Tempted Tigress (38 page)

I found a room and celebrated with my own hypodermic.

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

from "Kubla Khan: or, A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment"

Chapter 16

Zhi-Gang stared at his sister in amazement as she served them tea. Her skin was pure and clear; her body young. And most strange, her eyes had an inner clarity that defied explanation. "You're so... so..." He didn't know how to phrase it.

Captain Jonas spoke up, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. "Beautiful. So very beautiful."

"Yes," answered Zhi-Gang; except, that wasn't what he meant at all. "Happy," he finally blurted. "You look happy."

Xiao-Mei—Little Pearl—set down the teapot with practiced ease. She kept her eyes lowered as she spoke, but he heard the ring of truth in her words. "I was angry at you for a very long time, brother. At you and all the family."

"You look like Mama," he said. "Only better. She was very sad after... after you left. She never recovered."

Little Pearl blinked then folded her hands quietly into her lap. "I want to know more," she whispered. "But not now. Not until I have adjusted to having my brother again."

"Xiao-Mei, it was because of you that...," he began, but she shook her head.

"Please. Just listen." He froze in silence. "A few months ago, I would have fed you poison instead of tea. I would have thrown your body in the sewer and prepared a feast in celebration."

He glanced at his empty teacup. "And now?" he asked.

She laughed—a delightful cascade of notes that sounded so free. "Now you get green tea and my best dumplings," she said. "Because I am no longer angry."

He studied her face. She had lifted her gaze to his with an openness that stunned him. It was even echoed in her qi. "How?" he whispered. How could she not revile him for what they had done to her?

"The past is gone, brother. Neither you nor I can change it."

"But you must have been... You were sold into..." He couldn't give voice to what she must have suffered. Beside him, Anna gripped his hand with hers, lending her strength.

On the other side, Little Pearl also touched his hand, her caress as gentle as it was strange. "It was awful," she said. "And it is over. Nearly ten years ago, I came to the Tan household." She leaned forward. "Do you know what is taught here?"

He shook his head. He did not want to call it lessons in whoring. She must have read his thoughts, though. She must have seen his discomfort, because she smiled.

"It is not whoring, brother. It is a way to find peace in the mind and ecstasy in the body. Have you heard of tigresses? Do you know what a dragon is?"

He nodded, but the movement was slow. "In the Forbidden City, the concubines whisper of a strange practice to promote beauty and immortality through sex. The women are tigresses, the men are dragons. They touch each other and call it heaven."

"I have tigress sisters in Peking," Little Pearl acknowledged. "And it is a great deal more than simple touching."

He pushed to his feet, unable to comprehend that she could believe such foolishness. "Women's gossip and ignorance."

"Really?" challenged Little Pearl. "Look at me, brother. I have become an Immortal. Can you find any other explanation for my beauty? My youth?" She leaned forward. "My
joy?"

He had no answer for her. Beauty could be explained by handsome clothing, restorative creams—or so many women claimed. But the happiness in Xiao Mei's heart, the joy that pervaded everything she did and said—that could only come from... He shook his head. "It cannot be." And yet the more he looked at her, the more he wondere
d.

"It's true," Captain Jonas said. "I didn't believe it either, but she has changed so much. We both have."

Anna shifted uncomfortably. "From sex?"

"And love." Captain Jonas's gaze drifted back to Little Pearl and she smiled in return.

"Yes," she said. "And love." Then her gaze came back to Zhi-Gang. "I could teach you, brother. If you would just listen." When he had no response, she arched her finely sculpted brow at him. "Do you not wish for peace, brother? Do you not long for an answer to so many questions." She smiled. "That is what I remember most about you. You always had questions. All the time."

Longing burst through him, a need to grasp the happiness his sister had found. If a girl sold into prostitution could now be so happy, surely there was hope for him. Perhaps there could be truth in her strange religion. But it seemed so...

Anna abruptly stood, her movements agitated as she turned for the door.

"Anna? Where are you going?"

"I... I... I thought I'd look around a bit. Let you... And Little Pearl..."

He frowned, trying to understand her thoughts. Meanwhile, Captain Jonas smoothly pushed to his feet. "Perhaps you'd like a place to rest."

Anna nodded gratefully. "That would be lovely. Thank you."

