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When they bring Wei Wuxian in with the other prisoners from the Wen lands, Lan Wangji’s face doesn’t change. His brother’s eyes glance over the younger Lan’s face in search of a reaction. Wei Wuxian looks dispirited, his eyes following the heels of the man before him, and Lan Wangji doesn’t believe the image in front of him.
The first time Lan Wangji boils with fury is when the man who has dared to touch his beloved is brought in front of him and his brother. A hundred lashes is not enough of a punishment for the man’s sin. It soothes him to bring Bichen down on the man’s neck a day later. The blood washes off well, but the freezing water does nothing to carry away the remaining anger.
What does help, though, is to watch. To stand guard over Wei Wuxian and make sure no other can get to him. If Wei Wuxian wakes and notices, he doesn’t remember much other than pristine robes and a hand caressing his wounds. Golden eyes watch over him every night.
Wei Wuxian wakes often to loud cracks from the courtyard. Lan Wangji has been sparring with his brother for hours every morning. There are rumours about the younger brother losing his mind and disappearing for hours. Someone ought to lock him up.
The Wen prisoners are hungry and Wei Wuxian has got his eyes set on the Lan’s kitchen. He’s noticed by other eyes and the crumbs left in his robes are enough a reason for a flaying. Lan Wangji volunteers and if his hands tremble when he’s holding the pole, no one mentions it.
To make up for it, Lan Wangji gets lousy. Wei Wuxian soon has the keys and the means to get out. What he doesn’t expect is a duel with the young master by the gate. He doesn’t pick up the sword offered. “If you defeat me, you will be free. Why are you not fighting me?” Lan Wangji has prepared to die for Wei Wuxian’s escape. “Even if I kill you here and get my freedom, what happens to the others?” Wei Wuxian was always too selfless for his own good; Lan Wangji returns him to the others and the night goes unmentioned.
Lan Wangji changes and offers peace. The cold springs soothe Wei Wuxian’s burning skin, but the lessening pain is replaced by a searing gaze. He doesn’t know which he prefers.
Lan Wangji hides himself away during the day, planning and building. Lan Xichen re-reads recollections of their father and learns of the Lan’s tendency to obsess.
The madness blooms. The hand of a Lan who feeds the ill Wei Wuxian is stripped away. Although Lan Wangji wishes to do so to Wei Wuxian’s robes too, he breathes deeply and does not. Lan Xichen takes matters into his own hands and the younger brother is locked away by someone other than himself.
In the absence of the obsessed Lan Wei Wuxian realises the truth. To sacrifice himself is to set his family free. Lan Wangji has influence and a fatal flaw. He asks to be allowed to meet and is granted the right.
“I’ve missed you,” Lan Wangji cannot believe his ears. He doesn’t notice, or care, how stiff Wei Wuxian’s body is as they embrace. Lan Xichen does not object to the wedding that will be held within the month, but a book of his father’s thoughts remains by his bed.
It takes some pleading, but who is Lan Wangji to disagree with anything his beloved asks: Wei Wuxian is promised the freedom of his family and land for them to live in. The bodies of the Wen prisoners are thrown into a freshly-dug pit in the middle of it. Lan Wangji is smart, good at finding loopholes. Wei Wuxian’s naivety, however, is silly. Lan Wangji will be his only family, the Wens have lost their use now that Wei Wuxian is bound to him.
The construction of the home for Wei Wuxian is soon completed. The house is magnificent and the garden ethereal through the iron bars that don the windows. Wei Wuxian wishes he could taste the lotus seeds springing up from the pond.
When the air carries a tinge of blood and a rumour of the fate of the Wens, Wei Wuxian screams. The crying banshee of Gusu is rumoured to not be a phantom, but instead the wife of the mad Lan.