Chapter 30: Rekindled

Luoyang. Imperial Capital of China and sovereign Wei territory

To Cao Cao's amusement, Galatea did not make good on her promise to leave his bed cold and empty. She had fled back to his chambers, drawing the drapes together and burying her face into the blankets and cushions like a spoilt princess. If she despised him so, she had a funny way of showing it. Perhaps she had grown accustomed to his company after almost two years of love. But he did not dare laugh at her. It was late, and she deserved time to herself. He would join her later.

Just before he did, however, he partook in some alcohol, sipping at his goblet despondently on the pavilion, his tongue unable to savour the fine taste of the wine. The black-suited twins stood behind him wordlessly, flanking him protectively as he stared out at the moon. "You did well," he murmured, downing his drink. "But I'm afraid I may have made a mistake by revealing you to my lover so soon. "

Beth looked at him, utterly silent.

His eyes narrowed. "Say something, girls."

"Our Lord," they responded immediately, in perfect synchronization.

"That's not what I wanted," he sighed, shaking his head and closing his eyes. A rare loneliness tugged at his heart again. "Perhaps I've forgotten the beauty of the human will." He glanced at Alicia again. "What makes you laugh, I wonder?" he muttered. "What dreams do you nurture? Do you fantasize of dancing to the melody of flutes and fiddles? Do you prefer the taste of dumplings, or watermelon? Have you fallen in love? Perhaps with a man from the Continent?"

Alicia and Beth blinked at him obediently, but their eyes shone with tame cluelessness. They wanted very much to serve their Lord, but his words were incomprehensible to them. "Our targets are aligned with that of our Master's," said Beth mechanically. "What Master desires, we give. What Master wants done, we do it."

"But what of your own hopes?" demanded Cao Cao, sweeping out a gloved hand. "Do you want authority? Companionship? Men? I can give you all these things and more. Yet you have no will, and no desire to exercise any of it. Was this the full extent of the price you were forced to pay for the Soul Link?"

A moment of silence fell upon them. And then, Alicia responded. "We do not know, Imperial Chancellor," she said honestly.

"… I see."

Suddenly, Cao Cao realized that he pitied them. Perhaps it was only because they served him so selflessly, but deep within, he felt an almost fatherly affection for these twins who knew nothing more than the Soul Link and how to slaughter Awakened Beings. "You'd best retire," he commanded, his voice unconsciously softening. "Rest well. And when you arise tomorrow, eat well. I will summon you for battle only when required. I do not think it prudent to hurl you two into war unnecessarily."

Alicia and Beth saluted. "Our Lord."

He smiled to himself. If they can do nothing but obey, the least I could do is have them reveal more of themselves to me…

That they may shine with a more human glory, beyond mere power…

*

After dismissing the Black Ones and finishing three urns of wine, he returned to his chambers, doing his best not to let anyone see him tottering. Galatea had fallen asleep on his bed, crossly, as if to refuse him her attention, and to deny him the pleasure of holding her. He sighed, changing into his white nightclothes and sitting beside her prone body, his hands tentatively stroking at her long, fair tresses. Perhaps there remained a hint of slight jealousy. There lingered a sentiment that he had betrayed her by refusing to unburden his heart, by using them rather than her. If he only he had shared his confidence with her before he recruited the Black Ones! Truly, his faith was worthless.

As he caressed her, she suddenly turned on her back to face him, her eyes opening. Angelic eyes met demonic ones. She had known of his presence all along. Why did she not say? Ah, but of course. She was still unhappy with him.

"You cannot sleep," he offered quietly, hoping to melt the ice between them.

"No. I cannot," she admitted grudgingly, her moping glower more excruciating than even the sharpest sword.

He did his best to smile rather than sneer. "It seems I did not… meet your expectations as a King, and as a lover. You must disapprove of something beyond military success. I failed to see the logic in that. For that… " He swallowed with difficulty, as if consuming bitter medicine. "I am sorry."

I have not uttered those words in a long, long time.

"Apology," she mumbled, gazing up at him. "A regretful acknowledgement of an offense or failure." She smiled bitterly. "I would have thought that you were above admissions of guilt."

