“This way, virgin,” a man’s voice sneered.

She glanced behind her for the eunuch who had escorted her, but he had not followed her inside. The last she saw of him was his leering grin as he closed the door.

“This way,” the voice repeated from deeper inside. She looked down the hallway and saw the head eunuch half illuminated by a lantern.

“This is really a meeting with the emperor?” she breathed, hurrying forward. The head eunuch would not be here otherwise, would he?

“The emperor will be watching,” the man responded. “See that you perform as instructed.”

She slowed her steps and pretended to play with her hair. This was clearly a trap of some kind. The eunuchs were acting too slyly, but how did she protect herself? “Perform how? What am I to do?”

“As you are instructed,” he repeated. Then he stepped fully into the shadows such that the light fell upon a recessed door. “Inside there, virgin.”

She couldn’t go in blindly. Anything could be on the other side! So she started to take a step back. But just at that moment, another virgin was pushed into the hallway. It was Li Fei, the girl from the country who was the closest Ji Yue had to a friend among the virgins. Her eyes were huge in her pale face and a nervous giggle betrayed her anxiety.

“Ji Yue, have you been ordered to come, too? Well, of course you have. I mean he noticed you that very first night. You know, when we were celebrating the defeat of the Taiping. Of course, you didn’t do so well then, but you’re here now. Your hair is down. Are you sure you don’t-”

“You are late!” snapped the head eunuch. “Hurry up! Inside now!” He grabbed hold of Li Fei and dragged her forward.

Ji Yue tried to stop them, but there was no room. The head eunuch shoved Li Fei, who in turn stumbled into Ji Yue and pushed her straight into a room hazy with a dirty, bluish smoke.

Li Fei immediately started coughing. JiYue’s eyes watered, but she was more used to the smell of men’s tobacco. Her father loved to smoke after dinner. Except this smell was more than just tobacco. It included opium, spiced teas and men. A lot of men.

“We should leave,” Ji Yue murmured. “Now.”

To her credit, Li Fei did not argue. She had stopped coughing, but her eyes were watering enough that the black makeup around them was smudged. Ji Yue backed up and felt for the door. She couldn’t find it. She spun around, but all she could see was the flat panel of a painted wall. There was a latch somewhere. There had to be!

“Hey ho! Another one!” a man’s voice called out in the coarse dialect of Canton.

Male cheers responded and suddenly someone grabbed hold of her arm. Ji Yue tried to jerk free, but he was large and strong, and when she looked up into his face, she saw he was a white man like those from the Dutch envoy.

She would have screamed, but her throat had closed off in terror. Beside her, Li Fei did better. She jerked back from her captor and screamed, “White devil!”

Crack! Li Fei’s head snapped back as her captor backhanded her. This time a squeak of alarm managed its way out of Ji Yue’s throat, but that was all the sound she made as her own captor lifted his arm threateningly. She braced for the blow, raising her arm to block it and adjusting her body to kick the brute right between his legs. She doubted this one was a eunuch. He would feel her blow for certain.

But a voice stopped her. “Do not be afraid, virgins,” the man said in a high voice. It was Duan Xu, the head eunuch’s favorite assistant. “The emperor wished you brought here to entertain our guests.” He sauntered forward, a pipe in his hands. “Take a breath. It will help relax your fears.”

“That’s opium,” Ji Yue guessed.

Duan Xu smiled. “Have you always wanted a taste? Have some. The emperor’s special gift to you.”

“No, it’s not,” she snapped. She scanned the room quickly, looking for a way to escape. She saw a dozen or more men-white and Chinese-all lounging throughout the room. The opium smokers were obvious by their glazed looks. Unfortunately, there were not many. The others drank or leered at the other virgins in the room. All of the girls had a pipe pressed to their lips.

And nowhere did she see an exit.

The white man grabbed the pipe and brought it to her face. He was saying something and smiling as if his doglike voice would reassure her. She fought him. She kicked and punched, but he was much too large and she was backed up against a wall with him on one side and a eunuch on the other. They pinned her head and pushed the pipe to her lips.

“Don’t waste it!” he growled.

She couldn’t move her head. Fortunately that helped her keep her lips sealed. She would not put that foul thing in her mouth! She would not!

Pain lanced through her belly. The eunuch had punched her! She gasped in shock, her knees crumpling beneath her. But the white man was there holding her up by her head. And sweet hot smoke filled her lungs.

