The Dragon and the Pearl

by Jeannie Lin

  Li Tao stood black as night, sword drawn, his jaw clenched with rage. Kneeling on the grey stone at his feet was Ru Shan with his arms bound behind him.

  ‘My fault!’ Auntie ran forwards and collapsed on to her knees before them. ‘All my fault. Master Li, be merciful.’

  Suyin rushed to Auntie’s side and tried to lift her sagging body from the ground. ‘Auntie, you’re making it worse,’ she whispered.

  Auntie fought against her, too distraught to listen. The old woman grasped for Li Tao’s arm, oblivious to the sword he held.

  ‘Tao-tao,’ she pleaded. ‘Do not do this.’

  He flung Auntie away and reached into his robe, pulling out a pale square of folded paper. The look he gave Suyin froze her blood. Slowly, Auntie dragged herself to her feet and stood to the side, weeping.

  Li Tao’s grip tightened on the letter. The glowing festival lanterns had lied to her. There was no warmth there.

  Suyin straightened defiantly. ‘This was my doing. Only me.’

  Cook, Jun and the rest of the household gathered at the edges of the courtyard. A foreboding row of soldiers stood at attention along the walkway. Their presence sent everyone into a muted state.

  ‘You knew you were bringing a fox into your home,’ she said, though she trembled like a child inside. She needed Li Tao to direct his anger towards her, not at the honest people implicated in her schemes.

  His eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on his sword until his knuckles grew white. ‘I will not suffer treachery.’

  Ru Shan lurched to his feet, but before he was upright, Li Tao struck him across the face and sent him sprawling. A stunned murmur snaked through the crowd. Auntie clenched her fist and pressed it against her mouth to force back her sobs. Suyin watched helplessly, numb with fear. She’d brought his wrath on all of them.

  She forced herself into the space between Ru Shan and Li Tao, standing as tall as she could to face off against the warlord.

  ‘I acted on my own!’ Ru Shan sputtered from behind her.

  Li Tao towered over them both. The blade gleamed wickedly and she forced her gaze away from it to stare at his face. She couldn’t back down. She couldn’t bear any more bloodshed, another debt to weigh on her soul.

  ‘Your servants believed everything I told them,’ she taunted. ‘I am quite convincing.’

  Li Tao’s mouth twisted grimly. She’d pushed him too far. Her breath caught as Li Tao raised his sword, but he jammed it back into the sheath. He snatched her wrist into an iron grip and dragged her through the interior hallway. Her feet stumbled against the floorboards and she tried to look back on the others, but he yanked her forwards cruelly.

  He threw open the doors of the front parlour and shoved her inside. She stumbled before swinging around to face him. Her heart beat uncontrollably. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Her entire body trembled with fear, with anger. She could no longer tell.

  ‘You’re an animal!’

  ‘And you’re a sorceress.’

  He slammed the doors shut and swung around. Survival instinct took over. She scrambled away from him as he came towards her. Her eyes circled the room for a weapon, anything to defend herself with. Her foot caught the edge of a divan. She fell to the floor, but he hauled her up against him.

  ‘What did you offer Ru Shan?’ he demanded through clenched teeth.

  He brought her face close to his, forcing her to look at him. His hand gripped the back of her neck and she felt the first stinging threat of tears. But even now, shaking in his grasp, she refused to show him that surrender.

  ‘Did you offer him your body?’

  She clawed at his hands, needing to free herself and get as far away from him as possible. He was dangerously strong, unpredictable in his wrath.

  ‘What man wouldn’t fall to you, honour be damned?’

  The heat of his body surrounded her, overwhelming her. Suddenly his hold on her shifted. One arm captured her waist to drag her against his chest before his mouth descended on hers.

  Heat and pleasure coursed through her at once, fierce and wild and uncompromising. She fell boneless against him, winding her arms around his neck dizzily, drinking in the salted taste of his mouth. His desire reached through to feed on the kiss, but the anger remained. His arms wrapped around her.

  No. Not like this. Her mind fought even though her body surrendered. Not in this thoughtless, desolate hunger.

