27 Ceress story Part 2 (2/2)

”Just like that? Hippolyta is doing it just like that?” Li Cheung was shocked.

”That's the way they always do it. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Li Cheung was stunned. And very unhappy. And very depressed by what's going to happen. His woman was actually preparing to find a man, any man, to father her child and he's actually not doing anything to stop it? He was a man of great talent, a man of great perception. Most important of all, he was a man of great jealousy, of greed and great possessiveness when it comes to Hippolyta.

That night, he met her at the usual time and slipped a potion in her drink. She likes her wine after dinner and the wine came from her cellar.He didn't even feel any ounce of guilt from what he did. It was a battle between them. He knew the consequences but he didn't care. He wanted her and this time, he would do anything, even murder, to own and possess her.

Like the great magician he was, Li Cheung went into battle fully armed. He loved the woman he had been obsessing with for nearly six years like it was his last hours on earth and he was going to die. He didn't hold anything back. He told her he would marry her, that she would be his wife, that she would not bear any man's child but his and that he loved her, enough to suffer the consequences of her hatred if she decides never to forgive him for what he did. He would even accept death from her hands if that's what she wants.

The two of them stayed glued together the rest of the evening and morning. Li Cheung was indefatigable.Hippolyta accepted his advances with her body singing with desire. After their fourth or fifth coupling, she knew she was pregnant and that the child was going to be a girl. But she stayed at Li Cheung's side, even when the day turned into dark and morning again greeted them with its brilliance.

The marriage of Li Cheung and Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, was postponed for a year by the untimely death of his mother. The woman was neither poisoned nor assassinated but swallowed a chicken bone the wrong way and croaked, leaving Li Cheung a major part of an inheritance so large even Hippolyta was stunned.

When Ceres was born, the couple decided to live for a while in the grove and just vanished from the world for once. But the world was not done with them yet. Li Cheung's father sent him a letter telling him of his impending marriage to the widow of a fellow politician in his party.The woman was a great hostess, she was well-known for her wit and elegance and she also had a daughter, a 12-year old girl named Yu Yan.

When the one year was up, Li Cheung and Hippolyta finally had their wedding ceremony. They also travelled to the city and saw Li Cheung's father, who had become very fat by then. Hippolyta was indifferent to her in-laws. She was cold to the dad, even colder to the stepmom and somewhat lukewarm to Yu Yan.

Li Cheung didn't know whether to laugh or cry. His wife was crazy arrogant when it suited her. She was also easily bored but he knew she cared enough about him to accompany him to a city which she found abhorrent because of the rats and the apparent poverty they saw on the streets.

Hippolyta was also impatient to return home because of an experiment she had been working on since they got together.She said that he had given her the idea but she didn't tell him what it was and he didn't ask because he was busy with other things, too, like an impending war with a neighborhood kingdom because of gold.

The gold was discovered in the mountains that bordered the two kingdoms. A prisoner escaped and when the soldiers found him, he had fallen into a cave that sparkled with the mineral. A fight ensued. Soldiers fought soldiers. The escaped prisoner ran across the border with a handful of gold in his pockets. The border patrols apprehended him, found the gold, and then crossed over to ransacked the cave for their share.

It was a melee that turned the once friendly kingdoms into overnight enemies. Li Cheung was called upon by the king for his advice and inputs. Li Cheung, who was still in a honeymoon phase with Hippolyta, was incensed. He didn't want to leave his wife and child and go traipsing amongst the mountains looking for war. He told the king's messengers so but Hippolyta, who had centuries of experience in warfare and know how to break an enemy that seemed unbreakable, offered her take on the conflict: attack the enemy's treasury and empty it of all its value. That should hold their interest for a while until the cave was emptied of its gold.

The plan worked so well that Li Cheung received another commendation from the king. Li Cheung and Hippolyta celebrated their triumph by making love in the waterfalls for a night. The gentle flow of water smothered their screams, the stream cradled their bodies until they fell asleep. Their celebration didn't last long, however. A few days later, a letter arrived with Enxuo. Li Cheung's father and stepmother had died in a blast. And Yu Yan, his 12-year old stepsister, was on her way to his house, where she intends to live with his new wife and his baby girl.

She was alone now and it was left to his care to take full responsibility of her welfare.