The guard dragged Jinyoung upstairs and through the door, then shoved him on his back so he would stumble forward and make a hard landing on his knees when he tried to catch himself. In front of him was a silver cage, and from behind the bars, Mark stared back at him hungrily.

He was bleeding badly from whip marks on his back and legs, but was still standing upright, ignoring the blood as it dripped down and matted into his fur. There was a reddish tint to his amber eyes, and foam formed on his lips as he panted, showing his sharp, lethal teeth. He was still for a moment as he looked at Jinyoung, and for a moment Jinyoung hoped against hope that Mark recognized him even in this state. But then a moment later Mark roared violently, snapped his jaw, and charged at the bars of the cage to sink his teeth into Jinyoung, held back only by the strength of the metal.

“No,” Jinyoung whispered, closing his eyes. “No.”

“Yes, it’s unfortunate isn’t it?” he heard Hyun's voice taunt. He opened his eyes, seeing his former mentor seated at the raised platform beyond the cage, in the place the church’s altar must have once been. “This is what your lover has been reduced to in the name of protecting you. You have no one to blame but yourself, you know. He would have never charged in so blindly if it hadn’t been for you.”

“Shut up!” Jinyoung snapped wildly. “You did this! You’re responsible for this, for all of this!”

“I would not have had to do it if your damned beasts had just stayed in Calovia where they belonged and had nothing to do with us humans,” Hyun said calmly. “They chose to stick their noses in our lives and couple with our people and dilute our bloodlines. They chose to steal my intended bride before I could heal her. They made a mockery of me and mine.”

“You make a mockery of yourself. You practically bribed Chungha into marriage using her mother's life and expected her to be honored by it, and now you go off in a tantrum because she chose the family who treasured her, half-blood included, over you, you who only wanted to possess her under your own terms? It’s pathetic. And you think you’re so much better than me, when all I did is love a good man and you are on the verge of wiping out an entire nation of good people just because a woman jilted you.”

Hyun's eyes narrowed. “This is far beyond that. I do what I do in the name of all other men who will have their women taken from them by beasts. In the name of mothers and fathers who may be cursed with beast-blooded grandchildren with tails and ears who feast upon raw meat like barbarians. In the name of the humanity and sanctity and superiority of all we are above all god’s creations.”

“Were the beasts and birds not his creations, then? Do you think god loves them any less he does us?”

“How could he love them more, when he made them so savage and us so noble? No, humans are the purest of his children, and we were not meant to blend with them and descend to their level. We were meant to rule over them, as I intend to do.” He nodded to Mark, snarling away in his cage. “Just look at the object of your affections, Jinyoung. That is what you would have given yourself to. An animal. A drooling creature who gave into his subhuman instincts with one prick of the needle. You could argue I did you a great favor in revealing his true nature to you, can’t you? Because what you see before you is all they truly are and all they ever will be.”

Jinyoung rose to his feet shakily. “I’m not going to just sit here and listen to you taunt me with Mark. I’m not going to spend the precious moments of my life, whether they be the last I have or not, having you torture me or hurt him in the name of your petty revenge. You can satisfy yourself as much as you like thinking you’re doing something good and noble by ridding the world of another beast lover, but I did something of more worth in loving him than you’ve done with these ‘brilliant’ experiments of yours. And no matter how hard you try to turn back the forward motion of the world, it will keep flooding onwards. Love like ours will live longer and evolve stronger than hatred such as yours. While you rot one day in an unmarked grave with all your thoughts of suppression being eaten away by the worms and maggots who feast on your brain, the world will be filled with the children of beasts and humans, whether human-blooded, beast-blooded, half-blooded, or whatever combination our love creates as the world evolves. The thing you feared so much will be the reality of the world, and the world will be just as vibrant and happy for it as it would have otherwise, and no retribution will rain down from the heavens and the world will keep turning and life will go on as it always does. So if you think that killing me is some kind of final stamp on your grand plans, you’re sorely mistaken. I know the world will continue to grow and change in the way it wants to, even when I’m gone.” His body was shaking even harder now. “I regret that I won’t be the one to kill you, Hyun, for hurting Mark and twisting his mind enough to where he can’t hear me saying this and know that I’m at peace no matter what happens and no matter what he does. But make no mistake, you will die. You’ve sewn so much death, and it will soon be your turn to reap it. Now send me to mine. I’m not afraid.”

