uneven tap of his stick as he moved away. The door opened, then closed. Suyin looked back to him, drawing him in with those dark, captivating eyes. He could admit it now. He’d been caught from the first time they’d looked upon him, over fifteen years ago.
His questions could wait. He drew her close and kissed her; slow and fierce. She murmured a sound of surrender that went all the way through him.
‘I was so frightened,’ she whispered once their lips parted. She slid her fingertips gingerly over the bandage at his side.
‘Lao Sou is a dangerous man,’ he reminded her.
‘So are you.’
Her bottom lip curved in a way that he knew would captivate him for the rest of his life. It was hard to ignore that he was half-undressed and in bed with the most beautiful woman in the empire.
‘Tell me what you promised.’
‘Nothing at all,’ she said, all innocence. ‘Our child will call Lao Sou “grandfather”.’
He shook his head and passed a hand over his eyes. ‘This is a bargain with a demon.’
‘You were dying. He brought in physicians and exorcists.’
‘Exorcists?’
‘He wanted to hunt Ru Shan down and have him executed, but I stopped him. Don’t you understand?’ She took hold of his chin and levelled his gaze to hers.
He loved this fire in her. She would always challenge him like this.
‘Lao Sou always wanted you as his successor,’ she explained. ‘When he sent you to assassinate the August Emperor, it would have elevated you to immortal status among An Ying. That was why he was always so angry you defied him. He was fond of you.’
‘Fond? This man has dreamt of countless ways to kill me. I won’t be his puppet and I won’t allow you or our child to be under his control.’
‘That’s not the way of things any more.’ She ran her hand along his chest and there was not a thing in the world he could deny her. ‘He’s old and lonely.’
‘You believe the master of the assassins simply wants a grandson?’
‘Yes.’
He rebelled at the absurdity of it. All the attempts on his life, the constant threat. Lao Sou had sent him once again to his death merely days ago.
Then Li Tao realised what he had wanted from the moment he woke up, surprised to still be breathing. He wanted life. He wanted sons and daughters with Suyin. Grandchildren after that if he was fortunate enough. As much as he didn’t deserve a moment of happiness, he longed for those sunset days she spoke of. They would be slow and grey-haired beside each other.
His former master had indeed wanted his revenge in the past, but he could have changed. Lao Sou did seem to scold him as if berating—it was unfathomable to even think it—a son.
Suyin had negotiated a crafty deal. The empire was on the brink of civil war and he still had too many enemies to count. But they would have Lao Sou’s protection. There was still danger hanging over them, but there had always been danger.
‘This is madness,’ he muttered.
‘I know.’
But perhaps it was the only way for their debts to be paid. Suyin curled closer to him and something fierce and demanding inside him reached out for her. He suddenly felt as if he could fight off an entire legion if he needed to. This wasn’t weakness. This was strength.
For no reason he could understand, he thought of Luoyang. Running the streets at night, hiding from the city guards who watched from the walls. He had been waiting all this time for the arrow to pierce him. It was no way to live.
‘No more talk of hiding or going away.’ Suyin wrapped her arms around him and glanced up at him uncertainly. ‘Stop fighting me. I am round with child, you know. I tire very easily— What is it?’ she demanded.
He was grinning. It surprised him as well. Suyin was drawing from all her skill, doing everything in her power to coax and charm him, when she didn’t need to. Yet he wanted her to do so anyway. She was a wonder to behold.
‘Is tomorrow a favourable day?’ he asked, sinking his hand into her hair. She was soft, warm, perfect.
She frowned at him. ‘I don’t know. I suppose I would have to ask Auntie.’
‘If not tomorrow, then the next day. I won’t wait any longer than that for us to be wed.’
‘Scoundrel.’ She swatted his chest, but he could see the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. ‘What about the engagement ceremony? We need our fortunes read. And Cook will need a whole day to roast a pig.’
‘Who are we to obey custom?’ he asked in all seriousness.
‘Well, we have no ancestors to appease.’ She sighed. ‘We don’t even have our birthdates for the fortune teller or true names.’
There was no sadness in it. It was who they were. Who they had created themselves to be. He didn’t need astrologers to bless their union. He only needed one thing.
‘What we have is between us,’ he said. ‘Only us.’
She settled obligingly into his lap and he found himself wondering how much activity he could manage with the threads sewn into his side. If he simply lay still…
He ran his palm gently down her back and the look she gave him chased away any lingering doubt. This was his destiny, his path from this moment on. Life, not death. He loved her completely. He loved. It had taken the moment of darkness before death for him to realise it. As if death was the only language he knew, but not any more.
His arms circled her while she rested in his lap. Odd how they could fit together so perfectly like this. The pain in his side barely bothered him. It was a blessing that Ru Shan, competent soldier that he was, was a failure as an assassin. One of many blessings.
Suyin laid her head down against his shoulder and let out a long, drawn breath. ‘No more negotiation this time,’ she said. ‘Not one night, not one month.’
The moment curled over them like a woollen blanket. He thought of long days with Suyin. Days as well as nights. Years. Hope grew inside him. It was a strange sensation, like a new skin, like a first, awkward step. But it felt right.
‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘Yes.’
There was no more negotiation. There were no more boundaries. Li Tao placed his hand tenderly over Suyin’s stomach and imagined the tiny heartbeat there.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1442-2
THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL
Copyright © 2011 by Jeannie Lin
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