Chapter 12
“My parents did not send that ugly thing!” she snapped.
Bo Tao almost smiled. Trust Ji Yue to defend herself to the very end, for all that she was alone and vulnerable in his private office suite.
“What is wrong with you? Why do you limp?”
She flushed and looked away. “It is nothing.” Then she abruptly spun back to him, her eyes blazing. “And if you really cared, you would have stopped it from happening two nights ago!”
He grimaced at the confirmation of his fears. “So the virgins have continued beating you.”
She nodded. “I have brothers. I know how to fight back.” Then she took a wobbling step forward. “But why do you allow it? They are vicious bitches!”
He shrugged. “It is a woman’s life in the Forbidden City. Hens need a pecking order. Eventually the hierarchy will be established, but for now,” he shook his head. “As long as the Dowager Consort despises you, you will stay on the bottom. If I were to interfere, it would only go harder on you.”
She didn’t answer. She knew it was true.
Then he gestured to the couch. “Come, come. Let us see your injuries. I will call the doctor and she will do what can be done.”
Ji Yue crossed her arms over her chest. “Call no one. I know what is wrong. It will heal in time.”
Bo Tao narrowed his eyes. He did not like that she kept these things from him. “Tell me what is the matter or I will call the doctor.”
She balled her fists and glared at him. “It is nothing, I tell you! I am beaten and bruised.” He stifled a curse. “I should have been here. I should have guarded you better.” Then he sighed. “You know I must see these injuries, Ji Yue. You cannot always know what will fester and what will not.”
“It is not proper!” she cried.
“I am Master of the Festival, and I will see how a virgin under my care was injured.” He had thought that seeing her again would decrease his desire. That his lust would fade in the cold light of day, but it was not so. Now that he had her alone, he would not be denied her. Not on this most frustrating of days.
She understood what he meant. She knew and he could smell her excitement in the closed air of his tiny office. His dragon stiffened to painful intensity, but he did not move. He saw the fear in her eyes. Finally, she shook her head. “Someone will know.”
“The door is shut.” Then on impulse, he dragged a heavy table in front of it, blocking anyone from entering. “Someone must hear you being punished, Ji Yue. Your screams of pain must be very loud as I beat you for frustrating me so.”
She straightened. “You do not seem like a man who beats a woman.”
“Ah, but who knows where lust will take a man?” He took her to the couch, setting cushions behind her back before she slowly sat. “The Emperor knows I crave you like a sickness.” He spoke the truth baldly. She had to understand the depth of his hunger and the danger they were both in. “He is testing my loyalty. He knows there is another Physical Examination in twodays.”
She frowned. “The final check for virginity before he selects his brides.”
“If you remain a virgin despite our time together, despite me beating you now, then he will know lust cannot tempt me away from my duties to him.” He took a deep breath and told her it all. “I pray it is his final test before he gives me an appointment.”
Her expression turned serious. “Then what my mother said is true. You have no wealth of your own?”
“Not enough for a wife or a family. Barely enough to keep a modest home on my parents’ land.”
“You depend upon the Emperor, then,” she said. She reached out, touching his face with tentative caress. “As do I since my parents will not have me back.”
He took her hand from his cheek, pulling it slowly to his lips where he pressed a kiss into her palm. “My fortunes may change,” he said. Then he gestured to the papers in his office. “I am working very hard to get an appointment and a salary, but...” He shook his head.
“Not soon enough. Not for my mother, at least.” She took a deep breath. “Did you know that the Dowager expelled the Wu girl this morning? We are now down to the final twenty-eight virgins.”
The news hit him like a blow to the chest. He had not realized that all the extraneous girls had been culled. Every one who remained would be divided into one of Yi Zhen’s harems. He could barely breathe for the pain of it. “You have been selected then. You will be a concubine.”
His heart broke to say the words. Four days ago, he hadn’t even known she existed. Since that time, he had gone from despising her to lusting for her to maneuvering every way he could such that he could court her. All to no avail.
“I can ever have you, Ji Yue. I thought if you were expelled, if I stayed away and the others found a way to push you out.” He began to pace out his agitation. “But I couldn’t stay away any longer. I couldn’t watch you in pain, humiliated for all to see.”
He looked into her eyes and saw tears glistening there. She understood what he was saying. She knew that he would offer for her if he could. But she didn’t speak, and so in her silence, he did the boldest, most dishonorable thing he’d ever done. He guided her hands to his groin. She did not fight him. She let him lead and when her fingers touched the bulge in his pants, he groaned at the feel of her slender fingers.