"But I, too, am a human being. I grieve for all the wasted lives… the lives that were entrusted to me. I feel their memory on my shoulders, far heavier than any armour. It is as difficult to bear as your fury, tigress.

His face suddenly became pensive. "This feels similar… to the other quarrels we suffered from. Do you remember that time… before our first confessions of love? I attempted to send you to He Fei, and incurred your wrath. I bedded you for the first time, shortly afterwards." He smiled bitterly, his hand finding hers. "And then… in the name of victory, I crushed your former comrades at the Battle of Hanzhong. I froze them into near-oblivion. I have not forgotten the pain I felt in your heart that day."

"Neither have I," she replied, reluctantly allowing him to hold her. "I cannot forget. Not when it was my beloved who committed such deeds."

"You must be troubled by my apparent lack of a conscience. But I do possess one, difficult as it is to believe… my tigress, I owe you an explanation. When I was presented with the Black Ones, I seized upon the Organization's crumbling infrastructure to extort them into oblivion… to obtain all the fruits of their research, and have my alchemists, advisors and strategists develop our own strategy of silver-eyed warrior combat. Surely, even you agree that this was what those ingrate men deserved?"

"I can't say I disagree," she murmured.

"Now of course, I need Alicia and Beth. There is no path around this reality. They will be pivotal to ending the war against the Awakened Beings." He lowered himself to kiss her forehead. "But if you wish for anything else, I can grant it to you… anything at all. I will even accept punishment… provided it is you who metes it out. What would you like? Tell me. Let your imagination run wild. I am the King. I can do anything."

She stared at him. His enthusiasm to use two mindless and dependent women for his military ends had certainly served as a root cause of her disappointment, but there was an even simpler reason for the hurt and ire within her. Her grip on his hand tightened as she answered him. "Am I not your favourite, Imperial Chancellor? You once asked me to remember that one simple fact. And I have obeyed that order, all this time. In return… I would ask you to remember that I am your favourite. "

He nodded fervently in agreement, but she was not finished. She spoke again, whispering into his ear. "More for your own sake… I wish that you do not leave me to become a monster."

"A monster?"

She nodded. "I don't want to lose you to your ambition. Alicia and Beth are human beings, too. Will I ever be able to recognize you; should you turn into an abusive tyrant far worse than any Abyssal One? That is why I ask you to let me be your anchor. To stay with me, as a human, through your own free will. Through the devotion that you have promised me."

Touched beyond words, he embraced his bodyguard. "You were angry because you worried that I may become more monster than man? Then can you still love me, even if you see something monstrous in my soul?" he asked quietly. "I am the Hero of Chaos, an agent of endless change. But even I… may not be capable of changing overnight."

Having witnessed his sincere contrition, it felt as if a dead weight had been lifted away. "I can't stop loving you," she answered, her fingernails digging into his back. She nibbled at his neck, the vulnerability in her voice palpable. "I don't want to stop loving you. Which is why want you to hide nothing from me. If you can do just this… I can continue loving you as a hero, rather than as a monster."

Cao Cao stared at her silver eyes reverently as he pulled back and began to slip off her nightdress. To his surprise, she did not resist. "You are such a noble, intelligent, exquisite beauty," he said in wonder. "Would that I had never offended you."

"And you… are a cruel man…" she sighed, her usual temperament returning at last. She slipped out of her transparent nightgown completely, helping him to strip her naked. She arched her back, offering herself to him in a gesture of forgiveness.

"Mengde," she whispered, "Do we understand each other now?"

He sighed in awe. She may have let go of her disappointment for the time being, but his guilt was still not assuaged. How could he make amends? How could he ask for forgiveness in the face of such generosity? He did not know. For now, all he could do was to match her generosity. He gathered her in his arms, breathing heavily in repentance. "Utterly," he whispered, lowering his head to kiss her breasts tenderly. "Everything you have demanded of me up till now, I gladly promise to fulfil."

