As she and Sano surveyed the crowd, Reiko noticed the shogun sitting in the covered pavilion. Flushed and laughing, he downed cups of sake that fawning officials poured for him. Beside him, Keisho-in flirted with handsome attendants. Chamberlain Yanagisawa and several retainers hovered below the pavilion near the shogun. Priest Ryuko and a group of monks hovered on the other side, by Keisho-in. The two factions exchanged covert, hostile looks. Reiko watched Yanagisawa glance uneasily across the garden at Lord Matsudaira, Lord Kii, General Isogai, and Police Commissioner Hoshina, gathered together with their cronies. The Council of Elders circulated the crowd in a phalanx, paying respects everywhere, taking sides nowhere yet. Minor bakufu officials flitted nervously from group to group, like birds looking for a safe place to nest. Superficial gaiety masked the strife in the atmosphere.

“This might seem like a congenial gathering, but I can see the different factions as distinctly as if lines were drawn on the ground,” Sano said.

Reiko nodded, sensing the storm brewing within the bakufu’s top echelon. Sano paused, as though searching for words, then said, “Should difficult times come, we must stand together.”

An image of the Dragon King pierced Reiko’s mind. Her fingers clutched the lattice. “Can we?” she murmured.

“Yes.” Sano spoke with sudden emphasis as he turned to her. He lowered his voice beneath the noise of the party: “Now isn’t a good time to bring up the kidnapping, but there may never be a better time. I want you to know that we don’t have to discuss it unless you wish. And nothing that happened on that island will change my love for you.”

Reiko bowed her head, thankful for Sano’s forbearance and constancy. Tears filled her eyes.

“Whatever did happen,” Sano continued, “the Dragon King bears the entire blame. Forget him. Don’t give him more power than he had while he was alive, or more thought than he deserves.”

Although Reiko recognized the merit in these words, she couldn’t forget the Dragon King. She couldn’t forgive herself for encouraging his attentions, especially when she still wondered whether she could have managed things differently and come home with a clear conscience.

“If the Dragon King ruins our lives, then he’s defeated us.” Sano said urgently, “Don’t let him win!”

But neither could Reiko bear the thought of her marriage destroyed by a mad, evil coward. She raised her head and drew a deep breath of determination.

“I won’t let him win,” she said.

She slid open the lattice screen and reached through it. Sano took her hand and held it tight and warm under the cover of his sleeve. They stood together, looking out at the discordant assembly in the garden, like two sailors on a ship heading into the winds of change.

About Laura Joh Rowland

Laura Joh Rowland is a detective/mystery author best known for her series of mystery novels set in the late days of feudal Japan, mostly in Edo during the late 1600s. Rowland takes some licence with known figures, creating fictionalised versions of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. Objective historical details, however, are credibly accurate.