“Drop the dagger,” Sano ordered, his heart hammering in delayed panic. “Drop it, or I’ll kill you!”

Fear shone in Yanagisawa’s eyes. He lay rigid, knees drawn up, awkwardly supporting his body on his left hand, the dagger extended in his right hand. But his mouth twisted in an insolent smile.

“You won’t kill me,” he said in a breathy, corrosive voice. “You hate to kill, and you think it’s because you’re so noble, so benevolent, that taking a life is beneath you.” He uttered a derisive snort of laughter. “But I know the truth. You’re not only an incompetent detective who fell into the trap I set for you, you’re a coward. You’re afraid of what will happen if you kill the shogun’s second-in-command. You’re incapable of looking me in the eye and cutting my throat!”

Indeed, Sano had spoken his threat merely to frighten Yanagisawa into obedience; he’d had no real intention of killing. But a sudden fury swept over him. That Yanagisawa should insult his professional ability and his honor! For more than two years, Sano had endured the chamberlain’s physical and verbal attacks. He’d stifled the urge to retaliate because of his duty to respect the shogun’s second-in-command, and because Yanagisawa had the power to destroy his family. Yet now, in the heat of rage that had built to a critical point, he knew he could kill Yanagisawa and not care about the consequences. What he thought about Yanagisawa, but had never spoken before, exploded from him.

“You call me incompetent?” he shouted. “You, who couldn’t find the Lion by yourself, and certainly wouldn’t have accomplished anything on this investigation without help from Yoriki Hoshina and me!”

Yanagisawa gaped in amazement at Sano’s outburst. “How dare you speak to me this way?” Anger flushed his pale complexion. “Have you forgotten who I am?”

“You’ve forgotten that you’re at my mercy,” Sano retorted, jabbing his sword fiercely at Yanagisawa, who gasped and scuttled backward, still gripping the dagger. Sano advanced until he had Yanagisawa pinned against the wall. “If you think I’m a coward, there’s no bigger coward in the world than you! You send flunkies to assassinate me because you’re afraid to do it yourself. You stab your enemies in the back because you haven’t the courage to challenge them face to face!”

“Shut up!” Yanagisawa commanded.

Sano was shaking with righteous anger, exhilarated by the release of pent-up fury. “Your way is to stab and hide, but I can make sure you won’t live to do so ever again. Now drop the dagger, you corrupt, evil, back-stabbing, and cowardly disgrace to Bushido!”

Bloodlust obliterated prudence. Sano’s vision narrowed until all he could see was the hateful face of his enemy. His muscles tensed, ready to drive the sword deep into Yanagisawa’s throat. Yanagisawa must have felt the increased pressure on the blade and realized what a state Sano was in, because horror replaced the insolence in his gaze. As they stared at each other, the moment stretched into a deadly space in time where the worst could happen.

Yanagisawa opened his hand and let the dagger fall.

The clatter it made hitting the floor was like a chunk of ice dropped into a hot porcelain bowl. The cold impact of reason shattered the murderous rage in Sano. The savage pleasure of holding Yanagisawa’s life in his hands vanished. He kicked away the dagger and eased his grip on his sword. What if he had killed the chamberlain?

Across his mind flashed images of himself standing over the bloody corpse of his enemy; his trial for murder; himself, Reiko, their entire families, and all their close associates marching to the public execution ground to die for his crime of high treason against the Tokugawa regime. Sano was horrified to know himself capable of an insanity where even honor mattered less than satisfying his anger.

He saw the same knowledge, and new respect, mirrored on Yanagisawa’s face. Sano realized that Yanagisawa had never really feared him before, had always relied on the self-discipline that had kept him from striking back. But this incident had destroyed Yanagisawa’s belief that he could attack Sano without serious consequences.

“That’s better,” Sano said. His voice had returned to its normal calm pitch, but in the wake of his rage, a heady sense of power remained. “Now tell me how you set up my murder.”

Yanagisawa glanced down at the blade that still impinged on his throat. “Would you mind if I sat up first?” His tone had a courteous entreaty with which he’d never before addressed Sano.

When Sano withdrew the sword just far enough so it was no longer touching him, Yanagisawa expelled a long, tremulous breath and gingerly eased himself upright. Sweat trickled in rivulets down his face. He said, “The night of the shoshidai’s banquet, Hoshina told me that Lady Asagao had admitted hating Left Minister Konoe and lied about where she was during his murder. I anticipated that you would search her chambers for evidence, so I had Hoshina get some robes of the type she wears, stain them with horse blood, and plant them there.

“The next morning, Hoshina held a secret interview with Lady Asagao. He informed her that you would be coming to talk to her, and he conveyed my orders that when you did, she should confess to the murder. He told her the story she should tell, and said she must convince you that she was guilty. She didn’t want to do it, but Hoshina gave her my promise that if she cooperated, she would be pardoned later. If not-or if she told anyone what he’d said-she would be executed.”

Now Sano understood why Asagao had behaved so oddly, produced such a logical yet dubious confession, and seemed as terrified as determined to persuade him that she’d killed Konoe. Asagao had lied not to protect Emperor Tomohito and the Imperial Court, but to protect herself from the punishment with which Hoshina had threatened her.

“You manipulated me into making a false arrest,” Sano said with a grudging admiration for Yanagisawa’s cleverness. “Hoshina pressured Left Minister Konoe’s attendants into confirming the affair and the ladies-in-waiting into retracting Asagao’s alibi. You planned to make your official appearance in Miyako after I was dead, take over the investigation, and catch the real killer. You picked Asagao for bait because she’s so unlikely a suspect that I would look stupid for arresting her, although the law gave me no choice. You couldn’t be satisfied with my death; you wanted to destroy my reputation, too.”

“Yes,” the chamberlain conceded reluctantly, “Lady Asagao suited my purpose. But I didn’t choose her for herself alone. I had to give the real murderer a reason to kill you.”

The connection between Lady Asagao’s arrest and the killer’s attack now became apparent to Sano. “Hoshina didn’t tell me that Right Minister Ichijo is a suspect because you believe he’s the killer and you wanted to keep him to yourself. Lady Asagao is his daughter; her position as the emperor’s chief consort gives Ichijo special influence over the Imperial Court, which he would lose if anything happened to her. You thought the arrest would make Ichijo desperate enough to try to save Asagao from execution by killing me, which would spare you the trouble.”

The chamberlain said, “When Hoshina sent you the forged message, he also sent anonymous ones to Right Minister Ichijo, Emperor Tomohito, Lady Jokyōden, and Prince Momozono, telling them you were coming to the palace.”

Of course, the devious Yanagisawa wouldn’t stake his success on a gamble that Ichijo was indeed the killer, Sano thought; he’d hedged his bet by alerting the other suspects. Sano could think of reasons some of them might wish to eliminate the man in charge of the murder investigation.

“Those messages also specified the route that the palace guards would follow while escorting you through the imperial enclosure,” Yanagisawa continued. “I went there early with Aisu and my bodyguards to catch Ichijo in the act of murder and arrest him. When we were heading toward the spot where the guards were supposed to abandon you, I felt a strange vibration in the air. We saw an eerie light and heard loud breathing. I felt someone following us, and I was suddenly terrified. So were my men. I ordered everyone to stay together, but my bodyguards ran off. I followed Aisu to the imperial kitchens. And then…”