“The court, lord, always bickers. They tip back and forth,” Seikiyo said. “I thought I had you to help me.”
“I advise caution…” Yora offered.
“You always do.”
“…cautionnot to set dry wood alight. This was the work of individuals. Criminals, yes, but individual men and women. The entire Hara clanline is not to blame.”
“Any more thanyourswas?”
“Three hundred years ago, the great families were all the same,” he said. “We can be unified again.”
“Can we?” Seikiyo waved off suddenly. “I saw an awful sight this morning, poet… A crow, with a sparrow in its mouth, dead. I thought, whatsignis this… What ill omen…”
“You cannot do this,” Yora said. “You cannot force the succession…”
“What law says that I cannot?”
“Think of how it looks, think of how itseems—”
“Itseemsthe young emperor has taken the cloister. As has been the tradition of his family for generations. And put his firstborn son on the throne under a regent. As has always been done.”
“People will think you’re using this to take control.”
“Will they? Or will you?” He didn’t wait for Yora’s answer: “Why not, Yora? Why shouldn’t I?Iheld the fortress. I kept the realm together when your brother tried to take it all.”
“And nowyoutry to,” Yora said.
“I never sought that. Never.” Seikiyo turned, shaking his head. He seemed to have lost his focus. The candle to his right lay unlit; he held it in a trembling hand.
“Do you see them?” Seikiyo asked. “Ghosts? When you close your eyes and lie back, they come… They come and take your rest. And the past opens before you, not the world.”
“They told me you were having problems.”
Seikiyo stared. “Whotoldyou.”
“It’s not hard to see you’re struggling.”
Seikiyo moved away. “It’s nothing… No more than any of us.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.” That word: like an accusation.Yes.
“What haunts you, lord?”
Seikiyo gave a bitter smile. “Only the dead. They’re never gone… They come back. They come back and come back. Dead enemies… dead friends…” A look to Yora: “Deadchildren.”
Yora felt a familiar tightening in his chest. “I would help you,” he said. “If only…”
“‘If only.’”
“Lord. Do notdothis. The security you’re looking for, it’s not this way.”
“And I suppose you’re the one to tell me where it is. I could have used your help, but now I find, everything was lies…”
“I have tried to help—”
Seikiyo wasn’t angry now. “It’s too late, Yora. It’s done. The boy will accede. His father Ashihara will retire. Deer Valley will be burned. We’ll put Goshira under house arrest.”
