Her face heated, but not with shame. The things they had done had been incredible, and she desperately longed to do them again. Then she shivered in true fear. He was teaching her the delights of physical congress. What if she did not become the empress? What if the emperor was
The thought was horrifying, but it was also a real possibility. Having tasted ecstasy with Bo Tao, she wanted more. She wanted a lot more. Thankfully, she was saved from further thoughts as a young eunuch approached, bowing deeply before her.
'Chen Ji Yue? Are you ill?'
She nodded and pressed a silk handkerchief to her lips.
'Sun Bo Tao worries for your health and asks that you follow me. He has found some medicine to strengthen your health for the festival ahead.'
She nodded and smiled. 'I would be most grateful.'
She started to move, but he pressed a cloak into her hands. 'The sun might damage your skin and make you feel worse, Chen Ji Yue. Perhaps this would help.'
She frowned and wrinkled her nose at the perfume stench that rose from the cheap garment. It was the kind of thing that merchant wives wore or…She swallowed. Or prostitutes. He was dressing her as a prostitute.
At her hesitation, the eunuch nodded again. 'Many women come and go in these garments, and no one sees.'
No one was trained to see the whores who visited, he meant. Clearly the emperor and his friends had a regular habit of entertaining such ladies. And just as clearly, she would be safer moving about the Forbidden City in one of these cloaks than as Virgin Chen Ji Yue.
With a reluctant grimace, she drew the cloak around her and covered her head. Then she followed the eunuch through what seemed to be little-used pathways behind and around buildings. She saw workers—eunuchs and servants of all kinds—but no dignitaries and none of the other virgins. And though she peered from under her hood at the washer women and eunuchs, all cast their eyes discreetly away from her.
Until one woman did notice her. An older woman—a concubine by the looks of her gown—spat and cursed the whore that polluted the emperor. Her words were loud and vicious, and an ugly reminder of what would happen to Ji Yue if she lost her virgin status.
As a disgraced virgin, she could not go home. Even if her parents wanted her, it would damage her father's honor so much that he would not get further work. Certainly nothing from the imperial court. Without that income, the entire family would starve.
So if she could not go home, she would be forced onto the street with only one way to survive. From pampered aristocrat to street whore in one fatal step. She could not do such a thing. She wouldn't! She would strip off this hateful cloak and return to the virgins' palace and pray that no one noticed her absence. She would—
'Inside here, please,' said the eunuch indicating a doorway.
Ji Yue frowned. 'What is to happen—'
'Please,' the eunuch whispered, his eyes darting around. There were men talking somewhere down the hall, and from their deep voices, Ji Yue knew they were not eunuchs.
She slipped into the darkness. The door shut behind her, and she shivered at the now total lack of light. A flint sparked. Sharp and bright, it lit a single candle wick. The light grew steadily, expanding its glow until she saw Sun Bo Tao, his angled features looking like stroked gold.
She stepped forward, relief making her breath loud. His eyes widened and he quickly pressed a finger to his mouth. She abruptly stilled. With the candlelight, she was able to see more. Bo Tao stood next to a writing table on which rested brush, ink stone and paper. Then he raised the flame higher. The room was tiny, with no decoration at all, but she could hear echoing noises from the near wall. It felt as if a great room stood on the other side.
Bo Tao came close, snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her tight. Her mind trembled in fear, but her body went willingly into his arms. And then he leaned close to whisper into her ear.
'I meet with a Dutch envoy today. Can you speak their language?'
She shook her head no. 'But I have seen a Dutch child's book,' she whispered. 'I think I can learn their language.'
'Excellent,' he breathed, truly sounding pleased, 'but of no help today. There will be a translator, in any event. I wish you to listen to our conversation and record it as best you can. But you must do so without candlelight.'
She smiled. 'My memory is excellent. It is how I have learned so much from helping my father.'
His grip on her waist tightened in approval. Then he guided her to the wall, lifting her hand until she touched a latch over a bamboo shutter. 'Extinguish the light, then open this shutter,' he said. 'There are peepholes in the tapestry. Listen and look, but do not make the tapestry move!'
'My mother does this behind the women's screen for my father.'
He grinned as he turned back to her. 'Your father was most wise in his choice of bride.'
She smiled, flushing in pleasure. Most men would roundly damn her father for allowing a woman into men's affairs. That he understood her mother's value made her blood flush hot. Then all thoughts of her parents fled as Bo Tao tightened his hold on her.
'If you are discovered, I cannot help you. It would go worse for you if I claimed knowledge of your presence here.'
She swallowed, beginning to understand what she risked in this. But she had never seen a white man before and was most anxious to view her first. Plus, when Bo Tao held her like this, when she felt the strength in his arms around her, she could think of nothing but staying close to him no matter what the cost.
'I will not disappoint you,' she whispered.
'I know,' he said as he dropped his forehead against hers. She could feel the tension grow in his body. This tight against her, she could feel his dragon organ push into her belly while her woman's petals grew moist. Never before had she felt so much, so fast.
He groaned, low in his throat. She heard the sound and echoed it as she lifted her mouth to his. His kiss was deep and possessive, but she had learned much last night. She knew how to toy with his tongue, to suck it deeper into her mouth, and to nip whenever possible at his lips.
His hands slipped to her bottom, cupping her there as he pulled her roughly against his groin. His thickness was hot and hard, but there were too many layers of clothing between them. Then his hands slid upward, over her breasts, pinching through the fabric. She rubbed her hands over his chest, slipping them beneath his court coat, but he had a tunic on below. No flesh, no access, only layers of silk over hardened muscle.
'No,' he gasped as he abruptly broke away. 'The emperor has noticed. He is watching me. And you,' he added. 'He watches you, as well. It is why the dowager consort hates you. She knows his interest is piqued.'
Ji Yue froze and pulled slowly back, thoughts tumbling through her head like heavy stones. The dowager consort
She had no explanation except for lust. She wanted Bo Tao's lips on hers. She wanted his hand inside her body. And she wondered—oh, how she wondered—what it would be like to have his jade stalk planted deeply inside her.
'Do you want me to take you back to the virgins' palace right now?' he whispered. 'We can stop this madness here.'
'No,' she whispered. 'No, I want to…' She couldn't finish. No virgin could admit those things aloud. So she waved to the inkstone and brushes. 'I want to be of help to you. I was raised to be a political wife, helping my husband in this manner.'
He nodded. 'Then so be it.' He stepped away, moving quickly to the door. But then he paused, his expression earnest. 'I am not a hanger-on, Ji Yue. I understand these foreigners as no other in China. One day, the emperor will make my position official. I will be the advisor on foreign affairs, perhaps an ambassador, but he likes having someone unofficial to meet with these people. Someone smart who can arrange things unofficially.'
She smiled. 'I am a woman. I understand how things can be arranged without the men
