She couldn't lift him, so Yi waved away her offer of assistance and clambered to his feet on his own. "Mao…"
"Mai," she corrected.
"Mai," he repeated. Even her name on his tongue tasted sweet. "All those nights we shared a tent, I dreamed of a woman I could not see. A woman who held my heart in her hands every moment I was with her. Yet when I tried to see her, all I saw was my roommate, Mao. His face would shock me awake, every time, because when I looked upon him, I felt no desire at all. And now I look at you…and I wonder…"
"I did not dream of you," she admitted slowly. "But when Heng helped me into my armour, I wished it was you." She blushed. "And when we fought together, melee style, I often stood closer to you than necessary, so that I might brush against you during the fight."
"I did not want a bride," he began.
"And I never wished to be one," she finished. "Yet when you offered…" Her eyes grew very wide and dark. Mountain lakes a man could get lost in, if he wasn't careful.
What was he saying? Yi was already lost, a long time ago. "Be mine, Yeong Mai," he said softly. "I cannot send a matchmaker to ask your father for your hand, so I must ask you here, before your ancestral spirits. Will you be my bride, though I am such a terrible fighter, even an orphan girl could beat me? I will endeavour to protect you, and your family, as best I can. Mao was the best friend a man could ever have, but I would ask for more from you, Mai. I want you to be my friend and my lover, as I will be yours. I owe you my life, and I will give it to you freely, one day at a time, every day I have, until we join our ancestors in the spirit realm."
Her eyes held wonder, but also warmth. "I will." A tiny smile teased him. "But first give me a taste of what to expect. I know the quality of your friendship, and what kind of dancer you are, but I am new to love."
She wanted him to make love to her here, in her ancestral shrine? Yi swallowed. "Would a kiss do? A taste?"
She nodded once. "Perhaps." Mai stood calmly with her hands by her sides, waiting.
For him, Yi realised. She had always insisted he attack first, and this was no different. She would judge his kiss the way she judged his fighting. His heart grew cold. What if she found him wanting?
"Are you as experienced at kissing as you are at fighting?" he blurted out.
Her calm evaporated. "I…have never…"
A girl who could put a grown man on his arse as easily as breathing wouldn't have been the victim of stolen kisses, Yi realised. It was a lucky man who could touch her at all.
The thought gave him courage, bolstered by the panic in her eyes. He would protect her and take care of her.
Yi raised his hands to show he was unarmed, then closed the distance between them in two strides. One hand grasped her shoulder – gently, for she was far more delicate than Mao – as he lifted his other hand to her face. Still he hesitated. He didn't want to mess this up, not least because he'd end up flat on his back on the floor if he did.
He traced her lips with his thumb. They were softer and plumper than he'd imagined, even in his dreams. Kissing her would be…
She bit his thumb. Gently, but just enough to sting.
"When campaigning, be swift as the wind," Mai whispered. "Do you wish to fight for my heart, or not, Rooster?"
He remembered the words, for he had heard her say them before the start of every fight. "Plunder like fire, stand as firm as the mountains, and move like a thunderbolt."
His fingers tangled in her hair as he pressed his mouth to hers, lightning-fast. Swift enough to steal the breeze of her breath as she gasped, parting her lips just wide enough to let his tongue plunder her mouth. Desire blazed inside him as her arms wrapped around him, so that her body pressed against his so firmly he wanted to topple them both to the tiles and make love to her then and there. He didn't want just her heart, he wanted her whole body, too, for she had ensnared his spirit so completely he was bound to her already.
After an eternity that was still too short, Mai broke the kiss, laying her head against his heaving chest. "I like your fire, my prince. And you are…quite firm." She was pressed so tightly against him, she couldn't help but feel his arousal.
Yi reddened. "I will control myself until you are no longer in mourning, and we are married," he said.
Mai laughed. "I meant the muscles of your chest, but yes, that one feels firm, too. Like you desire me, even though…I am like this." She gestured at her body.
