3

BO TAO GRIMACED at the noise coming from the virgins’ palace. Sixty girls had passed the first examination and gained entrance into the Forbidden City. Sixty virgins covered in finery and oozing hope. Sixty women who had no idea that they would traverse a twisting maze of political intrigue just to find an outhouse. The pathway to the emperor’s bedchamber would be much more dangerous.

He closed his eyes, seeing in his mind the faces of the virgins one after the other. He remembered the sobbing rejected ones and the smug wealthy ones. But bit by bit, their features all blended into one face, one girl who intrigued him as no other: Chen JiYue of the strong legs and fierce expression.

He’d been more amused than angry after she’d unceremoniously kicked him into the muck. Who’d have thought a little thing like her could shove the great Bo Tao into the dirt? Even the porters’ mocking laughter hadn’t truly soured his mood.

No, that had come later. About three minutes later when he realized he would have to walk the rest of the way to the Forbidden City. And he had to do so with muddy torn clothing, a queue that was covered with leaves and grime and a bruise on his hindquarters that ached with every step. All because the vulgar daughter of a poor bannerman decided he did not belong in her palanquin.

He knew this was not a rational anger; he had caused his own difficulties. And yet, with every step toward the Forbidden City, he plotted his revenge. True, the dowager consort and her head eunuch lackey were making most of the decisions, but only because Bo Tao didn’t care which of the girls were accepted and which weren’t. They were all the same, anyway. And it didn’t matter to the emperor who he planted his cock in, so long as she was fertile. The dowager consort was in charge of the girls’ ultimate education. So what did he-as his best friend’s representative-really care about these girls? Nothing.

Nothing at all, except to see the arrogant Chen Ji Yue punished for her crime. Hours later, after he’d changed his clothing and cleaned his face, after dozens of girls had been weighed and rejected, after tedious tears or joyful squeals, she had finally shown up.

He’d seen the horror on her face when she realized who he was. She’d known she was doomed from that moment, but her pert little chin had lifted in defiance. Her assets were tallied according to her ability to bribe, her ancestry was delineated, and the dowager consort was about to give her reluctant blessing. Bo Tao’s moment was at hand. He would simply step up and refuse her on some ridiculous pretext. His aching feet had been waiting all day for that very moment.

And then the tally eunuch had upstaged him. There were dozens of flaws to choose from. Her large feet or her pointy chin, for example. But the damn man had to go and pick on the one thing that was not her fault.

Bo Tao had almost spoken up then. Surely the man had seen her other flaws. Her tendency to speak when she ought to remain silent, for example. The way she scrabbled in the dirt for her etched stone. There were millions of reasons she was not fit to birth an emperor.

But none of them had seen what he saw. None of them knew to criticize her fierce nature. All they saw was another girl begging to be admitted to the Forbidden City. And he could not speak out against her character without revealing that he had been the one kicked into the dust.

Which meant that he had had to defend her. It had nothing to do with her excellent strategy or his surprise that a woman could think ahead enough to plan a defense. She was clearly a clever girl, and he admired her. So he’d spoken up. Because of his efforts, she was now an imperial virgin and the emperor’s property. Which meant, of course, she was completely cut off from her family and friends, beset on all sides by her competitors, and he-as master of the festival-was the only path to her goal.

Did he dare toy with his best friend’s property? The temptation burned in his gut. But he was beyond such childish games, he told himself. His attention was on the larger matters of state. No woman-certainly not a mouthy virgin-could tempt him away from that. His work, however unofficial, was more important. And yet, he couldn’t resist thinking about her delectable lips, the saucy sway of her hips and that last look she’d given him as she walked into the Forbidden City. It was part challenge, part interest and wholly compelling.

Did he dare? Could he resist? Especially since she now owed him for his help. Bo Tao began to grin. Tomorrow’s physical exam would be his next opportunity with the delectable virgin Ji Yue.

“WHY ARE YOU SO LAZY?” bellowed a male voice much too early the next morning. “An empress must be ready at all hours of the day and night!”

Ji Yue gasped and sat bolt upright in her bed. She threw back the covers and put her feet to the floor before she realized how inappropriate that response was. Her roommate, Hua Si, of the long gold necklace that was now a choker, acted as a maiden ought; she pulled the covers up to her chin and trembled in fear at a man’s presence in her room. But Ji Yue stood in her white night shift in front of…

Sun Bo Tao, the master of the festival. He stood at the doorway of their boxlike room and smirked as he stared at her bare calves and feet. Then his gaze traveled upward, and she felt the heat of his perusal slide up her legs, around her hips and then to the tips of her pointed breasts.

“How dare you enter my chamber!” she snapped as she quickly whipped the blanket off her bed and around her shoulders.

He arched his brows. “I am the master here,” he drawled, somehow making his words suggestive. “I dare whatever I wish.”

Ji Yue trembled even as her toes curled in delight at his dark words. She should not be intrigued by him, but he had tortured her already in her dreams. She had quivered beneath his gaze and trembled at his hold on her ankle. So his presence now seemed a simple continuation of his dreamtime seduction. But she could not allow him to distract her! So she lifted her chin and faced him eye to eye as a future empress.

“I am the emperor’s concubine!” she responded tartly. “It is not seemly for you to see my sleeping attire.”

“Ha!” he barked. “You are no concubine yet! And no one has privacy in the Forbidden City.”

True enough. Eunuchs were everywhere. Even in the virgins’ palace, they stood silent sentry over bathing, dressing, even peeing. “A virgin, however, requires modesty,” she retorted. “As I am awake now, your task is done. You may go wake the others.”

He arched a single black brow at her, the expression both menacing and…amused? Had she detected a glimmer of laughter beneath his dour expression? If she had, it was quickly erased.

“You will not be so impudent after today’s physical examination, I wager,” he said darkly. “No cosmetics. Today we will see you without lies.” Then he sketched a mocking bow and withdrew from the room.

“You are so brave!” murmured Hua Si as she emerged from the blankets. “You must speak out at every turn. The emperor will be sure to notice your courage.”

Ji Yue barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes at the ploy. If she continued to speak as she did, the emperor would notice her long enough to toss her outside onto a garbage heap. A woman’s virtues included silence and compliance, not the acid tongue she had when that man looked at her.

She sighed and began to dress. “Do you know what is involved in the physical exam?” she asked. She had a guess, but maybe Hua Si had better information.

“I hope it involves food,” Hua Si returned. “I’m starving.”

Ji Yue didn’t respond. She doubted she could eat. Not with the master’s dire prediction poisoning the air. What did he mean? What was to happen that would make her less impudent? And what would she do without cosmetics to make herself prettier?