  She sank her teeth into his lower lip and didn’t let go until she tasted blood. He tore away from her with a curse.

  ‘Fox demon.’

  ‘I am not a whore,’ she seethed.

  She stumbled back on to the padded chaise, her legs weak with desire. Blindly, she fumbled for the vase on the end table and succeeded in knocking it over before grabbing on to it and launching it at him. He swatted it away, sending it crashing to the floor.

  ‘No, not a whore.’ He stalked towards her and all she could do was double up and press back against the seat. ‘A seductress and a liar.’

  He braced one knee against the seat. She grabbed one of the embroidered pillows and held it in front of her like a shield.

  ‘Get away.’

  ‘I am not going to force you.’ His lip was swollen and a trickle of blood welled from it. He swiped it off with the back of his hand. ‘I have never forced a woman.’

  They stayed at opposite ends of the chaise. She pushed herself as far away as she could, her shoulder blades coming up against the armrest. Desire still pulsed through her, hot and swimming in her blood, mixing with the fear. Her thighs grew weak, her sex damp with wanting. She would never understand how her body, how every inch of her skin, yearned for this man. It went against everything she ever knew.

  ‘Did you give yourself to Ru Shan?’ His voice ground against her shattered nerves. The sharpest edge of his anger had dulled, but the threat remained.

  Only now did she fully understand what fueled his rage. It was jealousy. Raw, primal jealousy.

  ‘I gave him nothing.’

  ‘Nothing? A loyal man shuns his duty for the mere privilege of serving you?’

  It was difficult to have him this close when she was still flushed from the onslaught of his mouth. She hated this weakness.

  ‘I’ll do anything in my power to escape.’

  ‘You have them all in your hands, bewitched and bent to your will.’ He cast a sideways glance at her. ‘I underestimated you.’

  Moving ever so slowly, he took hold of her ankle above the edge of her slipper. Not forcefully, but with a firm, sensual touch against her bare skin. Heat radiated from him to course throughout her body.

  She froze, but couldn’t pull away. Not even when he rose and angled himself over her until he had a hand braced on either side of her. Her back pushed against the seat while he looked down at her as if he would devour her. Her chest rose and fell erratically, her entire body straining to get closer to him as he held himself above her, solid and masculine and powerful.

  With a long, drawn breath he seemed to come to a decision. ‘Ling Suyin, you can tempt any man.’

  ‘I am tired of compliments,’ she retorted.

  He lowered himself on to her and his mouth captured her lips. Heat, so much heat. She flushed beneath the anchor of his body. There was no reason to it.

  His eyes found hers. The pupils were opaque and unreadable. His breathing was forced. She clasped the pillow between them reflexively, but he tore it from her hands and tossed it aside. Immediately he returned to deepen the kiss, sliding roughened fingers along her bodice and dipping below the embroidered edge. Her breasts swelled at the caress, pushing into his hands as he stroked her nipple.

  She was lost in the cascade of pleasure. Li Tao was roughly skilled. Unrelenting. Her arms circled around his neck to pull him closer. The sumptuous weight of his body pinned her to the cushions. He ground the hard ridge of his sex between her thighs.

  A moaned escaped her lips. She might have moaned his name.

  ‘Give me on
e night so we can be done with this,’ he demanded. It was at once a command and a plea.

  His mention of this bargain cut through the haze of pleasure he had woven around her. He wanted boundaries. Terms. Control.

  ‘You’ll hardly find one night to be enough,’ she snapped.

  His black eyes narrowed at the challenge. Deftly, with unerring confidence, his hand slid over the drape of silk that covered her leg before slipping beneath.

  She cried out as he found her sex. All the defiance in the world couldn’t keep her back from arching or her eyes from squeezing shut in tortured delight. He slipped a hard, calloused finger just inside her, claiming her.

  ‘What will it take, Lady Ling?’ His fingertip circled the tiny pearl of her flesh, sending shocks of light and fire through her.

  His seduction was as unforgiving as the rest of him. The pressure of his hand on her was too much to bear. Her vision blurred as he explored.