His gaze followed her waving hand and his desire burned brighter still. "How could I feel anything else? You are not just the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I have fought at your side, when I should have spent every day fighting for you. You hold my heart, Mai, and you always will." He inhaled some of the incense smoke which made him cough, spoiling the effect of his words.
"It seems my mother's spirit approves," Mai said, pointing at the offending incense. "My father knows better than to go against her wishes. My heart is yours, when you choose to claim it."
Now, his heart urged, but Yi resisted. The girl was still mourning her father, and they could not marry until her mourning period was past. "I choose to claim it now with a kiss, and a promise that the day your mourning ends, I shall have the rest of you, too."
As his arms slipped around her waist, pulling her in close, she said, "You will, my prince," before he silenced her with a soul-consuming kiss.
Forty-Two
The wedding formalities seemed to take an eternity. When Yi escorted her to yet another chamber, Mai swore that if she was forced to drink another cup of tea, she was going to accidentally spill it down her robes so that she could excuse herself to change clothes. If it weren't for Yi at her side, she would have heartily refused to marry at all by the end of the first hour. As it was, she gritted her teeth, kept her eyes lowered and imagined the calm mountain lake beside her family home.
Yi closed the doors behind them. "Would you like some tea?" he offered.
Mai whirled, ready to tell him exactly what she thought of tea, only to discover him grinning with a bottle in his hand.
"Because my family or the servants have only left us this fine bottle of baijiu to drink. No tea at all," Yi finished.
Mai relaxed enough to laugh a little. "If that is anywhere near as good as what we were drinking on the night of the ball, then yes."
Yi unstoppered the bottle with a satisfying pop. He held it to his nose and inhaled deeply. "As I suspected. My father has given us a bottle of his best, to celebrate."
He found two cups and poured the clear liquor into them. Mai reached for the nearest one, but Yi stopped her. "Wait. This is strong stuff. Before we have any, I must make certain I married a woman, and not a man."
Mai raised her hands to remove her veil, but Yi stopped her again.
"Please. I have dreamed about this moment." He laughed nervously. "Usually it's good, and you are a beautiful woman, but sometimes I see the man who knocked me to the ground so many times in training."
"I did not knock you down," Mai replied. "You lost your balance and fell, more often than not because you did not see a blow coming. You should be more observant."
"Tonight, I will be," he promised, reaching for her. Carefully, he lifted the veil from her head. "Such beautiful hair. I must see it free, as it was the day you bested me in the courtyard of your ancestral home."
She helped him unpin her hair, so that it cascaded down her back.
"So beautiful," he breathed, stroking her hair.
No one had ever touched her like this before. Mai closed her eyes, finally understanding why her stepmother's cat purred when she stroked it. If Mai could purr, she would definitely do so when Yi stroked her like this.
She wanted to protest when he stopped, but his hands had moved to her front, untying her robe, so he could slip it off her shoulders, leaving her clad only in her underskirt.
Yi's eyes shone with admiration. "To think I bathed beside you a thousand times, and shared a tent with you for countless nights, and yet I never saw t
hese sweet breasts. You are right. I should have been more observant."
Mai felt her cheeks grow hot as he continued to stare at her chest. "You definitely did not bathe with me a thousand times. A hundred, or maybe two, but you avoided bathing for days at a time. I bathed a thousand times, morning and night, and sometimes after a hard training session. I may have pretended to be a man, but I could not tolerate smelling like one."
"You have always smelled like paradise," Yi admitted. "Sometimes, I wondered what was wrong with me, for I would wake many a morning filled with desire, and yet when I opened my eyes I would see Mao, a man I did not desire at all. Yet now, it all makes sense, and I cannot resist." He cupped her breasts reverently, bowing to kiss each one.
