Hsing stared at the depiction of a woman sitting upright with her legs over a man's shoulders. The woman's hands wrapped around the male caricature's neck. The man cradled the woman's rear in his hands while his torso plunged into her. The depiction showed them gazing into each other's eyes, both of their mouths open in ecstasy.
He pressed the button that advanced the screen on Shanti's device. The sutra he read was not in his father, Chou's, hand. The words were an Earth dialect. The original text was well and truly lost. But many of the ideas remained.
The text began with advice on how to select a virtuous wife -definitely not his father's thinking. His mother would have laughed him off the ship at many of the suggestions. It then went on to detail the many and varied ways two beings fell in love.
Hsing skipped through those parts. Another concept he didn't comprehend; having to put oneself in danger or harm's way for the sake of a fickle emotion. Devotion was a duty not an unseen, unquantifiable, chemical reaction. Hsing skipped over all the fluff and went straight to the sexual position illustrations.
It seemed a tedious business, the myriad of positions. But he understood the necessity. Eloh males needed to keep their women pleased so that they would open themselves to their males and allow themselves to be penetrated. For it was between a woman's thighs that Eloheem reached the sacred space, known as Nirvana.
A moan caught his attention. Hsing looked over to the berth where his woman lay. Shanti was tangled in the sheets of the berth, her thighs pressed together. Her hands roamed her body as she let out a breathy sigh. The sound of his name on her lips had Hsing diving into her head to grasp onto the thread of her dreams. The image came back to him crystal clear.
In Shanti's dream, Hsing's dark blue hands were on her body. His fingers grazed her brown breasts. His mouth encircled a dark nipple. He tasted its sweetness. Shanti's physical body jerked as Hsing's dream-self thrust into her, his petals clasped tightly to the dark pink flesh of her core.
"Hsing," she sighed.
In the dream, Hsing's hands gripped her hips and pulled down, grounding her into him. Back in reality, Hsing gripped the edges of the chair to keep himself in it. He reached further into her dream.
In the dream, Hsing climbed to his knees. He placed Shanti's legs over his shoulders as he'd seen in the illustration. He thrust up. In both the dream and the real world, Shanti cried out in absolute ecstasy.
Her body jerked in the berth until she sat up straight. Her gaze immediately connected with his. Shanti brushed the wayward hairs from her face, chest still heaving. "What are you doing in here?" she demanded, her voice husky.
"I have time now."
The silence stretched between them as she searched for his meaning. Hsing saw the moment it dawned on her. Her eyes widened. Her pupils dilated. Her nostrils flared.
"Get out," she said, her breath quickening.
Hsing rose from the chair. He took a step towards her.
She clutched the sheet to her ample chest. "Did you hear what I said?"
"Your words are meaningless to me, little one." Hsing arrived at the edge of the bed.
Shanti had to tilt her head back to look up at him. She licked her lips as she did.
"Your words belie your thoughts," Hsing continued. "Your body's language is clear."
"Get out of my head and get out of my room.”
The defiant set to her chin sent a thrill down Hsing's loins. He'd thought her weak and helpless during their first two encounters. Now, he saw he was wrong. She might turn out to be a worthy partner in life.
"Why would I vacate either when I find myself so welcome?" Hsing's gaze caught and held on her breasts. He saw her erect nipples poking through her flimsy garb.
"You made me dream that," she said. "Didn't you?"
"I came into the dream late. After my name escaped your lips. Would you like me to do that to you, little one?" Hsing held up the device that held the contents of the sutra. "It is called..." he glanced at the screen, "the Erotic V."
Shanti reached up and snatched the device out of his hands. She tossed it onto a sideboard and then wrapped the blankets more firmly around herself.
Hsing opened his hand and the device flew into it at his command. He flicked through a couple of screens. "Personally, I was hoping to go with the..." he peered at the screen, "Doggie-style. It allows deep penetration of the vaginal canal for the male enjoyment and manipulation of the clitoris for female bliss. It appears the most efficient."
Hsing held up the device so that the screen faced Shanti. Her lips stayed pursed, but her eyes and nostrils flickered at the illustration. The screen depicted a woman on her hands and knees with a man penetrating her from behind. It was the way most low creatures copulated throughout the universe. Hsing saw no reason to buck nature's tradition.