No! But it was too late. She had breathed, and the sweet feel of it was…like duck feathers…soft down in her head and blood.

Then it was gone. She frowned as she took more deep breaths. She didn’t want the opium smoke, and yet part of her already mourned its loss. Glancing to the side, she saw Li Fei in a similar state. Her skin was pale except for the angry red mark on her cheek. Her body was still held by her captor, but she was not fighting. In fact, her gaze followed the opium pipe as it was pulled away.

“No,” Ji Yue said, trying to force an authority into her voice. “This is wrong. We are imperial virgins.”

Someone responded, but she didn’t understand his words. The other men did, though, and their laughter boomed in the room. Then she saw something that brought true fear to her heart. It was hard to see clearly through the smoke and the press of men. The eunuch dragged her forward, pulling her relentlessly, though she still tried to struggle. She was moving to a line of men. Were they pulling off their pants?

They were! All in a line, Chinese and white, their pants at their feet as they stood with organs proudly displayed. And like all boys, they laughed and mocked one another while each of the girls was dragged forward.

“What are you doing?” gasped one of the virgins. “I should not see this!”

At least Ji Yue was not the only girl who tried to protest. But not one of them was able to fight. All too soon, she and Li Fei joined the others in a line facing the men and their naked organs. She was pushed to her knees. Right before her eyes was a man-a white man with hairy legs and a terrible smell. His organ stuck out in front of her like a skinny, red slug. Compared with Bo Tao’s penis, the man’s seemed like a thin writing brush.

She fought the urge to vomit, but she was held fast by her hair. Damn her hair! She should never have left it loose.

“This is wrong!” she said again, appealing to the eunuch Duan Xu. “Why would you shame us so?”

If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it. He was having too great a time laughing at the women. Ji Yue did not understand all the words, but she caught the meaning. They were judging the girls’ bodies in the most crude manner.

“I will not-” she began, but was rapidly silenced by a hard jerk on her hair.

“She needs more opium!” her eunuch captor called in guttural Cantonese.

“No!” she snapped. “No, I won’t!”

“Much more!” laughed a man with a pipe. Except he did not release his grip on it.

The white man leaned forward. “Do as you’re told, virgin. Or we will choose another way to find our pleasure. And you won’t be called a virgin any longer.”

Ji Yue trembled. She did not doubt him for a second. They would rape her if she did not comply. But she also feared they would rape her even if she did agree. Her only hope was to delay as long as possible until the men passed out from their drink and smoke.

“I am going to vomit!” she cried.

She was rewarded with a another yank on her hair. “Do so and you will lie in it as I spread your legs. Do you understand?”

She nodded as she blinked back her tears. Meanwhile, the eunuch Duan Xu took his place at the end of the double line. “Virgins!” he called. “Listen, virgins! You are here because the emperor has assigned you a special test to verify your skill as a wife.”

Ji Yue did not want to look at the man. She already knew what was coming. She had no wish to see the bastard’s gloating face as he spouted lies.

“Do you know what a wife does, virgins? I will tell you. A wife brings satisfaction to her husband.” One of the girls began to cry. Within seconds, the opium pipe was put to her lips. “Before you is a man’s organ,” continued Duan Xu. “The emperor wishes to see who can bring that man satisfaction first. The winner will gain a special prize! Begin.”

No one moved. No one except the men who surrounded them. The eunuch used his grip on Ji Yue’s hair to move her face forward. The man in front of her thrust his hips at her, pushing his wet tip into her nose. She reared back, but there was nowhere to go. She could tell from the sounds that the other virgins were being treated with equal brutality. So she did the only thing she could.

She reached up with both hands. She took hold of the horrible thing with all her strength, and she squeezed. She even used her nails.

The white man screamed and hit her about the head. She saw it coming and avoided the first of his wild blows, but the eunuch behind her still had a firm grip on her hair. The second blow caught her on the top of her head. That threw her far enough away that the white man was able to scramble backward, pulling his organ from her grip. But she had not released him and she felt her nails cut long scrapes off the narrow thing.

Meanwhile, she slammed her elbow backward into her captor. She connected with his upper thigh, and he grunted in pain but he did not release her. He threw her to the ground. Her shoulder and head landed painfully hard, but at least she was free. She tried to scramble away then, but she was too slow.