Inside the Dragon King’s bedchamber, the candles and incense burned before the portrait of Anemone. The futon lay spread near the altar. With terror speeding her heartbeat and nausea clenching her stomach, Reiko coaxed the Dragon King toward the bed. Along the way, she let the teal robe slide from her body, then shed her white undergarment. He moaned, and a visible shudder passed through him. Reiko endured his avid gaze on her nakedness. Her mind imposed a barrier between her spirit and the loathsome scene she was enacting. She took the Dragon King’s hands and placed them on her hips.

He uttered a hoarse exclamation. His face was flushed and glistening with perspiration. Reiko willed her skin to turn numb against his warm, damp touch. She untied his sash.

“Please don’t,” he muttered.

But he didn’t stop her. He stood wobbling fearfully before her while his swords clattered to the floor. As Reiko murmured endearments, she glanced down at the weapons. They lay near the end of the futon. She slipped the Dragon King’s kimono and under-robe off him. His body was muscular, but chunky and graceless; wiry hair sprouted from his torso. Just as Reiko bent to grab the long sword, he clambered out of his trousers with rapid, clumsy movements that blocked her reach for the sword. Moaning, he tore away the band of white cotton fabric that bound his loins; he freed his erect manhood, which was short and veined, purplish from the blood that engorged it. He seized Reiko and pulled her down onto the futon.

They toppled together. The lost chance to kill him, and the hot, intimate press of their flesh, horrified Reiko. An involuntary cry burst from her.

“Anemone, my beautiful Anemone,” the Dragon King moaned.

He clumsily pawed her neck and shoulders. He squeezed her buttocks, groped between her legs. All the while, his erection pressed against her thighs. Reiko tried to maintain her detachment and courage, but she felt as if every touch from him spread filth over her. When he sucked voraciously at her nipples, she choked on silent screams. His body lay between her and his swords. How could she reach them before he consummated his terrible desire?

“Let me pleasure you, my lord,” she gasped out.

Extricating herself from him, she rose up and straddled the Dragon King. He lay passive, his chest heaving and eyes half shut. Reiko swayed her body against his. He keened in delight, while she glanced sideways. The short sword lay closest, an arm’s length from the bed. Keeping one eye on the sword, she grasped the Dragon King’s erection. She pumped him, detesting the feel of the rigid, pulsating shaft. His pelvis arched. Groans erupted from him. Reiko pumped faster, hoping to bring him to climax before he could penetrate her. Then, while he was distracted by the throes of release, she could grab the sword, unsheath the blade, and stab him.

The Dragon King bucked and wailed. He reached up, grabbed Reiko’s buttocks, and pulled her down on him. To her startled dismay, he rolled her over, away from the sword. Then he was thrusting hard against her, his organ jabbing her pubis, seeking entry. His face, close to hers, contorted with ugly rapture.

“Anemone, Anemone!” His breath hissed from between bared teeth and sprayed saliva.

Terror shot through Reiko like lightning that seared every nerve, spasmed every muscle. His foul smell of sweat, incense, and liquor engulfed her. Abandoning the pretense that she enjoyed his attentions, she writhed, trying to push him away. She flung out her arm, desperately reaching for the sword. But her groping hand knocked the weapon out of reach. The Dragon King’s knees pried her legs apart. His weight and crushing embrace immobilized her. His organ probed near her womanhood. Reiko had no choice but to submit, then hope for a chance to kill him afterward. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth; she turned her face away from his. She tried to separate her mind from her body so that she wouldn’t feel the pain or repugnance. She prayed for the Dragon King to spend himself quickly and end her torture soon.

Suddenly she felt his organ go limp against her. He gave a cry of distress. Reiko opened her eyes in surprise as he reared up from her and sat back on his heels. Straddling her legs, he gazed with horror at his shriveled, dangling member.

“Not again!” he cried. “Not now!”

His hands frantically jerked at his organ, trying to revive its erection. Simultaneous relief and shock flooded Reiko. The Dragon King was impotent!

Wracking sobs arose from deep within him. “I’ve wanted this for twelve years… and I can’t!”

Reiko finally understood why he’d resisted his desire and her seduction. Waiting for his revenge against Hoshina was only an excuse. He’d feared that he wouldn’t be able to perform. And now, while he stimulated himself and mourned his humiliation, he was vulnerable. He still sat on Reiko’s legs, pinning her to the bed, but she sidled her upper body toward the edge. She cautiously extended her arm along the floor. Her fingers grazed the sword hilt. One swift move-one quick slash across his throat…

The Dragon King’s hands slammed down on her shoulders, arresting her reach for the sword. Reiko gasped.

“It’s your fault, Anemone!” he shouted, his eyes burning and jaws tight with fury. “You seduced me when I was too young and foolish to resist. You put your spell on me so that I could never love anyone except you. Then you betrayed me for that villain Hoshina. Your faithlessness caused your murder. And do you know what my life has been like ever since?”

Looming over Reiko, he spat the words into her face as she struggled and cringed. “I’ve tried to bed many women, but always failed. Not even the most beautiful, expensive courtesans could help me. I’ve taken virility potions, to no avail. And now that your spirit has come back to me in the body of this other woman, I can’t make love even to you, because I can’t enter her. You robbed me of my manhood forever!”

He smote her face. As pain exploded across her cheekbone, Reiko screamed.

“You deserved to die,” he said, closing his hands around her neck and squeezing.

Reiko gurgled and choked, fighting for breath. She kicked her legs. Her heels pounded the bed. Suffocation dizzied her; black blots obscured her vision. She clawed at the Dragon King’s wrists. He recoiled, yelping in pain, and let go her neck. Gulping air, she sat up, wildly striking him. Her fist hit his nose. His head jerked. Blood poured from his nostrils.

He howled in outrage: “How dare you hurt me, after you’ve already ruined my life?”

Reiko kept hitting. In a storm of thrashing arms, he snatched her wrists and slammed her down on the mattress, hands pinned on either side of her head. His knee bore down on her stomach. She heaved and jerked and grunted, but she couldn’t throw him off. His blood-smeared face was swollen, monstrous.

“One death wasn’t enough for you, Anemone,” he said in a voice that rasped like steel on stone. His hot, sour breath flamed her face. “You must suffer again.”

He pummeled blows against her head and breasts. Reiko cried out and threw up her hands to fend off the attack. She wrenched her body sideways. Unbalanced, the Dragon King fell onto the mattress. Reiko lurched for the sword, but he caught her ankle. She sprawled on the thin, hard tatami. While her outstretched fingers strained to reach the weapon, he yanked her toward him. Reiko rolled her body over. She flexed her other leg, then kicked his stomach.

The Dragon King’s breath snorted out of him. Thrown backward, he released her. Reiko scrambled to her feet and ran blindly. He flung himself after her. His arms encircled her knees. She tumbled, and they thrashed in a frenzy of blows and kicking. Reiko sobbed and gasped. She was losing the battle; yet her determination flared anew. She reached down between their straining, colliding bodies. Her hand fumbled at the Dragon King’s loins. She gripped his scrotum and squeezed hard.