He wasn’t either. He did not want to die, and he did not mean to die at Mark’s hands if there was any way he could stop it. But he wasn’t afraid, even if it came to that. He had faith in everything he’d just said. Faith that Mark had given him.

He felt up his sleeve for the syringe he’d tucked there. He’d likely only have a single moment, unless Youngjae had the good sense to burst into song and buy Jinyoung more time. He had to fight for that one small chance with all he had. Even if he wasn’t afraid to die, he didn’t want to burden Mark with the pain it would cause. He didn’t want it to end with them yet again not on the same page, not understanding each other and missing out on the connection they were always dancing on the edge of forming.

“So be it,” Hyun said in a cold voice. “Die, then. But do not delude yourself, Jinyoung: I was the one who was bold enough to snatch the power to shape the world. The world you imagine will not come to pass. The world the people truly want is mine.” Hyun snapped his fingers. “Guards! Has the crane been properly gagged?”

“Yes, boss!” one of the guards said from the door to where Youngjae was being kept. “He nearly took out an eye or two, but we’ll hear no more singing from him.”

“Good.” He turned to the guard that had brought Jinyoung up from the dungeons. “Put him in the cage with the lion.”

“M-Me, boss? But the lion could take a bite of me when I’m opening the door.”

“You assume I care. I do not. Put him in the cage.”

The guard swallowed nervously, then stepped forward to push Jinyoung by his back towards Mark. Mark snarled, gnashing his teeth. Jinyoung looked into his eyes. Please. I only need a single second. Please remember me just enough to give me that.

The guard reached around Jinyoung, using him as a shield as he opened the door to Mark’s cage. As soon as it was opened just enough, he shoved Jinyoung in so forcefully that it sent him practically flying in. Even Mark took a few steps back at this intrusion into his space.

Jinyoung had meant to have his hand ready on the syringe from the moment he was in the cage, but the guard’s reckless manhandling of him had made him unable to keep his grip properly. He scrambled up as best as he could, fumbling in his sleeve for the antidote. He found himself eye-to-eye with Mark, able to feel his breath tickling against his face.

Mark released a low grumble, flashing his sharp teeth as a hungry look filled his reddened eyes. He crouched low, just as he had before mauling the scouts that had tried to kill Jinyoung in the mountain passes. Jinyoung’s fingers connected with the syringe in his sleeve, but he already knew there wasn’t enough time. He’d missed his chance, and Mark, who was much quicker than him by far, was already poised to strike.

But then, suddenly, Mark seemed to scent the air before executing his pounce. The hunger in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by a look Jinyoung could only identify as confusion. He scented the air again, and then rose from his crouch, taking a few steps back, not completely at peace as he would have been if Youngjae had been able to sing and soothe him, but at the very least emptied of his previous desire to kill.

I smell just like him, Jinyoung realized. With his mind muddled, he doesn’t understand why, and maybe it’s keeping him from attacking. After all, Mark hadn't had time to go undergo the same training the other Feral had. Maybe his instict not to attack one of his own kind was still present.

He didn’t really have the leisure of dwelling on it for too long, in case Mark’s hunger soon convinced him to change his mind. He took out the syringe and stepped up to Mark.

“Attack!” Hyun shrieked from behind. He cracked his whip. “Don’t just stand there, attack him!”

“No,” Jinyoung said softly. “You won’t, will you? We still have our promise. I’m yours to protect. And you are mine.”

With that, he slid his arms around Mark's neck and sank the needle into his flesh, pressing down on the plunger. Mark could have bitten or mauled him right then and there if he’d wanted before the antidote worked its way through him, but he didn’t. Instead, he rested his muzzle on Jinyoung’s shoulder. A rough tongue pressed against Jinyoung’s neck in a feeble . Jinyoung kept his arms wrapped around him until Mark at last slumped to the ground, shaking with spasms.

“What did you do?” Hyun thundered. “What did you give him?”

“The very same cure you taught me to make,” Jinyoung said, rising to his feet. “You didn’t stop trusting people soon enough, it seems. You’ve already shown me the exact way to undo everything you’ve done.”

“Do you think it matters? If your lion won’t kill you, I will, and everything you know will die with you.”