He sent the device sailing back to the sideboard and reached for the sash to his robes. "Shall we begin?"
Shanti's eyes enlarged, her breath picked up. "No!" She scooted to the other side of the bed.
Hsing frowned and then sighed. "I do not understand why you are resisting me when you are clearly both interested and aroused."
"I don't like you, and I don't think you like me."
"I do not see what liking you has to do with mating rituals. You like mating. I felt as much when you were with my brother. With that knowledge, coupled with my readings of the sutra, I will exceed your prior experiences."
Her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull. "You arrogant asshole."
Hsing shrugged. Modesty was not his strong point. "My brother chose you as our bondmate. I am here to do my duty. Part of that duty is to take you to sexual heights high enough to reach Nirvana. That will fuel me."
"Fuel you?"
"When a female orgasms she releases a neuro-chemical that humans know as oxytocin. It is a pure form of energy that allows the males of my kind to reach heights of awareness we cannot reach on our own. We call that higher plane of awareness Nirvana."
"You mean you're using me like I'm some type of drug?"
Hsing undid the knotted loops of his sash and his robes fell from his chest leaving his torso exposed. Shanti eyed his bare chest before blinking and steeling her gaze once more. She placed her hands up, but before she could speak-
"You say the word no to me repeatedly," said Hsing placing one knee on the berth. "But I see the desire in your eyes. Why should I listen to your words when you are lying to yourself?"
She opened her mouth. Then closed it. Her eyes darted to the door. "Where's Chen?"
Hsing placed his other knee on the berth. Kneeling on the large cushion, he towered over her. "Chen is resting. He has been working in the energy mines. Besides, he has already bonded his mind, body, and soul to you."
Hsing advanced closer to her. He expected her to back away, but she didn't. He saw a light dawn in her eyes at those last words.
"Chen said that once you bonded with me, you would be my slave."
Hsing smirked. "I do not think that word translates correctly." He placed his arms on either side of her, boxing her in.
"You'll do what I say once we're mated?" she asked.
Hsing saw her intentions. She wanted to return home. The problem was the place she deemed home was a hazy picture in her head.
Shanti had no home, just like the males on this ship. She was displaced. If she had truly wanted to leave, Hsing might've entertained the idea of returning her after that first meeting. He was compelled to find a mate, but he didn't have time to cajole one into her duty.
Shanti needed no cajoling. Her body wanted him even if her words were resistant, just as her soul knew this was home. Home was more than a planet or parcel of land. Home was the people surrounding you, and Shanti had none. This would be her home. These would be her people.
"We need to get this one important thing straight, little one. Chen and I may look the same, but we are different. Chen will give you the softness you seek. Romance, you call it. Chen will come to you with compromise and options."
"And you?" Shanti tilted that defiant chin up.
Hsing had the urge to bite the angular mandible. "It is not in my nature." He grasped her chin between two fingers and tilted her head back further.
Her lips parted. "What is your nature?"
Their lips were barely an inch from one another. She was no longer backing away from him. It seemed his little woman couldn't resist a challenge.
"I am Yin, while Chen is Yang."
Her eyes crinkled in that way that told him she was thinking, sifting through her primitive knowledge to find meaning. "Like a Taoist?"
"That word is not translating. Yin and Yang are the same essence manifesting in different polarities. Chen and I share the same blood. Blood, like water, is one essence. When drunk by a mammalian it becomes milk for nourishment. When drunk by a reptilian, it becomes venom, a weapon for defense."
Shanti's eyes blazed in triumph, as though some point was proven. "What you're telling me is you're a snake."
“Never forget it, little one." Hsing captured her lips.
She allowed the claiming. Until she bit his bottom lip.
Hsing reared back, laughter rumbling through him. "Thank the Heavens you are not docile."
“Don't you forget it, you big, blue ape."
Hsing smiled at the treasure his brother had brought back home. "I will take you now, Shanti. I will twist and bend your body through all the illustrations in that sutra until I ring every last morsel of pleasure from you."
She had no words for that. Her lips trembled. Her eyes brightened. Her teeth caught her lower lip while she held her breath.
"Tell me no again, Shanti," Hsing taunted.
In response, she let out a shaky breath.
Hsing pounced.