The cushions lay forgotten. He could see nothing, touch nothing, smell nothing, hear nothing, and kiss nothing except her. He marvelled at these ample, rounded, perfectly proportioned nipples, these glimpses to Heaven that she bared for him so munificently. He felt her hand taking the back of his head, pressing him against her, urging him to kiss her more, to enjoy her more. He stroked at her harder, more ardently, eliciting a trembling sigh from the woman who claimed to have spurned him. How lucky he was, that her compassion surpassed her severity! His hands came together with hers, and together, they began to dance their favourite dance. Tonight was their night… no, her night. "I will say this as many times as you wish… I am sorry, Galatea," he moaned, kissing every inch of her… every inch of that soft, elegant body.

Her suppressed thirst began to match his. "All is forgiven. Say no more."

He scrabbled at her, his lean but powerful arms wrapped tightly around her waist, refusing to release her. For he loved her more than China itself, and the voice of the beneficent Yellow River, the cradle of his people, sighed for her happiness. As she sighed, the Kingdom breathed with her. He felt their union grow closer than ever before, and he felt his gratitude warming his very heart as he kneeled before her lying, moaning form, fulfilling his promises with nothing more than the skill of his body. He slowly lowered his head to nestle in between her soft, long legs. And he began to thrill her, his tongue working miracles of pleasure as she gasped, "You weaken me, damn you." She squirmed, crying out as her hips convulsed. "You're the cruellest man I've ever suffered to love!" He silenced her by burying his mouth into her womanhood, drawing out a prolonged intake of breath from his bodyguard. She was delicious, delectable. He wanted to devour her, and she desired the same, her impatient body easing itself into fastidious, demanding positions that were a feast for his eyes. Licking his lips, he came forward and took everything she had, possessing it like it was the most precious treasure in the entire world.

"Come."

He seized her powerless form while it was still reeling from his foreplay. Without warning, he took her waist and turned her over on all fours, entering her from behind. How typical of him, yet he never failed to surprise her. He loved raising the stakes spectacularly. She swore almost imperiously, like a princess stunned and pleased by the audacity of her lover. He did not care for propriety; his fiery member treated her derrière with the same severe lust as her moist, drenched gate… the gate that led to their final union. A slight burst of pain prompted her to whimper in slight fear, but he quickly reassured her to return to her submissiveness, bringing nothing but warm gratification as he tore through that threshold. His cunnilingus had all but reduced her to a willing, elated prisoner, and his thrusting, no matter how violent, how vigorous, felt like the searing arrow of a cherubim's bow. He was stunning, amazing, but most gratifyingly, omnipresent. She buckled, her body barely able to support the twofold passion that he offered. But she held on, she clutched the bed, clenching her teeth desperately so as to quieten her moaning. It was not that her will had become irrelevant… no. It had merely become aligned with his.

Utterly. Absolutely.

"Mengde," she cried, looking back, her lips opening frantically for him, desperate to have him inside her, desperate to embrace him to with every fibre in her. The superb satisfaction was baking, scorching, yet agonizing – but it only seared her desire for him into her psyche all the more. Her toes curled while he caught her hands in his grip and her mouth in his lips. He continued to move within her back passage even as cupped her face close, muffling her mewls and her loudening screams with his lips, his tongue, and his hands. He growled in tender reverence, in a protective desire that she found quite moving. Such was the pleasure that she did not mind when the King almost sadistically forced his fingers into her open, salivating mouth. To her shock, a tear leaked out of her silver eye and trickled down her face as she obediently sucked on his fingers. Having felt them pushed against the moist walls of her orifice, she knew not what else he desired. She let out a stifled moan, her voice muffled by his hand. He had moved out of her derrière and returned his attention to her womanhood. She was paralyzed with the unbearable pleasure once again.

You… are hero… and monster…

"Do you hate me for doing this to you?" he murmured.

"Mmm… mmmph." She slowly shook her head with difficulty, her heavy panting and whimpering arousing him to near-insanity. On her part, an exhilarating, private, welcome humiliation permeated her as she continued to gulp at his fingers, unable to speak coherently as he stared at her, his demonic eyes glinting with a haunting, sexual devilry. Why… why is this happening to me? she thought madly to herself. Does he enjoy seeing me like this? To see me trembling like this, to see this side that I fear for others to see? She had lost control, lost control of her body, her senses. She closed her eyes in frenetic pleasure as she felt his fingers withdraw from her mouth, stroking past her dripping, sore lips and tongue. Now soaked with her saliva, they were pulling at her fair hair, drawing her head back while he proceeded even deeper into her passages. And she did not want to stop him; the delight was too… paralysing.