“The problem is, he’s already shared what he knows with others,” Minhyun’s voice came from behind. Jinyoung turned. The King was standing with a small collection of beasts around him—a jackal, a caracal, an ocelot, and a honey badger. All were about the right size to capably slip through the bars of their cages. Most were still shaky on their feet, recovering from the after effects of the antidote, but there was no mistaking the look of fury on their faces or in their hissing snarls. “And we’d sooner tear out your throat than submit to you again.”

Hyun froze, the blood draining from his face. “You.”

“Me. The dreaded half-blood, scourge upon the world. Come to watch you die.”

No sooner than the words fell from his lips, there was a ruckus from the room where Youngjae was being kept, beginning with the sound of something noisily clattering to the ground and continuing with the clamor of growls and yips and hisses from beasts and the dying screams of humans. Jinyoung thought for a moment that the beasts from the training room connected to Youngjae’s prison had stormed the room, but seconds later the door burst open and Jackson, Yugyeom, and Jaebum leapt in tandem to take down the guards waiting outside in a bloody slaughter. Jackson grabbed one guard between his jaws and hurled him down the hallway. The guard’s body triggered the trap, and the cage came clattering down upon it with a metallic clang. In the room behind them, Jinyoung could see BamBam flying up to Youngjae to remove his gag.

“We finally meet,” Jaebum said to Hyun in the most venomous voice Jinyoung had ever heard from him. Blood dripped from his maw, and a blazing anger seemed to burn in his eyes. “The human that dared to touch my mate. Mine at last to kill.”

“You may have to fight me for the honor, Your Majesty,” a faint voice said. Jinyoung glanced down at his feet. Mark was rising to his feet, body trembling. With the antidote still freshly inside him, he should have been knocked out for at least a half-hour, and even upon waking, he shouldn’t have been able to move so quickly. But Jinyoung remembered how he had stubbornly walked even with immobilizing poison in his body when Jinyoung had served as his healer. There seemed nothing able to stop Mark when he was determined to do something, and now, after what he’d just been subjected to, he was likely more determined now than he’d ever been.

“That human has also harmed my own mate,” Mark said, stumbling forward past Jinyoung and out of the cage. “I will be the one to kill him.”

“Not a chance,” Jaebum said. “This moment will be spoken of as a glorious victory among the beast and bird tribes for generations. No one wants to hear about the kill going to a drugged-up lion who’d just gotten himself captured.”

“Perhaps they’d like to hear it more than the kill going to a fox who was absent for most of the .”

“I have an insult to my mate’s honor to avenge.”

“As do I.”

“Well, then.” Jaebum flicked his tail, padding around the cage that had fallen over the dead guard to get himself into position near where Hyun was standing, frozen. “How about we both kill him, then?”

“Very well.” Mark crouched low. “On my count.”

“WAIT!” Hyun yelled, throwing his hands over his face. “This…this would be a grievous mistake.”

“Five,” Mark said, ignoring him.

“I’m…I’m a very wealthy man. Let me go, and I can shower your kingdom in riches. Calovia will be the most glorious nation on the continent.”

“Things are not bought and sold for gold in my kingdom,” Jaebum said. “Try again.”

“Four,” Mark said.

“I…I…I could restore the wings of your mate, the red-crowned crane,” Hyun said desperately. “He could fly again, and…and…I could come up with some way of using his genetic makeup to assure he could have offspring so his species will not die with him.”

“Three,” Mark continued.

“I have not mated with a red-crowned crane,” Jaebum said. “I have mated with a white fox, and I do not require flight from him, or offspring, only the love he swore to me on the day you separated us.”

“Two,” Mark said.

“T-Then, Jinyoung!” Hyun barked, turning to Mark. “I’ll personally oversee the building of a palace for the two of you to live in leisure for the rest of your days. Just let me live!”

“If we are to have a home, it will be one I make with my own two hands," Mark snarled. "He would be safer accepting a gift from a poisonous snake than he would be accepting anything that comes from you.”

“But-”

“One.”

