Apparently the man knew it, too, because he began to babble in Cantonese, pleading for his life and offering all sorts of gold and jewels in trade. Bo Tao’s translator didn’t say a word, not even bothering with a man’s dying words.

Ji Yue barely remembered to keep writing. She knew her calligraphy would be hideous because she could not shift her gaze from the tableau before her.

Then the assistant moved again. With a flick of his wrist-faster than she could see-he cut a mark like a dragon in the ape-man’s cheek. Back on the throne, Bo Tao clapped his hands twice. The sound was so loud that Ji Yue would swear it echoed for minutes afterward.

More eunuchs came in. They poured an oil of some sort on the chest. The stench was so terrible that Ji Yue’s eyes watered, and still the Dutch were held immobile by Chinese swords. In fact, all were frozen in place for a long minute.

Finally, when Ji Yue felt she would go mad from the strain, Bo Tao slowly stood up from the throne. If Ji Yue thought he was magnificent before, it was nothing to the power that radiated from him now. He walked like a furious god! He came down from the dais and moved coldly through the sea of swords. He walked straight up to the man whom Ji Yue had thought was the true leader. He stepped before that man and spoke clearly.

“Hear my words from the Dragon Throne. All who deal in that dung powder will be killed.” He waited as his words went through both translators. He waited and he watched until the Dutch man dipped his head in acknowledgment.

Bo Tao did no more than blink, but suddenly, all the Chinese swords were sheathed. Every soldier stepped back while the Dutch remained awkwardly frozen in the center of the room. Ji Yue heard their shuddering breaths of relief, and yet none of them dared move beyond that. Meanwhile, the chest of opium was lifted by two eunuchs, tossed into the massive fireplace, and set on fire.

The ape-man scowled as the flames burst higher. The oily stench in the air made Ji Yue draw back, and she was pleased that a tapestry shielded her from most of the thick air.

Then the ape-man cursed. Ji Yue could not hear the words clearly for he muttered them, but it was a phrase she recognized. Her old nurse had used it when only the most vulgar of names would do. They were the last words he ever spoke.

Bo Tao whipped around and threw his dagger straight through the ape-man’s thick neck. The man gurgled once, his eyes bulging in shock, then he fell forward, dead.

JiYue pressed a hand to her mouth to hold back her scream. The brush fell from her hand and she pulled back from her peephole. For a time, she did not think she could breathe. Even worse, she could not close her eyes because whenever she did, she saw the point of Bo Tao’s dagger sticking out from the front of the ape-man’s throat. She saw the blood welling and…

JiYue bit her lip. She would not scream. She would perform her duties as a good wife should. She would think of nothing else but her task. She had to record…nothing. Nothing else was said. Bo Tao stomped out of the room, but the soldiers remained. And the foreigners meekly gathered up the corpse and filed away.

Ji Yue waited, watching, while inside she shook like a leaf in a storm. Sometime later-she didn’t even know how long-someone entered her tiny room. She didn’t have the presence of mind to see who it was. But the moment his arms came around her, she turned and pressed her face into Bo Tao’s coat.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I am so sorry. I did not mean for you to see that, but I could not allow such a slight from that man. Fear must be lasting and his had already faded. We are in such danger from their opium, you cannot know what I fear for our country.”

“I know,” she said as she lifted her mouth to his neck. “I know.”

“You were very brave,” he said.

She released a short laugh. “I was safely hidden. You were the man walking among swords.”

“My men are very well trained. There was no danger to me.”

She shook her head, easing away from him to make sure he saw her earnestness. “You are wrong, Sun Bo Tao. There is always danger with those men. They may be frightened now with your swords at their throat, but it will not last long. They will return.”

Bo Tao’s expression turned even more grim. “I know. China will soon be beset on all sides.”

There was nothing she could say to that. He had confirmed her worst fears. But then he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Come, come. Let me see what you have recorded.”

“I have not finished,” she said as she reluctantly pulled from his arms. “Mama taught me to write down my impressions after it was all done.”

“Excellent advice,” he said as he scanned her paper. Then his eyes suddenly lit with surprise. “You speak Cantonese?”

She nodded. “Mama was appalled, but I learned it from my nurse.”

“In this, your mother and I disagree. A knowledge of the shippers’ tongue is most valuable. Most valuable indeed!”

Then he sat down at the table to read her notes more directly. She hadn’t noticed until then that he’d lit the candle, so she quickly shut the bamboo shutter.

“Sit, sit,” he said as he gestured to the chair. “Write down your notes as your mama said, and then I have a surprise for you.”

10

WHAT A POWERFUL WOMAN! Bo Tao thought as he watched Ji Yue’s tiny mother inspect her daughter from head to toe. That had been his surprise for JiYue. Once she finished with her notations on his meeting with the Dutch, he’d escorted her to another room where her family waited. It had given him such joy to hear her squeal with delight and rush forward. The happiness she expressed when surrounded by her family went a long way to restoring his peaceful spirit after his disastrous afternoon.

The emperor would applaud his show of strength to the Dutch, but murder was never something Bo Tao would stomach with ease. That JiYue had witnessed his moment of violence disturbed him, but she’d handled it with more aplomb than two of his soldiers. They had to leave early to cast up their stomachs; she had sat quietly and recorded her notes. Looking at the mother now, he understood how the daughter became the amazing woman she was. Her mother would have tolerated nothing less!

But whereas the mother was almost shrewish with her tight words and pursed lips, Ji Yue was sweet-tempered and kind. Those must be the traits she got from her father, who was indeed rather vague in his mannerisms. Even the sons were just as Ji Yue described, the eldest lost in his own thoughts while the youngest missed nothing. But no one in this family could match the mother for power.

Bo Tao ordered food, then sat back and watched the family interact. He drank his tea and listened in silence as Ji Yue related a severely edited version of all that had occurred so far in the contest. They all cheered in delight that she had passed both the physical exam and the family history exam, which meant she had only the artistic display before the final selection. Then, just when he was at his most relaxed, the mother pinned him with her stare.

“This is most lovely, Sun Bo Tao. Our family can never repay such a kindness. But I cannot help but wonder if all the imperial virgins have family visiting. If so, then the Forbidden City must be overrun with happiness today!”

“Today has indeed been a happy day,” he lied. “But no,” he said, answering her unspoken question, “the other virgins have not been so fortunate as your daughter. They rest in the virgins’ palace without the blessed kisses of their mothers.”

Madame Chen’s brows shot high. Or rather, they would have if the woman still possessed eyebrows. “Sweet heaven, we are richly blessed,” she cried. “Has something occurred that we receive such beneficence? Ji Yue, what have you done to be singled out so?”