  ‘Or maybe it won’t take much at all,’ he ground out cruelly.

  His fingers were slick with her dew. Her breath came in shallow pants. Li Tao would never let himself fall prey to anyone. One night was all he wanted. One night, but he offered the universe for it. His fingers stroked and stroked sensation into her until her body throbbed with need.

  She was ready to give him anything he wanted, ready to beg for it. But Li Tao kept up the pretence that this was a negotiation. Maybe she needed it to be that way as well.

  ‘My freedom,’ she gasped. His fingers flicked over her sex and she bit down hard against her lip, digging her nails into his arm. ‘One night and—’

  Her voice cut off as he bent his head to her throat, kissing softly before scraping his teeth against her delicate skin. She cried out sharply, every sense heightening.

  Gentle, then rough. Generous, then cruel. It was always like that with Li Tao. Soon she wouldn’t be able to ask for anything but him, all of him. With all of her will, she took hold of his hand and dragged him away from her body, twining her fingers tight into his to trap them. Finally, she saw what touching her was doing to him. His eyes were clouded, every muscle in his face drawn tight.

  ‘One night and then you take me home,’ she said. He tried to kiss her, but she ducked away. ‘Those are my terms.’

  His eyes sparked. ‘Agreed.’

  Once again he tried to kiss her. Again, she avoided him and his eyebrows drew together perilously.

  She met his challenge without flinching. ‘It’s not yet dark outside.’

  After a pause, he smiled. A slow, wicked smile that made her melt beneath him. His body remained taut over her. ‘Ling Suyin.’

  The world was contained in the way he spoke her name. Lust, frustration, admiration and something else. Something she didn’t dare to guess. He raised himself from the seat. A quick glance between his legs explained the slowness of his movements.

  ‘Come to me tonight.’

  She swallowed. Her heart would burst if this continued. It was already pounding desperately. ‘Take me home tomorrow.’

  Twisting away, she sat up and tugged at the silk bodice, trying to cover herself. Li Tao combed his fingers through his dark hair, not looking at her. The unsteady cadence of his breathing punctuated the abrupt silence.

  She wanted to be done with it. She needed an end to the temptation and the fear and wanting him despite all of it. Their bargain was her final escape route. She could survive one night and all the pleasure he promised. One night and nothing more meant her heart was safe. And she’d have what she wanted. Her freedom.

  Neither of them spoke until he had put some distance between them. His hand was poised on the door.

  ‘You didn’t beg for your lover’s life,’ he remarked.

  She threw him a look over her shoulder. ‘He was never my lover. And if I had spoken for him, you would certainly have had him killed.’

  Li Tao could still smell her perfume. He marched his prisoner through the forest to the edge of the bamboo sea while the scent of Suyin’s skin lingered.

  He’d spilled his troubles to her in a careless moment. They’d stood side by side, looking up at lanterns. She’d seen it as weakness and she’d decided to strike. Clever, beautiful, calculating Ling Suyin.

  Ru Shan walked in silence, flanked on either side by his former comrades. The fallen soldier knew better than to plead for his life. The soldiers forced Ru Shan to his knees. This was what needed to be done and Li Tao took no pleasure it. Deserters and traitors could not be spared. It corrupted the discipline of the troops.

  Ru Shan threw his chin up in defiance, baring his throat to the sword. Love would do that to a man, fill him with false courage and render him a fool.

  ‘Do it,’ Ru Shan choked out.

  ‘Did you hope that if you rescued her, she would give her heart to you?’

  The soldier’s jaw clenched proudly, his eyes focused inwards, on some remote corner of his mind. Likely thinking of Lady Ling as he prepared to give his life for her.

  Anger knifed through him, forcing the air from his lungs. She had worked her wiles on many men, he reminded himself. The most influential men of the empire. In a way, he pitied the young man. What chance did an idealist like Ru Shan have against an experienced courtesan like Ling Suyin? She wouldn’t need to promise him anything. Every look was an unspoken promise.

  In a single, swift motion, he unsheathed his sword. He should do the deed himself. Ru Shan deserved that much.

