The Pirate Empress Read Online Free

bed?”
    “You saw nothing here.” His voice rang ominously as he moved quickly to restrain her. Li was smarter than that. Although she wanted to practice Kung Fu on him, she shut her mouth, glared up at him and said, “I won’t scream. I only want to see my aunt.”
    He Zhu donned the rest of his armour and returned his dagger to its sheath. He went to the window and looked outside onto the still courtyard. The pine trees swayed and the scent of cherry blossoms drifted into the room. He frowned again; this time, the furrows in his brow deepening as a commotion stirred in the main square. “I must go. Something is happening outside the palace gates.”
    “Wait! You can’t go without telling me where she is.”
    The lieutenant ignored her. He lifted a muscled leg over the red windowsill, and climbed into the courtyard. She watched him lope over the white stone floor to the far wall. He scaled the brick rampart with ease as though born to it, and she scowled as her Twenty-four-Pleat Jade skirt with its yellow flowered border kept her from following him.
    She rushed back inside, forgetting to totter, and detoured through the concubine’s quarters and into the main hall. All of the chief administrators were gathered and some of His Majesty’s finest warriors. Captain Chi Quan was there, and now he turned to exit the arched doorway. Li chased him, only remembering at the last moment to totter like a duck, until she sighted the wide-opened main gates. A messenger on horseback galloped toward the Forbidden City, approaching fast. The red tassel on his peaked helmet indicated his Imperial status; he was one of those left to guard the great earthwork barricade when Quan headed south to deal with the pirates. That was how magnificent he was. When the Imperial Navy failed, it was Captain Chi Quan His Majesty had turned to. It was Quan who had crushed the villainous pirate Choi.
    With a puff of white dust the horseman reared to a halt. “They have breached the western pass at Jiayuguan. The Mongol horde is coming!”
    He Zhu grabbed the reins of the new arrival and handed them to a waiting soldier.
    Quan stared. “When?”
    “Four days ago. They’re pillaging the villages. We need more forces.”
    “How many sighted?”
    “Five hundred. Maybe more.”
    Quan nodded to Zhu to lead the messenger inside. He went to the gateway to survey the city. The citizens were panicking.
    “Send men to restore order,” he commanded a junior officer. Then he turned to march back to the palace. Li was still standing in the middle of the public square, frozen in her flowerpot shoes. She was shaking, but the shaking wasn’t fear. She wanted to fight. The steely eyes of Chi Quan found her. “Go inside,” he said. “This is no place for a concubine.”
    For the first time, Li’s admiration for him crumpled into annoyance. She hadn’t slept with the Emperor; therefore she wasn’t technically a concubine.
    “Wait,” Quan said. “What is your name?”
    “I don’t see how that matters as I am only a concubine.” Li dutifully swivelled to face him, but resisted lowering her eyes, knowing she played with dragonfire.
    His silence was deafening, and then he laughed. “I know you. You’re the Lady Jasmine’s niece. Well? Am I right?”
    “You know you are right, Captain,” she answered.
    “So, the minx has a voice.”
    “Are you insulting me, Captain?”
    Quan studied her face before replying. “I don’t believe so. I am telling you that I think you are very beautiful, though you do have a mouth on you. His Majesty is a lucky man.”
    Li wanted to smile, but she was too annoyed with him. A ruckus at the throne room’s door sent both of their eyes to the palace.
    “Another time then. Go inside.” He turned to his men who awaited his orders. “Close the gates.”
    %%%
    Li entered the concubine’s wing but before she reached her bedchamber, Jasmine appeared from her own room dressed in a snowy white gown.
    “Thank goodness,”