do. In the end, Bo Tao simply swept her legs out from under her and carried her from the virgins' palace. She didn't know where he was taking her, and frankly she didn't care. His arms were larger than her father's, his voice was deeper than her father's, but the comfort was the same. His touch was just as tender, and she wanted nothing more than to be held by him forever.
Then he stopped walking. He stood still for a moment while she listened to the steady beat of his heart. She liked the regular rise and fall of his broad chest. Then he eased down on a bench, gently resting her on his lap.
'We are alone now,' he said. 'You can cry as much as you like.'
She smiled and wished she could rub her face against the skin on his neck, but his collar prevented it. 'I am done crying,' she said, her voice raw. Instead, her mind was consumed by the feel of his arms, the warmth of his body and the strength that surrounded her so completely that she thought she could never be harmed again. 'Don't leave me yet.'
He tightened his grip around her. 'Are you sure you don't need to see the physician?' he asked. With her ear pressed to his chest, his voice was a deep, echoing rumble like the sound of thunder in the distance.
'I am fine so long as you hold me.'
He didn't answer, except to lean back enough to settle her even more deeply into his arms. She smiled, happy to think of nothing beyond him. But that thought led to others. Her heart beat harder, and she remembered another time when his hands had been on her body, when his chest had been pressed tight to her back, and his hands…
'Where are we?' she asked by way of distraction. She knew they were in a bower of sorts. She could feel the breeze, but in the darkness, she could see little more than the stone bench upon which they sat.
'It is a garden near the emperor's palace.'
She jerked in alarm. 'But he cannot see me like this!'
His grip tightened on her, keeping her in place. 'No one comes here at night but me. Certainly not Yi Zhen. And even if he did, we would hear him long before he could see us.'
Reassured, she relaxed back against him, acutely aware of the way his thighs rippled as he adjusted to her. And of the burning heat pressed intimately against her. 'But where is this place?'
'It is my aunt's garden. Well, not specifically hers, but she was the only one who tended it.'
She frowned. 'You have an aunt in the Forbidden City?'
He nodded. 'She was part of Emperor Dao Guang's lowest harem. That is how I came to be friends with Yi Zhen. My mother was visiting her sister. One day I escaped them and found him.'
Ji Yue smiled. 'My brothers often ran away from me, as well.' She straightened, intrigued by the idea of meeting one of Bo Tao's relatives. 'May I meet your aunt tomorrow? I would love to talk with her. I like gardening, too, and would often help the workers when I was little.'
He shook his head. 'I'm sorry. My aunt was selected to be buried with the emperor.'
She swallowed, understanding the harsh fate that sometimes awaited members of an imperial harem. Being buried alive with the emperor was one of the worst. Still, she spoke the words that were expected of her. 'She was greatly honored.'
Bo Tao grimaced. 'I have never thought it much of an honor, but I know she believed it.'
Ji Yue sighed, uneasy with the idea of what could very well be her own fate someday. 'Did she…Was she awake in the tomb?'
'I hope not. I brought her poison sealed in a perfume bottle. She should have fallen asleep, then died quickly while at rest.' He took a deep breath, and Ji Yue felt it shudder inside him. 'I hope it went like that. We will never know if it did not.'
'I'm sure it did. I'm sure she was very grateful.'
His hands tightened on her, and she went where he silently urged her: back into his arms. She listened to the night birds and the whisper of the wind through the leaves. But mostly she felt the wildness building inside her again. Would he touch her like he had before? She shouldn't want him to, but she did. She should be aching for the emperor's caress, the emperor's hot press of body and groin, the emperor's…
'Are you feeling better?' he asked.
'Yes,' she lied. In truth, she was beginning to feel an ache deep in her womb. It was shame. She was ashamed that her thoughts lingered on a very unvirginlike desire for the absolutely wrong man.
'Do you think you could walk? I have something I want to show you.'
'Yes, of course.' She reluctantly shifted out of his arms, standing carefully. Her clothing was torn in a dozen places and her hair constantly strayed into her eyes, but she didn't care. Despite the conflicting emotions inside her, this night had taken on a magical quality, and she did not want it to end even if she walked around in rags.
'It is not far, but it requires a little bit of climbing. I would not be able to carry you.'
'I am fine,' she repeated, her curiosity piqued.
With a nod, he gestured her out of the bower. They walked together in silence. He kept a hand on her back and another on her arm, leading her through the dark maze that was the Forbidden City. They ended at a ladder that led up a massive tree.
'It is up there,' he whispered into her ear, 'but I must empty it out first. Wait here in the shadows and don't make a sound.'
She nodded her agreement. Within moments he disappeared up the ladder. Then to her shock, four eunuchs descended in rapid order. They went in the other direction, grumbling and laughing among themselves. Bo Tao descended a moment later.
'They are gone now,' he said.
'What did you do?'
'I bribed them to leave. Now no one will know that you are here.'
She stepped forward, looking up into the blackness above. 'What if someone else comes?'
'They won't,' he said as he placed her hands on the ladder. 'There is a way to bar entrance to anyone else. Besides, the show is not that interesting tonight.'
'Show?' she asked.
'Hush. Climb.'
She did as he bid, though it was hard going. Her skirt was already ripped, so there was no difficulty there. But he placed his hands on either side of hers, and he mounted each rung directly behind her. When he bumped against her bottom or leaned close enough to heat her shoulders with his chest, she gasped at the contact and thought inappropriate things. What if she had not hit him in the examination room? What would have happened? With his body around hers and his hand exploring her, what would have happened? What would she have felt?
By the time she made it up to a platform at the very top, her mouth was dry and her breasts heavy. 'What is it that you want me to see?' she asked, her voice thready in the darkness.
He didn't answer in words. Instead, he crawled beside her and gently twisted her shoulders around until she looked through an opening in the branches. From there she saw into a room in a palace. There were people inside —women—but what were they doing?
Bo Tao was still holding her to direct her attention. Now he leaned closer to whisper into her ear. 'We are looking at the surviving harem of Dao Guang. This is a room in their palace.'
'But what are they doing?'
'Can you not guess? Do you not understand?'
She did understand, but she had never thought to see three women in the throes of sexual congress.
'Do you know that women establish a hierarchy in a harem? That one is the head female and the others must follow her rules?'
She nodded. That was why the fighting was so vicious in the virgins' quarters. The hierarchy had yet to be established.
'That woman lying out on the floor is Tai Lai, the head of this harem. She has ordered the others to pleasure her.'
Ji Yue blinked, leaning forward on her knees to see better. The woman on the ground seemed to be the oldest there. She lay on her back as one girl suckled her left breast and used her other hand to manipulate the nipple of the right. The second girl crouched at the groin, using her mouth to lick and stroke there. All three were naked.
'With no men to please them, the members of the harem delight themselves. Sometimes it is this way, with