Mai gasped at his touch, wanting to beg for more but too nervous to say a word. She swallowed, and made her decision. She unfastened her underskirt and let that fall, stepping out of her shoes so she stood naked before him. "This is the body you bathed with, and lay on the pallet beside you when we shared a tent. I am smaller than Mao, and softer, but I wear the same scars. I – "
Yi trailed a line of kisses down her shoulder. "I fought at your side as you gained every one of them. And to think I allowed Heng to dress you in your armour, when it could have been my hands on you every day. I only wish I could have protected you from war the way a man is supposed to protect his wife. I promise you will never have to fight another battle for as long as I live."
"Only if you do not fight any, either," she countered. "For the best swordsman in the empire, you have needed to be saved a lot." She smiled. "But if I go to war again at your side, your hands alone will help me with my armour. You don't know how many times I wished it was you instead of Heng."
Yi bowed. "As my lady wishes, if duty and the Emperor allow."
Duty. It was their duty to consummate this marriage, and Mai had longed for this for…longer than she liked to admit. "Right now, your duty is to disrobe for your wife," Mai said, more nervous than she expected.
She had seen him naked so many times, she could trace every scar from memory. Yet now he was her husband, and that fierce warrior body would join with hers, her heart danced in her chest in anticipation. Eager anticipation.
Now he was the one who hesitated. "I have more scars than you. Some from our last battle which have not completely healed. If you expected a husband who is handsome and whole, I am no longer that man. The scars on my back…"
"My prince, I will know and love every scar, for as you say, I fought at your side as you gained every one of them," Mai said. She unfastened Yi's robes, baring him to the waist as they fell to the floor. She moistened her lips nervously, then reached for the cord holding his pants up and untied that, too. Trying not to think about how they were both naked, she forced herself to walk around him, taking note of every scar from the faded lines on his shins through to the badly-healed burns on his back. She couldn't help laying her hand on the shiny skin. "Does it still hurt?" she murmured.
"No, and with your hands on me like that, I would burn again, just to feel your touch," Yi said.
"My hands are yours to command, my prince," she replied. "After all, you won the fight, and you have yet to claim your prize."
"I want to claim you, but you are no prize," he said, pulling her hard against him when she opened her mouth to protest. "You are the reason I will fight my whole life long, so that I can keep you, and keep you safe. For I could stand losing each and every city in the kingdom, and even the throne itself, but I would not survive losing you. I love you, Mai, my dancer, my balance, and all the honour and glory a man could hope for. All I can offer in return is myself, as your prince."
Her prince. Yes. Holding tight to him, she backed him toward the bed until she tripped him and he tipped backward onto the mattress. Yi didn't let go of her, so she landed on top of him, blissfully aware of his hard, naked body beneath her.
Remembering the bold camp followers she'd envied so long ago, Mai sat up, straddling Yi's hips. She drew in a deep breath and drove her hips down, taking his length inside her. She gasped at the strange fullness, but it felt so right that it was but a moment before she started to move, riding him like she'd wanted to for so long.
"Mai…oh, ancestors, Mai!" he cried, grasping her hips as he thrust into her, matching her rhythm perfectly.
Balance. This was balance, the transcendental dance of two lovers so perfect for each other that when they joined, the rest of the world fell away.
And then the balance tipped, sending Mai's very soul flying to the heavens as she cried out for joy. Yet as she flew, Yi's arms held her securely, as his matching cry rang out across the sky. They flew together as one.
Mingled, joyous sounds that would ring in her ears for ever after, as Yi made her happy, again and again. Finally, Mai understood the fairy tales, knowing that if anyone got to live as happily ever after as her and her prince, then they were fortunate indeed.
The next book in the series will be
Revel:
Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold
which you can get HERE.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.
She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.
Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.
The Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by her suspense thriller Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn't leave her alone.
Want to know more? You can follow Demelza on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or her website, Demelza Carlton’s Place at:
www.demelzacarlton.com
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Table of contents
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
The next book in the series will be
Revel:
Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold
which you can get HERE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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