Smut in the first half of the chapter~ Read again after the arrow
Also blood and gore warning

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After returning from their night at the ocean, Mingi and Yunho had found their peace in the prince's chamber. With their bodies entangled until it was impossible to tell where one began and the other one ended, they had fallen asleep under the golden canopy of the round bed.

When Mingi awoke, he was still curled in Yunho's arms in the same position he had fallen asleep in. Their legs were intertwined, as well as their tails that rested on their calves. Both had wrapped an arm each around each other's waists and had tucked their arms under their heads strategically so they could lie together as close as possible.

For a moment, resting with Yunho was pure bliss. Mingi got to rouse slowly and free his horns from the twisted pillow with a grumble about how much they had grown out again already.

Everything was peaceful until Mingi remembered what day it was. What their plan for the day was. And abruptly, his stomach coiled to the point of pain.

Mingi was scared. About himself, about Yunho, and about what would happen if San's strategy for today failed. In the evening, he would sit with Yunho in some shady inn and wait for the attacker to spring from the shadows, and then it was a race of skill.

Mingi didn't trust his role in the plot. But even less, he liked how much risk the idea posed.

Gnawing on his lip, Mingi studied Yunho's relaxed features. How his tattoos rose and fell with the movement of his chest. How the gold twinkled on his body where some had brushed off his claws in the night. Tight with worry for him, Mingi's heart gave a painful squeeze as he buried his head in Yunho's chest carefully.

For a moment, he rested, listening to the slow and steady beat of Yunho's heart. Then tender fingers brushed his side in a sleepy caress.

"Are you awake?" Yunho whispered, low and quiet enough that Mingi would have continued sleeping if he weren't up. Without raising his head, he nodded. In response, Yunho slotted their thighs closer together, aligning their bodies. Mingi squeaked when their middles brushed together, both of them yearningly erect.

Yunho allowed Mingi to hide away and peek from above as the demon prince lowered his hand from Mingi's hip to slip between their bodies. It wrapped around both of them, squeezing them tightly together until Mingi's eyes rolled back in his head. Tired lids fluttered shut once more as he concentrated on the sparks of pleasure zapping through him at every movement. His fingers dug into Yunho's side, trying to ground himself.

Yunho kissed Mingi's horns and agonisingly trailed his tongue over the sensitive spots. The passionate touches had Mingi shiver and buck into his hand instinctively, their lengths leaking all over each other. It guided the slick slide of Yunho's hand as they ground against each other. Brief gasps and moans escaped them, and Mingi had to restrain himself so he wouldn't tremble from how pleasurable Yunho's tongue on his horns was.

Each move of Yunho's hand pressed his piercings into Mingi's skin. They reminded Mingi of their touch deep inside of him. A yearning tug pulled on his insides as the heat in his belly threatened to boil over.

Gasping, Mingi clung to Yunho. He tried to kiss the prince's collarbones to leave marks as well, but he shook too badly already to concentrate. Hotly, his breath stuttered against Yunho's chest as the sweet pleasure inside of him reached its peak.

Mingi came after a harsh suck of Yunho in a delicate place on his horns. Whimpering, he trembled through the aftershocks while Yunho still strained against him, panting and approaching release as well.

Weakly, Mingi slipped from his arms to push Yunho down on his back. For a moment, his eyes searched Yunho's seeking approval. When Yunho's lidded gaze found him, Mingi shuddered to the tip of his tail.

Mingi's lips trailed down Yunho's stomach, leaving kisses in their wake that worshipped the man's body. When he finally knelt between Yunho's legs, he didn't hesitate.

The skin of Yunho's length was soft on Mingi's tongue; so soft that it created a crass contrast with the pulsing hardness beneath. Carefully, as if he could hurt him, Mingi licked at the piercings, feeling them on his lips. Only when he felt confident enough, he wrapped his lips around Yunho to test his weight in his mouth.

Yunho's groan suffocated in the air between them, private for only Mingi's ears to hear. Enamoured with the sound, Mingi dipped deeper, filling his mouth as far as he could with this part of Yunho that unravelled him for Mingi.

The fingers gripping for Mingi's horns trembled, barely able to keep their hold on him. Yunho had lifted his second hand to his lips, trying to stifle his noises behind his elegant fingers and failing gloriously.

Mingi's jaw protested when he tried to take Yunho any deeper, so he concentrated on as much as he could, pressing his tongue against his piercings flatly. He could feel the other man throb in his mouth.

A weak pull on his horns accompanied by a gargling sound as Yunho failed at words was Mingi's warning to pull off. With a glare at Yunho, he slapped the hand off his horns, giving a last heartfelt suck.

Thick ropes of come coated the inside of Mingi's mouth when Yunho peaked in several spurts. His fingers trembled on Mingi's horns, not quite grabbing but also unable to pull away. Like the fluttering wings of a butterfly, they danced over Mingi's head.

Mingi slowed in his ministrations until Yunho calmed with yet another shudder. One of his hands fell onto the sheets weakly while the other one dug into Mingi's hair to pull him off. Dutifully, Mingi released him from his mouth and swallowed the remaining taste on his tongue before he crawled back up to Yunho. They collapsed onto each other, spent and satisfied.

-> For a while, nothing but their chests moved as their breathing normalised. Yunho's fingers trailed over Mingi's sides lazily, unable to detach from him for even a second.

After the heat of their arousal had simmered down, Yunho cleared his throat to rid himself of his morning drawl.

"How do you feel?"

