Relief coursed through Sano. He expelled the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Many thanks for your faith in me, Your Excellency.”
Hirata and his other men relaxed. Yoritomo looked simultaneously glad and disappointed for some reason Sano had no time to figure out.
“Don’t thank me yet. I am still very upset with you.” The shogun spoke with more authority than Sano had ever seen in him: Dispatching Lord Matsudaira had built up his self-confidence. “Your mother stands accused of killing Tadatoshi, and I believe she’s guilty. That reflects poorly on you. I gave you three days to prove her innocence, and if by the end of that time you haven’t succeeded…”
That his voice trailed off on a weary sigh didn’t diminish the threat he still held over Sano.
“Now go,” the shogun said. “I feel quite ill, and I, ahh, presume you have much work to do.”
As evening spread its veil of darkness across Edo, a fire burned like a flare in the cityscape. Alarm bells clanged. Smoke billowed, drifted on the wind, and cloaked Edo Jail in an acrid haze. The lanterns at the gates and in the turrets glowed through diffuse golden haloes. The noise and the smoke filtered through the window of the sickroom where Etsuko lay sleeping. The odor of burning wood penetrated her slumber and triggered memories long suppressed.
She and Egen ran hand in hand past buildings on fire, past fleeing crowds. She struggled to keep up with him as the smoke grew denser. They reached the canal where hundreds of people blocked the bridge. They were trapped in the mob. Egen’s hand ripped loose from hers. He was lost in the crush. She was alone.
Someone called her name. It was Doi. He gripped her arm and pulled her along through the mob. Etsuko heard Egen shouting to them, saw his frantic face in the crowd, his hand waving. When she and Doi reached him, he grabbed her other arm. The men shoved, fought, and trampled their way out of the crush.
The scene suddenly shifted. Etsuko, Egen, and Doi fell to their knees, exhausted from running, inside the Koishikawa district. Edo Castle loomed above a neighborhood of walled samurai estates. Men on horseback and ladies in palanquins, accompanied by servants on foot who were loaded with baggage, moved toward the hills outside town. Brigades of leather-clad firemen wielded pickaxes, tearing down houses at the edge of the district, clearing bare space in an attempt to halt the fire’s spread. They’d already leveled a swath littered with ruins.
“We’ll be safe here,” Egen said.
His face and Doi’s were black with soot, their clothes charred. Etsuko coughed up phlegm that tasted like smoke. Then she saw a familiar figure among the crowd. Tadatoshi leaned against a wall, standing perfectly still, alone. His gaze was lifted toward the flames that rose from the burning city. His face wore the same sly, private smile as on that night in the garden. Etsuko saw in his eyes the reflections of the fire.
“There he is!” she cried, pointing.
Tadatoshi turned. His gaze met hers. The sudden anger in his eyes exploded their fires into a huge, red-hot blast. The fire engulfed Etsuko, clothing her in a kimono of fire.
Her own scream awakened her. She heaved up from her bed and found herself in a room that was not her own. She could still smell the smoke from the burning city. Through the barred window came a faint, menacing orange light.
Dazed from sleep and medicine, Etsuko heard the same shouts, wails, and hurrying footsteps as when she and Egen and Doi had run through the inferno in her nightmare. She stumbled to the door but found it locked.
“Help!” she cried, banging on the door. “Fire!”
Drafts faintly tinged with smoke penetrated the walls of the chamber where Reiko sat waiting for Sano to come home. The lantern flickered; twilight deepened outside the window. Reiko heard Masahiro and Akiko laughing and splashing in the bathtub down the corridor. She rose and went to look in on them. Masahiro was sailing a toy boat and chatting with the nurse, and he didn’t notice Reiko, but Akiko did. As soon as her gaze met her mother’s, she drew a deep breath that puffed out her cheeks, then ducked under the water.
Reiko knew from experience that Akiko would stay submerged until Reiko went away or pulled Akiko up half-drowned and hysterical. Tonight Reiko couldn’t bear a scene. “I’m going, Akiko,” she said. “You can come up now.”
She took her hurt feelings back to her chamber. Soon she heard steps approaching, but it was Lieutenant Asukai, not her husband, who appeared at the door. The look in his eyes warned Reiko that he was bringing bad news.
“What is it?” Reiko cried in fright.
“The shogun has put Lord Matsudaira under house arrest.” Asukai was jittery and breathless with excitement.
“Merciful gods! Why on earth?”
Lieutenant Asukai explained that the shogun had realized at last that Lord Matsudaira was plotting to seize power. “I don’t know how the shogun found out. But my sources say that your husband was there when it happened. He’ll be able to tell you the details.”
Recovering from her shock, Reiko saw the ramifications of Lord Matsudaira’s arrest. “But this is good. Lord Matsudaira is locked up. He’ll have to stop fighting my husand. He won’t be able to hurt anybody anymore.”
With Lord Matsudaira out of the way, Sano could win back the shogun’s favor, regardless of the murder case. Reiko felt a thrill of hope that the tide had indeed turned for Sano. What good luck!
Lieutenant Asukai said, “Unfortunately, that’s not the only news I have. I just spoke with my friend who’s one of Lord Matsudaira’s personal bodyguards. He was there when Lord Matsudaira was brought home. He said Lord Matsudaira is desperate, and furious. He blames Chamberlain Sano. He swears he’ll get revenge. He says Sano must die.”
“That sounds like an empty threat,” Reiko said, but a cold, nauseating horror gripped her. She’d long been aware of Lord Matsudaira’s hostility toward Sano, but hearing it voiced, even thirdhand, made it more real for her. She felt as if she were breathing air laced with Lord Matsudaira’s corrosive hatred.
“But surely he can’t destroy my husband,” she said. “His allies will be distancing themselves from him and his troubles. He can’t fight a war.”
“That’s what he wanted to do at first. He wanted an honorable victory. But he’s come up with a new plan.” Lieutenant Asukai continued with breathless urgency, “The spy we caught wasn’t the only one he had here. There are more.”
Reiko’s lips parted in shock. Just when she thought she’d dispensed with that particular threat! “How many?”
“Nine of them,” Asukai said. “My friend doesn’t know who they are. Lord Matsudaira didn’t say. But here’s the worst part: They’re not just spies anymore. They’re not looking for information, and setting traps for them won’t work this time. Lord Matsudaira has sent them new orders. Their job is to assassinate Chamberlain Sano. If one man tries and fails and gets caught, the others are to keep trying until Sano is dead.”
As Reiko’s shock turned to horror, anguish showed on Lieutenant Asukai’s face. He said, “I’m sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, Lady Reiko, and I’m sorry to say that’s not all. I’ve come to warn you: Lord Matsudaira has ordered his assassins to kill you and the children, too. He doesn’t want your son to grow up and come after him for revenge, so he’s decided he’d better wipe out your whole clan.”
“Solving Tadatoshi’s murder should be easier with Lord Matsudaira under arrest,” Hirata said.
“Thank the gods for that stroke of luck,” Sano said, “and that the shogun doesn’t know about my role in the power play, at least for now.”
They sat in his office, where they’d taken refuge after the debacle at the palace. Hirata poured sake. “I propose a toast to Lord Matsudaira. With friends like Lord Arima, he doesn’t need enemies.”