan,” Tao swore, “and I will bring him back before your father dies. Then you’ll marry him and you’ll be safe from their machinations.”

Kris pressed a chaste kiss to Tao’s mouth. “I seriously doubt I’ll ever be free of them, but this is the most we can do now. You won’t be the only one from M out there looking for him, either. I know they’ve already dispatched a few someones covertly. If they get to Luhan before I’m king, we’ll be in for a heap of trouble. What the council did to the neutral area will only be the beginning.”

Tao left that night, just after sunset, a determined Xiumin with him.

“How long do you think we have?” Xiumin asked, M’s royal palace growing more distant by the minute. It was a long journey to even reach K’s boarder, and it would be longer still to reach the part of K that Xiumin was certain the kidnapper originated from.

“Hard to tell,” Tao answered honestly.

By morning K and M would be slaughtering each other in a no hold’s bar kind of method, and Exo would be further ripped apart by their two sides. It was also impossible to tell how long the king’s health would hold, even with Lay’s full power doing its best to sustain him. And there was the chance they were headed completely in the wrong direction to find Luhan. For all Tao knew, he was already lost to them, or not where they thought he could be.

It all seemed hopeless when he thought about it.

“Come on,” Tao said, gesturing for Xiumin to drive a bit faster. They’d have to ditch their vehicle if anyone spotted them, but for now they could make time with it. “More people are depending on us than we can imagine.”

Tao had made a promise, maybe an unfair one at that, to Kris that he would bring Luhan home to them. Tao didn’t have a habit of breaking his promises, and he didn’t intend to start with the most important one he’d ever made. Not with so much on the line.