The coy makes a modest presentation of herself, something that should not have surprised him given how the willow women vie for the emperor’s eye. She did not share the look of the imperial wives, but her appeal was no less for it.
“Batu.” The man’s initial grin broadens. “The emperor will keep those he needs, the ones skilled in crafts, as well as those who please him most in the bedchamber. You are among those he takes into new lands. So he finds you useful.”
The ice in the river numbs his hocks. The nomad returns his second bladder to the drying stone and wrings out the dribbling coat with a firm shake.
So, she had heard him. And in a brothel where traders seek rest, one hears many things in many languages. He expected a girl in these spaces to be quicker than most at learning them.
“What do you hear?”
“Batu.” The man’s initial grin broadens. “The emperor will keep those he needs, the ones skilled in crafts, as well as those who please him most in the bedchamber. You are among those he takes into new lands. So he finds you useful.”
The ice in the river numbs his hocks. The nomad returns his second bladder to the drying stone and wrings out the dribbling coat with a firm shake.
So, she had heard him. And in a brothel where traders seek rest, one hears many things in many languages. He expected a girl in these spaces to be quicker than most at learning them.
“What do you hear?”
mongolian | mandarin