Lady Earthquake

Lady Earthquake Chapter 34

Shu Ban-Li came up fighting, hands, knees, and teeth. He seemed deaf to Sun-Sin's voice. The prince understood at once that his adjutant fought not him, but some demon in a dream. He had to wrap his arms around Ban-Li to keep his face from being clawed, and when that did not serve, roll him under his weight and trap the thrashing legs with one of his own thrown over.

"Hush, now. Wake up. It's me."

The heaving body stilled. The teeth against his throat became lips that moved against his skin. A snarl became a warm sigh that reached his ear. "Sun-Sin?"

"Yes. Wake up already, troublesome brat."

The sigh that passed through him seemed to carry with it all the sorrow and grief of an overburdened heart. It left behind a shuddering mess of a person, crying freely.

Sun-Sin said gently, "Come on now. There is no need for that."

"I – I said you were alive. Everyone else said you were...you were...I told them."

"Yes. I am sure you told them in no uncertain terms." He tried to move off and away but Ban-Li's arms were locked tightly around his back. "Let me go. I want to see you."

The boy's lips moved against his neck to say, "No. I mean...just a minute more. Just to be sure you are really here this time."

"This time?"

"I have had this dream before."

Sun-Sin realized he had drunk too much wine at the bathhouse. All at once, he felt too hot, too touched, too close to the limit of his self-control. Ban-Li's soft hair had a fragrance that had nothing to do with scented oil or perfume. The warmth of his skin through his linens and the trembling of his slim form created a conflict between Sun-Sin's body and mind. His body reminded him insistently that it had been at least eight months since he had been intimate with a woman while his mind shouted vehemently that this person was his Junior Brother, his best friend, and his subordinate.

He freed his arms convulsively and pushed against the boy's thin shoulders, moving him back to the farthest edge of the bed frame. "Enough!"

Ban-Li sat up suddenly, his back against the carved wooden screen. "What? What...? Is it you?" His drowned eyes were huge in the candlelight. A moment later, Sun-Sin saw at last the impetuous smile that he had been imagining for the last hundred li. He could take no pleasure in it now. He sat up, as far away from Ban-Li as he could get.

"Are you really awake this time or do I have to throw cold water over you?"

"I am awake! I am awake." He reached out to touch one finger to the back of Sun-Sin's hand lying on the quilt. "You are really here?"

"That fact has now been made quite clear," Sun-Sin said dryly. He pulled a corner of the quilt across his lap. "Put that side around you. Stay warm. By the way, what are you doing in my bed instead of your own?"

"I cannot sleep there. There is a girl in my bed."

"A girl...?" Sun-Sin frowned. "What have you been up to while I have been gone? Does Uncle Mo know about this?"

"Everybody knows about it. She was supposed to go into Lady Pingtao's household but they could not make her stay there. She wants to be with me. Though I think Luyo is starting to work his way into her affections too. He fell for her at first glance. That is making Yan very jealous. Yan likes Ganxie too."

"What?" He tapped himself lightly on the temple, hoping to make sense out of all this. The physical earthquake that had threatened to overturn all his ideas about himself had shaken the ground but no permanent damage had resulted. He could even laugh at his panic over it now, a little.