Now it seemed that news had gotten out. Now, the Keishi wanted to meet her in plain sight, with a message that said,We wish you no harm.
But they did, Kai thought. They did.
She felt Hayo’s blade at her side, and watched as the Keishi matriarch came in.
“Lady Keishi,” Kai said again. “Please. Why are you here?”
“I’m not a warrior.” Yoshiko, Lady of Six Waves, eyed Kai across the hearth. She seemed older than Kai remembered, dressed in the austere robes of one in mourning.She’s not trying to impress me anymore, Kai thought. Beside them, Hayo sat with her hands folded in her lap, but her silence was louder than words.
“Unlike my husband and the other members of the clan,” Yoshiko said, “I strive only for peace.”
“I wish I believed you.”
“You’re alive because of me, Gekko’in. You know that day. When the Musha’in brought you before us, crying, ready to tear out our hearts… I asked them to spare you. Even then, I wanted no further bloodshed. I’m glad my voice was heard.”
She raised a hand. “Our relationship is strained. Me. And my husband. Our daughter, Hagane… It has been too much.” Hagane, who’d been used for political purposes, as a tool to insert the Keishi into the royal line. Yoshiko made no pretense of her thoughts. “I haven’t been in the same quarters as my husband for a year. We disagreed about the marriage. I no longer let him stay with my house.”
“You still haven’t told us why,” Hayo said, beside her.
“You’ve no love for me. I know. But I want to help you.”
“Help?” Hayo scoffed. “Whathelp?”
“The kind that might just save your life.”
Smiling a thin smile, Yoshiko eyed the wisps of steam, held the kettle in her hand, watching it pour, rising and lowering with deftness, into the cups. “I had a dream last night. A terrible dream… I saw a carriage aflame, out of control. None could stop it. It was guarded by the gods of hell, demons with the heads of horses and oxen; they carried before them a tablet marked ‘Emptiness’. ‘We come from Aku Dai-oh,’ they said. ‘We come for your family. You are fated to die. You are fated to the hells of nothingness.’”
She lowered the kettle, placed her hand on its side, feeling the black of the iron, burning hot, and pulled her fingers away. “You will be arrested.”
“If you’ve betrayed our trust,” Hayo began, but Yoshiko cut her off.
“You must take Kai from the home-provinces now, with speed. There is nothing to guarantee her safety anymore. They will do anything to connect her to the plot.”
“Of which she is innocent.”
“They found her mark. A poem, in Deer Valley, where the conspirators met. Light under the moon.”
Kai burst: “I gave that poem toGoshira.”
“It doesn’t matter. They’ll use it. Whereas I… would truly like you on our side.”
“What side is that?”
“The side of peace. Please, for your own sake. You must leave the capital immediately. For your safety.”
“What do you care of our safety?” Hayo said.
“My son is dead. Killed in his own garden.”
“We had nothing to do with that,” said Hayo.
“No.” Yoshiko’s eyes glinted now, little diamond tears. “No, I know. But the fact remains. My son has been killed. Seikiyo… has lost himself. His retainers come up from the Green Mountains in the west. They bring the Keishi army with them.”
“Impossible.” Kai stirred. “They wouldn’t let him bring a military force into the palace…”
“Who would stop him? You? Your uncle? My son isdead. And your cousin has been building his forces in the east. Our scouts have seen it. There are those who say the Gisan lord has lost his mind, strung up heads along the mountains as a warning. Don’t you understand? My son isdead. And now everything happens at once. You will be killed, Moonlit Kai. I saved your life once, years ago. I’m trying to do the same for you now.”
Be wary, Kai thought. “My uncle is doing what he can.”
