Over the next few days Xiao Zai doesn’t know a moment of peace.

There were people constantly walking in and out of the estate, getting everything ready for Chu Yun’s impromptu feast.

The estate needed extensive work, more than could reasonably be accomplished in a week, but Chu Yun didn’t need to fix up the whole estate in that time. He just needed to have the common areas, and the outside of the estate’s buildings fixed up. Guests weren’t supposed to make it into their private quarters, so the narrative would still be that Xiao Zai and Chu Yun had managed to restore their derelict estate in record time.

At the moment Chu Yun’s priority was fixing up the courtyards. He wanted the little lake cleaned and the viewing bridge fixed and restored.

Xiao Zai watched with some consternation as the master builder informed him it was all very short notice.

“Your Grace, uh, I don’t know how to put it, but that bridge is rotted through, we can give it a new coat of paint, sure,” the man rubbed the coarse sleeves of his robe across his forehead, “but the moment even the daintiest omega lady steps on it, it’s all coming down.”

Chu Yun hummed and looked out at the bridge, the gears of his mind turning with hidden machinations. 

“Give it that coat of paint,” he finally said, patting the foreman on the shoulder.

The man gave him an odd look. “How is his Grace going to prevent his guests from stepping on it?”

Chu Yun grinned. “Make me a two signs that say ‘fresh paint drying’ and we’ll put them on both ends of the bridge.”

The foreman was momentarily stunned, and then chuckled ruefully, with a shake of his head. “Sure, we can do that.”

Chu Yun winked at him and then moved on to check on the rest of the repair work.

From his vantage point Xiao Zai could see the way the foreman watched him go, his eyes following Chu Yun’s movements through the courtyard avidly. Ever since this new batch of workers had come to the estate, Xiao Zai had been noticing their eyes lingering on Chu Yun.

Chu Yun was casual and friendly with them, not standing on much ceremony, in the same way he usually didn’t with his personal maidservant. He behaved as any alpha would, confidently walking through his property and checking in on the workers he had hired — except these workers were all betas. 

Betas occupied a certain murky grey area when it came to Zui society. They were of course aware of the alpha and omega dynamics, but as they weren’t part of those dynamics they either didn’t care, or were confused by them.

Right now, what they were all seeing was the Second Prince’s husband being nice and friendly with them, making jokes and winking, all the while being very attractive. They couldn’t smell Chu Yun’s pheromones, they couldn’t tell how obviously uninterested he was in any of them, nor could they be repelled by a dominant alpha scent they couldn’t feel.

It was a murky grey area, and Xiao Zai didn’t know how to feel about it. Most betas knew how to behave around Zui alphas, if only because someone told them they were alphas, or those alphas shot down any funny business themselves. 

But Chu Yun wasn’t from Zui — and either he didn’t notice, or didn’t care, that he was giving all these betas ideas. 

—

Everything came to a head two days before the feast when Xiao Zai woke up to the sound of metal on metal outside his bedroom window.

He got dressed hastily and went outside to check the source of the odd sound. Only to find Chu Yun, stripped down to his waist, holding a sword in front of his face, apparently sparring with an equally bare-chested construction worker.

There was a group of servants and workers surrounding them, cheering them on.

Chu Yun had a smug slash of a smile on his face, and was red all down his chest. “Is that all? I thought I was going to get a workout.”

His opponent grinned and held his own sword above his head. “I’ll give his Grace a workout whenever he wants.”

Before he even knew what he was doing, Xiao Zai had made his way into the circle. He pulled the worker’s forearm back and told him, “Give me that.”

With clear disappointment written on his face, the man relinquished his sword. 

Xiao Zai inspected the hilt and the blade for a moment, he had no idea where Chu Yun had found them, but they bore the royal clan’s seal. Probably part of his disgraced uncle’s armoury. 

He closed his fist around the pommel and turned to face Chu Yun, adopting an offensive stance.

Chu Yun’s grin had grown even wider, his sharp canines showing. “It’s been a while since we crossed swords.”

Xiao Zai ignored the taunt, and narrowed his eyes in anticipation. 

The weak winter sun was glinting off the drops of perspiration on Chu Yun’s bare chest, highlighting the slender definition of his muscles. The background of the crisp blue sky behind him, made him stand out starkly, as if his colours were more vivid, making him look more real than everyone else around him.

With a sharp intake of breath, Xiao Zai flew towards him, letting his muscles relax into the pull of battle.

Chu Yun parried him easily, his arm coming up to block Xiao Zai’s attack. Their eyes met above the crossed steel of their blades, Chu Yun’s gleamed more than his sword’s.

With a groan of effort he planted his feet and pushed Xiao Zai off him, sending him skidding a few paces across the dirt ground.

There was real strength behind his movements, and technique in his form. Unlike Xiao Zai he had been formally trained. A strategist, but not a slouch. 

Chu Yun was supposed to be his father’s heir, of course he would have been trained in the art of war, regardless of his natural inclination for strategy.

He was going to make Xiao Zai pay for such a sloppy starting move.

Either way, Xiao Zai welcomed it. He had gone too long without practising, it was hard to sneak around at the palace. His dam had struggle to send him to the elderly master when he was younger, the suspicions only grew as he got older.

“If you want to practice come to me,” Xiao Zai said, steeling his shoulders and preparing himself for Chu Yun’s counter attack. 

Chu Yun grinned, swinging his sword deftly in his fingers. “Yeah, you’ll tire me out?”

Before Xiao Zai could even parse out the innuendo from his real meaning, Chu Yun was already on him. Xiao Zai struggled to parry the flurry of his blows, and ended up skidding backwards with the momentum of Chu Yun’s attack, until he eventually lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Chu Yun landed on top of him with a breathy “ooph” and chuckle. He stuck the tip of his sword on the dirt beside Xiao Zai’s head and supported himself on the hilt to get back up to his feet.

His shadow fell over Xiao Zai’s face as he bent down to extend him a hand to help him up. “Rematch?”

Xiao Zai took his fingers and let himself be pulled up.

—

They stayed at it for hours, only the most bored of servants having stayed to the end. Xiao Zai’s muscles where burning by the end of it, and he could barely feel his fingers.

Chu Yun on the other hand looked fresh as a bamboo shoot. “Ah, nothing like some swordplay to start the day,” he said, stretching out the muscles of his back languorously.

“You were never in the army?” Xiao Zai asked, still stunned that someone as talented as Chu Yun stayed behind drafting attack plans.

Chu Yun shrugged. “No,” he grinned at Xiao Zai’s confusion. “Why, are you thinking if I had, I might have been killed in combat and you would have had to marry me?”

His words startled Xiao Zai like an arrow through the spine, his neck snapped up with a jolt, he fixed his eyes on Chu Yun’s. “No, I wasn’t thinking that, but…I’m glad you didn’t join.”

He was right, they probably would never have gotten married if Chu Yun had. If his uncle really wanted to get rid of him, he would have found a way to do so when he was in the army.

Either the intensity of his answer, or the look on is face startled Chu Yun. He closed his mouth and opened several times, before finally letting it close with a click. “We should go have a bath,” he said, already turning away from Xiao Zai.

Xiao Zai watched him go, thinking to himself that maybe he should go have a word with the contractor. Chu Yun loved baths, he had gone on about how wonderful the springs at his family’s estate were when they were there. 

Maybe it would be nice, if both of them could one day bathe together after spending the morning sparring.