I did a lot of thinking about this chapter (more time thinking than I spent editing, honestly, so if you spot anything that looks funny, be sure to point it out in a comment.) It's the part I've always wondered about, really.

How did she go from being a whore to the wife of a powerful pirate? Men do not generally marry their whores. Their mistresses, occasionally, but in this situation, even marriage to a mistress would raise a few questions. After all, this is the captain of a pirate fleet who is rising in power, and who could have used a marriage to cement the bonds of the alliance he is leading. Instead, he marries a prostitute, and she becomes not only his wife, but the one who inherited his authority after his death, not a small feat for a woman in China at any point in history, let alone this one.

Then I realized that I was going about it from the wrong end. What I needed to ask was not, "Why did Ching Yi marry a prostitute?" but "How would Li-Hua have managed to secure herself a position at the right hand of a cruel and powerful pirate lord?" And once I saw that, the question answered itself.

There is one glaring historical inaccuracy: Mahjongg had not been invented in the time period during which this takes place. I figured using an era-appropriate Chinese gambling game that no one has ever heard of before would just complicate things too much, so I used a more familiar one instead.

This chapter is rated T for mentions of violence and some strongly implied but non-graphic sex.


*

The Pirate Lord Ching Yi stood before the hatch at the end of the hallway, surprised by the sudden electric tingle of anticipation that crept across his skin as he reached out to unlock it with the key the madam had given him. He shook his head slightly, trying to shed the feeling. Yi wanted his senses fully present for this assignation. He had been too long forced to choose one of the same three whores, the only three on this floating brothel that met his standards, and he was sick unto death of them, of their jasmine-oiled hair and their fake smiles and their frightened eyes. But this time, there was a new one, and the madam's answers to his sharp questioning had intrigued him.

"She is young?" The madam had nodded, the wrinkles on her face deepening.

"Young, yes. Twenty-three, she says. Looks younger."

"Without sores or rotting teeth? No disease?" he demanded.

"She's healthy. Didn't even get seasick her first time out like most of the girls," the old woman admitted brusquely.

"Why do you frown like that? Is she ugly? Unpleasant? Disrespectful?" The madam shook her head quickly.

"No. She is everything you like, honored sir, and you will not be disappointed. I frown only because she has beaten me at Mahjongg and I owe her money." Yi burst out laughing so long and heartily at that as she glared at him.

"Then she has avenged my first mate and several others," he said, a hint of a smile lingering around his eyes, "For you have cheated them at the gaming table before. They were stupid to play against a whoremistress, but I think they must be stupider still to lose to one whose whores can beat her at her own game."

"She shouldn't have won," the madam said, her lips pursed as if she had tasted sour vinegar. "There should have been no way for her to win."

"I don't care, you fetid old dog," Yi told her, annoyed, for he had finished discussing the subject. "Be content with this-" he put a few coins in her palm and her dark eyes glittered at the amount—"And do not disturb us for anything save if my ship is harmed. I've been hungering for something new."

Now he fitted the key into the lock and turned it, then entered, shutting the hatch behind him. She was tall for a woman, he noted, and wearing a dressing gown of silk that had been dyed the color of ripe plums. She stood with her back to him, lighting a cone of incense in an incense burner of the variety specially made by an artist in Guangzhou, to be safely used aboard ships without risk of fire. Yi had one in his own cabin. His curiosity sharpened as he caught the spicy scent of Dragon's Blood, an unusual choice for a whore.

Though she must have been aware of his presence, she did not speak or turn around. Instead, when she finished lighting the incense, she undid the knot of her dressing gown and let it slide off her shoulders and then further, to fall with a whispery sound into a pool of silk at her feet. Yi sucked in his breath at the effect—calculated and striking—as the motion bared an intricate tattoo that swirled from the nape of her neck to nearly the base of her spine. It was a dragon, inked in black and green, serpentine curves on smooth golden skin that glowed in the lamplight. He walked up to her and traced a line with his finger, feeling her muscles tense slightly at the contact. His touch followed the line up to the nape of her neck, and he pulled her long hair out of the simple knot she had it up in. It flowed over his hands—soft, shiny, darker than midnight. She wore no perfumed oils, only the scent of her own clean skin. She did not speak as he touched her, her breathing slow and measured as the pirate lord looked her over as he would any newly captured treasure, finally turning her around to look down into her face.

Her bearing was not disrespectful, but neither did she lower her eyes, letting his gaze bore into their shadowy depths and find what he would there. He liked that. He ran his fingers down the smooth curve of her cheek, tracing the soft line of her neck and lower, his eyes growing dark with approval, a slight curve of his lips.

All he wanted, he took.

Afterwards, she bid him to turn over and kneaded the soreness and tension from his muscles with strong, deft hands. Then she lay beside him, molding her body to his, her hair like cool silk against his bare skin as he rested there among the cushions and tangled bedclothes. His desire returned presently, and he had her again. In the warm aftermath of twice sated desire, he spoke to her, of his ship, the spoils they had last taken, the legacy of his family and his intentions to form an alliance between the numerous pirate fleets of the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. She listened to it all with dark, glittering eyes, not interrupting but drinking it in. He liked that.

"Your whoremistress says you beat her at Mahjongg," he broke off in the middle of describing a battle to say abruptly.

"Yes," she said, her lips curving upwards for a fraction of a moment, the shadow of a smile, barely noticeable even to the pirate's sharp eyes. "I did."

"You beat her despite the fact that she cheated," he elaborated. "I'd like to know how." She shrugged her golden shoulders.

