He sighed and touched her temple with his. “That is a lovely dream,” he finally said. “But there is not enough time.”
“For what?”
“For me to pass the imperial exam. For me to receive a place in government high enough that I can support myself and my sisters.” He sighed. “To support a wife.”
She understood what he was saying. What they were both saying. If things were different, he would court her in the usual way. He would apply to her father and perhaps she would be able to whisper her preference into her father’s ear. But Zhi Hao needed something to show his value. Something like a good appointment with a good salary.
There was not enough time for him to do all that before the Feast of Fertility in a month. And even if there were time, her father would never allow her to have a husband who was not the emperor.
Zhi Hao looked at her, and then he slowly drew his wet fingers up to his mouth. He licked it, his eyes drifting shut as he did so. The sight was eerie, and yet so erotic that she felt her belly tighten again. And when he was done, he looked down at her.
“I have drunk so little of your chi, Fox,” he murmured. “It is nothing compared to what you have taken from me.”
“Taken?” she snorted. “I took nothing from you. And why do you call me a fox?” She twisted so that she could face him more squarely.
“Because I cannot believe you are the Song daughter spreading her thighs here for me. It is not possible.”
“So you think me a fox spirit instead?”
“It is that or believe you are a flesh and blood woman that I can never have.”
She shook her head. “You are an idiot.” She twisted her legs together, thankful that the stone wall was very thick. It gave her room to maneuver. “And you will never pass the exam if you believe fox spirits haunt you.”
With that, she walked away from him, looking for the chair she had set against the wall. There might be moonlight, but it was still dark here in this corner of the garden. Besides, her legs were heavy, her spirit languid. She had no understandingof the nonsense he was spouting. Did a man’s release make him addlebrained?
He watched her in the darkness, the white of his eyes eerie in the moonlight. He neither moved to assist her nor straightened against the tree. He stared at her with a bemused expression half forlorn, half awed.
“Zhi Hao—” she began, but he cut her off.
“You shimmered at your completion.”
“I am a normal woman. I am not a deity, even a small one.”
“You are so much more than a normal woman,” he said as he finally got up and walked over to her, holding out his hand to help her descend. “Even if you are not a fox, you are exquisite.” His voice broke on the last word, as if it meant more to him than she knew.
“Good night, Zhi Hao,” she said. “Thank you for teaching me this.”
Then she dropped down to the ground. Thankfully, her legs held her up. Her footfalls might be a bit heavy, but she was strong enough to put the chair back where it belonged. And as she did, a flicker of movement caught her eye.
It was a shadow that flitted past her into the greenery. A hint of red, a flash of a bushy tail, and two eyes that blinked at her.
She gasped and spun around, but there was nothing there. Nothing except her imagination. He had called her fox, and so she had made one out of the shadows. There was nothing there except darkness and the lingering bliss that still suffused her body.
Now she understood the Yellow Emperor’s words about a woman’s chi. Now she knew why men sought copulation so desperately. The feelings were amazing. And now she wondered…
How much more was there for her to know? If such bliss was part of life and she hadn’t even guessed, what more did Zhi Haoknow that she did not? And how could she get him to teach her everything?
Chapter Ten
Zhi Hao wasfully dedicated to his studies. At least that’s what he told himself. In truth, he spent much of his time trying to figure out if his nighttime visitor was flesh and blood or a fox spirit sent to steal his life force. The question was driving him crazy, making him question his own sanity.
Ling Xin felt like a true flesh and blood woman to him, one who set his body on fire. And yet, no daughter destined for the Feast of Fertility would do the things she did.
She must be a vixen. And yet the very idea was ridiculous.
Either way, Master Gao had tripled his efforts to be sure Zhi Hao was ready for the exam. It would have been hard for him to manage the tasks set before him even if he hadn’t spent the night dreaming of the fox woman.
Never before had he experienced anything so magical. He knew it was nothing more than physical arousal, and yet he already knew so much more about her now, things that attracted him even more than her body. She was daring and smart. At the beginning, they’d spent a great deal of time debating philosophies and he’d found her mind as agile as his own. That was rare in a man, and unheard of in a woman. And therein lay the question.