Jaebum and Mark pounced forward as one, Jaebum biting into Hyun's neck, and Mark mauling him right in the heart. The scream Hyun unleashed might have been a terrible thing to listen to, but the other beasts—Jackson, Yugyeom, those that had accompanied Minhyun, Minhyun himself in his desert fox form—threw back their heads a released long and glorious howls of victory. From his cage, Youngjae did the same, the notes of his voice forming a harmony with theirs. It struck Jinyoung as strangely beautiful. Maybe it was because that their victory wasn’t truly marked by the end of a villain’s life, but in the survival and freedom of their people assured by his death. These voices that were ringing through Jinyoung’s ears would not be silenced by the hatred and fear of another.

When they had finished their assault, Mark and Jaebum joined in the howl, and it shuddered through Jinyoung. He fell to his knees, exhaustion catching up to him. The mission had ended, essentially. Everything after would be the ‘what next’ there was so much uncertainty in facing. What would be next? Even in spite of knowing the world he wanted, Jinyoung knew it wasn’t possible to obtain it merely by wishing. Nothing was ever so simple as that.

“JAEBUMMIE!” Youngjae’s voice hollered from the other room. “GET MY KEY OFF THAT BLOODY MESS OF A BEASTNAPPER, WOULD YOU?”

And there was the one part of the mission that as yet remained incomplete. Jaebum shifted from his fox form and dug around Hyun's waist and through his keyrings, eventually turning up one key kept separate from the others. He ran into the room and tossed the key up to BamBam, who caught it and turned it through the lock, throwing the door open. Rather than waiting for BamBam to lower him gently to the ground, Youngjae jumped straight out of the cage and into Jaebum’s arms below. Jaebum fell to the ground at the impact, Youngjae landing on top of him. Neither seemed to care. They erupted into a delighted chorus of yips, and whatever bit of skin they could get at in their excitement at being together after two years apart. Youngjae didn’t have a tail to wag, but he seemed to be pretending nonetheless, his whole lower body swaying back and forth in time with Jaebum’s.

“You found me!” Youngjae said delightedly. “I knew that if I sang for you, you would. It’s just like when we were kids playing in the woods. Whenever I got lost, all I needed to do was sing, and you’d come for me. It took you such a long time, but you came.”

“Of course I did,” Jaebum said. “I’d never leave you behind, ever. You’re my mate, and I’ll always come and find you, no matter where you go. I missed you so much.”

 “I missed you even more. The people around here were nightmares. I’m glad you killed them, but I wished you’d left just one for me. I wanted to tear off their fingers and-”

“Shove them down their throats, yes,” Jaebum said. He made a sound that was halfway between a laugh of delight and a sob of utter relief.

“Don’t cry about it, you big baby, I’m not that angry about it.” Youngjae gave him another firm on the cheek. Suddenly he paused, glancing up at Jaebum’s hair. “Jaebummie…are you going bald?”

This time, Jaebum followed through with both laughing and crying, burying his face into Youngjae’s shoulder as the immense joy proved to be too much for him. Apparently, this wasn’t something he did often, since Youngjae gaped in surprise. “It’s OK, it’s OK, I have hair enough for both of us, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, Jaebummie! I think you’re handsome even with a bald spot! It’s a really beautiful one!”

“He’s fine, my prince, just let him cry a little,” Jackson advised. “He’s been holding it back all this time.”

Youngjae nodded, pressing his cheek against Jaebum's hair. "You can cry now," he said softly. "But from now on, we're always going to be together, and I'll give you nothing but smiles, I promise. Just like you've always given to me." He looked back up at the lieutenants. “Good to see you Yugyeom, Jackson. Thanks for busting down the window. Thank you, too, BamBam. I was really impressed how you lifted Jackson up like that, in wolf form no less, and just chucked him at the window to knock it down. Really cool. You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime.”

“For you, anytime,” BamBam said, bowing. Jackson, whose face Jinyoung now realized looked a little bit red and dented, rolled his eyes but smiled.

“And is that the General I see over there? What a rescue party!”

Mark’s form shifted slightly as he stepped forward to go to Youngjae, but the action proved to be too much for him. He fell to the ground, blood and sweat trickling down him.

Jinyoung ran forward before anyone else could. He didn’t have his healer’s kit thanks to Hyun, but he immediately began tearing his robes to staunch the worst of his wounds in the interim. “Minhyun,” he called back to his king, forgetting his honorifics. “Could you please find my kit or any supplies Hyun may have had here?”

