Chapter 38: Chapter 37
Hu Yetao heard a sharp inhalation and then the scraping of a chair. He raised his head and caught Oscar's stricken expression before he was firmly pulled into his mate's arms and held tight.
Hu Yetao could physically feel the tension drain out of his body like water. He'd forgotten that being separated from his mate would have such a tangible effect on him; that his health and well-being were tied up with Oscar's proximity and the degree of contact in their relationship. It was just one of the side-effects of having a mate which he wasn't accustomed to yet.
"I'm sorry," Oscar mumbled into his ear. "I can't believe I made you feel that way, that couldn't be further from the truth. I… I'm not used to this; I'm used to working things out on my own and keeping to myself when things get difficult."
Hu Yetao pulled back and looked his mate in the eye. "And keeping your emotions to yourself?"
Oscar nodded stiffly and Hu Yetao sensed how hard it was for his mate to admit that.
"Bad Alpha," Hu Yetao whispered with faux disapproval, an affectionate smile beginning to tug at his lips, the fight has completely drained out of him at the sight of Oscar's exposed vulnerability.
"I'm not handling the relationship thing very well, am I?"
Hu Yetao shook his head. "It's okay, this is all new to me too."
"It's not okay," Oscar continued with a slight frown. "Regardless of my shortcomings due to my rather unconventional upbringing, my mate should always come first," he said, as though reciting from the Alpha Handbook.
Hu Yetao snorted. "Don't be daft. Equal partnership, remember?"
Oscar's expression softened as he smiled a little and Hu Yetao was so relieved to see it that he pressed a kiss to his lips, and then another one, just because he could, before taking a step back.
"There's something I need to talk to you about," he said earnestly, wanting to get back to the original reason for trying to find his mate.
Hu Yetao walked over to perch on the edge of the wide desk, waving a hand over the mess on the floor to endlessly clean it up and set things back to the way they were before he'd thrown a paddy. Unfortunately, the food and tea were a lost cause.
Oscar sat next to him, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for Hu Yetao to continue.
"I spoke to Kaz," he began.
"I know," Oscar cut in. "Do you know how many Slytherins warned me that you were planning to replace me?"
Hu Yetao glanced at him, unable to suppress a grin. "Hardly surprising when we suddenly have breakfast at separate tables and don't speak to each other," he pointed out. "You were invited if you remember correctly. You could've been there to stop any nasty rumors from spreading."
"I imagine whatever information Mr. Kaz had to provide, it wouldn't have come so easily if I had been involved," Oscar drawled in response.
Hu Yeto smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"And did he have anything worth knowing?"
Hu Yetao felt a flicker of nervousness, wondering how Oscar was going to take his speculation. "No not really, but I sort of had an epiphany of sorts while I was speaking to him."
Oscar arched a brow, a clear indication for him to continue.
Hu Yetao swallowed and looked at the damp spot on the floor where the spilled tea had begun to soak into the stone. "Well… I began to wonder if perhaps Kaz was attacked in the way he was because someone wanted it to look as though you had done it; to frame you. Implicate you," he modified, unsure as to whether 'frame' was a Muggle term or not.
"I came to the same conclusion," Oscar replied with a nod, tucking his hair back behind his ear when it came loose to fall over his eye.
"Really?" Hu Yetao replied. "Did you come up with a possible suspect too?"
"It had to have been someone who knows about my true nature," he replied slowly. "There aren't that many at Hogwarts who are acquainted with the truth. Unless it was someone outside of the school population, in which case, we don't have any possible leads."
"But who on the outside would want to do that?" Hu Yetao replied with a frown. "Surely a student here at Hogwarts has more motive than some random clan member?"
Oscar turned to him with a raised brow. "Such as?"
Hu Yetao hesitated, biting his bottom lip. "Erm, someone like Zheng Naixin?"
Oscar's eyes widened. "You suspect Naixin?" he replied, taken aback. "Why?"
Hu Yetao was surprised that it hadn't crossed Oscar's mind. "Because she was promised to you. Any time I saw the two of you together, she seemed to be quite taken with you. Plus her family knows the truth."
Oscar's forehead creased in consideration. "Yes, her older brother and father are both in the clan," he said distractedly. "But… I don't think Naixin would be capable of such a thing. You don't know her; she's very sweet and caring, not malicious in the slightest."
Hu Yetao ignored the hot flash of jealousy that curdled his insides at Oscar's charitable description of his ex. He swallowed the sharp retort that rose unbidden to his lips, surprised by its intensity.
"But she must be heartbroken that you chose me," he said instead. "She had her whole life planned out and now she has to find someone else."
"She always knew there was a chance we wouldn't marry though," Oscar replied slowly, thoughtfully. "She has yet to come into her inheritance, and if she had become a Beta, then our arrangement would have been negated."
Hu Yetao frowned. "But how likely is that?"
"Not very," Oscar admitted with a sigh, leaning back on his hands behind him. "Her family is one of the oldest Pureblood families, the Zheng' go back generations. Odds are that she will be an Omega."
"But not a guarantee," Hu Yetao added, considering. He looked at Oscar. "So you don't think there's a chance that she could have done it? Or asked someone else to do it for her?"
"I sincerely doubt it."
"Couldn't we just use Veritaserum on her?" Hu Yetao asked.
Oscar shook his head. "Veritaserum doesn't work on our kind. It can also make us quite ill."
"But Naixin's not…?" Hu Yetao frowned in confusion.
"No, but her father is and it's been proven to be less effective even in the same family, and I wouldn't wish to base our case on a method that can be easily manipulated."
"Well fuck," Hu Yetao said with frustration.
They fell into thoughtful silence for a few minutes.
"But perhaps we shouldn't discount her completely," Oscar eventually said with a concentrated frown.
Hu Yetao looked up. "What makes you say that?"
"She told me whom her parents had selected to replace me as her future intended and she wasn't happy with their choice."
Hu Yetao's eyes lit with a tiny spark of hope. "Really? Well, that's something, isn't it?"
"It could be," Oscar replied pensively.
"Anything is possible when dealing with a Slytherin, right?" Hu Yetao replied with a slight smirk.
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