Chapter Eleven:
Her fingers ran through his hair as his lips were locked on hers, their tongues in an increasingly frenzied battle of lust. They continued on in this fashion as the candle–low to begin with–sputtered and flickered out, plunging them into darkness.
It wasn't until he put a hand on either side of her waist and pulled her closer that she gasped in pain and he broke their contact.
"Li, I'm sorry..." he started.
"Not again," she interrupted. "Don't apologize for being indecorous again, please..."
He put a finger to her lips, stilling her. "I wasn't apologizing for being indecorous, Li," he said. "I was apologizing for hurting you–I had forgotten about your side."
"Oh," she said blankly, and they stared into each other's eyes for a time. Eventually, they came to the realization that they could see each other–and there were the noises of the camp waking up.
"Zhou! You awake yet?" Ce suddenly shouted right outside the tent. Not even waiting for an answer, he ducked inside and stopped short when he saw Li sitting on the rolled up bedroll next to Zhou. "Am I, ah, interrupting?" he asked in a softer, disbelieving tone.
"No!" Zhou said, too quickly, then, regaining his composure, "No, you're not interrupting anything. Li couldn't sleep, and she wanted to know if I could clean her side for her again since I was awake as well."
Ce's eyes darted to the burned out candle and then to the space–or, rather, the lack thereof–between them. "You were going to do this in the dark?" he asked suspiciously, with a twinkle in his eye.
"Damn it, Ce, make yourself useful and get some warm water, would you?" Zhou said in exasperation, his cheeks noticeably darker in the half-light of dawn.
Grinning like a little boy, Ce ducked out of the tent before Zhou could throw anything at him, presumably going to get some water.
"He won't...spread this around, will he?" Li asked, worried. It was one thing to dress and use weapons like a man, but another thing entirely to be caught in one's tent in the bare light of dawn. She could be publicly shamed for this and branded a whore, bringing dishonor on her father and any children she should have–assuming she would be able to marry after such an event.
"Ce may act like a child, Li, but he can keep a secret. Don't worry about it. Even if he did mention it to anyone, he would say that I was merely checking your wound and cleaning it."
"What a ringing endorsement!" Ce said as he ducked back into the tent with a bucket of water in hand. "I might be offended if you weren't right! Anyway, Mai Li, you wouldn't have anything to worry about. You've got quite the following among the troops right now with how you dispatched Du and his friends. I've been getting questions from several of them asking after your well-being and sending their regards. Apparently Du and his gang have been a sore thumb in the company for quite some time."
"Really?" she asked, disbelieving and a bit uncomfortable.
"Yeah. Well, you two have fun," he said, winking conspiratorially at them both and was gone again.
"Alright, is he always like that?" she asked.
"What, can't sit still for two seconds?" Zhou asked wryly. "Yes, he's always like that."
"It will be interesting to see how his relationship with Da goes," she said thoughtfully, and they fell into a companionable silence, during which Zhou tenderly cleaned and re-bandaged her side.
Camp was struck quickly and efficiently–so much so, in fact, that they were ready to go a full two hours before the noon meal. Not one to waste time, Ce ordered the column to move out. Watching, Da and Li couldn't help but be impressed that in such a short time a confusion of horses, men, and canvas could turn into such an orderly column of mounted men–excepting the prisoners, who were to jog on a tether behind the horses until they could move no more–in such a short time.
There was little time to wonder on this, however, as Ce ordered them to get in the front of the column between himself and Zhou Yu, where the four of them rode abreast of each other as they trotted along at a good pace.
The morning turned into afternoon, and they ate in the saddle to avoid having to stop and lose valuable daylight.
"If we can keep this pace and the weather holds," Ce was saying, "tonight we'll camp by a natural hot spring and you ladies can soak the long days of riding out of your bones." Though he aimed the comment at both Li and Da, his eyes rested solely on his fiancee.
"And then we'll be in the city the next day?" Da asked.
