But Lady Miyagi’s red-eyed gaze bypassed Sano as if he didn’t exist, fixing on her husband. “Yes, Harume was evil.” Replete with sincerity, the words issued from some dark, secret place inside her. “She had the audacity to conceive your child.”
“My child?” Confusion lifted Lord Miyagi’s voice. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“The child Harume was carrying when she died,” Lady Miyagi said. “I saw her at the shrine of Awashima Myojin.” This Shinto goddess was the patron deity of women. “She hung a prayer tablet beside the altar, asking for a safe delivery of the child. I poisoned the ink-to kill them both.”
“But I never even touched Harume!” The daimyo crawled past Sano to kneel near his wife. “Cousin, you know what I am. How can you think I fathered a child on her?”
“If it wasn’t you, then who else?” Lady Miyagi demanded. “Not the shogun, that impotent weakling.” Glaring down at her husband, she lowered the dagger. “All these years, I’ve tolerated your affairs with other women and never complained, because I didn’t think you would touch them; didn’t think you could. I believed that in your heart you were true to me.”
Dividing his attention among Lady Miyagi, the dagger, and Reiko, Sano eased closer, sending his wife a silent message: Just a moment more, and I’ll save you!
“I thought we were spiritual lovers. Mated forever, like the swans on our family crest. Sharing everything.” Lady Miyagi’s mouth turned down; tears spilled over her face. “But now I know better. You sneaked away and bedded Lady Harume without telling me. You betrayed me!”
“Cousin, I never-”
“I know how much you want a son. I couldn’t let Harume’s child be born. That would have encouraged you to beget another, from one of your ladies. She would become your new wife, and the child your heir. You would have cast me aside. How could I survive without your protection?”
At last Sano understood the true reason for Lady Harume’s murder. A misunderstanding had fostered jealousy. The unborn child, not the mother, had been the intended victim of the poison. Quietly Sano crept up on Lady Miyagi and Reiko.
“You killed Wren and Snowflake so they couldn’t have sons by me.” Dumbfounded, Lord Miyagi shook his head. “But why kill a drug peddler?”
Conviction hardened Lady Miyagi’s teary gaze. “I did it so he couldn’t identify me as the person who bought the poison. I was going to kill that odious freak-show proprietor who found out and tried to blackmail me, but I lost the chance. Don’t you understand that I did it all so everything would stay the same between us?”
“Cousin, I would never cast you off,” Lord Miyagi wailed. “I need you. Maybe I’ve never said so before, but I love you.” He extended his clasped hands. “Please, give the sosakan-sama his wife, and come to me!”
“I can’t.” Lady Miyagi took a step closer to the edge of the precipice. Sano’s heart banged against his rib cage; he halted in his tracks, throwing out an arm to keep Hirata back. Any movement might goad Lady Miyagi into hurting Reiko. “I’ve watched you look at her. I know you want her. The only way I can make sure she never bears you a son is by killing her.”
She yanked the dagger up, poking the tip into the soft flesh under Reiko’s jaw. Terror shot through Sano. “Listen. Your husband wasn’t the father of Harume’s child,” he said, fighting to keep calm. “He didn’t betray you. Harume had another lover. And Reiko is mine. She’s not available for Lord Miyagi’s use. So give her to me, now.”
Lady Miyagi met his plea with a blank stare. Deep in her own world of skewed perception, she seemed impervious to logic. Slowly she turned away, dragging Reiko to the brink of the precipice.
“No!”
Sano rushed toward the women, but Hirata leapt in front of him. The young retainer grabbed Lord Miyagi in a double armlock. “Lady Miyagi, if you hurt the sosakan-sama’s wife, I’ll throw your husband over the edge,” Hirata yelled.
It was a strategy that hadn’t occurred to Sano; his mind had been focused on Reiko. Now he held his breath as he watched Lady Miyagi’s head jerk around. When she saw the daimyo, she froze, drawing a sharp hiss of breath.
“Cousin, help, I don’t want to die!” Sobbing, Lord Miyagi kicked and struggled in Hirata’s grip.
“You can save him,” Sano said. A pool of hope spread in his heart. “Just drop the dagger. Then walk this way.” Moving down the hillside, he gestured for Lady Miyagi to follow. “Bring Reiko to me.”