  ‘You were a worthy soldier,’ he said, lifting the weapon.

  ‘Spare her.’

  The blade halted mid-air. That Ru Shan would even beg for anything at this moment caught him off guard. The younger man looked up at him squarely. A sheen of sweat beaded on his forehead, but he spoke through the fear.

  ‘We swore our lives to your service, but Lady Ling has not. She should not suffer for your treachery.’

  So this was what his followers thought. That he was leading them to certain death. Ru Shan had never spoken so many words to him. The soldier had never faltered in his duties, yet he had harboured this belief inside him. And Suyin was able to delve deep enough to exploit it.

  His sword hung heavy in his hand. What a waste. Lady Ling had not turned a weak-hearted man. Ru Shan had a strong spirit and was well respected, a brother to these men. In time, he might have risen through the ranks.

  ‘Let him go,’ he ordered, turning away.

  The other men stared at him. This act of mercy shook the foundations of the code they all fought by. It was a long stretch of time before one of them dared to come forwards with a knife to cut Ru Shan’s bonds.

  ‘Never let me see your face again,’ Li Tao warned.

  Ru Shan stayed kneeling. He bowed, touching his head once to the ground. ‘This is for the honourable man who once was. But you will destroy Lady Ling along with everything you have created.’

  Ru Shan rose then and walked away, weaving through the bamboo.

  Li Tao waited for the lone figure to disappear into the green. It was a mistake to let him go. Ru Shan was a young man pining for the love of a complicated woman. He was also a fighter and a soldier, dangerous in his exuberance.

  People like Lady Ling were incapable of love. They were both alike in that way. The imperial palace was as cutthroat as the winding streets of Luoyang. She would never allow anyone to possess her just as he answered to no master. There were no illusions between them. Perhaps that was the lure. Desire without emotion, cold and clean.

  When she met his eyes, it was always with challenge. She understood the tooth-and-claw struggle for survival deep within her bones. Desire meant nothing in the face of that struggle, except for a few stolen moments.

  They could forget for one night. Perhaps her passion was feigned, another ploy. He didn’t care. That night he’d take his fill of her. Suyin’s lure would fade when she no longer danced like smoke in his head, when she became flesh and blood and silken skin beneath him. Then he’d send her away as she so desperately wanted. Let her face G
ao on her own. She was more than capable.

  Suyin could take whatever secrets she held with her. He didn’t need them and didn’t need her for anything more than what she could give him that night.

  Chapter Eight

  Suyin stepped into the garden, fighting to steady herself after the intensity of the confrontation with Li Tao. The soldiers remained hovering at the passages, but the warlord was gone. She could tell from the silence of the house and the listless way the servants milled about the edges of the courtyard. There was always an inexplicable sense of emptiness when he wasn’t there.

  ‘Go,’ she urged gently. ‘Continue with your duties as usual.’

  The servants responded to her as if she were the mistress of the house. One by one, they moved away. She knew they would gather in a distant corner to mull and gossip. Jun and Cook were the last to leave. The boy held a brown-feathered chicken by its feet as he trudged towards the kitchen. She managed a weak smile for him before he departed.

  Auntie came to her. ‘Master Li has taken Ru Shan! In his anger, he might…’ She swiped at her nose with a handkerchief, her eyes red and swollen.

  ‘None of you will suffer for this. I swear it.’

  Auntie was intent on fretting. ‘But Tao—Master Li will not tolerate disloyalty.’

  ‘The Governor knows this is my doing,’ Suyin replied, sounding more confident than she felt. It was clear that she had no control over him, or herself, when they were alone.

  Li Tao was foremost a warlord and warrior. A man of discipline. He wanted complete control of everything, even over what would pass between them that night. Especially over that.

  She shouldn’t have pulled Auntie into her schemes. Not when she knew how ruthless Li Tao was. He had the entire household cowering under his fury. Then he had kissed her and tormented her until she was clinging to him. She folded her arms tight around herself. Every part of her felt swollen, awakened and raw with sensation.