The white man extended his arm to her and she took it: two whites in absolute accord, looking like a perfect couple. Zhi-Gang shot up from his seat, gruffly interposing himself between them. He took her hand and turned to his sister.

"I apologize. I did not formally introduce you. Xiao-Mei, I would like you to meet my wife, Anna."

"No," whispered Anna, clutching Zhi-Gang's arm. "Do not lie to her. Do not begin again like that."

He shifted, his hand gripping hers. "It is no lie. The papers were official, the marriage binding. We are married."

"But—"

"And therefore," he continued. "I would like you to remain here. I wish you to share in this most joyous moment of reunion with my lost sister."

Little Pearl stood to look with narrowed eyes at the two of them. "White and Chinese wed? How can this be? You cannot tell me that the family approved."

Zhi-Gang actually rolled his eyes, the motion comical enough to break the tension. "They do not know. But I have ceased worrying about what they know and do not know of my actions."

He swallowed, forcing himself to bare himself before his sister. "Because of your sacrifice, I have done very well. Our other brothers have adequate government appointments, our father spends his days drinking expensive tea and commenting on politics, and I work for the Dragon Throne to destroy opium. I came to Shanghai looking for you, to save you from the life we had forced on you. I thought to bring you home in honor, but..." His voice trailed away as he indicated her stunning home. It was more luxurious than anything his family owned.

His sister smiled. "My living is adequate as well." She grinned. "And I have no wish to leave Shanghai." Her smile shifted to the white captain who turned to Zhi-Gang.

"Little Pearl and I are married as well—"

"In secret!" Little Pearl shot out. "Tell no one!"

Captain Jonas nodded and wrapped a large arm around his wife's shoulders. "She fears retribution," he said, "but it is possible. We have been very happy."

Little Pearl frowned, pretending to struggle against his all- encompassing arm then settling tight against his side with a happy sigh.

Beside Zhi-Gang, Anna made a soft sound of distress. "Our marriage is a fiction," she whispered, her voice growing in strength. "We pretend to it so that we can destroy an opium king." Then she looked at the couple before her. "I wish you the best of success. But then, I believe you already have that." So saying, she pulled away from Zhi-Gang and headed to the front garden.

Little Pearl grabbed his arm and drew him back, her words audible despite her low tone. "Stupid brother! Let her go."

"But... Anna!" he called just as she slipped out of the room.

* * *

Anna made it to the front garden, her progress made all the harder as her vision was washed with tears. Stupid, stupid, stupid, to cry now when all was within her grasp. With Zhi-Gang's help she would not only end the evil propagated by her adoptive father, but she would finally be able to leave for England and the glorious reunion with her family. Except, it was all a lie. Her family in England didn't want her. Zhi-Gang didn't want her.

"Watch out!" Captain Jonas's voice rang clearly, but it was too late. Anna stumbled on a broken tile and crumpled to the ground.

He was beside her in a moment, though not before she had scraped her hands in the stony dirt and ripped her skirt at the seam.

"Come, come," he said in a surprisingly fatherly tone. "There's a bench here. I've told them to replace that walkway, but the gardeners do what they want sometimes and don't listen to the white man." He guided her to the bench, then stood back, his hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets. "For all that money talks, this is still a foreign land. Little Pearl rules the roost, and I'm just the hairy ape who hangs around."

"Not to me," she murmured. She looked up, if not all the way to his face. She couldn't manage to meet his eyes just yet, so she stared at a spot over his right shoulder.

"I beg your pardon?"

She took a breath and put a little more volume in her voice. "This isn't a foreign land to me. I was born here. I've never known anyplace but China."

"I see."

"But Zhi-Gang's going to send me to England," she added in a rush. "I have family there."

"Oh. Good. Good." Jonas's voice trailed away, and an awkward silence descended. After a bit, he spoke up again. "I have a ship. Foundered for a while. A long while, actually, but she's in port now and being stocked as we speak. Fred's a good man and a good captain. He'll look after you, if you like."

She blinked, her gaze finally meeting his. "I don't understand."

He smiled warmly down at her. "I am offering a berth on
The Auspicious Wind
when it sails back to England in two days. Would you like it?"

She hesitated, her thoughts spinning. "I have money saved. I could start fresh in England." She looked at him. He seemed honest enough, but she didn't trust anyone anymore.

He smiled, as if sensing her thoughts. "I'll send a note to Fred. The ship leaves in two days. You can board anytime before then."