She was in front of him, her raven-black hair loose on her shoulders, gazing at him with a look so feverish that he felt his body and soul take flame. He forgot everything when she enveloped him in her embrace and her hair caressed his neck and shoulders. They let themselves fall, clinging to one another, onto the bed of sand entwining with impatient frenzy, seeking each other with trembling hands. Metellus was engulfed in that intense fragrance---he could smell it in her hair, on her hips, on her smooth, arching stomach. He kissed her everwhere, while she abandoned herself to the panting heat of his breath, opened her virginal body to his tumultuous desire. They made love endlessly, passionately, and then more gently, with languid exhaustion. When they finally fell back, spent, they could hear the voice of the wind blowing through the forest of giant canes. "Will you stay with me, Metellus?" "I will stay with you." said Metellus. And he was sincere as he pronounced those words. A deep calm had followed the storm of sense and spirit and he was pervaded by a melancholy awareness that a destiny had been carved out for him in that limitless land, in that territory guarded by invisible dragons whom none could flee. "You will forget," said Yun Shan, "When you have won, you will forget. You will learn to rise with the sun each morning." ——《Empire of Dragons》【图片】