"What are you doing? I told you before you're supposed to bargain with them!" Olivia turned away from Roland in exasperation. "I know, I know, but we're on vacation and I don't need the stress over five bucks or a hundred baht or whatever." Roland half-smiled and tried to look like an easy-going beach bum, but came off more like a typical white dude tourist...
- Continues from Hard Rain, but can be read stand alone: You flinch, a reflex running from shoulder to toe, awoken, snapped awake. The rain pelting the windows, the wind blustering, rocking the carriage of your camper van, the trees "shhhhhushing" as they sway, and the thunder still rumbling hungry, hundreds, maybe thousands of feet above. Then you pick i...
Little Princes Fuguo and Kaitao had more than doubled their birth weights. They knew how to roll over, and when they were arranged to sit up they could stay in those positions without support. They reached for and sometimes held interesting things. They played and mimicked facial expressions. They rolled around on the floor, often with a woman rolling around...
Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex. ***** What happened next did more than startle Wen. It terrified her. With faces of stone and arms of iron, two eunuchs appeared and suddenly seized Yuwei by her arms. Too startled and confused to speak, Yuwei looked up to the Empress with her mouth agape. Wen got out of her se...
Wen put her bronze badge in her blouse, the cord looped over her brooch. She put away her thin shawl and picked up a wider one, a gray one, that could protect her from any unlucky chills. Then she made sure her maids had their shawls. They were just about to head out the main entrance of the Sweet Carrot Palace when suddenly two eunuchs arrived. One of the...
Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five: Separation Anxiety The next morning at breakfast, Fergus informed us he'd found us passage to Ostwick leaving in the afternoon. We split up to get last-minute errands done, like packing and shopping for a few supplies. I insisted on going down to the Alienage with the hopes of running into Ena, and though Avanna grumbled, s...
Seafoam Attendant Bora was whimpering in her bed, on her belly, unable to get up on her own. One of her maids was dusting. The other was arranging food into snacks on a plate. Pollen Lady Hayun was sitting on a chair near Bora's bed, lightly smiling as Bora cursed Wen and everything she loved. Hayun took a cup of hot tea and drew in a sip. Then she lowered h...
Chapter 4 The limousine bus pulled to a stop outside the Shinagawa Prince hotel. As people began to exit, Chris shook Andy's shoulder to wake him up. He had slept almost the entire way from the airport. Chris, on the other hand, hadn't slept at all. She had sat there, staring at her husband, reliving what she had done, wracked with guilt. Chris cried for th...
Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Three: Sailing Away The morning came too soon, and found us standing on the Highever docks, waiting for a tender to ferry us out to the boat Fergus had booked. As I understood it, the ship was some sort of massive, ocean-going vessel usually used more for hauling cargo than guests, although we'd been assured that Alistair and I,...
We're nearing the end of the story. Thank you to those who are still with me. A special 'Thank you' to Estragon for his editing and making this story a much better read. Chapter 5 Our time every week was living out a fairy tale. It was like the prince finding Cinderella, or finding Snow White and living happily ever after. I was never a dreamer; I worked h...