“I’m on it,” Minhyun said. He knelt down to speak to the beast companions he had with him. “Will you help me look? Jinyoung is a healer and mate of your general. He’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”

“The General has a human mate?” Jinyoung heard Youngjae ask curiously.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Jackson said. “Come on, we should look for ways to help, too. Mark’s had a very rough day of it.”

As the others scattered to search for medicine and equipment for Jinyoung to use, Jinyoung mopped up the blood from the places where Mark had been whipped, cringing at the violent red welts left on him underneath his fur. “I wish you could kill him again for this,” he hissed in anger. “Oh, Mark, I’m so sorry. I brought you right into a trap.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Mark said in a faint voice. “This was nothing. I would have done it a thousand times over for you. I…” He closed his eyes. “I’m the one who is sorry, for allowing them to turn me Feral when I knew the consequences. I could have killed you.”

“But you didn’t,” Jinyoung said gently. “And it was because you’d put your scent on me. I smelled too much like you for you to attack me without question. It saved my life.”

Mark shook his head with effort. “No, Jinyoung. It wasn’t because you smelled like me. It was…because you smelled like me and you. The smell only a mate would have. I knew that by instinct, even without control of my mind. I knew you were my mate, and I knew I couldn’t harm you.”

“Mark…” Jinyoung blinked back an onslaught of tears. “You have nothing to apologize for either. There were so many times where you could have hurt me, but you never did. You never have. And I know…I know without question you never will.”

Mark pressed his nose gently into Jinyoung’s hand. “And yet you said to me before that you’ve never been able to feel happy without feeling sad. That’s a form of hurt, isn’t it? One I couldn’t fix for you.”

“I think you just did.”

“And yet you’re crying.” His rough tongue gently lapped at Jinyoung’s hand. “I wish meeting you didn’t have to give you cause to cry so often.”

“There are different kinds of tears, Mark. These are because you said something kinder to me than anything anyone else has ever said.”

Their conversation was cut off by Minhyun emerging with a kit of medical supplies for Jinyoung’s use. Jinyoung set to work cleaning Mark’s wounds and salving the welts. When he was sufficiently cleaned up, Jinyoung quietly pricked him with a sedative that would make him sleep for awhile so he wouldn’t be tempted to push himself while he was still healing. With Mark asleep, he turned his attention to the other beasts who were in need of immediate healing, though Mark’s words still echoed through his mind and heart while he worked. I knew you were my mate, and I knew I couldn’t harm you…

The Feral that had been in the training room had each received the antidote and were still knocked out, having been exposed to the corrupted water longer than their counterparts in the dungeon. It would be some time before they would be able to return to Calovia, Jinyoung knew, which meant they would have to temporarily transform the High Laboratorium into their new base, something that could not be done without attracting some attention from whatever military look-outs operated in the area.

“I will have to act quickly,” Minhyun said when Jinyoung finally collapsed at the table where his king had already begun discussing next steps with King Jaebum and the Sacred Prince. “Not only will I have to give an account of everything that happened here, but I’ll need to call off the war and try to put some measure of peace treaty in place that everyone will accept.”

“Do you think they will accept it?” Jaebum asked measuredly. “I’m all for peace, of course, but I’m not so unrealistic that I think people will stop hating us overnight.”

“I’m not so unrealistic either,” Minhyun admitted. “I’ll be lucky if they don’t toss me out when they find out I’m even more of a fox than I was when I was first crowned. But I’m determined to do all I can. What happened here should be…sobering, to say the least. I’d be surprised if my people weren’t the slightest bit horrified at what was done to yours. I’m admittedly more concerned at the possibility of retaliation from your people after what Hyun did. It would be understandable, if not appreciated.”

“We’re done warring,” Jaebum said firmly. “If any beasts want to retaliate, they’ll do it without the slightest bit of support from me or the General. It will never end if we refuse to let it, and I would be happy if I ended my reign without ordering my army to another battlefield.”

“I think if I can keep my crown, you and I will be in a unique position to actually urge good relations between our kingdoms on. If we leave it up to our people, they’ll stay cloistered in their respective homes and never venture out to learn about and understand each other.”

