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eBook Category: Erotica/Romance
eBook Description: The Pirate? Prince Jarek has no official title in space. Known simply as Captain to a misfit crew, he sails the high sky doing what he pleases. That is until one of his men is kidnapped by intergalactic drug dealers. Now he's on a mission to save his wayward friend. But instead of a crew man, he rescues a woman desperately trying to be free of her master. Or so he thought? The Princess? Princess Zhang Mei has just been told her future by a seer. It seems fate has given her in marriage to Prince Song Lok--future ruler of the only other dynasty on her home planet of Líntian. She will do her duty to her family, but first she wants something for herself. And when the pirates come to steal, she knows exactly what she wants that something to be--her. Rating: Contains graphic sexual content, adult language, and violence.

eBook Publisher: New Concepts Publishing, Published: 2006
Fictionwise Release Date: September 2006

This eBook is part of the following series:

• Michelle M. Pillow's Lords of the Var Series

293 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [1.1 MB], eReader (PDB) [212 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [199 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [177 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [176 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [222 KB], hiebook (KML) [466 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [244 KB], iSilo (PDB) [164 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [205 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [242 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [259 KB]
Words: 62245
Reading time: 177-248 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: 1-58608-821-1

Imperial Palace of the Zhang Dynasty, Honorable City, Muntong Territory, Planet of Líntiān

"You are with child." The words were soft, carried as if on a gentle breeze.

Princess Zhang Mei blinked in shock, pausing in mid-action. She was in the process of setting down a jug of wine on the Sacred Chamber's altar as an offering to her deceased ancestor. Out of all the things her dead great-grandmother could've told her, that was the least expected. Her great-grandmother made a small noise when she didn't move to finish her task. Slowly Mei set the offering on the low round table and stepped back. For a long moment, she stared at the jug inlaid with gold thread in the blue glass. It was a pretty piece, one her great-grandmother would enjoy in her afterlife--but not so much as the wine it contained.

Mei wasn't frightened to see her great-grandmother's spirit. The ancestors were known to show themselves to those they wished to guide and, since her death, Zhang An had been residing in the sacred room hidden within the walls of the Hall of Infinite Wisdom located in their home, the Imperial Palace. The palace was protected by great surrounding walls. The complex behind the walls was referred to as Honorable City because the palace was in fact like a small city for the royal family. The family never needed to leave the palace and rarely did so.

The palace walls were surrounded on the outside by a thick moat with only two known entrances--one in the front and one in the back of the large rectangular complex. The Hall of Infinite Wisdom was only one of many buildings within the complex, located in the center. However, it was the largest structure, set high upon stone to tower over the surrounding courtyard and gardens.

Mei wished they left the city more often. Some of her best memories were from when she got to travel with her sister, Fen. They'd often go to Lady Hsin's to see how the silk worms produced the luxurious silk for their clothing or to the countryside, just to fly over in the family's tu di hang, a land craft that soared over the lush scenery like the ancient junk boats of old used to sail over the seas of planet Earth.

But those times were too far apart to suit Mei. She'd been born with the need for adventure, a need that burned inside her until she was forced to swallow down her abhorrence of the palace walls. Burying her wanderlust, she knew that first and foremost, she was a Zhang princess and so would honor her family and do her duty by her people, no matter the personal cost. Besides, the confinement only made the trips she took all the sweeter--like the foray across the Satlyun River she was going on with her oldest brother, Prince Haun.

Seeing her great-grandmother's face, Mei whispered, "What? What did you say?"

"You are with child," her great-grandmother repeated, smiling.

Mei stiffened. That's what she thought the woman had said. Why was the spirit smiling? What did this mean? A baby? Her? Now? It didn't sound right. How could this ... "

Dazed, Mei looked around the room. The Sacred Chamber was ornate, yet barren of all but a few objects of great importance. Gold lined the walls in intricate design. The basin itself was carved with the revered phoenix of her people. Aside from the basin and offering table, there was the collection of the precious jade their ancestors had brought with them from Earth during the journey to Líntiān. Its green color was sacred, more so than the purple jade mined across the river by Emperor Song's people. The artifacts were kept safe behind a plate of glass, the most precious being the powerful Jade Phoenix. The bronzed bird was surrounded by smaller pieces of the precious green stone. Its delicate feathers were worked in a way that they should've been impossible in metalwork. Jewels were inlaid into the bronze, but none were so stunning as the large green stone on the bird's chest. To even look upon it was an honor, reserved for the royal family and a few honored souls.

"No, no I can't be," Mei insisted, feeling her flat stomach. "You are certain?"

