Laura Rowland - The Ronin’s Mistress

“My fortune was confiscated by the government,” Lady Asano said.

Reiko had forgotten how circumscribed their lives were, how limited their means. Their logic, and their sincerity, and the problem of how they would have learned which judge on the supreme court to attack, convinced her that they were innocent of the crime against her father. But she could smell secrets in the air, like a whiff of the fish entrails on the table.

“Somebody will pay for my father’s injuries,” Reiko said. “When my husband finds out that you wouldn’t cooperate with me, he may decide that it should be … you.” Reiko settled her gaze on Lady Asano.

Lady Asano jerked back as if Reiko had thrown mud on her. “That’s not fair! None of this is! I’ve never done anything wrong, and I’ve been punished anyway. Isn’t it someone else’s turn?”

“Fine. I’ll tell my husband to pick you.” Reiko turned on Ukihashi.

“No. Please.” Alarmed, Ukihashi raised her hands. “I don’t care about myself, but if I’m put to death, who will take care of my daughters?”

“If it has to be one of us, then let it be me,” Lady Asano said, moved to sacrifice herself for the sake of friendship. “I’m all alone in the world.”

“It doesn’t have to be one of you.” Reiko was merciless, even though she hated tormenting these helpless women. She was fed up with people lying to her and Sano and withholding information. Determined to learn the truth about the vendetta, keep her family together, and find out who’d hurt her father, she said to Ukihashi, “Your son would be a good scapegoat.”

“Not Chikara!” Vicious anger transformed Ukihashi’s face. She lunged toward Reiko, her slimy hands outstretched to maim. “Leave him alone!”

Lady Asano grabbed Ukihashi and cried, “Don’t! You’ll only make things worse!”

As Ukihashi struggled and shouted protests, Reiko said, “If Chikara is convicted of hiring the assassin that hurt my father, then it won’t matter if the supreme court pardons the forty-seven ronin. He’ll be sentenced to death.”

Lady Asano looked around, in desperate hope of escape or salvation. Finding neither, she said to Ukihashi, “We have to tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Reiko said, elated that her tactic had worked, yet ashamed of her cruelty.

Ukihashi’s face was a mess of tears and panic. “We promised it would be our secret!”

“We must,” Lady Asano said, “if you want your son to have a chance to live.”

Resignation settled over Ukihashi like an invisible net that pulled tight and squeezed the defiance out of her. “All right. But it won’t be what you expected to hear.”

1701 April

Inside Lord Asano’s estate in Edo, Ukihashi dressed her two daughters in new, matching pale green kimonos. She smiled at the girls and said, “Don’t you look pretty!”

A servant interrupted. “Kira Yoshinaka is here to see you.”

Ukihashi was surprised. What could the shogun’s master of ceremonies want with her? She hurried to the reception room and found the old man kneeling by the alcove. His head tilted upward at a haughty angle, and his eyebrows had an arrogant arch, but he smiled warmly.

“Hello, my dear,” Kira said. “You’re every bit as beautiful as I’ve heard.”

Flattered, confused, and timid, Ukihashi blushed as she knelt and bowed. “You’re too kind … I don’t deserve … May I offer you some refreshments?”

While they drank tea and nibbled cakes, Kira chatted about the weather. His bright-eyed, intense scrutiny made Ukihashi uncomfortable. Finally he said, “My dear, I wonder if you would do an old man a favor.”

“If I can,” Ukihashi said, mystified.

“I would like to set up a romantic liaison between you and Lord Asano. So that the two of you can bed each other, to put it bluntly.”

The request was too shocking and offensive for Ukihashi to even consider. “Why…?”

Sly pleasure crept into Kira’s smile. “Arranging tableaus is my specialty. I do it in my work at court, but this one would be strictly for my own private entertainment. Are you willing?”

“Certainly not!” Ukihashi was so outraged that she forgot her shyness and courtesy. “Lord Asano’s wife is my friend. I would never do that to her or to my husband. I’m a good, faithful wife, and I have no desire to commit adultery for your selfish pleasure. You are a cad for suggesting such a thing!”

Unruffled, Kira said, “Allow me to explain why you should cooperate, my dear. Unless you do, I will tell the shogun that your husband has been speaking ill of him. That’s treason.”

“Oishi hasn’t!” Ukihashi protested. “I’ll swear to it!”

Kira regarded her with pity. “Who is the shogun going to believe? A silly woman or me, his master of ceremonies?” His smile turned cruel. “May I remind you that the family of a traitor shares his punishment? Either you do as I ask, or you and Oishi and your children will be put to death by tomorrow.”

Although the very idea of betraying her friend’s trust and her husband’s love made her ill, Ukihashi had to protect her family. “Promise me that Oishi and Lady Asano will never know.”

“Thank you, my dear.” Kira chortled. “You can trust me to be discreet.”

The next day Ukihashi went to a squalid inn by the river, where Kira had set up the liaison. Nauseated and shaking, she waited in the dingy room. She began to be furious at Lord Asano. How could he go along with Kira’s scheme? Lady Asano had told her about his affairs with other women, but couldn’t he leave the wife of his loyal chief retainer alone?

When Lord Asano arrived, he was so upset that his face twitched and he shook with dry sobs. “I don’t want to do this any more than you do. I respect your husband, and I hate to betray him. But Kira said that if I don’t, he won’t instruct me on court etiquette. I’ll flub the ceremony for the imperial envoys and disgrace myself.”

Ukihashi realized that he was as much an innocent victim as herself. She was appalled at how Kira had manipulated both of them, but it made the situation more bearable. “Let’s get it over with, shall we?”

They turned their backs to each other and undressed. They lay down on the bed and fumbled through the motions of lovemaking. Ukihashi felt dirty being touched by a man not her husband and mortified because she could see Kira’s shadow on the paper windows. Through a hole in one pane, his bright, evil eye gleamed.

In the room next door, Lady Asano watched the couple through a crack in the wall. She pressed her hand over her mouth. She hadn’t heard their whispered conversation. All she knew was that her husband and her friend were lovers. When Kira had told her yesterday, she hadn’t believed him. He’d said she should rent this room and see for herself. And now here was the terrible proof! She didn’t mind so much about her husband-she was used to his affairs. But how could Ukihashi do this to her? Lady Asano would hate her for as long as they lived.

* * *

“That’s why we stopped being friends,” Ukihashi said to Reiko.

“I didn’t tell her I’d seen,” Lady Asano said. “I was too angry and hurt.”

Reiko sat in the steamy kitchen, astounded by what she’d heard. The women’s story of the events that had led up to the vendetta was stranger than she’d ever imagined.

“But I knew she’d found out,” Ukihashi said. “I could tell by the way she acted. I thought Lord Asano had told her. I didn’t know it was Kira. Until now. That’s what we were talking about when you came.” Anger sparked in her tear-swollen eyes. “Kira told us both to keep quiet.” She added regretfully, “And I was too ashamed to tell anyone.”

“Now that Kira is dead, he can’t hurt us,” Lady Asano said. “So I came here to confront Ukihashi.”