Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 130: The Goodbye Kiss

Chapter 130: The Goodbye Kiss

[Suggested song for this Chapter – Carnival of the Animals: The Swan, by Camille Saint-Saëns]

Meili opened the ivory box. Inside was a beautiful hairpin.

It was gold with a tiny rabbit dangling from the end. The rabbit’s body and tail were a large and a small pearl, its eyes were rubies, its pointy ears were diamonds.

She gasped at its beauty.

"It’s not much, I’m sorry, but I’ll give you the earth when I get back, Meili, I promise you."

"It’s too much, Li, and I don’t want the earth, I just want you."

He gently pressed the hairpin through the small bun in her hair which she wore half loose tonight, flowing down her back like a river of dark silk.

The delicate bunny caught the light cast by the myriad of lanterns, a perfect match for her white fur-trimmed cloak, and setting off her beautiful face to perfection.

He motioned to his men, who had followed them at a discreet distance, gesturing for them to stand watch as he took Meili’s hand, drawing her into the privacy of a nearby copse of trees.

"Meili, I fear I can’t leave without kissing you one more time... I know I shouldn’t, but I hope you’ll allow me to kiss you goodbye?"

She nodded mutely, her tears starting to flow as soon as he said the word ’goodbye’.

He pressed his lips to hers, kissing her with the passion and desperation of a man who knew he might not return to his love.

He tangled his hands in her long hair, pressing her delicate face to his, trying not to be too rough, but barely holding back his surging emotions as he kissed her.

She stood on tiptoes, wishing she could climb into his arms and never hop down.

His lips moved from hers to kiss her tears that were falling unchecked down her cheeks, before returning to her lips, which he felt he could never get enough of.

He committed their soft pillowy feel and the sweet taste of his woman to memory.

He knew there were many long, lonely nights to come where he would return to this kiss again and again.

She tried not to sob, wanting to leave him with a happy memory, but she was so scared for him... and for herself... she didn’t want to let him go.

Even when she needed to stop for breath, she didn’t stop, clinging desperately to him, willing these sweet moments never to end.

At last he pulled back from her addictive, sweet kisses, resting his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, his desires roaring as they always did when he was so close to her.

"Meili, I love you. Don’t cry, don’t be sad," he wiped her fresh tears. "I will come back to you, I promise."

"I love you too, Li. You must come back to me. I don’t care how, or what you have to do, or what happens on the campaign. I just want you. Don’t leave me," these last words were whispered, with a hitch in her voice.

"You have my word, Meili."

He gave her a final soft kiss on the forehead, before he turned and strode away from her.

She watched his retreating back, blurred by her tears, as he moved from the dark of the woods into the light of the lanterns, motioning at his men to enter the copse of trees and escort her back to the palace.

----------------

"You think it’s acceptable to arrive back at this ungodly hour do you? A young unmarried woman," said the Emperor peevishly, as soon Meili tried to creep into his bedchamber.

Tricky rushed over to her and jumped all over her pretty dress as she undid her cloak, laying it on her cot. He licked her enthusiastically until she laughed, "alright, alright Tricky. I’m back safely. There’s no need for all that."

"Tricky was very worried about you," shot the Emperor, scowling at her, the clearly unspoken words being that so was he.

"I’m sorry My Lord, I just had such a lovely time at the Lantern Festival that I lost track of the time."

"Yes well, your duty to me comes first. You’ve kept me awake now, waiting for you to play the guqin," he sounded so much like a petulant child that she almost laughed.

"Yes, Lord. Let me make it up to you. Would you like a massage to help you sleep?"

"That’s the least you can do," he growled.

She tried to stifle a smile; his bark was worse than his bite with her.

"Chief Eunuch, can you ask the eunuch on duty to fetch His Majesty the special bedtime tisane I have been brewing for him?"

Feng Bao nodded and rushed to hurry along the brew so his Lord could get his much needed rest. He was relieved to have his Lord drinking herbal tea before he slept now, instead of those sleeping draughts the royal physicians had been giving him.

Meili set to gently massaging away the knots and stress of the day from the Emperor’s shoulders and neck.

He relaxed despite his annoyance at the girl for neglecting him.

She moved her delicate fingers to his head, gently rubbing his temples and scalp with her magic technique that somehow always managed to relax him.

His tisane arrived and he sipped on it while she moved to his shoulder blades, which were often tight and sore from being held in a raised position while he worked.

"Why don’t you lie down now, and I’ll play for you, Majesty?"

"I’m not a child!" he said irascibly.

"Of course you’re not, you’re the Emperor of this realm, the Son of Heaven. I only wish for you to lie down so that you may get some much-needed sleep before court tomorrow."

He looked at her through narrowed eyes, though in truth he was placated by all her careful attention to him.

Though when she undid the curtain stays to his bed so that the sheer curtains fell about them, and she presumed to lean over him to pull his covers up to his chin, her long hair falling over her shoulder so that it pooled beside him on his pillow, and her tightly fitted bodice mere inches from his eyes, he sighed grumpily.

The girl had no idea! Her parents really hadn’t done her any favours raising her as they had done.

If she was any other woman in his harem, he would know without a doubt that she was trying to seduce him.

Meili had this awful habit of innocent seduction, and it was going to get her into serious trouble one of these days... He couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t be with him, if she didn’t grow a brain.

He grabbed her wrist before she could exit the shelter of the canopied bed.