'So simple for you,' she muttered.

'You should have at least that choice left to you.'

Did he do that deliberately? He would push her away until she was ready to condemn him and then twist her thoughts around. She picked up a stone and threw it towards the water. It skipped twice before sinking and Li Tao's eyebrows lifted in surprise.

She had no one left by her side. If she went now, she'd be alone and defenseless. Gao would come for her with a knife. Or, worse, with a proposition.

'We never did mention terms,' she said.

'The terms were very clear, though we were not speaking at the time. Pleasure for pleasure.'

'I hardly believe that's all you want.'

He ran his fingertips along her arm, stroking gently. 'The attraction of a man and a woman shouldn't be so difficult to understand.'

A shudder pulsed down her spine and she closed her hand over his to still it. She hated this power he had over her, yet she yearned for it. But she couldn't mistake it for compa.s.sion.

'You will have more freedom here than you would back in the imperial palace,' he said. 'And I believe you did not find my bed...' he paused to search for the word '...disagreeable.'

Her face grew hot under his gaze. 'There are armies marching against you,' she pointed out. 'I would be a fool to stay.'

'Let them come. You'll be safe long before anything happens.'

'You'd surrender me to Emperor Shen.'

He broke away and stared across the lake, his profile cutting a sharp outline against the forest green around them. A ribbon of sunlight danced over his face, reflected from the water.

'Shen is the only one who can keep you safe.'

His words left her cold.

'So you feel that war is inevitable,' she said.

When he didn't answer, she knew she had been right to try to escape. Li Tao would present a formidable defence, but how could he withstand the strength of two armies against his one? He met her eyes and she found it hard to breathe beneath his penetrating gaze. She wished she knew what it was he was looking for.

'You have not given an answer.'

'There really isn't a bit of poetry in you, is there?' she scolded.

He tensed beside her as he waited. His patience tore at her soul. If he was preparing himself for a life-or-death battle, why did he bother with something as meaningless as a brief affair? Why did his body call out to her in desire?

'Pleasure for pleasure, then.' A sense of dread weighed her down as she spoke the words, but beneath the fear laid a grain of hope.

She needed time to learn what Gao wanted from her. She needed protection.

Li Tao had given her power in this choice as his equal. For the first time, she was walking into danger's path willingly instead of hiding as she should. She had until the next full moon to sway Li Tao's course. In a month, she might be able to gain enough of his trust to convince him that there was another way besides war and death.

Li Tao said little to her as they returned to the mansion, but a quiet purpose had taken hold of him that was both frightening and exhilarating. He left her to Auntie, but his hand had lingered possessively on the small of her back for a long time before he retreated to his study. That night she dined alone with Auntie in quiet attendance after waiting for Li Tao to join her. He always took his meals alone and apparently didn't plan to change.

Suyin began to wonder what sort of arrangement she had agreed to. And with what sort of man?

As a wayward emptiness grew within her, she began to fear that she had agreed for more than merely pleasure or an opportunity to influence Li Tao. She feared she had agreed out of loneliness, a loneliness that all the nights before the next full moon could not appease.

If she had truly been an accomplished courtesan, she would know exactly how to conduct this affair. She would beguile and seduce and become whatever he wanted her to be. But she would not be his concubine.

Back in her chamber, she lit all the lanterns and stayed awake, stabbing an embroidery needle through a square of silk. When she finally inspected her work, her flock of cranes was crooked beyond repair.

The door opened with a slight creak of hinges. She gasped as the needle jabbed into her fingertip. Li Tao came to stand before her, his shadow falling over the embroidery. His nearness alone made her heart beat faster. Would it have been this way with any man who was her first lover?

'It is late,' she said.

'There was much to tend to.' c.o.c.king his head, he peered down at the crippled birds with only mild interest. 'You are nearly finished.'

She fixed the needle into the cloth and set the frame aside. 'Sit and rest. You look tired.'

Such simple, meaningless conversation. The sort a master of the house would have with his mistress. She would call for tea and he would tell her about his daily routine. But they weren't those people.

Li Tao didn't move to seat himself. He remained over her with that inscrutable expression that always made her grasp for something to throw him off balance. She dropped her gaze from his face to stare at the line of his neck and the tap of his pulse. The urge to press her mouth against the tanned skin a.s.sailed her. Despite the neglect of that evening, she wanted him shamelessly.

'You are bleeding,' he said.

A spot of blood pooled on her finger. With a sureness that sent a flutter to her stomach, he took hold of her hand and raised it to his lips.

She s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand away. 'Scoundrel.'