Mingi rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling for a while. Whispering like a feather's touch, Yunho trailed his fingertip along the shape of the piercing resting on Mingi's skin.

"Restless. I wish we didn't plan out San's trap today, but I understand the urgency to resolve these matters," Mingi spoke truthfully. Yunho didn't have to agree verbally for Mingi to know he felt the same. Yunho would also prefer a different method if they had the time. But each day they waited so selfishly to come up with something better, people died.

Yunho sighed. When his fingers cradled Mingi's chin to ask him to look at him silently, Mingi slowly shifted his head. Yunho's kiss was kind and understanding on his lips.

"I'll make sure nothing happens to any of us. Don't mistake me to be all glamour."

Mingi surged up to kiss him again and again until the worries peeled off his heart to leave it exposed and vulnerable with trust. Trust he wanted to gift Yunho. Brittle and insecure.

For a while longer, they lost themselves in their little world. It was time for Mingi to rise already and get him breakfast, since Yunho would need it before he faced this long day. The lazy hours of morning trapped them to the warm sheets, however. Mingi was content watching their tails play together.

Their bubble of peace soon burst rather crudely when somebody knocked on the door frantically. Instantly, Yunho shot up in bed, Mingi following right after.

"Enter!" Yunho called authoritatively as he stood from the bed. Mingi scrambled to hand him his clothes and get decent himself. His heart jumped at the idea of them being caught together, even when Yunho had never voiced their affair to be a secret.

However, it was just Yeosang who burst in with wild hair that stuck from his head. His eyes were wide with panic as he found the two of them and didn't even comment on their hasty attempts to get dressed.

The second Yunho tied the cord of his pants shut, the word spilt over Yeosang's lips as if they had just waited for him to vomit them all over the floor.

"Prince San's delegation was attacked on his way back here," Yeosang breathed in a cracking voice. Mingi's blood froze in his veins as he glanced at Yunho nervously. The darkness that took over Yunho's features scared him.

"Where is he?"

"Getting treated in the sickbay of the east wing."

Yunho rushed out of the room faster than the two other demons could run after him. His long legs carried him across the corridor while Yeosang and Mingi hastened to catch up. Mingi felt paler with every step they took, but his face drained of blood entirely when they passed the T staircase to the other half of the castle. The carpet leading up the stairs was splattered with black blood, a whole trail leading their way.

All of them were out of breath when they arrived. Yunho threw the door to the sickbay open without knocking, exposing the suffering of the grand hall to his two companions.

Mingi had to press his hand on his lips to keep his agonised yell at bay.

Two soldiers were dead. Their bodies rested further away from the rest, white sheets pulled over their heads so nobody would disrupt their peace. A bunch of others with various degrees of injury squirmed on the stretchers. Nurses hurried around to numb their wounds, mountains of soaked black clothes and bandages accompanying each bedside. Most of the demons had horrible slashes across their bodies, as if caused by enormous claws that had tried splitting them through the middle. On one of them, Mingi saw an entire hand missing, the man unconscious as he had collapsed holding the stump.

The misery in the room stifled Mingi, stealing his every breath. Yunho's eyes suffered with his men as he hurried from one bed to the other, but none of them were responsive. Their eyes were haunted by the horrors they had seen; numb from pain.

Mingi shook so severely that Yeosang grasped onto his hand, tail nervously wrapping around Mingi's. Slowly, they followed Yunho's frenzy through the room.

"What- What about Jongho?" Mingi whispered, scared for his only other friend. Yeosang gulped at his side.

"He's fine. Unconscious, but he will heal," he breathed delicately. Mingi grasped his hand tighter. Both of them clung to each other for assistance.

At the end of the hall, a curtain separated another person from the rest to ensure some privacy. Yet, Yunho ripped it aside without sparing a second. Both nurses behind it shrieked with horror at his sight.

San laid in a mess of his own blood. The nurses were so busy trying to treat him they had no time to exchange his soaked sheets with clean ones. The black stains covered his chest and arms, dripping from his hand that dangled over the side of the bed. His usually enticingly iris skin had greyed and paled to the point of making San's distorted features nearly unrecognisable.

But the worst, the absolute worst of it all that had Mingi's stomach churn and glad he hadn't eaten were the stumps. Two bleeding, black stumps right above his forehead.

His horns were gone.

Yunho stood in shock as the nurses picked up their work again. Mingi's knees were weak, and he had to lean heavily against Yeosang to stay on his feet.

San looked horribly small and fragile without his mighty horns. The charismatic and confident aura he had was gone, leaving behind only a broken man.

"Will he heal?" Yunho inquired. The authority that swung in his voice carried disbelief.

One nurse pressed more gauze to San's horns. Within moments, it was soaked, and she threw it off.

"If we can stop the bleeding, yes. We are giving it our all, Your Highness."

Yunho bit his lip and nodded. He didn't glance at Yeosang and Mingi as he stepped to San's side. His hands bathed in San's blood as he took over some work himself, aiding with one of San's mutilated horns while the second sister stitched up the slashes in his chest.

"I'll help."

The two servants stood in their places mutely for a moment. Mingi desperately wished to assist them, too, but he didn't know how to.

Yeosang, who leaned to speak in his ear privately, was his saviour.

"Come. We can get them fresh water and cloth."

Drowning themselves in their task of running between the laundry rooms, the kitchens and the sickbay, Mingi could keep his hands busy. But the horrid image of San's horns didn't leave his head anymore.