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even while my sex throbbed for more.
    Finally my fingers wrapped around his member and he groaned. “I thought the fool would never leave.”
    I didn’t dare speak ill of his son. To do so would also cast blame upon the father, who had spoiled him his entire life. Ping had become the son his father had guided him to be, when he should have received training equal to mine with a general’s instruction. I wouldn’t make the mistake of assuming the Empress had not been coaching Zhou to be the next head of the empire.
    Perhaps the Emperor knew full well that Ping would not last to be the next Emperor. Why, then, had he made my husband Crown Prince? Why had he given me to him?
    All political considerations flew from my head as the Emperor slid into me. With my knees planted on either side of him on the chair, I stared down into his harsh face, smoothing my fingers over his cheeks, around his mouth, trying to erase the lines of worry and responsibility. To think I was making love to the Emperor outside his bedchamber in a public reception room.
    He chuckled at the wicked mirth in my eyes. “Any public room can become private when one is the Emperor.”
    I didn’t argue that hundreds of servants waited just around the corner, straining to hear a single squeak. The same people had been listening outside his chambers last night. I tried to think of something to say, but his fingers kneaded my flesh and he surged so deeply inside me that I couldn’t hold a coherent thought in my head. He pulled me down to kiss me, his tongue stroking mine. The change in position made me moan as it applied delicious, exquisite pressure to my core. Clamping a hand on the back of my neck and one on my lower back, he pinned me against him. He ground against my center until I shook with release. On a low, pleased groan, he released inside me and tucked me against him.
    It seemed like the whole encounter took only a few seconds, but it could have been hours. When I was with him, I lost all sense of time and pride. I couldn’t remember if I’d screamed or not. I didn’t even care that soon I’d have to walk through all those waiting people even more disheveled than when I’d arrived.
    Damp with sweat, we simply sat heart to heart, still wrapped around one another while we waited for our bodies to calm. His heart beat strong and sure beneath my cheek, his hands gentle on my back, playing in my hair.
    “I shall gladly give you all you can possibly want,” he whispered against my temple, his lips a caress that made my heart lurch. “I’ll allow your plots to unfold without interference. In fact, I anticipate the drama and look forward to what your clever mind has contrived. But hear me now, Jin. Do not attempt to force me to choose or act. You would not like my choice then, lovely one.”
    I snuggled closer beneath his chin. “I hear and obey, Your Majesty.”

Chapter Five
    For a few blissful weeks, I had the Emperor’s full attention without any interference from my husband or the Empress. It wouldn’t last, so I made several acquisitions and subtle power shifts while no one was yet concerned about my rise as the Emperor’s favorite consort.
    After the Emperor’s demonstration, my husband ceased to recognize my existence, and I’d be lying if I said that bothered me in the slightest. We passed in the hall and he treated me like an invisible servant. I certainly didn’t want him ordering me prepared for his bedchamber, or for him to ask where I might be each and every night.
    I used the favors the Emperor bestowed on me to acquire a few spies of my own. After careful consultation with my nurse, we selected a eunuch high enough to gain access to Her Majesty’s chambers. He was my obvious spy, the one I was sure the Empress would identify without much effort and deliberately use to misdirect my attempts to break her power.
    My true spy was a lowly servant, the woman who washed the Empress’s dainty feet, folded her laundry, carried the hot