“I wonder if half-blooded individuals such as yourself might be able to form the initial bridge,” Jaebum mused. “I’ve got a number of humans who mated into beast tribes who wish they could live closer to the highlands so they could visit their relatives with greater ease. Perhaps we might think of building a colony between our two nations for humans and beasts who already wish to live together to set a precedence. It will encourage more comfortable travel, and if it proves to be a success, it may open the doors for more beasts and half-bloods to live in the highlands, and for more humans to live in Calovia.”

“I would be all for it,” Minhyun said. “Though it would have to be well looked after while it was being established. I wonder as well about the possibility of opening up our universities to beast students and professors. As of now, we learn absolutely nothing about beast history, so it’s no wonder you often feel unknown and mysterious to us. A little perspective could help. Jinyoung, what do you think?”

“Hmm?” Jinyoung murmured sleepily. In spite of how much this subject mattered to him, he’d hit a limit of exhaustion and could barely focus.

“I think the General’s mate needs a rest,” Youngjae commented. “I’ll take him. You two, carry on.” He pecked Jaebum on the cheek, then stood to offer Jinyoung his arm. Jinyoung could walk just fine on his own, even as tired as he was, but decided to take it nonetheless. There was a part of Youngjae’s aura that was decidedly fox-like and spunky, but yet a part of him that was as graceful and majestic as BamBam suggested the cranes were more typically by nature. That part of him soothed Jinyoung, even without the magic of his beautiful voice.

“So," Youngjae said as he steered Jinyoung down the hallway. "I know we've just barely met each other, but as a prince of the beast tribes who's been away for a long time and has a lot of catching up to do on the goings on of the kingdom, I wanted to ask you a kind of personal question. Don't kill me, kay? I just wanted to ask...you and the General aren't really mates, are you? I mean, in the official sense. Like, you haven't actually...eh, what's the human word for it? ed? Engaged in intimate relations?"

Jinyoung blinked. Mark's smell should have been all over him—that was what had saved his life while Mark was Feral, the fact that he still smelled as a mate would. Could Youngjae not smell it, too? All the same, he didn't feel like he could bring himself to lie to the Sacred Prince, not like he lied to the others. "How did you know?" he asked in a small voice.

"I observed you while you were healing him. You two were very careful with each other, like you were dancing around being fully open about something. Not at all like two people who'd enjoyed vigorous and regular...er...ion? More like two people in heat for each other but not acting on it yet." He smiled. "It reminded me of another couple I know."

"Who?"

"Me and Jaebum, back in the day. It wasn't a seamless transition, you know, going from childhood friends to lovers. Especially with everyone acting like I’m some all-important scion of an extinct line of cranes and insisting I needed to mate with a woman from the bird tribe, of all things! Anyways, we went through a period where we were terribly awkward around each other while we were figuring everything out. Much like you and Mark are now." Youngjae looked at him kindly. "Can you explain to me why you're pretending to be proper mates when you're not yet?"

Jinyoung explained how he'd healed Mark, and how Jaebum had found out about it and commanded him to come to court. 

"The General thought my Jaebummie would kill you?" Youngjae asked, looking mildly affronted. "My mate is all bark and no bite, though. He may look scary, but he's as sweet as sugar on the inside."

"Er...well...he got a bit angry after what happened to you. Reasonably so."

"Good! I would hope he wasn't skipping around while brainless ruffians were putting me in a bird cage. It's bad enough people in Calovia confuse me for a bird; I didn't need it from highland idiots, too!" Youngjae huffed. "Anyways...so you and Mark had a promise, huh? Well, I can tell you one thing. The General is going to see through the terms of that promise. It doesn't matter if you want to stay or he wants you to stay. Whatever happens, there's no way he won't take you to Low Lofferin first and assure your family you're all right. That's just the kind of honorable guy he is."

"But after that?" Jinyoung asked anxiously. "Would he ask me to come back with him once my family knows I'm all right? Will he take me as his mate in earnest?"

Youngjae tilted his head. "Proper mating is for life, you know."

"Yes," Jinyoung said patiently, "Mark has already firmly established that."

