The anger and determination of Qin Shih Huang was almost palpable as he unleashed his cavalry, war chariots, and bronze and iron weapons—all battlefield levelers that his enemies had never before encountered—on the rebel town of Anyi. Within hours of receiving the message that the Lord of Anyi would not send tribute and yield in the season of homage, Qin Shi...
I was on my way to the court of the great Mogul. My father, a prince with little more than his ancient title, was sending me there to further my education and hopefully to improve my station in life. Fortunately I had grown into a very fine looking young man and at nineteen I was going to the Mogul's court to make my way in the world. No expense had been sp...
We were summoned for the exercises. I was to wrestle, and I hoped that I'd draw Victor. He was all bulging muscle and beauty and fluid movement. As I entered the palaestra through the columns, I saw him over to the side with a group of other soldiers, laughing and jesting with them as he removed his breastplate to show rippling muscles and solid abs every bi...
Henri Bragger looked around the seminar room at the World Bank symposium in Washington, D.C., giving a nod here and a little smile there. He was among old friends—or at least long-time colleagues. His own Swiss bank, the Banca Privata Reichstein, was one of the most reputable—and safest—banking institutions throughout the world. And he had been with the bank...
The world swirled around him in a wash of dazzling colours and bright lights. It was beautiful and intoxicating and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch the stars that danced like a halo around his bed. He stepped quietly out of the bedroom and made his way out towards gilded balcony doors. A young lord, Tate didn't even know his name, lay sl...
"That's the last of the equipment inventoried, Bobby. You know why I stayed back with you this evening to help you do this, don't you?" "Yes, coach," Bobby, the manager of the university football team, said. He was trembling a bit and licking his lips. "OK, then. Hit the showers." "Yes, Coach." "Come here first." "Yes, Coach." Ed Tolivar, the football...
It was when I threw a match in the third round of the U.S. Open that I fully realized I was obsessed by him. I wasn't afraid of going up against the young Miguel Herrera—the heartthrob of the tennis world groupies they had nicknamed the Argentine Firecracker. I had beaten him all three times we had met on the pro circuit the last two years. It was because I...
Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sexual situations. Most of the mounted escort riders gathered around their leader were watching the small band of infidels, led by Hugh d'Ibelin, as they rode out of the gate of the stronghold of Belvoir and moved to meet the forces of the Saracens and their allies on the hilltop overl...
They were camped near the top of the ridge in a meadow, just below the forest line. Niu had said he wanted to be high up whenever he could be. He was standing there looking out over the thousands of cook fires and tents spread across the meadow when Shun, carrying the supplies for both of them, managed to trudge up the hillside from the road below. "I wonde...
Adrian's black depression dragged at him like a cold undertow, to the point where he was beginning to loathe his own self-pity. He brooded for days in his bedchamber, silent, dressed entirely in black silks, not sleeping, lighting only a single candle at night for company in his self-induced exile. He was sitting at the table, one arm folded beneath his chin...