His bottom lip curved just so and she shouldn't have been so charmed by it. Their gazes locked and the distance between them dissolved.

He touched her first, his hand to her neck to guide her to him. Always so direct. His lips descended warm on to hers. His kiss took her back to the morning when the heat of their bodies had mingled beneath the blankets. Had it only been just that day?

He lifted her to her feet, hands on her waist to anchor her hips against him. Finally, she wrapped her arms around him, breathing in his warmth and the distinct scent of his skin. She'd been waiting for this moment since opening her eyes to the empty spot beside her.

She learned about him in little pieces that she pulled from the haze of desire. Li Tao had no patience for preliminaries. Her clothes were pulled away and cast aside so that nothing shielded her from his eyes. And then he looked at her, long and slow with an intensity that made her tremble.

There were other little things she learned. Li Tao liked to keep the lanterns burning. He didn't care for moving to the bed and left their clothes discarded on the floor of the sitting room. Despite the hurried rush of their first coupling, Li Tao could be endlessly patient. His calloused hands slid over her, touching, soothing. And his mouth... He found places she never knew could cause such an ache within her: the base of her spine, the soft curve of her neck. His teeth sc.r.a.ped over her skin as if it wasn't enough just to touch and kiss and taste.

She knew things too. Nothing from pillow books or her vast, yet shallow education in Luoyang. Things that her heart told her to do. Li Tao shuddered above her as she ran her hands over each chiselled curve and plane. She had never been given such freedom, such power. His was a warrior's body, hardened through combat, nothing wasted.

Her hand slid down between his thighs to tease over his manhood, pressing her advantage on purpose. His eyes shut and his head arched back as she stroked. She watched his face, his expression tight, almost pained. His breath drained from him when her grip tightened ever so slightly. She wanted to know it all.

She was already wet before he slid his fingers over the pearl of her s.e.x. Already straining for release when he rolled his tongue gently over her. His breath fanned hot against her flesh.

He dipped his finger into her and she grabbed on to the wooden frame of the chaise and bit back a scream. Li Tao liked to watch her lose herself, writhing and sobbing under his mouth. She glanced down to catch his gaze lift from the cradle of her thighs. With his eyes fixed on to hers, he urged her on with his mouth and the hard slide of his fingers until she climaxed, pulsing endlessly around him.

It was only then that he lifted her in his arms to carry her into the bedchamber. He laid her on to the bed and joined her. Her hips lifted towards him. There was a slight soreness that wasn't there before as he entered her. Her body was not yet accustomed to his impa.s.sioned love-making.

The nights. This is where they belonged. He thrust and thrust deeper. Slowly to prolong the pleasure. The muscles of his back tightened beneath her fingertips. His skin became slick with sweat. In the quiet pockets of the day, they didn't make any sense. The night could be what they made of it. If this was all he wanted, it was enough. It was everything.

She was climaxing again. She wrapped her legs around his hips and closed her eyes to let the lightning wash over her. He strained upwards, lifting himself higher on to his arms until he went rigid. His hips rocked into her of their own accord, thrusting deep one final time.

When she opened her eyes he was staring. That taunting curve of his lower lip had returned, smug this time. She lifted just her neck to press her mouth to his. It was a brief kiss in the aftermath of spent pa.s.sion. She did it to capture that bare trace of a smile.

His muscles loosened and she released him, falling back languidly to watch him as he rose. One month. Long days, and nights that were too short.

'Will you stay?' she asked as he stood.

He was naked strength beside the bed. So magnificent. 'Do you wish me to?'

The wave of loneliness came back, but she answered with a languid smile, turning on to her side to see him better. That was all the answer Li Tao needed. As he turned to put out the lanterns, she saw the bare expanse of his back for the first time.

A bold design had been inked on to his skin just over his left shoulder blade. She detected the curved body of a dragon. Sleek bands of muscle glided beneath it as he moved. A mark of thieves and a.s.sa.s.sins. She had seen such marks in the dens of Luoyang and had been warned about the men who bore them.

He faced her. The look between them acknowledged what she had seen. What he had wanted her to see. He paused over the orb lantern, waiting. When she said nothing, he extinguished the flame inside.

Chapter Twelve.

Shibao, Tibet-AD 745

14 years earlier

Li Tao plunged his sword into the Tibetan soldier's chest and pulled it out with the next motion. Even surrounded by death, his hands did not shake. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the moment the August Emperor was thrown from his horse.

His focus narrowed in on the dragon insignia of the Emperor's breastplate. This was his time. Grand General Shen and his sons had taken to separate quarters of the battlefield.