"Yes, but I'm wondering if it's the same for humans. When they 'propose' to someone, do they have that 'life' they are promising firmly established? It's a great point of honor among us beasts. Jaebum and I...uh...coupled? to seal our union in a physical sense pretty speedily after we established the whole in love with each other thing. But he wouldn't marry me until he'd dug me a perfectly divine burrow for us to share and gotten me all I would need to live there with ease given that I can't shift into my fox form. He had to establish that he was a capable husband who could provide for me, and that he was ready to have a safe and comfortable 'household' to bring me into, as you humans would say." 

Jinyoung nodded. It was similar enough among humans, though having the financial security to be married was the greater concern.

“Anyways, I’m finally getting to the point here!” Youngjae said. “I’m just saying that if Jaebum, the King of Calovia himself, needed time to show he could provide for me, the General may see himself as needing even longer. I don’t think he’d see the life he has now as sufficient to offer you.”

“But he’s the General of the entire army!”

“Unless things have changed a hell of a lot in the two years I’ve been away, he’s considered to be an outsider in his tribe all the same because of being half-blooded. He lives apart from the other lions, and none of them particularly consider him to be ‘one of them.’ And no offense to you, that would probably even deepen if he had a human mate, which you probably picked up on when you were there.”

Jinyoung nodded. That had been true enough, from what he’d witnessed at the pride gathering.

“Mark has a lot of pride, you know. Maybe even more than Jaebum. He wouldn’t want to bring you into a life in a permanent sense where you’d have to put up with people treating you poorly or insulting you because of him. That’s just not who he is. He’d want you to give you the best the world has to offer so you never experience anything bad because of him.”

“But I would never blame him for the rudeness of other people!”

“I didn’t think you would. You don’t seem like that kind of person. I’m just saying that’s how it is for us beasts. When we mate, we want to offer our partner perfect and complete happiness. That’s probably half of the reason my Jaebummie's going bald, because something bad happened that he couldn’t protect me from just hours after we were married. I don’t blame him for it, of course, but I can’t force him not to feel partially responsible for it if that’s how his sense of honor and obligation make him feel. So I’m going to accept whatever he chooses to do to make up to me for it, and I’ll look after him just as devotedly so no one causes anything bad to happen to him, and maybe, if I’m lucky, one day his heart will be at ease and he can look beyond what happened here and his hair will grow back and nothing will ever touch us again.”

Jinyoung nodded solemnly. He didn’t fully understand, but maybe he had to allow for there to be differences in ways of thinking between himself and Mark. They had their share of similarities, of course, but nothing could change that they came from different backgrounds and had known two very different ways of life. Jinyoung already loved Mark for exactly who he was, and there was no doubt that sense of honor that had commanded him to defend Jinyoung’s life with everything he had back when they barely even knew each other was part of what he loved.

“None of this means the General doesn’t love you, of course,” Youngjae said, patting Jinyoung on the shoulder. “These things just take time.”

“But we don’t have time,” Jinyoung said. “I’m going home. If he wants me as a part of his life, wouldn’t he have to tell me now?”

“Is it really that simple? There’s not an inseparable barrier blocking the highlands from Calovia, you know. You don't need Mark's permission to come back when you want to come back. Jaebummie and I are the ones in charge, and I think we can both agree that we owe you a place in our court after everything you've done.” Youngjae smiled. “Besides, if the General wants to mate with you as badly as you apparently wish to mate with him, that might speed along the process a little. He can’t sneak into your burrow whenever he feels like if you’re all the way up in the highlands, so that will give him incentive to act a bit faster.” He stopped walking. “Aha. Here we are.”

Rather than bringing Jinyoung to a bedroom, Youngjae had brought him back to the place where Mark was sleeping from the sedative Jinyoung had given him. Jinyoung felt a flood of gratitude. He didn’t want to sleep on a soft bed with thick quilts, or god forbid, in the same bed where Hyun had once slept. He wanted to sleep curled up against Mark, hearing his breathing. He wondered if Youngjae knew this because he wanted the same thing—to curl up against his mate after such a long and painful time apart.

“Thank you,” Jinyoung said, smiling at Youngjae. “It’s no surprise at all that the beast and bird tribes were so saddened by your loss, Your Highness. You really are an incredibly fine white fox.”

Youngjae grinned. “You’re damn right I am! And if you and the General one day get your heads on straight, I’d be honored to have you as my subject, Jinyoung. Just keep in mind everything I said, and remember most importantly of all: the General always keeps his promises. Every single one.”