None of her training could stop him, this tidal wave of craving that smashed into them both as he suddenly turned her onto her back and straddled her, his grasp inexorable. "You're crying," he whispered, looking down at her. His hand moved to brush aside the teardrop on her perfect cheek. "Did I hurt you when I…"

She clenched her teeth, enfolding herself around him tighter. No. She would not sniffle. She would take it all; take all of her Lord with nothing except praise. It was what would do him honour. "You have conquered me, yes. You have reminded me… of whom I must devote my life to. But no, you are not hurting me. Not anymore." Her intense gaze almost struck him senseless. Her right hand clutched at his shoulder, and her left palm at the bedsheets as he buried himself within her deeper, into the unfathomable depths of her being. He had lost himself in her, and that was her supreme victory.

No. Not yet. A man of his power, of his calibre… he had even more to offer. And he… he snarled in primal astonishment. Was there no end to the wonders Galatea offered? She was an enchantress, like the songstresses of legend, of ancient, primeval history. This woman that had dared to manhandle him despite her charge as his elite guardian… that had dared to slap him… it felt intoxicating, this revenge of love, this revenge of passionate penetration that he brought into her womanhood, and elsewhere too. It was irresistible, and that was what she wanted above all. No longer did she see a potential tyrant or a monster, as he thrust harder and faster. She only saw Mengde; her Mengde had returned to her that night. She parted her flushed lips, the pleasure too much to bear as he continued to thrust against her, his hands gripping her waist forcefully. She felt her muscles contracting, relaxing, then contracting again. She was coming, coming to him, and nothing could hinder her. "My… Lord…"

He felt himself unable to resist any longer, either. He expected nothing less from a lady like her. He stroked back her hair as she reached up. They kissed again, to seal their love and mend their wounds forever. He smiled as her eyes rolled back in awed, raw, sexual wonder. "You have no idea how deeply I adore you," he grinned.

The totality of his words, his touch, and his kindness had seduced her. He had convinced her – yet again – of his sincerity, and that excited her beyond even his skill in cunnilingus, his member's daring, or his artful, teasing hands. She cried out in warning. Come with me. Hurry. One last shared howl of primal pleasure, and their embrace tightened even further, as if to relent one mote would send them careening out of bed. Her climax was explosive, and he accompanied her in her joy, clinging to her firmly as she jerked upwards, screaming the pinnacle of her excitement one final time. And as her womanhood and body convulsed and quivered like a possessed woman experiencing beatitude, he shot forth his soul into her, his essence reuniting with her welcoming spirit. He suffused her self with his self. They arrived together in orgasm, their thrashing buckling the royal bed and tearing aside the curtains that veiled their sweating, entwined bodies.

"Yes, my Lord. Oh, yes."

Her arms found him triumphantly, and in gratitude, he clasped her cosily and invincibly, silently swearing to protect her magnificent life over his own Kingdom. He did not pull himself out of her womanhood. He smelt of sandalwood, and she wanted to keep the fragrance of his power within her for… even forever, if it was possible. But he was not miserly in his admiration, either. "Your prowess… the extent of your forgiving, loving heart… it has left me speechless," he said quietly.

Galatea paused, her hands stroking his face in contemplative devotion. "I… I've never exchanged so many words of love with a man before," she purred, staring up at him. "It feels strangely… different. Somewhat embarrassing, or sentimental."

"Better that than a cold sheet of ice between us, yes?" smirked Cao Cao, drawing down and kissing her again. He squeezed her amusingly. "This is a common technique in poetry. The creative use of language to articulate something one cannot express in merely conventional words…"

"Shut up and kiss me." She had not released his body from the arms and legs she had wrapped around him. Imprisoned by her affection, he surrendered, bowing back down to meet her lips. They remained locked in embrace, just like that, for the remainder of the late night. They did not separate from each other. Even a few hours apart had already proved to be too much, too painful. Blissful contentment had descended on the couple.

They pined for nothing else.

Though it had been momentarily torn earlier, the bond between Galatea and the King of Wei was now indestructible.

Now, they were truly invincible.