"I cheated too."

He liked that too, very much.

"Would you cheat if you played against me?" he asked. She smiled coyly.

"Probably. Would you catch me, if I cheated? What would the payment be?" A spark lit in his eyes as he saw what she was implying.

"I'd have to decide when I caught you." He paused. "Do you have—" she nodded and went to a chest braced securely in one corner, not bothering with her wrap. The inked dragon shifted with her movements as she knelt to take an ivory Mahjongg set out of the chest.

"We must settle on the odds," she said as they set up the tiles. "If you catch me cheating, the game is over and you claim whatever prize you wish. If you do not catch me, and I lose, you claim whatever prize you wish." She paused. "How good a player are you, Ching Yi?"

"I am very good," he told her. It was not a lie.

"If you do not catch me cheating, and I win, you take me with you on your ship, as your companion, when you go."

The pirate lord's eyes widened slightly at her daring. "Companion?"

"I would have food, a place in your bed, and a small share of your profits. Unless you wished otherwise, I would bear the touch of no man save you. I would work at what tasks you thought suitable." She met his gaze, a challenge in her eyes. "Do you agree to the stakes?"

"Yes," he said slowly, with a smile. A bold one, she was. She scarcely had a chance of winning, but he liked her daring. "Yes, I agree."

He found himself enjoying the game. She was a tough opponent, and both the fast pace of the game and the unself-conscious way she lounged nude on the cushions as they played were stimulating in more ways than one. By the time the game was nearing its end, he'd not been able to catch her cheating, but probability and the pieces already played indicated that the game was going to go to him nevertheless.

And then, quite without warning, she laid down a winning hand of tiles.

"You did cheat, didn't you?" he asked her, half-angry, half-impressed.

"I always cheat," she replied, pushing her hair behind her ears and gathering up the tiles. He reached out and caught her wrists, stopping her hands motions. He could crush the fine bones of her wrists with the simple clench of a fist. She looked delicate in his grasp, her skin pale against the dark tan of his hands. Slowly he laid her down across the game board and had her right there, taking her hard and fast, lust, wonder, and fury mingled. This time, her pleasure was not feigned, and he found an unexpected satisfaction in her gasps and murmurs.

"Another game," he demanded as they lay there, entwined, catching their breaths. "With your robe on this time. No distractions."

"And the odds?" she breathed, unafraid.

"If I win, you forfeit the prize of our last game and remain here… though I assure you, you will see me again." His eyes were dark and devouring. "If I catch you cheating, you come back to my ship with me—but as my slave. And if you win, and I don't catch you cheating…" He paused. "What would you ask, then, as your prize?"

"If I win, and you don't catch me cheating," the young woman replied slowly, lingering over the words, considering, tasting them, "Then I come back to your ship with you—as your wife." Yi's mouth fell open.

"Why, you conniving little bitch…"

"Is it agreed?" she asked him evenly.

His voice held an edge: of anger, of excitement, of distrust. He nodded. "Yes. It's agreed."

The game stretched longer this time, fiercer. Yi was satisfied to see his opponent beginning to lose her composure, her expression no longer remaining smooth but revealing glimpses of emotion, fear, hope. He fixed his eyes on her face, keeping his own carefully blank.

And she won.

Almost immediately, he realized what she had done. She'd played him again. The expressions were a lure, diverting his eyes from what her hands were doing. He cursed her silently as she gathered up the tiles. Then suddenly, she paused, and turned to look at him.

"Will you ask for one last game?"

"What odds?" he asked in a grating voice that was barely his own.

"If you win, I forfeit my last prize and accompany you not as your wife, but as a companion. If you lose, you make me your second in command. And if you catch me cheating…" she smiled slightly and tilted her head upwards, baring the smooth line of her neck, running her fingertips lightly over the soft golden skin. "... you can slit my throat."

He shook his head. "If I win, I beat you bloody and leave you here, whore. Those are my odds. Play by them or not," She was silent for several long moments. Her eyes closed and she took several deep breaths in and out. Yi was unsure if she were praying or merely clearing her mind.

"I accept."

It had been a game until now; this time, it was a war. No flirtation passed between them, no words save those necessary in the game. His eyes did not leave her hands. If she thought he'd be soft enough to spare her life when he caught her playing her tricks, she was wrong. He could already see her blood soaking into the planks of the cabin floor. He might not have demanded her life as forfeit, had he laid the odds, but she had wagered it and he would not hesitate to take it. His eyes measured every movement of her slender fingers on the game tiles, waiting, waiting.

There was no fumbling, no subtle palming of tiles, no sleight of hand, and he knew the tiles had not been marked; he'd inspected each one with hawk eyes as he'd shuffled them. They both lay down their final hands.

She had won.

A woman with the coldness to prostitute herself, the courage to meet his eyes when he looked at her, the skill to cheat a cheater so flawlessly that it could not be detected, the arrogance to pit her wits against those of a pirate, the ruthless desperation to wager her life in a game with a killer. His wife. His second-in-command. And he didn't know her name.

"I put it aside so as not to cast shame on my family," she replied when he asked, gathering her posessions and stowing them in the sea chest as she spoke. "Perhaps someday I will take it up again. Until then…" She turned to smile at him, a softer smile than he'd seen from her before. "…Call me love. Call me dragonchild. Call me pirate."

Later, much later, as they lay in his bunk, falling asleep, Yi spoke in the dark.

"How you cheated, that last time—will you tell me?"

His young bride nestled closer in the dark, pressing her skin against his, eyes shut, as she whispered, "In the last game… I didn't."