The Emperor fought on foot with the confusion of the battle around him. With sword in hand, he struck at an enemy soldier, then scanned the field around him. Li Tao's task was clear: the Emperor had to die, struck down in battle by all appearances, a casualty of the war he waged.

Li Tao gripped his sword in one hand and reached for his knife with the other. He was close. Within paces of striking distance. The Emperor's gaze fixed on to him in recognition. He would deliver his death blow face to face. A warrior, a leader of men who fought alongside his men deserved more than a knife in the back.

All that was left to do was deliver the blow. At that moment, the Emperor's eyes widened. He called a warning as his focus fixed on a point just beyond Li Tao's shoulder. The Emperor lunged forwards as Li Tao turned to address the new threat.

The Emperor cut down the first attacker, but the second got through. Tibetan steel plunged into him and he doubled over with the impact.

Before he could think, Li Tao buried his blade in the enemy soldier's throat. His hands were not his own.

The Emperor fell, clutching his wound, and Li Tao whirled to face the next attack. All he remembered from that point on was the dull, tight exhaustion of his shoulders from swinging his sword as the Son of Heaven lay bleeding into the earth behind him. All other thought had been swallowed into the cold pit of shame in his stomach.

759 AD-Present day Lady Ling glided along the bookshelves, trailing a careless finger over the spines. Every move was meant for him and he knew it. He thought of their nights and those endless hours, the sweet clench of her flesh around him, the perfume of her hair on his pillow. He set down his ink brush to savour the memories. Their nights proved that her sorcery over him was in no danger of fading.

'Sun Tzu, Tai Gung... War and flowery metaphors for war.' She cast out the exalted names with an air of dismissiveness as she slid the books out and back into the shelves. Suyin had a way of moving about a s.p.a.ce as if she owned it and owned him as well. The insinuation alone excited him, even if it was an act.

'You know the military texts,' he noted.

'I was favoured concubine to the warrior Emperor,' she replied, slanting a glance at him over her shoulder.

'In name only.'

He thought he caught the satisfied curve of her lips as she turned back to his books. The extent of his possessiveness surprised him. Li Ming was in his grave and had gone there without ever enjoying the gifts of his infamous mistress.

'There is an interesting story about General Sun Tzu.' Still not finding anything she liked, she moved on. 'General Sun was challenged by the King of Wu to make an army out of his harem of concubines.'

Her voice flowed over him like soothing fingers. He found himself relaxing into her presence. His armies were in a holding pattern after all until he received more reports about Gao.

'He divided them into two companies, appointing the two favourite concubines as the commanders, but when he tried to instruct them, the girls merely giggled. He warned them that if the soldiers did not understand their a.s.signments, it was the fault of the leaders.'

'The poor general. I know from experience even one imperial concubine can be a challenge.'

'Scoundrel.' She didn't even face him to fling the accusation.

'Go on,' he said, entertained.

Apparently she deemed the rest of the books uninteresting as well. She turned to him to finish her tale.

'When the harem continued to be uncooperative, Sun Tzu promptly executed the two favourites in front of the others. The king protested in anger, but the general replied, "When a general receives his orders, it is his duty to carry them out to perfection, even if the king protests."'

'And of course, the remaining women executed their tasks like trained soldiers,' he finished. 'I would not have been so exacting in my punishment.'

'Because they were defenceless women?'

'Because war is war and a general should know the difference.'

He looked up expectantly as she reached the end of the bookshelf. At the edge of the sealed cabinet, she seemed to lose interest and wandered back to where he was seated.

'Your tea is getting cold.' She lifted the teapot, her sleeve pulled back gracefully, balancing a finger over the lid to steady it. 'Do you know that there is an art to doing this? In Luoyang, rich n.o.blemen would pay to sit and have tea poured for them.'

His fingers brushed momentarily against hers as he took the cup from her. The touch should have been insignificant after all they'd done together, but the sensuality of it was undeniable.

'Sit with me.'

Rather than indulging his request, she slipped behind him and placed her hands over his shoulders, kneading her thumbs against the tight bands of muscle. He turned his head to one side, then the other, the sinew giving with a slight crack. Following the line of his shoulder blades, she worked his back in slow circles until the muscles begrudgingly relaxed.

He let his head fall back until he could see her. The vulnerability of the position sank in-neck exposed while she stood over him. He swallowed past the knot in his throat, forcing himself to remain still while she cradled his face in her hands.

'You said a woman gave you this.' Gingerly, she ran her thumb along the scar slashing across his cheek.