"By lunch time," Ce said promptly.
"That would be lovely," Da said quietly, lowering her eyes. Much to Li and Zhou's amusement, Ce was struck dumb for a few moments as he stared at her. He was obviously quite taken with his fiancée, and it seemed that Da was similarly attracted to him. All in all, it looked to be a good match, and Li couldn't be happier for her friend. In spite of the fact that Da was a dutiful daughter, she had always dreaded the inevitable wedding, for she knew that she wouldn't get to choose her own husband. It was a sad fact for women of the highborn families–and even for most of the lowborn ones. Husbands were chosen by parents and matchmakers, not by the girl herself, and she had to make the best of her parents' choice in the matter, hoping that she would come to love her husband.
Thankfully Da was one of the luckiest ones, and was well on her way to loving Sun Ce.
Li found herself wondering who was in control of her destiny now. Back home, it wouldn't have been long before her father had tried to find her a husband, probably with the aid of Qiao Xuan. Now, however, she was traveling to the capitol as companion to Da, far from the influence of her father or even Da's father, and wondered who would make her match.
Thinking about it for the first time, she realized that she did indeed want to be married to a man that she loved, and perhaps have children–as long as he allowed her leave to practice with her daggers and, now, the sword. But would she have to remain unwed because she was the companion to the heir's wife?
Good gods, would Sun Jian himself be in control of who, or if, she married?
Thinking about it, she was horrified. He could give her to anyone he wanted, and there wouldn't be a thing she could say about it, whereas back at home she may have had some small say in whom she wed.
Her mind was suddenly taken back to that morning, when Zhou had crushed his lips to hers as if he were drowning and she was the only way to stay afloat.
Sun Jian could very well marry her to Zhou Yu if he wished, and she thought that she wouldn't have the slightest objection to that. Then she sighed. No, Zhou Yu wouldn't be wed to some lowborn girl–he would marry one of the beautiful noble ladies at the court.
Zhou watched Li out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she was thinking about to cause her to frown so. Hopefully she wasn't wondering what would happen if word was spread that she was found in his tent that morning. He knew there was nothing to worry about, and even if there was he wouldn't allow dishonor to taint her name–he would take her immediately to wife to prevent just that from happening, and not merely because he was concerned for her welfare. He was falling hard for her, and knew it.
No stranger to women–and their bodies–he knew that she was something else, that she could be the one for him, though they had only met her four days ago. He would do anything to make her happy, give her anything at all that she wanted, if only she would stay by his side. He had to wonder if he looked half as lovestruck as Ce whenever he looked at her. He had already made up his mind to put his petition to Sun Jian–in private–for her hand when they returned to the capitol. He wouldn't rush into the wedding, however. He would take his time, woo her, make sure that she loved him before proposing to her.
Of course, she could say no. She was essentially a free woman now. She could remain unwed if she wanted, saying that she wished to remain Da's servant, but he hoped with all his being that she would fall in love with him, given time.
If she didn't fall in love with him or if Sun Jian refused his suit, he wouldn't wed. That was all there was to it.
Alright, NOW I'm finally feeling it again! Sorry about the last chapter there, it wasn't the greatest. -sigh- Unfortunately that happens when you've left your story alone for, what, two months?
Winds: Hey, glad to see you're still interested, hope you're pleased with the way this is going! I wish I could say how long this will be, but it's difficult, there are so many things that need to happen! I'll probably change the title of this, because I really don't want to make this a series of stories. Hopefully it'll be upwards of 30 chapters, however.
PaperTriamgles: Thanks for reading, I'm so glad I finally have another reader! I'm glad you're liking the story, and I had thought that I'd quit too for a while there. So many things were going on at the time I started this that I guess the story got pushed to the bottom of my long to-do list. Things are relatively starting to cool off now, though, thank GOD!
Anyway, if either of you are interested in contacting me, I have my information in my profile now! If not, see you at the next chapter!