"While I was away," she murmured, "I could not sleep. My breasts ached to pillow your head. I passed the nights in lonely solitude with no companion but my lute."
So stirred was he by the tumult within him, he could not speak. With hands that burned her flesh, he lifted her up. At that moment, there was no disparity in their ages. The intense fire of youth surged through his veins, the power and strength of a trained athlete, "of lightning loins and wind-swept foot." He forgot his anger, forgot all his face-saving vows, forgot even that he was Emperor of all beneath the skies.
"Today, my little one," he said, "we have reached the summit of the Tien Mountains." The top of the Tien Mountains touches heaven.
That night, the Emperor ordered eunuchs to carry a couch into the cool splendor of the moon-drenched garden, where they could lie in drowsy enchantment.
Hours later, on the fringe of exhaustion, Lady T'ai Chên slept. But the Emperor flung sleep from his eyes, enjoying the fragrant nearness of her warm ivory body. Truly earth with her was heaven.
Not till the flowers were tremulous with the dew of morning, did she awaken.
14.
From that day forth, her power increased. She was raised to the title of Kuei-fei, "Honorable Consort."
It was a title bestowed on a beloved concubine and
164