Lady Miyagi’s gaze flashed from her husband to Sano, then Reiko. An anguished moan escaped her. Sano felt indecision weakening her resolve, like cold water cracking hot porcelain, yet she didn’t move.
“Hirata?” Sano said.
The young retainer hauled Lord Miyagi to the edge. “Help, Cousin,” the daimyo mewled.
No one else spoke. No one moved. Only the sounds of wind and rushing water broke the silence. The great wheel of the heavens seemed to stall, halting moon and stars on their celestial paths. Deranged by jealousy, Lady Miyagi apparently wanted to save her husband, but not without securing her position in his life. Perhaps she also needed to punish him for his imagined betrayal. Sano felt the night expand, vast and dark and terrible as the impasse that the negotiations had reached. Despair overwhelmed him.
Then a series of crashing noises came from the forest. Running footsteps pounded up the slope. Beyond Lady Miyagi and Reiko, a man burst into view. He wore a soiled kimono and carried a spear.
“Lieutenant Kushida.” Wonder hushed Sano’s exclamation. He saw Hirata stiffen with surprise, and heard the daimyo utter a startled grunt. Lady Miyagi turned slightly, eyes darting, trying to watch everyone at once.
“It must have been him following us in the woods,” Hirata said. “What’s he doing here?”
The lieutenant ignored Sano, Hirata, Reiko, and Lord Miyagi. Pointing his spear at Lady Miyagi, he shouted, “Murderer!” His monkey face was streaked with dirt; his matted hair hung loose around his shoulders. “Day and night I’ve hunted the killer of my beloved Harume. At last I’ve found you. Now I shall avenge her death, appease her spirit, and reclaim my honor!”
Now Sano understood why Kushida had gone to Daikon Quay. He’d tracked down Choyei and forced the dying peddler to reveal the identity of the customer who had bought the arrow toxin. He was the man whom the landlord had heard in Choyei’s room. Then he’d stalked Lady Miyagi. Before Sano could react, the lieutenant lunged at Lady Miyagi. She shrieked and lurched sideways across the path toward the pavilion. The spear blade ripped through the sleeve of her robe. Cursing, Kushida attacked again. As Lady Miyagi lashed out with her dagger in an attempt to defend herself, Reiko broke free. She stumbled along the path, trying to avoid Kushida’s vicious thrusts. When Sano rushed to help her, the shaft of the spear banged him on the shoulder.
Hirata flung Lord Miyagi aside. Drawing his sword, he charged at Lieutenant Kushida. “I’ll take care of him, sosakan-sama. You save Reiko.”
Thrusting and dodging, he drove Kushida down the hill. Sano reached for Reiko, but Lady Miyagi slashed his arm with the dagger, shrieking, “Get away!”
Sano drew his sword and chopped at Lady Miyagi’s blade. Reiko drew a dagger from her sleeve and joined the battle. Then Sano felt someone come up behind him. He whirled and saw Lord Miyagi waving a sword.
“I won’t let you hurt my wife.” His droopy features tightened by fear, the daimyo took an awkward swipe at Sano.
Sano dodged the strike. He battered at the daimyo’s sword, intending to subdue rather than kill. “You can’t win, Lord Miyagi. Surrender.”
Reiko slashed at Lady Miyagi, who parried. Their slender blades clashed with a sweet, steely ring. Whirling and feinting at the edge of the drop, amid billowing robes and hair, they engaged in a dance of violent grace. Reiko fought with practiced skill, Lady Miyagi with reckless ferocity. From down the hill, Sano heard Lieutenant Kushida shouting at Hirata, “Leave me alone. I must avenge Lady Harume’s death. It’s the only way I’ll ever know peace.”
Lord Miyagi struggled against Sano’s superior skill. Sweat glistened on his woeful face. A lifetime of self- indulgence had left him ill suited for combat. Quickly Sano knocked the sword out of his hand. Helpless, he cowered on the ground. He looked at his wife, whose robes hung in bloodstained tatters where Reiko had cut her. A groan of misery issued from him. Sano could see his vision of life without a devoted slave; jail, exile, or confiscation of the family estate as punishment for his wife’s crimes. Then Lord Miyagi raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“I accept defeat,” he said with quiet dignity. “Please allow me the privilege of committing seppuku.”
The daimyo drew his short sword, gripping it in trembling hands, the blade pointed at his abdomen. Closing his