"Yes. Very certain," Zhang An answered. The spirit was dressed in the old style. Her long sleeves swept over the floor as she walked near her granddaughter. The delicate silk robe made even more so by the fact that it traveled on air. Every movement was silent, like the breeze. Her wrinkled, pale face was transparent, shading with each subtle movement, threatening to blow away completely. Long, dark hair streaked with white flowed around her shoulders. Tradition from her time of life would have had her put it up, but An was proud of her locks and, being dead, didn't have to be dictated by such traditions. Besides, what could be done about it? She was already dead. "I consulted all the powers--the oracle bones, the divining basin, even the wind. Each say the same thing."

Pregnant? Me?

"But, how...?" Mei could barely move.

Her great-grandmother laughed. "You should speak to your mother as to the how. I only foresee the future."

Mei didn't find the woman very funny. She knew how, just not how.

How could this happen? And with whom?

"When?" Mei asked, shaking. She followed her floating great-grandmother with her eyes, afraid if she moved her locked knees she'd collapse in shock.

"Within sixteen moons, give or take," An answered, smiling.

Sixteen moons? That was only about eight months!

"Whose is it?" Mei pressed her hand tighter to her flat stomach and thought of all the men of the Muntong court. None of them appealed to her as a husband figure, but all of them would be willing to marry a Zhang princess. To deny her hand would be foolish indeed. She had the power of her family, money, land, and status.

"I see blood," her great-grandmother answered ominously, as if going into a trance as the visions overtook her. Her dark brown eyes glazed over with white as she moved to a basin within the center of the sacred chamber. A cool breeze stirred the room as the woman asked the wind for answers. Her hair lifted all around her in a wild tangle of windswept fury.

Mei knew her great-grandmother listened to the elements, because the wind also whispered to her. It was her gift, her power, bestowed upon her at birth by the Jade Phoenix. Mei could hear the promptings of the wind and, though her own talent wasn't as developed to feel more than instinct, she knew that it would whisper its secrets into her great-grandmother's ear. Often, she thought that was why she felt the need to be free, to fly like the wind, because she had felt the presence in her since the cradle. As a child, she'd dream of flying, soaring high into the starry heavens. Mei wished the wind would take her now, right now, lifting her up and taking her past the palace walls to deep space where she could float for an eternity.

"Royal blood," An added in a monotone, drawing her mind back to Líntiān. "The baby will be of royal blood."

"But I am royal, Grandmother," Mei said needlessly, trying to figure out the riddle seeing the future put before them. Sometimes Mei wished her family couldn't see the pieces. Often it made more confusion than it clarified.

Mei's stomach tightened and she was afraid she'd be sick. Or was her great-grandmother implying Prince Song Lok? He was the son of the only other Empire on Líntiān, the Song Dynasty located across the Satlyun River. The river flowed through the center of their planet, separating the territories of Muntong and Singhai. Lok was the only male heir to the throne, though he had three sisters--triplets. Mei had never met the Song daughters and she'd met Prince Lok only once, a long time ago.

Not that there was any reason she would be introduced to the triplets. The two Empires never really saw eye to eye. Emperor Song ruled the Singhai Empire in the west and Mei's parents ruled the Muntong Empire to the east. In between the two territories was the Satlyun River, circling from north to south in the exact center of the planet of Líntiān. The giant river was a marvel of nature, so wide it was impossible to swim across. It was one of the main reasons that the two Empires did not fight. Though they didn't agree on much, peace was something the Líntiānese cherished.

Was her marriage to Prince Lok going to ensure continued peace? Was that the real reason she was compelled to accompany her oldest brother, Haun, on his trip across the Satlyun? Was marriage talk in the works? What exactly was her great-grandmother not saying? Or was she saying it and Mei just didn't want to hear the words?

"The blood I speak of is not of the Zhang line. It is foreign." An gave her a pointed look.

Mei grimaced. Lok. She had to mean Lok.

"Married?" another voice intruded.

Instantly Mei stiffened as she turned at the sound of her father, the Emperor's, voice. He wore a yellow robe decorated with red dragons and symbols. The red and yellow were the colors of royalty. It matched the buildings--all of which had yellow tiled roofs and dark red walls.

The Emperor stood in the doorway, a look of supreme happiness on his face. If this was true, Mei would be the first of his children to marry. Her older sister, Fen, and four brothers, Haun, Jin, Lian and Shen had yet to take that step. Mei was the youngest and by all rights she should be the last expected to marry. That was how it was traditionally done.

This isn't fair.

"Yes," her great-grandmother answered. "And with child."

"You're sure?" the Emperor asked, his smile widening as he looked down at his daughter's waist. The news pleased him greatly.

Mei touched her stomach, gasping, "No! We're not sure. Honored grandmother was just going to look again."

"Yes," her great-grandmother put forth. "We are sure."

"No," Mei repeated. "We. Are. Not."

"This is a most happy day!" Emperor Zhang beamed. The two elders ignored her as they spoke to each other.

"A most happy day," An agreed. "My granddaughter should be told at once. She will want to hear this blessed news."

"Yes, the Empress will be most excited to hear of Mei's wedding," the Emperor agreed. "And most pleased by news of a grandchild!"