He lifted his head slightly, smiling back at her, and saw her pause, then throw the ball to one of the other maids, saying something which he couldn't catch. Then he saw her go, between the magnolia and out down the pathway, heading toward his room.
He caught up with her in the corridor outside his room, and turned her, pulling her against him.
"Not here," she said, laughing. "Inside, Li Yuan. Let's get inside first."
He could barely wait for her. As she undressed he ran his hands across her skin, and pressed his face against her hair, which smelled of ginger and cinnamon. He would have taken her then, while he was still fully clothed, but she stopped him and began to undress him, her hands lingering against his painfully stiff penis. In daylight her body seemed different; harder, firmer, less melting than it had seemed in the darkness, but no less desirable. He let her draw him down onto the bed, then he was inside her, spilling his seed at once.
She laughed tenderly, no trace of mockery in her laughter. "I see I'll have to teach you tricks, Li Yuan. Ways of holding back."
"What do you mean?" He lay there against her, his eyes closed, letting her caress his neck, his shoulders, the top of his back.
"There are books we can get, Chun hua. And devices."
He shivered. The light touch of her fingers on his flesh was delicious, making him want to purr like a cat. "Chun hua?" He had not heard of such things. "Spring pictures? What kind of spring pictures?"
She laughed again, then whispered in his ear. "Pictures of men and women doing things to each other. All kind of things. You'd not believe the number of ways it can be done, Li Yuan. And not just with two."
She saw his interest and laughed. "Ah, yes, 1 thought as much. There's no man living who has not desired two girls in bed with him."
He swallowed. "What do you mean, Pearl Heart?" But he was answered almost at once. From behind a screen on the far side of the room came the unmistakable sound of suppressed laughter.
Li Yuan sat up and looked across. "Who's there? I demand to know—"
He fell silent. It was Sweet Rose, the youngest of his maids.
She stepped out from behind the screen, demure but naked, a faint blush on her cheeks and at her neck. "May I join you on the bed, Li Yuan?"
Li Yuan shuddered, then turned and looked mutely at Pearl Heart. She was smiling broadly at him. "That's what we're here for. Didn't you realize it, Li Yuan? For this time. For when you woke to your manhood."
Pearl Heart leaned forward and summoned the younger girl, then drew Li Yuan back onto the bed, making Sweet Rose lie the other side of him. Then, with a shared, sisterly exchange of laughter, they began their work, stroking and kissing him, their skin like silk, their breath like almonds, inflaming his senses until he blossomed and caught fire again.
NAN HO stood there outside the room, his head bowed, his manner apologetic but firm. "I am sorry, Lady Fei, but you cannot go inside."
She looked at him, astonished. It was the second time he had defied her. "What do you mean, cannot? I think you forget yourself, Nan Ho. If I wish to see Li Yuan, I have every right to call on him. I want to ask him if he will ride with me this afternoon, that's all. Now, please, stand out of my way."
He saw it was hopeless to try to deny her any further and stood to one side, his head lowered. "I beg you, Lady Fei—" But she brushed past him and opened the door to Li Yuan's rooms.
"Ridiculous man . . ." she had started to say, then fell silent, sniffing the air. Then she noticed the sounds, coming from beyond the screen. Unusual sounds to be coming from the bedroom of a thirteen-year-old boy. She crept up to the screen, then put her hand to her mouth to stifle her surprise.
It was Li Yuan! Gods! Li Yuan with two of his maids!
For a moment she stood there, mesmerized by the sight of his firm, almost perfect bottom jutting and rutting with one of the maids while the other caressed and stroked the two of them. Then she saw him stiffen and groan and saw the maid's legs tighten momentarily about his back, drawing him down into her.
She shuddered and began to back away, then put her hand to her mouth to stop the laughter that had come unbidden to her lips. Li Yuan! Of all the cold fishes in the sea of life, imagine Li Yuan, rutting with his maids! The dirty little beggar!
Outside she looked at Nan Ho sternly. "I was not here, Nan Ho. Do you understand me?"
The servant bowed deeply. "I understand you, Lady Fei. And I will leave your message for the young prince. I am sure he would welcome the chance to ride with you this afternoon."
She nodded, then turned, conscious of the blush that had come to her cheeks and neck, and walked quickly away.
Li Yuan! She gave a brief laugh, then stopped dead, reman-bering the sight of those small, perfectly formed buttocks clenching at the moment of his orgasm.
"And I thought you so cold, so passionless. So above all this."
She laughed again; a strange, querulous laugh, then walked on, surprised by what she was thinking.
"Do you remember this place, Karr?"
Karr smiled and looked out from their private box into the pit with its surrounding tiers.
"How could I forget it, General?"
Tblonen leaned back and sighed. "Men forget many things they'd do best to remember. Roots. They forget their roots. And when that happens they lose their ability to judge things true and clear."
Karr smiled. "This business—" he pointed to the brilliantly lit combat circle— "it had a way of clearing the mind of everything but truth."
Tblonen laughed. "Yes, I can see that."
Karr turned and faced him. "I'm glad you're back, General. I mean no disrespect to General Nocenzi, but things haven't been the same without you at the helm."
The old man sniffed and tilted his head slightly. "IVe missed it, too, Karr. Missed it badly. But listen, I'm not at the helm. Not in the sense that you're probably thinking. No. This is something else. Something secret that the T'ang has asked me to organize."
He spelled it out quickly, simply, letting Karr understand that he would be briefed more fully later.
"This is a contingency plan, you understand. We hope never to have to use it. If the House votes in favor of the veto on space exploration—as it should—we can put this little scheme to the flame—throw it on the fire, so to speak."
"But you don't believe that, do you, General?"
Tblonen shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I think the T'ang hopes against hope. The House is no friend to the Seven at present."
Below them, in the pit, the two contestants came out and took their places. The fight marshal read out the rules and then stepped back. The pit went deathly silent.
The fight was brief but brutal. In less than a minute one of the two men was dead. The crowd went mad, roaring its approval. Karr watched the stewards carry the body away, then shivered.
"I'm glad I let you buy my contract out. That could have been me."
"No," Tolonen said. "You were the exception. No one would have carried you from the circle. Not in a hundred fights. I knew that at once."
"The first time you saw me?" Karr laughed and turned to face the older man.
"Almost."
Karr was smiling. "I remember even now how you looked at me that first time—so dismissive, it was, that look—and then you turned your back on me."
Tolonen laughed, remembering. "Well, sometimes it's best not to let a man know all you're thinking. But it was true. It was why I welcomed your offer. I knew at once I could use you. The way you stood up to young Hans. I liked that. It put him on his mettle."
Karr looked down. "Have you heard that I've traced DeVore?"
Tolonen's eyes widened. "No! W-here?"
"I'm not certain, but I think he's taken an overseer's job on one of the big plantations. My man Chen is investigating him right now. As soon as he has proof we're going in."