The Last Concubine

her watching for him before when he visited other houses, and he schooled his face to be serious and thoughtful, although he wanted nothing more than to shout his triumph from the rooftops. Never with any woman he had deflowered had he experienced the thrill of conquest so strongly as when he had taken Lan’xiu.
    The beautiful young man’s responses had been artlessly genuine; he had never experienced the tender touch of a lover before. He had come to their bed pure, Hüi Wei was positive. Taking his virginity and giving him pleasure in the same night made him feel proud. He, an accomplished lover, had only taken Lan’xiu on the first of many steps to discovering a universe of untapped pleasure together, and it made him feel dangerously adventurous. His cock felt heavy and a burst of adrenaline made the prospect of a bath and breakfast seem tame.
    He turned his steps toward the stable. The stablemaster was not yet about, and the stable boys were still cleaning out the stalls. When they saw him, they stood with their mouths hanging open, not knowing enough even to bow. Ordinarily, he might have voiced a few sharp words to school them, but he was anxious to be off and away. He had much to think about. Instead of exhorting one of the stunned lads to do it, he saddled his own horse and trotted to the city gates.
    His soldiers were alert and on guard, he was glad to see. One of them sprang forward to open the gate for him with a sharp salute. The clatter of his horse’s hooves on the stones of the street echoed against the walls of the tightly packed houses. Hüi Wei permitted himself a smile at the thought of some sleepy merchant opening his window to shout his irritation out into the street and retreating when he saw it was the lord governor making the untimely row.
    He turned his mount east, heading toward the rising sun. In that direction lay a hill where he went often to look down upon the city and province he guarded in the name of the emperor. There were times when a man needed to be alone to think.
    When he reached the apex of the tallest hill, Hüi Wei dismounted and allowed his horse to graze in the grass. The horse was well trained for war; he would not run away and leave his rider behind.
    Looking down upon the fortress of his palace, Hüi Wei was able to pick out the seventh house of his harem, gilded by the light of the rising sun. He wondered if Lan’xiu was awake yet and if he would wake thinking of him. Hüi chuckled with pride at the thought that he had certainly given Lan’xiu enough to make him remember, even if it was only a sore ass.
    It had been some years since Hüi Wei had had sex more than one time in a single night, and the score of three in itself was a source of pride for him. There was something about Lan’xiu—of course he had submitted to Hüi’s desires most properly, denying him nothing he had demanded, but there was something secret and intriguing about him.
    His head was filled with the novelty of making love to another man, feeling again the firmness of Lan’s muscles rather than yielding womanly softness, Lan’s resilience no matter how hard Hüi had fucked him, the eagerness with which he responded, the astonished gratitude at the pleasure Hüi had given him—
    Hüi Wei closed his eyes to better savor the vision of the lushly rounded bottom he had taken, the only softness of the finely muscled body. His hand strayed to the bulge in his trousers and he rubbed himself. If only Lan’xiu had been there, by the gods’ pleasure, Hüi would have taken him again!
    His eyes flew open at the thought. Already all thoughts of killing Lan’xiu or sending him away had flown from his mind. Hüi could barely wait to see Lan again.
    And yet….
    He remembered his conversation with Ning. How difficult would it be to continue to keep Lan’xiu in his harem and prevent anyone from finding out? Would he need to school his tongue to refer to him as her? What about children? If he continued to have her lantern lit, it would soon become obvious to everyone that Lan’xiu was unable to bear children. How would he explain that? Not that he needed more children; he had been blessed with many, but a man had his reputation to think of. If he could not get his youngest wife with child, some might question his potency, a dangerous position to be in when one was a general and governor and entrusted with keeping the emperor’s northern border safe.
    The difficulty of how to keep Lan’xiu’s secret